Orchestration Home
CALENDAR
Spring 2008
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| Date |
Content |
Assignment |
| Tuesday, January 15 |
Introduction. Project options and expectations. Orchestral modeling. Computer resources available to students. | |
| Thursday, January 17 |
Master class. | Bring scores and recordings of your own pieces (solo, chamber, or otherwise) for critque from an instrumentation point of view. |
| Tuesday, January 22 |
Master class continued. Composing responsibly: owning your materials. Orchestral template discussion. Principles that guide layout and notation. | Read the Syllabus carefully and decide which project options you would like to do under F, G, and H. Points should total 100. E-mail your proposed project options to Mr. Walls. Download and print pages 1 and 2 of the Finale Full Orchestral Template, study it, and for purposes of class discussion, make written notes about how you would improve upon this template. |
| Thursday, January 24 |
Virtual orchestration: Einstein's Dream. Spatial notation for large ensembles: problems and solutions. | Download and print Spatial Meters. |
| Tuesday, January 29 |
Bibliography projects. Score order and abbreviations. | Download the three Bibliography Templates. Complete the Bibliography Project as stated in the Syllabus. Before class, submit all completed work to Mr. Walls via e-mail. To facilitate future compilation, do not change the formatting of the template files if possible. Be prepared to share a few of your favorite URLs or books with the class. For purposes of class discussion, determine the preferred order of instruments in an orchestral score and make a list of the "correct" abbreviations for orchestral instruments. |
| Thursday, January 31 |
Importance of "registral strength" in achieving good balance. "The timbre, strength, and texture of every segment of each instrument's range becomes crucial when you are creating color combinations that will characterize the music to be played." Sam Adler. Discussion of wind ranges and registers. Student presentation. | Download the Ranges and Registers Template. Complete the wind part of the Ranges and Registers Project as stated in the Syllabus. Bring a hard copy to class. |
| Tuesday, February 5 |
Discussion of brass ranges and registers. Student presentations. | Adding to the file/page above, complete the brass part of the Ranges and Registers Project as stated in the Syllabus. Bring a hard copy to class. Turn in one Listening Project. |
| Thursday February 7 |
Discussion of string ranges and registers. Student presentations. | Adding to the file/page above, complete the strings part of the Ranges and Registers Project as stated in the Syllabus. Bring a hard copy to class. |
Tuesday, February 12 |
Student presentations. | Turn in a hard copy of the completed Ranges and Registers Project. Turn in one Orchestral Analysis Project. |
| Thursday, February 14 |
Student presentations. | Do the Orchestral Score Template Project as stated in the Syllabus. You can use the Finale Full Orchestral Template as a point of departure. Bring a hard copy to class. |
| Tuesday, February 19 |
Student presentations. | Turn in a hard copy of the completed Orchestral Score Template Project. |
| Thursday, February 21 |
Prepare a first draft of the Orchestral Part Template Project as stated in the Syllabus. A Prototype Part is provided online for your reference. Also see the files located here for additional information. To complete this project, you may wish to download the Score for Parts Extraction and extract the Violin I part. Alternatively, you may use one of your own pre-existing parts (two-pages minimum) as material for this project. Please print onto 11 X 17 in booklet form. |
|
| Tuesday, February 26 |
Student presentations. | Turn in a hard copy of the completed Orchestral Part Template Project. |
| Thursday, February 28 |
Student presentations. What is poor orchestration? | |
| Tuesday, March 4 |
Master class on Final Projects in progress. | Final call for revised copies of the Orchestral Score & Part Template Projects. |
| Thursday, March 6 |
Student presentations. | Turn in your second Orchestral Analysis Project. |
| Tuesday, March 11 |
Master class on Final Projects in progress. | Final Project status report due. |
| Thursday, March 13 |
Master class on Final Projects in progress. | |
| Tuesday, March 18 |
Spring Break. | No Class. |
| Thursday, March 20 |
Spring Break. | No Class. |
| Tuesday, March 25 |
Individual instruction in McTee's office room 2004. | |
| Thursday, March 27 |
Individual instruction in McTee's office room 2004. | |
| Tuesday, April 1 |
Individual instruction in McTee's office room 2004. | |
| Thursday, April 3 |
Individual instruction in McTee's office room 2004. | E-mail the following information to Jay in list form: Your name, e-mail address, phone number, title of your Final Project, exact duration, and exact instrumentation including numbers of wind, brass, and percussion parts, and doublings on auxiliary instruments if any. |
| Tuesday, April 8 |
Complete the score for the Orchestral Reading Final Project as stated in the Syllabus. Print 3 scores, one for the conductor, one for Dr. McTee, and one for yourself. The title page of the score should include your phone number and e-mail address. | |
| Thursday, April 10 |
The business side of writing for orchestra. | |
| Tuesday, April 15 |
Individual instruction in McTee's office room 2004. | |
Thursday, April 17 |
Individual instruction in McTee's office room 2004. | |
| Tuesday, April 22 |
Sort parts. | Complete the parts for the Orchestral Reading Final Project as stated in the Syllabus. |
Thursday, April 24 |
No class. | |
| Friday, April 25 |
Orchestra readings. | Turn in a score for the Orchestral Reading Final Project to Dr. McTee, and also send her a PDF file of your score via email. Chamber Orchestra, 12:15 - 1:05 pm. Symphony Orchestra, 2:15 - 4:05 pm. Concert Hall. |
| Tuesday, April 29 |
Turn in the Rehearsal Attendance Project to Jay via e-mail. Post-readings evaluations. | |
| Thursday, May 1 |
Turn in all remaining Orchestral Analysis and Listening Projects. Post-readings evaluations. | |
| Tuesday, May 6 |
Final Exam Period. | No exam. |