Individual Department of Music courses

Information about courses taught in the Department of Computing.

Details of which programme each course is available on is available at the end of each course entry in square brackets.

Year 1

Analytical and Contextual Studies (15 credits) examines the social, cultural and musical contexts within which music is made. A series of case studies focuses on significant genres and artists in the history of popular music. You are encouraged to evaluate the significance of various artistic developments while acquiring an understanding of the conceptual frameworks and cultural contexts within which such changes have been understood. [BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Approaches to Contemporary Music (15 credits) introduces you to the skills you will require, the repertoire you will encounter and the debates you need to consider when studying music of the 20th century. Via concrete examples and case studies it introduces the specific skills required for analysing music, engaging in critical reasoning, conducting research and an awareness of the key issues of debate in contemporary musicology. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Composition (30 credits) allows you to develop understanding of 20th–21st-century compositional techniques and to apply them in your own creative work. A number of creative strategies are actively explored, including experimentaBMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computingotation, visualisation and improvisation. You consider structural methods as evidenced in music from the early 20th century onwards (serialism, isorhythm, block form, process- based form) and explore techniques with respect to pitch (linear/harmonic), rhythm and texture. [BMus Music]

Creative Music Technology (15 credits) This course explores a range of music technology skills, including analogue and digital recording techniques, computer-based audio production and MIDI sequencing. You develop a basic working knowledge of two software packages (Logic and ProTools), acquiring core skills in computer music and furthering your understanding of its potential practical applications. You work in a recording studio, developing knowledge of good practice in this environment. [BMus Music BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Folk and Urban Musics (30 credits) provides a foundation for understanding the key elements common in many forms of popular music. The first term focuses on roots of popular style in US and European folk music, stressing the importance of orality, song form, interaction/improvisation, modality, standard progressions, rhythm, and the role of social processes in shaping music. The second and third terms focus on the creative concepts at the heart of 20th-century popular music in the Western world, for example, riffs, repetition, cycle of fifths, fragmentation, recycling/ sampling, lyrics and use of new technologies. [BMus Popular Music]

Music Computing 1 (15 credits) Taught in lab sessions, the course introduces the fundamentals of music programming. You learn how to design algorithms in Max/MSP for synthesis, real-time effects and sampling, and explore the basic methods and concepts of generative music. There is a short survey of the development of electronic and computer music. In the second part of the course, building on skills acquired in other level 1 courses, you implement a number of audio and music applications using textual programming (Java). [BMus/BSc Music Computing]

You explore algorithms that can generate structure and content: linear and non-linear dynamic systems such as cellular automata, chaotic systems and generative grammars. Systems are developed with a practical application in mind: you develop a number of explorative software projects that are presented in a suitable performance or presentation context.

Performance and Critical Listening (30 credits) provides an introduction to classical performance at Goldsmiths. Individual tuition is given in instrumental or vocal specialism by expert visiting staff, and this is further supported by tutor-led performance seminars in which you are encouraged to perform pieces and evaluate others. In the second term you collaborate with other students to put on an assessed chamber music concert, with an individual final recital as the end of the year assessment. [BMus Music]

Popular Music: History, Style and Technique (15 credits) aims to enhance critical listening skills through discussion of issues related to the performance, recording, production, composition and documentation of Western popular music. It provides a foundation for skills and understanding developed later in the programme, introducing topics such as: standard song forms and structures; instrumental and vocal tone, texture and style; approaches to recording and production; genres and generic markers; and the role of arrangement. [BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Practical Popular Music Studies (30 credits) helps you to develop your practical skills in the broadest sense, via a weekly performance class and individual vocal/instrumental lessons. The course provides instruction in all areas of practical musicianship, including aural skills, transcription, sight-reading and improvisation, as well as ensemble-playing and performance. You are given supporting classes in performance technology (how to use PA, mics etc) and other issues relating to rehearsal, practice and presentation. [BMus Popular Music]

Tonal Harmony and Form (15 credits) consolidates and extends your understanding of tonal harmony and introduces the historical and analytical study of music 1750–1830, concentrating on sonata form movements and their context. The first half of the course is primarily technical, using the music of JS Bach to focus the study of chord identification, harmonic progressions, cadences, melodic structure and the simple tonal forms (binary, ternary and rondo). The second half of the course looks at the music of the common- practice period through a study of sonata form and its development from Haydn to Beethoven. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Western Art Music: Repertoire and Development (15 credits) familiarises you with some significant examples of Western Art Music, presented in chronological order. It also develops a critique of the ways traditions are constructed and works become canonised. Through a study of particular works, you come to understand: the range of languages and techniques available in the Western art-music tradition; why music was composed and performed differently in past communities; patterns of influence and points of innovation in the development of music; the origins of the musical practices we employ today; and the evidence, investigative methods and value systems that have induced us to construct the musical past in particular ways. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Year 2

