Plan of studies
Degree in Musical Composition

Introduction to composition techniques and procedures throughout history, from monody to tonal and modal reharmonization. Tonal, modal and non-functional harmony exercises. Gradual development of a compositional language and own musical personality.

Introduction to the concepts, practice and instrumental technique of the piano understood as a tool for composition and analysis, arrangements and general understanding of music. Preparation of a polystylistic repertoire, alternating with applied improvisation, through various exercises and the study of an appropriate instrumental repertoire.

Understanding of compasses and basic irregular figures. Work on interval intonation, transcription and improvisation. Techniques, exercises and other knowledge for the ear for execution, composition, analysis.

Deepening the understanding and interpretation on the piano of the different elements that make up tonal music through various exercises and the study of an appropriate instrumental repertoire.

Functioning of each of the instruments that make up the symphony orchestra. Composition and adaptation of music for each of the instruments in the orchestra, knowing and taking advantage of the technical, timbral and harmonic possibilities of each one.

Study of techniques, exercises and other knowledge to develop the ear in its use in musical activity (performance, composition, analysis). Listening processes and inner-outer ear connection through the voice: notes of the natural major and minor tonality and sensitizations. Rhythm and types of measures. Regular rhythmic figures, duplets and triplets.

Study of the technical possibilities and the acoustic and timbre characteristics of the instruments that make up the symphony orchestra: strings, woodwinds, metal winds, percussion, plucked strings and keys. Introduction to sound libraries and work with digital sound.

Advanced use of the Sibelius score editor. Learning tools, editing notes, automatic and custom settings, xml, midi, pdf, aiff/wav and video documents from own projects. Writing for instruments; writing for chamber groups and creating various teaching materials.

Basic sound and acoustics. Use of key tools: microphones, planning and production of templates; the audio chain, mixing consoles, sound design, integration of MIDI systems, mixing automation and synchronization of sound with image.

Composition of musical forms in different historical styles. Control of musical notation and own techniques. Knowledge of the main harmonic resources applied: formation of scales and chords, syntactic and morphological used in tonal and modal harmony.

Production of a project: approach, team and budget, distribution and management. Composition: personal proposal, compositional techniques, structure and content. Personality and creativity: influences, intertextual techniques, group originality. Defense of the work: reflection and analysis on musical discourse, diction and argumentation, advanced musical editing.

Understanding the cultural impact on artistic creation. Identification of the most representative currents from the Middle Ages to the present. Creation systems; structure; non-Western rhythm and processes of creation; harmonic evolution and connection with contemporary music.

Tonal harmony: basic modulating progressions, modulations, augmented chords. Modal harmony: first steps, free harmonic functionality, chordal freedom, tensions and resolutions. Repertoire and sight reading: medium difficulty sight reading techniques, voice accompaniment, improvisation.

Putting into practice the most complex elements of musical language, and subsequent execution through the body and voice. Amalgams, polyrhythms, secondary dominants, modulation and modal dictations, based on the materials assimilated in Ear Education I.

Recognition and application of specific orchestral techniques (acoustic, timbral, idiomatic) for different musical textures and instrumentation. Interpretation techniques and musical decisions, midi models and analysis of the different orchestral methods.

Legal and legal framework related to the creation and production of musical works in Spain. Intellectual, industrial, image property rights, collective management, exploitation of works and other musical benefits.

Preparation for the official exam "TOEIC Listening and Reading Test". Learning in groups according to level of linguistic competence. Acquisition of strategies and tactics to face the two sections that make up this type of exam (listening and reading).
Possibility of validation of this subject if you are in possession of a degree recognized by the Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC) that accredits B1 or higher level competencies in English.

Collective and interdisciplinary processes and production of one's own project, becoming aware of the expressive tools and the creative capacity and dialogue with other artistic branches. Unity and team responsibility, ethical values, creative freedom and self-reflection.

Harmony, written rhythm vs. rhythmic perception, advanced rhythmic writing systems. Non-vocal melodies, melody as texture. Form and structure: new concepts of formal discourse, texture and timbre as form. Compositional techniques and notation of the XNUMXth and XNUMXst centuries (I), new technologies. Creativity: advanced free writing, personality and technique.

