Music composition program offers unique opportunities
By: Marie Leonard
Issue date: 1/28/08 Section: News
Music composition majors occupy a unique niche in the plethora of students at SFA. The music composition program at SFA offers students a hands-on way to learn composition techniques while providing a foundation for success in the music industry.
The music composition program offers private composition lessons and classes in film scoring, composition software, orchestration and form. There are 10 students in the program, and only two are accepted each year.
Applicants are required to submit a portfolio containing four to seven pieces of music and an essay explaining why they should be admitted to the program.
Students in the program take a variety of music classes along with a special composition class every week. In composition class the students listen to recordings of their music and help each other point out things to work on. Outside of class they study famous composers and write music.
Russell Cannon, Garland freshman, was accepted into the music composition program and began last fall. Cannon decided on SFA because the program is small and his music would receive more attention.
In just his first semester Cannon has already been to New York City for a seminar on film scoring, worked on scoring a small film and had one of his pieces chosen to be performed at the National Association of Composers, USA conference in San Marcos this February.
To help fund his trip to New York, Cannon received a $500 scholarship from Dr. Stephen Lias, professor of music theory and competition. While in New York he heard Scott Smalley speak about the different composers he has worked with.
"Smalley talked about how to make music more powerful. He went through the actual scores of the films he has composed music for," Cannon said.
Cannon met composers from all over the globe that attended the seminar, and still keeps in touch with them through email where he can share his ideas.
The music composition majors have been working on scoring a small film since October of last year. The students watch the raw copy of the film and then went back frame-by-frame to pick out cues where they think music should start and end in the film.
There can be anywhere from 20 to 50 cues in the film, and these are divided up among the composition majors, who each receive five cues to score. They take the scored cues to the director weekly who then offers them feedback.
Composition students' senior year is spent preparing for a senior recital. Each senior is required to put together a 35-minute long performance of his or her best works. The student is required to organize the program alone and must pick a group of performers to play their pieces.
"There is always something going on and always something to write for. That's what keeps [the program] fun and interesting," Cannon said.
The music composition program offers private composition lessons and classes in film scoring, composition software, orchestration and form. There are 10 students in the program, and only two are accepted each year.
Applicants are required to submit a portfolio containing four to seven pieces of music and an essay explaining why they should be admitted to the program.
Students in the program take a variety of music classes along with a special composition class every week. In composition class the students listen to recordings of their music and help each other point out things to work on. Outside of class they study famous composers and write music.
Russell Cannon, Garland freshman, was accepted into the music composition program and began last fall. Cannon decided on SFA because the program is small and his music would receive more attention.
In just his first semester Cannon has already been to New York City for a seminar on film scoring, worked on scoring a small film and had one of his pieces chosen to be performed at the National Association of Composers, USA conference in San Marcos this February.
To help fund his trip to New York, Cannon received a $500 scholarship from Dr. Stephen Lias, professor of music theory and competition. While in New York he heard Scott Smalley speak about the different composers he has worked with.
"Smalley talked about how to make music more powerful. He went through the actual scores of the films he has composed music for," Cannon said.
Cannon met composers from all over the globe that attended the seminar, and still keeps in touch with them through email where he can share his ideas.
The music composition majors have been working on scoring a small film since October of last year. The students watch the raw copy of the film and then went back frame-by-frame to pick out cues where they think music should start and end in the film.
There can be anywhere from 20 to 50 cues in the film, and these are divided up among the composition majors, who each receive five cues to score. They take the scored cues to the director weekly who then offers them feedback.
Composition students' senior year is spent preparing for a senior recital. Each senior is required to put together a 35-minute long performance of his or her best works. The student is required to organize the program alone and must pick a group of performers to play their pieces.
"There is always something going on and always something to write for. That's what keeps [the program] fun and interesting," Cannon said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Russell Cannon
posted 1/28/08 @ 8:04 PM CST
Music Composition rocks...YEEAAHH.
Post a Comment