Arranging: Jazz and Commercial Music (15 credits) introduces you to a range of techniques, and provides an opportunity to apply harmonic knowledge acquired in The Language of Jazz course. You gain an understanding of standard brass and reed instrumentations, conventional scoring and chord voicing techniques and standard approaches to arrangement structure. You will be expected to complete some preliminary exercises before the completion of a fully scored arrangement for a medium to large ensemble. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Classical Performance (30 credits) builds on the musical performance skills acquired in Year 1, and develops not only practical performance skills but also critical listening and interpersonal skills. Individual tuition is provided by expert visiting staff. You will give severaBMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computingon-assessed performances as part of tutor-led performance seminars, as well as assessed mid-term and end-of-year recitals. You will also work with a composer during the second term on a new work for your instrument or voice, the performance
of which also forms part of your assessment. [BMus Music]

Composition and Performance (15 credits) requires you to compose two works, one for a soloist and one for a small ensemble, in which you collaborate closely with students taking Year 2 Performance. Contemporary techniques are explored, with the aim of generating convincing musical structures. Special consideration is given to the timbral and textural features of the selected instrumental and/or vocal resources, and to the possibilities and practical limitations of a real-life performance setting. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Composition: Creative Strategies (15 credits) enables you to develop creative and technical strategies for composition. Contemporary techniques are studied, identifying areas such
as pitch organisation, rhythm and texture. You undertake a series of assessed creative tasks, exploring indeterminacy, new forms of notation, and pre-compositional strategies (involving graphical representation and text). Collaborative work with other creative disciplines is also encouraged. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

History of Performance (15 credits) encourages you to examine changing performance contexts for Western music since the 17th century. This is undertaken in two ways: through the interpretation of historical documents and artefacts (including musical sources, treatises and instrument) and via the analysis of recordings. Some consideration is given to the ‘period-instrument’ movement and to the broader issues that this has raised concerning the role of the performer. Although the course does not require you to perform, you are encouraged to bring your own practical experience to bear on your study. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Media Composition (15 credits) The course develops the awareness acquired in the course ‘Music in Film’ on music’s function in relation to other media, through practical composition work. It introduces a number of technical and creative approaches to the composition of music for media such as film, video, radio, games and installation, working with music technology software including Logic and Sibelius. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

This includes an overview of core concepts such as the role of synchronisation and illustration, awareness of genre and how elements combine in multimedia forms, as well as of composition strategies in creating music for other media – for example, using thematic organisation, role models, orchestration/arrangement/production and working to tight instructions. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music Aesthetics (15 credits) considers the problems of defining music and its ability to express and be ‘meaningful’. The main aim of the course is not to settle on the ‘right’ answers (they may not exist), but to help you think in logical and consistent ways about the principles by which you might begin to negotiate and evaluate the musics of the world – present and future. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music, Communication and Identity (15 credits) examines how music has been used to affirm a sense of collective identity and to exclude others (and how individual artists have sometimes refused and reformed those group identities). Composers, songwriters and musicians have quite consciously used their art to communicate a sense of individual and collective experience. At the same time, the course considers how music has been associated with imagination, fantasy and play, conveying identities that are frivolous, fun, ironic or escapist. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music in Film (15 credits) introduces a number of perspectives on the use and function of music in narrative film. This includes an overview of practices from the so-called ‘silent era’ through to contemporary mainstream Hollywood cinema, and to those in world cinemas; a discussion of technological developments and how this influenced film music practice; distinctions between the deployment of dramatic scoring and pre-existing musics/songs/recordings; the position of music in film’s narrative apparatus; and the interaction between music and other elements of the ‘soundtrack’. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music and Modernism (15 credits) explores the development of musical trends in the first half of the 20th century and considers their relationship to the modernist ideas evolving in Western culture at this time. Particular attention is given to the music of Debussy, Stravinsky and the composers of the Second Viennese School. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music and Postmodernism (15 credits) examines how certain music of the 20th and 21st centuries developed in the context of particular postmodernist trends. The period between 1960 and the present provides the focus for the course, which pays particular attention to the music of composers such as Berio, Cage, Kagel, Adams and Zorn. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music Computing 2 (30 credits) The course introduces analytic and creative methods in music computing. It begins with a survey of the history and development of algorithmic methods in music, including combinatorics, iterative and permutational techniques and mathematical systems. You explore how these can be applied and extended in computer-aided composition and interactive systems. The course also explores artificial intelligence in music, with topics in dynamical systems, machine reasoning and machine learning.

