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COMPOSITION STUDIES

Major combinations:
NQF Level: 5: CST1511, CST1512
NQF Level: 6: CST2611, CST2612
NQF Level: 7: CST3711, CST3712, CST3713, CST3714

Music Theory and Composition II - CST2611
Under Graduate Degree Year module NQF level: 6 Credits: 24
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: CST1511
Recommendation: The pre-knowledge structure requires a student to be able to successfully manipulate diatonic harmony, simple chromaticism and two-part counterpoint as covered in CST1511, before embarking on complex chromatic harmony and three-part counterpoint, as dealt with in the current module.
Purpose: Qualifying students will develop advanced skills of tonal harmonic and contrapuntal resources and their use in historical contexts, specifically the middle- to late-common practice period, and contemporary contexts, specifically popular music of the late 20th century to the current time, and jazz forms. It will be useful to learners who wish to develop more advanced contemporary musical skills paired with a historical understanding of the development and function of harmonic and contrapuntal resources. Furthermore, qualifying students will be able to harness chromatic tonal resources, specifically harmony and three-part counterpoint, for use in both historical Romantic contexts, fugal studies, contemporary popular music and jazz. They are able to exploit chromatic principles of tonality in a variety of stylistic contexts, and to understand how these principles are repurposed stylistically as a function of context.
Music Technology II: MIDI - CST2612
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 6 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: CST1512
Purpose: Qualifying students will acquire knowledge of MIDI technology and its application. It will be of particular use to aspiring composers, arrangers and performers who wish to understand and utilize music in a digital environment. Furthermore, qualifying students will be able to assemble and configure a MIDI hardware and software environment, and exploit MIDI technology, including General MIDI and MIDI sequencers, to assist in the creation of digital music projects.
Music Theory and Composition III - CST3711
Under Graduate Degree Year module NQF level: 7 Credits: 24
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: CST2611 Co-requisite: CST3713 and CST3714
Purpose: Qualifying students will develop skills, knowledge and competencies related to atonal, extended tonal and neo-tonal compositional languages as used in a Modernist and postmodern concert music and jazz context from the early 20th century to the present. Furthermore, qualifying students will be able to compose music that incorporates the compositional devices mentioned above, and will be able to utilize a set of analytical tools that will enable them to interpret Modernist and postmodern music of the 20th to 21st centuries.
Music Technology III: Sound Production - CST3712
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: CST2612
Purpose: Qualifying students will acquire an advanced knowledge of digital audio technology. It will be of particular use to composers, arrangers and performers who wish to specialize in the use of music in a digital environment, as well as to students of multimedia who wish to incorporate recorded or synthesized sound elements into their work. Furthermore, qualifying students will be able to exploit digital audio hardware and software to record, edit, mix and master their own digital audio music projects, and are able to engage in common digital audio-related industry projects such as sound design and scoring for a range of media including film, TV and computer games.
Instrumentation and Orchestration - CST3713
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: CST2611 Co-requisite: CST3711 and CST3714
Purpose: Qualifying students will learn the mechanical and acoustic properties of Western orchestral and African instruments, and how to apply these in various ensemble combinations. Qualifying students will learn to write music for strings, percussion, woodwind, and brass instrument combinations, and apply these to contemporary musical idioms. Students will also learn to write for combinations of African instruments and how to address the acoustic challenges associated with combining instruments using non standardized tuning systems.
African Composition - CST3714
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: CST2611 Co-requisite: CST3711 and CST3713
Purpose: Qualifying students will analyse and apply advanced techniques of African composition in a range of instrumental and vocal art musics. Qualifying students will create transcriptions and analysis of musical works by twentieth and twenty-first century composers from Africa and abroad who have used African indigenous elements as structural elements in their music. Competency to create short- to medium length composition projects using African compositional techniques will be assessed through a portfolio of compositions in a range of idioms.
Music Analysis - CST4801
Honours NQF level: 8 Credits: 24
Module presented in English Module presented online
Purpose: Qualifying students will engage critically with historical and contemporary analytical paradigms in the field of music theory and analysis. Students will demonstrate competence through the analysis of works in selected genres: jazz, popular music, African music, and western art music. Students will demonstrate the ability to select and draw on a range of analytical methods appropriate to specific musical works and genres and their expressive and ideological universes, enabling them to construct convincing models of musical meaning.
Music Technology I: Digital Audio - CST1512
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 5 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Purpose: Qualifying students will acquire a foundational knowledge of digital audio technology. This module will be of particular use to aspiring composers, arrangers and performers who wish to understand and utilize music in a digital environment, as well as to students of multimedia who wish to incorporate recorded or synthesized sound elements into their work. Furthermore, qualifying students will be able to assemble and configure a digital audio hardware and software environment, and exploit these audio technologies, including soundcards, microphones, speakers and Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software, to record, edit, mix and master their own digital audio music projects.
Music Theory and Composition I - CST1511
Under Graduate Degree Year module NQF level: 5 Credits: 24
Module presented in English Module presented online
Purpose: Qualifying students will gain foundational knowledge of tonal harmonic practice as it applies to historical common practice usage in the form of chorale settings, and also to contemporary contexts, including popular songwriting and jazz. Species counterpoint from the early common practice period will also be covered. Students will be able to apply the fundamental principles of tonality in a variety of stylistic contexts, and furthermore understand how these principles are repurposed stylistically as a function of context.