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Question for Composition Majors

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Question for Composition Majors 2008-12-19 17:25:01


Hey all,
so in a few months, i'll be applying to both UTSA's and Texas State's music schools for a composition major,
thing is both require a couple of composed pieces with the score, my question is:

Does anybody know how harshly any college looks or judges these compositions? Is it just a measure of where you are at?

I know i'll have to audition, but that isn't a problem,

any help is greatly appreciated!

Response to Question for Composition Majors 2008-12-19 22:28:12


Make sure everything is written out correctly, without mistakes. Submitting a recording is usually optional; they usually just rely on the written scores. Sending a MIDI file pushed through finale won't cut it, you'd be best off sitting down and scoring a piece from scratch to make sure it's exactly how you want it.


BBS Signature

Response to Question for Composition Majors 2008-12-19 23:30:39


An addendum to the last poster - I used to compose stuff on a score writing program, in part because of my sloppy handwriting. Something like Finale or GenieSoft Score Writer (the one I use) can help make your piece appear more professional-looking, and you can have the program play it back for you to let you hear any errors you may have missed visually.

Stay away from parallel 5ths and make sure to resolve all 7th chords & tritones in the proper directions and you should be generally okay formally. Sound quality is subjective; I would guess most of the grading criteria is going to be on formal structure and arrangement, so just make sure the composition doesn't violate any black-letter composition laws, so to speak, and you should be fine.

Good luck!


<|> TritoneAngel <|>

<|> Visit TritoneAngel Audio for guitar-centric rock, metal, VG, jazz & classical songs.

<|> Newest TritoneAngel Audio: Clockwork (submitted 12/8/08)

BBS Signature

Response to Question for Composition Majors 2008-12-19 23:31:39


An addendum to the last poster - I used to compose stuff on a score writing program, in part because of my sloppy handwriting. Something like Finale or GenieSoft Score Writer (the one I use) can help make your piece appear more professional-looking, and you can have the program play it back for you to let you hear any errors you may have missed visually.

Stay away from parallel 5ths and make sure to resolve all 7th chords & tritones in the proper directions and you should be generally okay formally. Sound quality is subjective; I would guess most of the grading criteria is going to be on formal structure and arrangement, so just make sure the composition doesn't violate any black-letter composition laws, so to speak, and you should be fine.

Good luck!


<|> TritoneAngel <|>

<|> Visit TritoneAngel Audio for guitar-centric rock, metal, VG, jazz & classical songs.

<|> Newest TritoneAngel Audio: Clockwork (submitted 12/8/08)

BBS Signature

Response to Question for Composition Majors 2008-12-20 06:58:05


When youre just entering in (of course, it depends on how prestigous the school is), the quality of your compositions do not matter so much, as they want to see how proficient you are at an instrument and youre overall understanding of music. (As a matter of fact, the application for composito majors at ASU doesnt even entail you need to include original compositions in your portfolio) So if auditioning is not a problem for you, and youre good at performance and decent at sightreading you should be fine.


BBS Signature

Response to Question for Composition Majors 2008-12-20 10:02:58


Thats good to hear, all of the responses;

The required piece is a Class I performance solo (which ain't that hard) and the school is no Julliard,
in fact I plan on transferring out after some time though I don't know when

Thanks guys!