Examples of projects include an automated accompanist and an autonomous improvisation system. You develop your expertise in music programming languages, including Max/ MSP and Java, learning how to interface audio systems with AI modules. You create a portfolio of software projects for computer-aided composition, interactive installation and/or live performance. [BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music of Africa and Asia (15 credits) introduces the diverse musical traditions of these two continents. It concentrates on traditional musical practices, although some attention is also given to newly created styles. Students are expected to become familiar with the sounds of the music of large parts of Africa, Asia and Oceania, and to understand something of their underlying structural principles and the social and cultural contexts in which they are performed. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music Technology and Production (15 credits) highlights a range of recording techniques and music technology, focusing on sequencing, sampling, multi-track recording, use of a mixing desk, audio and digital effects and microphones. In addition, the course introduces the key aesthetic concepts that underlie contemporary production techniques and emphasises the creative importance of recording and technology in popular music. [BMus Popular Music]

Musical Style and Historical Culture (15 credits) explores styles of music and their relation to historical cultures, institutions and communities. You will learn about specific historical musicaBMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computingetworks, such as those existing in Renaissance Florence, 18th-century Vienna or 19th-century St Petersburg, and also consider the difficulties in relating particular musical styles to complex cultures along with the potential distinctions between shared musical styles and shared techniques. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Musicians, Commerce and Commodification (15 credits) examines the role of various media and industries in the music making process. It considers the historical significance of printing, recording, radio, the moving image media, digital technology and the internet. It also considers the range of different companies that have a vested interest in music making, and explores how music has become ever more significant for corporate promotion and branding.

The course reflects on how these industries have provided opportunities and imposed constraints on music making. The course links a detailed focused study of how various industries and media operate to key conceptual frameworks and explanatory models drawn from cultural and social theory. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Orchestration (15 credits) familiarises you with the principles of orchestration found in scores from the Classical period through to the turn of the 20th century. The course covers how instrumentation and techniques of orchestration developed over this time, and examines issues of transcription from piano music to orchestra. It also aims to provide a foundation of knowledge in orchestration technique that might later be applied in your own composition work. You will complete a portfolio of short preliminary exercises, alongside two transcriptions for orchestral forces of short piano pieces. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Performance: Ensemble (15 credits) guides you through a range of repertoire to develop enhanced stylistic awareness and both individual and group musicianship skills. By participating in a weekly ensemble class, you experience a variety of learning situations from full notation and lead sheets to working purely by ear or verbal instructions. In addition, you are encouraged to evolve performance in the broadest sense, developing awareness of the effects of personal physicality, how to use the performance space and other issues of presentation. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Performance: New Contexts (15 credits) continues the work begun in ensemble performance, encouraging confidence and technical proficiency. You develop creativity through improvisation and arrangement, and through solo playing and taking solos within an ensemble context. You are encouraged to choose an influential vocalist or instrumentalist and study the characteristics of their creative style. [BMus Popular Music]

Romanticism and Musical Structures (15 credits) takes a primarily analytical approach to music from Beethoven to Brahms. The major analytical techniques employed are those developed by Schenker and Schoenberg, since these remain the most appropriate and penetrating tools for the analysis of harmony, tonality and thematic structure in this repertoire. You produce analyses of a range of 19th century works, demonstrating your insight into and understanding of the structures and meaning of these works. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Russian Music Traditions (15 credits) examines Russian music from the 16th–19th centuries, including areas such as the legacy of folk music, sacred music, music education and theory, and the political and social contexts in which all of these were found. The unique archive collections of the Centre for Russian Music at Goldsmiths, and the special collection room, will be made available for students, allowing you to engage with some relevant primary sources of this period. [BMus Music]

Songwriting (15 credits) explores many dimensions of songwriting, including writing for voice, arrangement, standard and extended song structures, harmonic conventions and lyric writing. The course explores differences in the work of composer-songwriters and singer- songwriters, together with related issues such as the influence of commercialism, authorship and interpretation. You have the opportunity to have songs performed (or to perform them yourself) in a presentation at the end of the course. [BMus Popular Music]

