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Music

Integrative Composition - Bachelor of Music

A person studying Composition is one who would like to create original music and at the same time in the great majority of cases will decide on a freelance activity. Whether it is a question of independent new works for the concert hall, music in a medial context or an artistic statement on a released sound medium, the composers will always find themselves in a highly ambitious environment faced by equally high artistic and technical demands. The Integrative Composition study course provides a level of qualification designed to meet these demands. This course takes particular consideration of the requirements profile of contemporary compositions that is increasingly overlapping the classical directions of composition. The study course consists of four artistic subjects, one of which has to be decided on as a central artistic subject (CAS), being then studied for the entire duration of the course. In addition, the principles, the mindset and working method of the other subjects will be taught as integrative artistic subjects (IAS) for a period of one year each.

Central artistic subjects

_Instrumental Composition

is the creating of musical scores for musicians to play. This should ensue by taking into account and being aware of the technical and structural achievements music has undergone since 1945 as well as reflecting the aesthetic discourses, such as those led by composers including Xenakis, Lachenmann, Cage and Grisey – among many others.

_Electronic Composition

includes the creation of the sound itself as a compositional act as well as the final tonal end product by electronic means. Since it is possible to dispense with interpreters and their physical, physiological and psychological restrictions in this case, genuinely instrumental structures and gestures will rather represent the exception. Electronic compositions are to be understood from a historical perspective in the tradition of Schaeffer’s musique concrete, or Bayle as well as the electronic music of Koenig or Stockhausen. The field of live electronics forms a link between electronic composition and instrumental composition. Other key composers of this genre include Trevor Wishart, Francisco Lopez and Francis Dhomont.

_Composition and Visualisation

here it is a question of connecting music and (moving) image at a compositional level: how far and with what result is it possible to transfer compositional activities based on musical composition (instrumental or electronic) to the world of images and vice versa? In both fields a certain talent is both necessary and desirable. Examples here are found in the works of Norman McLaren and often under the keyword Visual Music.

_Pop Composition

this concentrates on the creation of pop music as an independent art form. The specific forms of expression are diverse and subject to constant change – as impressively documented by the history of pop music to date. The spectrum of possibilities ranges from the singer songwriter, via the author of orchestral works in the most diverse musical or musical-medial contexts, through to the producer concentrating on electronic music in the studio. The teaching concept includes the integration of regular workshops with composers, lyricists, producers, interpreters and performing musicians.

More information on the Integrative Composition (Bachelor) study course