Composition Class: Books and Listening List
Posted by Christian Carey in Book review, Counterpoint, File Under?, Fugue, Krenek, Shapey, Uncategorized, classical, composer, contemporary classical, pedagogy, teaching 
I’m teaching the composition class at Westminster Choir College for the first time this fall. The course includes all of the first-semester composition majors as well as non-majors interested in composing (or, perhaps, needing an elective).
We’re going to be using three books as texts during the term:
- Modal Counterpoint, in the Style of the Sixteenth Century, Ernst Krenek (Boosey).
- The Study of Fugue, Alfred Mann (Dover).
- A Basic Course in Music Composition, Ralph Shapey (Presser).
Each of these is a small primer on one of the big, central topics in the craft of composition: Sixteenth century counterpoint, fugue, and twentieth century composition approaches. I like that two of them are exercise-heavy – the Krenek and Shapey – while one includes a more historiographical approach, with plenty of examples from the literature. Each author strikes a different tone: Krenek is thorough-going, Mann authoritative and Shapey brilliantly creative, if a bit on the cranky side.
None of them are complete discussions of their respective topics. But each provides a tantalizing, instructive introduction. The three are easily portable; making them easy companions for student composers to take along to muse over on the quad, in the library, or off-campus. What’s more, the combined price tag is less than the cost of many textbooks.
Next up: the listening list. I’m very open to thoughts from Sequenza 21 contributors and readers. Which pieces do you think are essential listening and study for first-semester composers? Drop some suggestions in the comments section!
I have a feeling the toughest part of preparing the course will be winnowing this down to a manageable number of pieces!
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