Music preparation

Semester overview

The academic year at Surrey is divided into two semesters. In each semester of eleven weeks (teaching for the first runs from the end of September to December) you’ll be taking four modules. As a Music student in your first semester you’ll be taking:

• Pathways in Musicianship A: Performance and Arrangement
• Encountering Music History
• Music Project 1A (for details of this year’s topic, see below)
• Harmony 1: Common-Practice Harmony.

And in your second semester you’ll be taking these two modules:

• Investigating Popular Music: Case Study (for details of this year’s case study, see below)
• Investigating Classical Music: Case Study (for details of this year’s case study, see below)

And your choice of any two out of these three modules:

• Pathways in Musicianship B: Performance and Composition
• Music Project 1B (for details of this year’s topic, see below)
• Fundamentals of Music Technology and Production.

Reading lists by module

Below are the reading lists, but we should emphasize that there is no pressure or necessity to read any of the texts, or do any of the listening, before you arrive. Once you are here, of course, you’ll also have access to texts via the Library and online library resources.

We hope this is helpful – and we look forward to welcoming you here at Surrey in person soon!

Pathways in Musicianship A and Pathways in Musicianship B

These modules focus on performance and/or composition (or arrangement). Good preparatory reading for the latter includes:

• Daryl Runswick, Rock, Jazz and Pop Arranging
• Alfred Blatter, Instrumentation and Orchestration
• Samuel Adler, The Study of Orchestration.

Music Project 1A, Music Project 1B

These modules change from year to year depending on the member of staff leading them and their individual research strengths and interests. The themes for this year are Improvisation (Semester 1) and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Semester 2).

Previous Music Projects (which may come up again) have included: Reworking Music, The Music of Data, The Musical, Musical Games after John Zorn’s Cobra, Medieval Music, Women in Music, Mahler and Musical Meaning, Folk Music and Nostalgia, and Words and Music.

Encountering Music History

This module introduces aspects of Western classical and popular music. Good preparatory reading includes:

• Nicholas Cook, Music: A Very Short Introduction (second edition).

Harmony 1: Common-Practice Harmony

This module explores common-practice harmony (i.e. the principles of tonal music) through analysis and harmonisation, focusing on the chorales of J.S. Bach. Good preparatory reading would include:

• Nicholas Cook, Analysis Through Composition
• George Pratt, The Dynamics of Harmony
• Chris Gill, Harmonising Bach Chorales: The Definitive Guide for Students and Teachers (fifth edition).

Investigating Popular Music: Case Study

This year’s case study will be (provisionally) Adele, to include her albums 19, 21, 25, and 30, and her theme song for the James Bond film Skyfall. Good preparation would be to listen to this music. Don’t worry if you’re not a fan – the module does so much more than just look at Adele!

Reading will be set each week on the subjects of the lectures, which include: albums; music; lyrics; music videos; the contemporary music industry; copyright infringement; cover versions; authenticity; the popular music canon; gender and sexuality; popular music and film.

Investigating Classical Music: Case Study

This year’s case study will be Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The module will fall broadly into two halves, the first looking analytically at the symphony and related repertoire, the second exploring its subsequent history through composition, adaptation, musicology, politics and popular culture. Good preparatory reading and listening would include:

• Nicholas Cook, Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
• Listen to any good modern recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.