Music Composition for the Screen,
MFA
54 Credits
2015/2016
1st Semester – Fall (12 Credits)
32-6221 Scoring I: Composing
Dramatic Music, 4
32-6251 Orchestration, 3
32-6630 History of Cinema, 3
32-6901 Lab (Tutorial), 2
3rd Semester – Fall (12 Credits)
32-6223 Scoring III: Genre and Style, 4
32-6261 Music For Games I, 3
32-6441 Conducting to Picture, 3
32-6901 Lab (Tutorial), 2
Semester in LA – Summer (5 Credits)
32-6989 Internship/ Apprenticeship, 1
32-6981L Career Development, 1
32-6998L Thesis/Practicum: Final
Project, 3
2nd Semester – Spring (13 Credits) 32-6222 Scoring II: Color and
Complexity, 4
32-6252 Orchestration II, 3
32-6631 The Film Score: A Survey of
the Craft, 3
28-6151 Managing and Licensing
Intellectual Property, 3
4th Semester – Spring (12 Credits) 32-6224 Scoring IV: Directed Study in
Composition, 4
32-6262 Music for Games II, 3
32-6441 Conducting to Picture, 3
28-6901 Lab (Tutorial), 2
Music Composition for the Screen,
MFA
Course Descriptions
2015/2016
32-6221 Scoring I: Composing Dramatic Music
The first in a four-semester composition and orchestration sequence which is the
core of the MFA program, this course is designed to introduce students to the craft of
composing dramatic music and marrying music to story. Composition for the screen
is an applied art, and requires that the composer be guided in his or her choice of
musical vocabulary by the emotional and thematic values embodied in script,
performance, and directorial intent. This course will explore the application of a
variety of musical devices, including style, form, harmonic language, melodic
development, and rhythmic elements, to musically express emotional states or
thematic links. Lessons in technique will drive writing assignments geared to specific
scenes wherein music must support the dramatic context. Taking the course in
tandem with Lab (Tutorial), students will utilize Logic Pro software (or their own
preferred DAW) to realize mock-ups.
32-6222 Scoring II: Color and Complexity
The second installment of the core four-semester composition sequence, this course
will add color and nuance to the "black and white" palette explored in semester one
through an intensive focus on orchestration and timings as well as further studies of
the harmonic vocabulary. The effective use of the wind and percussion sections of
the film orchestra will be added to the aspiring screen composer's tool kit, as will
special categories such as scores driven by rhythm section and electronic elements.
Taken in tandem with Lab II and further studies in the use of DAWs as a production
and mixing tool.
32-6223 Scoring III: Genre and Style
This third installment in the four-semester composition/orchestration sequence will
allow students the opportunity to hone their skills through a practicum in film and
musical genre scoring. Genres will include jazz and rock/contemporary music, while
film styles will encompass comedy, horror, period, action, and animation. The
assignments will be a combination of electronic, acoustic, and combination scores,
where students will demonstrate their mastery of different dramatic scoring-topicture styles. This class is the practical application of techniques covered in Scoring
I and II, allowing students to create a portfolio of professional-level work. Taught in
tandem with Lab (Tutorial), semester 3.
32-6224 Scoring IV: Directed Study in Composition
In the final installment of the four-semester composition sequence, students will
meet one-on-one with their primary composition instructors to fine tune their craft,
making use of various independent projects on which they have already collaborated
with the Film & Video, Television, and Interactive Arts & Media Departments.
Individualized instruction allows each student to identify techniques and concepts
they feel they have not yet fully mastered or integrated into their work, and to
concentrate on those areas. This will assist students in identifying personal strengths
and styles, and will help them select an appropriate thesis project. Once projects are
chosen, students work with instructors to begin their final theses. Further emphasis
is placed on multiple recording sessions, using large ensembles comprised of
professional musicians, recorded in a professional recording studio. Taught in
tandem with Lab (Tutorial), semester 4.
32-6251 Orchestration I
This course will explore the process of creating the mood and tone of a film through
the use of the production techniques available to today's film composers. This will
include the integration of electronic samples with traditional orchestral instruments,
as well as how dynamics, rhythm, register, harmony, melody, and the distribution of
elements throughout the instrument range contribute to the effectiveness of the
score. Film scores will be deconstructed to arrive at an understanding of how the
composer achieved the desired musical effect. This first installment focusses mostly
on electronic sounds, samples, and modern recording, production and mixing
techniques. Students will be required to compose cues with the techniques learned
through the analysis of existing scores.