Studio Composition (15 credits) explores further the creative possibilities of the music studio. Current directions in computer music and sound art are considered in depth, with reference to aesthetic issues and compositional techniques. You are encouraged to develop your understanding and technical skills in the production of one composition. Graphic notation is explored as a vehicle for analysis and pre-compositional design. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Studio Techniques (15 credits) enables you to acquire those fundamental skills in the use of studio equipment and software that are relevant to experimental electronic music and electroacoustic composition. These include recording techniques, sound editing and mixing, digital audio processing and MIDI usage. You are also introduced to contemporary studio repertory. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

The Language of Jazz (15 credits) provides an introduction to the harmonic and melodic vocabulary of jazz and commercial music. You study: tonality, standard chord progressions, chord/scale relationships, modes, extended chords, dissonance and reharmonisation. You are also instructed in the conventions of jazz and popular music notation, including the presentation of lead sheets and full scores. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Year 3

Advanced Classical Performance continues to build on the performance skills you have acquired at earlier levels, and develops your ability to an advanced graduate standard. An increased amount of instrumental tuition is again given by visiting experts, and you have the opportunity to perform as part of tutor-led performance seminars. Your mid-course assessment at the end of the first term is a lecture-recital on a piece chosen by you. The end-of-year assessment is a more substantial 30-minute recital, which marks the culmination of your performance studies at Goldsmiths. [BMus Music]

Aesthetics of Performance develops ideas and approaches established in the Music Aesthetics course and applies them to issues of musical performance whether popular, classical, postmodern or non-Western. You consider issues such as: the justification for having a separate category of so-called performing arts, and whether performances can be, in themselves, works of art; the complex relationship between musical texts (both material and virtual) and the strategies of the performer (as curator and creator); and what the ethical and artistic responsibilities of performers might be in relation to the communities and traditions of which they form a part. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Analysis and New Music explores music from 1970–2000, considering issues in structure and interpretation of a range of styles and composers, including Boulez, Stockhausen, Ferneyhough, minimalism, Andriessen, Cage, Birtwistle, Carter and Rihm. Some popular music styles may also be studied. Because appropriate analytical techniques are elusive for much of this music, you are encouraged to develop and apply analytic approaches suitable to individual works, drawing on models presented to you in lectures. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Applied Composition and Songwriting allows you to produce a portfolio of work in either mixed- media composition or songwriting, providing an opportunity to apply and extend techniques and understanding acquired in Year 2 courses in Songwriting and Film Music. The course is delivered through lecture/seminars on techniques and approaches arising out of case study exemplars. An assortment of creative assignments is given, from which you construct a short portfolio of songs or pieces, submitted in recorded form. [BMus Popular Music]

Composition for Visiting Ensemble requires you to compose a work for a professional visiting ensemble. The course structure consists of one lecture and two seminars in which you study recent string quartet repertoire alongside appropriate technical compositional strategies. These sessions are followed up with individual tutorials to discuss the development of your work. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Creative Performance enables you to participate in a range of ensemble classes and group workshops aimed at developing musicianship, technique, originality and performance presentation. You are encouraged to develop creative and experimental approaches to performance, as well as acquiring skills in directing other musicians and studio work. Final year assessments will be held as a public showcase event, and you leave the course with a portfolio of professional-quality recorded work. [BMus Popular Music]

Creative Research Project allows you to devise and produce an independent, creative project that may consist of an extended single piece or short portfolio of closely related works. It is an opportunity for composers to explore in depth a particular area of interest and concern, building upon any creative and/or technical interests developed in Years 1 and 2. You identify your own research questions related to creative and/or contextual issues, with the advice and supervision of a specialist member of academic staff. The creative work will address these questions through a process of investigation and experiment. [BMus Music]

Improvisation deals with creativity in performance. By engaging with some of the key ideas on improvisation – which range from the highly technical to the purely spiritual – you are introduced to the concepts of spontaneous creativity. Lectures and workshops present improvisation in many forms, from completely free improvisation to creativity housed within more restricted musical parameters. You can choose to focus on one style of improvisation on which to be assessed. [BMus Music & BMus Popular Music]

Live Electronics allows you to undertake a substantial creative project in agreement with the course tutor. This could be an electro-acoustic composition, a sound installation (or other interdisciplinary or collaborative project) or a composition for performance by the department’s Ensemble-in-Residence. You will develop advanced skills in the use of studio equipment and software, tailored to your needs. The possibilities of studio-based composition in a live performance element are explored in depth. [BMus Music & BMus Popular Music]