Composition of complex musical pieces (5-7 minutes) for a medium/wide chamber ensemble. Creation of a project and its viability of production. Composition of complex musical forms. Experimentation with new forms of creation and unconventional instrumental techniques. New technologies as an expressive medium. Process of rehearsal of a work.

Korngold and audiovisual post-romanticism. Silent cinema: dramatic resources, accompaniment and enhancement of the scene. Percussion and extended techniques as an effect. Texture and image: Ligeti and Kubrick, texture and emptiness as tension, space creation techniques through music. Theater and experimental cinema. Neosinfonismo: historical recreations, symphonic poem and relationship with the audiovisual, Wagner, John Williams.

Tonal harmony: modulating progressions, chromatic harmony, diminished chords, enharmonic modulations. Modal harmony: Debussy and Satie, jazz fusion, dominant by extension, flamenco and bimodality. Chords and their expansion: chords for fourths and fifths, parallel chords, polychords, sound blocks, fingerings. Repertoire and sight reading.

Listening and performing music with high tonal chromaticism and bimodality, the musical language of the early 4th century and the Renaissance, composition of complex measures and rhythms and the use of all the keys in the polyphony of up to XNUMX voices.

Tradition and modernity: new tonal uses, melody, texture, neoromanticism, postminimalism, fusion, mystical minimalism, orchestral music, postspectralism. Extended techniques: noise as a function, decontextualized instruments, instrumental gesture as a motive, silence and music. Popular and avant-garde music. New discipline: the body as an instrument, theater and music.

Origin of urban popular music. Jazz and its development (I): history, blues, trends, bebop, cool jazz, John Coltrane, musical structures. Rock and its development (I): origins, rock&roll, hard rock, punk, heavy metal, harmonic and formal structures. Flamenco (I): history and origins, styles, development, basic harmonic structures. Electronic music: history, trends, structures, textural processes.

Techniques: tutti, primary, secondary and tertiary elements in the orchestra. Textures: orchestration of a melody, types of instrumental mix, orchestral techniques. Form: structure of a piece in relation to its orchestral changes, mass and timbre as form. Reduction and transcription. New Media: Contemporary Orchestral Techniques.

History and types of recording: analog vs. digital, recording techniques, phases of multitrack record production, Pro studio vs. Home studio, specific equipment, microphone preamps, hardware. Recording studio: multitrack (planning and pre-production), mixing (dynamics processors, time and modulation effects), bounce and mastering (basic concepts of masterhoisting).

Style and composition: textural music, the orchestra as an instrument, compositional techniques and notation systems of the 20th and 21st centuries. Creativity and personality: free form and original development.

Composition of complex musical pieces (10-12 minutes) for a large chamber ensemble and orchestra, linked to the audiovisual world. Project approach and development. Defense and rehearsal of the work.

The leitmotiv and musical characterization of the characters: orchestration, motifs, texture as a dramatic element, harmony as a character. Electronics and symphony orchestra: fusion of sounds, expansion of the orchestration.

Relationships between styles towards fusion. Intertext and hypertext in urban popular music. Construction and structures. Jazz (II): free jazz, fusion jazz, hard bop, acid jazz. Rock (II): progressive rock, symphonic rock, power metal, trash and evolution, virtuosity as a goal, power chords. Flamenco (II): fusion, Paco de Lucía and Camarón, Enrique Morente, Mauricio Sotelo. Hip hop: rap culture, expansion and fusion, trap, reggaeton and representation of the Latino in the mainstream.

Music industry operation and business. Entrepreneurship techniques: business initiative, strategic plan and definition of business opportunities. Methodology for preparing the business plan.

Integration in a series of companies linked to the music sector in which the students will come into real contact, assuming various responsibilities and tasks with the operating mode of said companies.

Obtaining academic credits based on the participation of undergraduate degree students in artistic, cultural or student representation university activities, in order to complete their curricular development with activities not strictly linked to the degree.

Completion of an original and unpublished study in which the content, capabilities, competencies and skills acquired throughout the Degree are developed under the supervision and guidance of a tutor.