32-6252 Orchestration II
This course continues to explore the process of creating the mood and tone of a film
through the use of advanced production techniques including integration of
electronic samples and traditional orchestral instruments, as well as effective use of
dynamics, rhythm, register, harmony, melody, and the distribution of elements
through the instrument range. This second installment goes in depth into classical
orchestration techniques, and how they apply to the recorded medium of media
music. Students will analyze scores and will be required to compose cures with the
techniques learned through analysis.
32-6261 Music for Games I
This course explores the application of non-linear composition techniques in the
production of dramatic music for use in interactive games. Students will learn
techniques of composing music that will ultimately be controlled through game play
and game audio engines. The class will explore building scores that involve multilevel
dramatic elements and instantaneous transitions, as is common in most interactive
games.
32-6262 Music for Games II
This course continues to explore the application of non-linear composition techniques
in the production of dramatic music for use in interactive games. Students will learn
techniques for composing music that will ultimately be controlled through game play
and game audio engines. The class will explore building scores that involve multilevel
dramatic elements and instantaneous transitions. In addition to composing music
appropriate to game composition, students will develop the skills to program their
music into the game engines.
32-6441 (1) Conducting to Picture
This course is a tutorial in the art and science of conducting live orchestra to picture
in film, television, and new media recording sessions. Instruction will focus not only
on the traditional role of the conductor in interpreting score and bringing out the
strongest performance, but on the preparation, discipline and equanimity required to
balance the dizzying array of events occurring simultaneously in a scoring session.
This first section focusses on conducting technique.
32-6441 (2) Conducting to Picture
Continuing the tutorial in the art and science of conducting live orchestra to picture in
film, television, and new media recording sessions, this second installment acts as a
companion to the recording sessions at the end of the third and throughout the
fourth semester of the program. Students will prepare themselves to conduct their
own pieces in the sessions, as well as conduct each other’s works.
32-6630 History of Cinema
This course presents a chronological investigation of film from the pre-history of
cinema up to the digital age. Emphasis is on understanding film both as an engine for
an and artifact of society, culture, and geography. Students are introduced to major
directors, films, and movements that contributed to the development of cinema.
32-6631 The Film Score: A Survey of the Craft
This course is an exhaustive review of the development of film scoring art and craft,
from the generic cues written to accompany silent film and the defining work of Max
Steiner and Erich Korngold to Golden Age auteurs such as Herrmann and Bernstein
and contemporary composers/producers like Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and
Thomas Newman. The emphasis is on the unique musical vocabulary of the film
score and on learning to recognize the signatures of benchmark composers.
Students will conduct detailed analyses of both written and recorded examples, with
a concentration on contemporary harmony and voicing and the study of dramatic
construction.
32-6901 Lab (Tutorial)
The Lab (Tutorial) will be offered in semesters one, three and four of the MFA
program, and is designed to function as an adjunct to the core composition and
orchestration classes. It is in the lab that students will not only accomplish the
sketching and sequencing which leads to the realization of the ideas initiated in the
classroom, but learn to use and master the tools of the trade. Software taught will
include Logic Pro, ProTools, and VE Pro.
28-6151 Managing and Licensing Intellectual Property
Composers in the 21st century are increasingly dependent on their ability to
effectively administer the intellectual property created through their work. Offered in
the second semester of the two-year program, this course examines issues relating to
the management and licensing of intellectual property in arts, entertainment and
media. The course includes analysis and simulated hands-on management of realworld intellectual property portfolios chosen by the students, from identifying
portfolios that are ripe for extraction of unrealized value to formulating plans for
delivering that value in the form of incremental revenue to the intellectual property
owners.
32-6989L Internship/Apprenticeship
The centerpiece of the capstone graduate semester in Los Angeles, MFA candidates
will serve internships and/or assistantships in critical sectors of the film and
television music industry. These positions will occupy weekday afternoons, and
students generally are placed with working film, television and video game
composers, but may also be at studio music departments, music editorial houses, or
recording studios. Each of them represents the trailhead of a career path.
32-6981L Career Development
A unit of the capstone Graduate Semester in L.A., this course is designed to apprise
MFA students of the various avenues of employment for aspiring composers of music
for the screen, and to coach them in the self-promotional skills peculiar to the motion
picture industry. Meeting on weekday mornings, we will explore all the ancillary
trades, such as music editing, orchestration, sound design, music copying, and
various studio-based jobs in addition to the paths followed by successful composers.
There will be almost daily visits from industry professionals in all areas of the trade.
32-6998L Thesis/Practicum: Final Project
Students complete their studies with a final project, chosen with their instructors,
recorded with an orchestra comprised of LA’s finest studio musicians at one of LA’s
premier sound stages, and mixed over two days by a leading LA scoring engineer.