Composition

Rodney Lister, Composition Department Chair

Private lessons

Private lessons of 30, 45, and 60 minutes are offered. Prospective students must set up an audition or placement interview with the department chair, who will advise each student personally regarding an appropriate studio teacher placement.

For specific information regarding teacher placement, please contact the Preparatory School office by phone at 617-585-1130 or email prep@necmusic.edu.

Young Composer's Seminar

Ginny Latts, Instructor

Music theory comes to life in this class as students develop creativity, explore repertoire, and create their own pieces through improvisational and compositional techniques.  This class helps young musicians ages 9-12 develop strategies and skills for applying theoretical concepts and compositional tools to the creative process.  They will listen to, discuss, improvise and perform music during class, and will receive small compositional assignments. 
Prerequisite: Students should be studying an instrument, which they should be able to play with basic skill and note-reading. They should have completed the equivalent of Musicianship or Music Theory I-1.

Saturday, 1:00-2:00 pm

Composition Seminar

Rodney Lister, Instructor

This class gives students the opportunity to develop technique in original composition. Compositions are performed and discussed in class. Performances are arranged at workshops and student composition recitals.

Saturday, 10:00–11:00 am

Composition for Performers

Larry Bell, Instructor

A course designed to introduce the basic techniques of composition to performing musicians. Composition will be directed and motivated by a series of highly focused exercises. Each exercise grows out of the nature of the materials of music in relation to instrumental or vocal idioms. Students will perform their works in class four times each semester. A prerequisite for the class is the successful completion of Theory Level II or the permission of the instructor.

Saturdays: 9:00–10:00 or TBA

Text: Bell, Larry; A Workbook for Composition.

Today’s Youth Perform Today’s Music

Annual Festival of Contemporary Music

Faculty members Rodney Lister and John Ziarko founded the annual Preparatory School Contemporary Festival in 1991, to give students and faculty the opportunity to study the performance skills needed for contemporary music. Featured composers work closely with students in workshops, seminars, and coachings. In the recent past, there has been a surge of interest among Preparatory School students to study composition, and perform their own pieces and the pieces of their friends. This has become an integral part of the festival.

Artists in Residence have included Rolfe Schulte, Robert Helps, Milton Babbitt, Joel Smirnoff, Michael Finnissy, Judith Weir, Alvin Singleton, Donald Martino, Martin Bresnick, Gunther Schuller, John Harbison, Stephen Hartke, Yehudi Wyner, Chen Yi, Ethel String Quartet, Michael Gandolfi, Lee Hyla, Malcolm Peyton, Nico Muhly, Sebastian Currier, and William Bolcom.

2011-02-24