Minimalism and Postminimalism assesses the history, techniques and aesthetics of musical minimalism in the context of contemporary cultural practice. The period covered ranges from its prehistory in the output of such composers as Satie, through its early maturity in the work of Young, Riley, Reich and Glass, to some of the manifestations of their heritage in the music of such composers as Pärt, Branca and Skempton. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Mozart’s Operas: Sources and Documents provides an opportunity for you to develop musicological skills by exploring Mozart’s operas, not only through secondary sources such as modern textbooks and printed scores, but also by reviewing the primary historical sources and documents upon which modern accounts and editions are based. The course demonstrates how documents from the past might be used to write narrative and explanatory types of history, and the kinds of decisions and assumptions that make such processes possible. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Music Computing Major Project (60 credits). This project integrates the skills and understandings acquired throughout the entire programme of study, including the application of AI to music, the algorithmic formation of music and structure, computational analysis, sound synthesis and the methods of creative practice. The output from this course is a substantial, independent body of work, in the form of a research study, software implementation and creative output. At the start of the course, under tutor guidance, you define a suitable project.

A series of student-led seminars provide further feedback and advice. Projects focus either on software development or on a musical/ creative output. The software development project is based upon an independent area of theoretical and practical study, in which you design, implement, test and evaluate an original software system for musical or audio application. For the creative project you design and produce a portfolio of work based on software development (including the assembling of existing sub-systems) that may include musical composition, improvisation or sound installation, using appropriate research methods. The emphasis of the project will help determine the award of the programme, BMus or BSc. [BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Narrative, Representation and the Popular Song engages with theories of representation and narrative in order to understand how the popular song uses words and music to convey information about, comment upon and tell stories about the world. It is concerned with fiction as much as realism; social intervention as much as imaginative escapism. The course combines theoretical reflection with detailed case studies. Although the main focus is on songs composed over the past 70 years, it also considers various historical legacies (particularly the lyrical and musical influence of folk ballads and the blues). [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Performing South East Asian Music enables you to develop skills in performance on a gamelan ensemble from the Sunda region of Indonesia, called gamelan degung. You learn traditional gamelan styles and develop your own creativity through devising innovative approaches to interaction and improvisation. Practical workshops are complemented by theoretical lectures/seminars that examine Southeast Asian music traditions and cognitive approaches to musical competence and creativity. This provides a contextual framework for critical reflection on the aural methods of music learning and performance skills developed during the course. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Phonography creatively explores the domain of field recording, including the use of recorded sounds in documentary, acoustic ecology and sound art. It theoretically and practically tackles the salient issues whilst building up the technical skills required in the practice of phonography. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Popular Music Composition Project enables you to produce a coherent and unified portfolio of creative work – composition, songwriting or creative arrangement – guided by a specialist tutor. You can opt to work in studio, acoustic or mixed media. [BMus Popular Music]

Psychological Approaches to Music provides an introduction to the study of music psychology. Lectures focus on the perception, cognition and neural basis of musical understanding, the perception of musical structure and emotions and theories about music’s evolutionary roots. The scientific methods used in research are explored in a lab-based class. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Research Essay allows you to construct an extended piece of work on a historical, cultural, analytical or performance topic of your choice. Suitable topics need to be related in some way to courses you have previously studied, and approved by the department. Once approved, you are allocated a specialist member of staff to supervise your work, and you meet regularly with them throughout the year. You may submit analytical or graphic examples, audio or video tapes, or other material in support of your work. [BMus Music & BMus Popular Music]

Soviet Music and Beyond offers lectures and seminars on pre-Soviet, Soviet and post-Soviet developments in Russian music, on music and politics in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, and on current issues in Russian culture and history. More specialised lectures discuss theoretical aspects of Soviet and Post-Soviet music and there is a particular focus on prominent composers such as Scriabin, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke and Gubaidulina. [BMus Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]

Topics in African American Music From the spirituals to hip-hop via jazz and rock and roll, over the last hundred years the global dissemination, presence and influence of African American music styles has been one of music’s dominating narratives. This course offers you the chance to explore some of the key themes and debates in African-American music: we explore musical topics such as the enduring pattern of call and response, cultural-political topics such as the (controversial) assimilation of black music by non-black performers and composers, and historical topics such as the idea of this tradition as the site of struggle and memorial. [BMus Music, BMus Popular Music & BMus/BSc Music Computing]