Music School

I currently attend the University of Maryland as a freshman, but I am applying to its School of Music for Fall '08. I will apply to the B.M. program for composition, and to get in, I need to audition as a jazz guitarist and submit a "portfolio of [my] most recent compositions" that "demonstrate awareness of contemporary compositional techniques." This post is more about the portfolio. The compositions which I am considering submitting are the following:

"In Satan's Foyer"

"Folie

Hmm... I don't know how you would "rework" them. Have you written any pieces that use contemporary techniques?

Also, why are the chord changes written into the Nocturne?

What notation program do you use? This doesn't like Sibelius or Finale..

There are a lot of issues in the Nocturne alone. When does your portfolio have to be ready by? Because there are a lot of notational errors in these scores as I look through them, for instance, I'll just list some off

Nocturne No. 1

-I know you're probably used to this from guitar, but pianos use pedal markings, not "let ring"

-Delete all the chord symbols, the composition faculty will NOT like that if this isn't a jazz piece

-Is there a reason for having 3 tempo markings within the first 2 bars? If it's for the sake of midi playback don't bother. This is a problem with less experienced composers (I'm still fighting it too!) for writing their pieces for MIDI playback, and not an actual instrument.

-The left hand gets dangerously close to the right hand on a lot of these figures, you might want to think about revoicing some of it

-You have a lot of instances of messy notation (clashing noteheads and accidentals, etc) like for instance the sixteenth notes in mm. 16. Trust me, you do NOT want to submit messy scores to represent yourself to a comp faculty. It's an easy fix, you could even have someone proofread your scores for you.

-While I have listened to the MIDI (computer problems), just looking at the score the piece seems to be written in a pretty high tessitura for a Nocturne, again, think about where you could revoice the left hand parts (a section where you could drop it down an octave maybe?). It will help bring some sort of variation, and display a conscious effort for variety of color.

In Satan's Foyer

-Again, take out the chord symbols

-There's give and take when you're dealing with things like repetition. Repetition of rhythms and motives are fine, but you can't just park in the same 3 chord harmonic progression, it would suit you to take your listener to somewhere harmonically. There's potential here, flesh it out!

Folie

The drum part in Satan's Foyer needs more notational guidelines written into the score. A percussion part needs indications as to what note means what instrument. You simply cannot follow what you may think is a 'standard' for drum notation - you need to write it in for clarification purposes. This may seem unnecessary to you (I'm not saying it isn't, especially to a set drummer who will most likely understand what you mean by the bare notation you have here), but the professors WILL have a problem with it. I know this from experience - they really want student composers to know exactly how to spell out what they mean. They want your music to be as clear as possible.

This will go for the rest of your pieces, some of your notation is a little unclear. Also, some of your layouts (as far as where the instruments go, what clef they read in, etc.), are a little non-standard, which is not good as far as first impressions with professors go. They want to see that you know the standard ways of doing things, so they can add on top of it later. Maybe look at some notation books?

Oh yes, and good luck, of course! You have shown with these that you have a compositional voice, just some of your notational skills need work.

I think what Tumababa meant was that these are pieces that might not "demonstrate awareness of contemporary compositional techniques" sufficiently as they are fairly classical, especially the nocturne. The music department may be expecting something very atonal using one of the modern theories of composition. I would suggest talking to some students already in the music program to get a feel for what is expected. You may want to write a new very contemporary piece to include in your portfolio.

As has been commented already, there are some issues with the scores.

Good luck!

Well.... there are other "NEW" things besides atonality. Atonality is over fifty years old after all.....

I agree. According to the wiki, that the term "atonal" seems not to have a universally accepted meaning. So strike the "very atonal" from my previous posting :).

"Contemporary composition techniques" can mean anything, it doesn't just mean "Write a serialist piece" or something. There could be extended techniques written for instruments, or polyrhythms, poly and pantonality. I guess I can understand where the faculty is coming from but it seems odd that that a portfolio MUST have this, even if the composer might not be of particular school of thought. It's like the Boston Conservatory's portfolio requirements, they require prospective students to write a "traditional" fugue and/or sonata to include in their profile which just seems a tad ridiculous.

Well.... there are other "NEW" things besides atonality. Atonality is over fifty years old after all.....

That isn't very old

This needs to be done by December 1 (meaning a bit before December 1). I've removed the chords in the score (I put those in when I was bored and never bothered to remove them). I also programmed these in Guitar Pro 5, which isn't really comparable to Finale. . . it doesn't have a "piano pedal option or a fermata. My friend has Finale, so I'll probably transfer these songs to Finale, where I will have much more control over the scores.

Edit: I tried to fulfill the "contemporary" part at least a bit with Folie

This needs to be done by December 1 (meaning a bit before December 1). I've removed the chords in the score (I put those in when I was bored and never bothered to remove them). I also programmed these in Guitar Pro 5, which isn't really comparable to Finale. . . it doesn't have a "let ring" option or a fermata. My friend has Finale, so I'll probably transfer these songs to Finale, where I will have much more control over the scores.

Edit: I tried to fulfill the "contemporary" part at least a bit with Folie

The notes of the C major triad and the F# major triad--C C# E F# G A#.

And I should be able to get Finale by tonight. . . prepare to be amazed (?).