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Unit information: Advanced Orchestration in 2023/24

Unit name Advanced Orchestration
Unit code MUSIM0043
Credit points 20
Level of study M/7
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director Professor. Pickard
Open unit status Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)

None

Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)

None

Units you may not take alongside this one

None

School/department Department of Music
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

This unit provides a thorough grounding in the techniques of orchestral writing. Individual instrumental capabilities will be studied, but the emphasis will be on techniques for blending instruments and developing these into more complex orchestral textures. Examples used will be drawn mainly from nineteenth- and twentieth-century orchestral literature. Specifically, the unit aims to provide students with clear understanding of professional orchestral score layout and develop students' ability to blend and balance fairly complex instrumental colours in an orchestral context.

Your learning on this unit

Students successfully completing this unit will be able to:

  1. demonstrate an advanced working knowledge of the capabilities and blending of orchestral instruments (e.g.1.1 range, 1.2 dynamic profile, 1.3 technical limitations)
  2. arrange passages in appropriate style, using given exemplars
  3. layout complex pages of score in a fully professional manner

How you will learn

Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, including seminars, tutorials, and self-directed exercises.

How you will be assessed

  • One portfolio assignment consisting of two equally weighted projects (summative, 50%), demonstrating ILOs 1 and 2
  • One end of term project (summative, 50%), demonstrating ILO 3

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. MUSIM0043).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.

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