~ Dr. Jerry Liang 1998

                                  MA in Composition

Introduction

There is a strong and distinguished tradition of composition for voices and instruments in the School of Music. Since the 1980’s Professor Piers Hellawell has led a large integrated undergraduate programme that trains students in basics of technique, instrumentation and notation; this prepares them for further study through the MA in Composition and PhD tracks. Details of the undergraduate pathway can be found at ‘Composition’ under ‘Teaching and Learning’.

We aim that, where possible, composition students hear their music! Students have access to the Artists-in-residence Scheme and the Celebrity Series, both of which offer opportunities for young composers to collaborate with distinguished professional performers; the emphasis in our training of composers throughout the programme is on developing skills, experience and individuality. Events such as the annual Sonorities Festival and the programmes of visiting artists enhance the student composer’s experience immeasurably.

MA in Composition

Entry into postgraduate acoustic composition is through the MA in Composition; this modular one-year (full-time) or two-year (part-time) course combines free composition opportunities with study of modern aesthetic issues, composers’ writings and recent works. A range of options is also available to the student, and individual courses listed below are also available to suitably equipped students taking the MA in Music or MA in Music Technology. The main components of this course are:

Research Methods

A study skills course that brings together seminar topics such as notation software, approaches to the modern orchestral score, musical traditions of the last 100 years and writing for instrumental workshop.

Words and Music

A course that combines seminar study of great composers’ writings on music with analysis of specific works that address those composers’ ideas.

Composition (single and double options)

Free composition is pursued through the compulsory double (portfolio) option and, if chosen, through a further single module (see Options, below). Students design a portfolio that combines smaller media with one or two larger-scale projects; works are presented and discussed in a seminar group, while short composition exercises begin the study. Collaboration is also encouraged with Artists-in-residence and Celebrity Series artists; works written for these visitors are workshopped and recorded.

Set Works

Study of music from the later 20th Century (featuring, for example, works by Ligeti or Reich) is geared toward the composer’s learning: the student asks ‘how can I learn from this work as a composer?’ Assessment is thus largely in the form of a free composition that reflects the study of a set work.

Option

Students choose a final course from a wide range of modules; among those available are Composition (single), Arts Administration (through a placement with the Ulster Orchestra), Electroacoustic composition, Solo Recital and Manuscript Studies.

PhD in Composition

Both graduates of the MA in Composition and applicants from outside are eligible to apply for the PhD in Composition. This doctoral programme prepares the student for professional work by the preparation of a portfolio of original compositions under the supervision of Professor Piers Hellawell. Students are encouraged to seek professional outlets for their work, and our recent PhD composers had performances of their work by, among others, the Arditti, Vertavo and Tippett String Quartets, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/James Macmillan, Endymion Ensemble, Ulster Orchestra and Saxploitation.

The doctoral student works on free composition projects under supervision and seeks opportunities for performance of those works. As supplementary activity, composers are encouraged to take up the exploration of new technologies and to take a full part in the Seminar Series, in which guest speakers give informal papers to the research community.

Any enquiries about composition and the above courses may be addressed in the first instance to Professor Hellawell at P.Hellawell@qub.ac.uk.

Some of distinguished composers from Queen's

Many distinguished former students and current postgraduates of Queen’s are making waves in the new music world, both as composers and in associated work. Here are just a few:

Greg Caffrey is Head of Studies and a senior lecturer at North Down and Ards Institute; he also works as a freelance guitarist. His pieces have been selected and performed by the spnm in London as well as in Northern Ireland.

Mark Dougherty is a composer active in theatre and film media, who has worked as MD for Riverdance and many other shows. In 2001 he had a new work premiered in the Belfast Festival at Queen’s, and he travels the world acting as Musical Director for international productions.

Philip Flood is community and education officer for the Spitalfields Festival in London, providing adult, schools and community music activity across the local community.

Deirdre Gribbin is a freelance composer in London, who has held visiting posts at Newcastle, Bath and Cambridge Universities in the UK and at Princeton in the USA. Deirdre’s opera Hey Persephone! Was premiered to great acclaim at the 1998 Aldeburgh Festival, and she now teaches composition at Trinity College, London.

Simon Mawhinney won the 2000 Young Composers’ Competition of the Northern Sinfonia for an orchestral work, and subsequently took second prize in the Royal Philharmonic Society Competition, leading to a premiere at the Cheltenham Festival. His Pot of Pulgarve was selected by James Macmillan, who conducted the BBC Philharmonic’s performance of it at the Huddersfield Festival. He has had an interview with Pierre Boulez published, and works as a freelance composer and teacher in Belfast.

Eunan McCreesh is a full-time school Head of Music in Portadown. His chamber works have won several prizes from the Sligo Young Composers’ Competition, his music has been performed by Concorde in Dublin and his String Quartet was recently workshopped for the spnm by the Arditti Quartet.

Deirdre McKay was in 2001 appointed associate composer of Young Sinfonia, the youth orchestra run in Newcastle Upon Tyne by the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra. Deirdre has had works widely performed in the UK and overseas, and her music is increasingly heard on BBC and other radio stations. Her quartet little Sails was twice heard in London played by different quartets in the 2001-2 season, since when she has fulfilled a string of commissions in Ireland, most recently for the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.

Adam Melvin went from Queen’s in 1999 to postgraduate study at the Guildhall School of Music, since when he has pursued freelance composition in his native Manchester; most recently he was awarded a commendation in the Alan Bush Composition Prize.

　　
   回上頁