Undergraduate Course: Approaches to Creative Keyboard Practice (MUSI10105)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces students to harmonization and improvisation skills in range of musical styles including jazz, folk, and pop. It is a practical course suitable for students who wish to develop their existing comprehensive knowledge of musical key relationships, scales and tonal harmony. |
| Course description |
This course will develop students' creative keyboard skills and adaptability in a variety of styles including jazz, folk and pop. Through the development of core skills and applied knowledge of topics such as tetrachord voicing, comping styles and approaches, and practical devices such as chord tensions, alterations and turnarounds, students will explore harmonisation, improvisation and accompaniment. Students will learn to apply these skills through individual exploration, the transformation of existing music and the creation of new works. Alongside concert performance settings, these skills are invaluable to all musical practice and teaching contexts. In addition to the formal course assessments, students will have the opportunity to showcase individual performance in a non-assessed Degree Show concert.
The course is taught across both semesters through six fortnightly individual keyboard tutorials (30 minutes each) and supported through additional material on Learn. These include tutorial worksheets, video tutorials on keyboard harmony, formative tests on harmony, practise tracks and other additional optional extension material such as social media channels of musicians and educators. Students are expected to engage through use of this content and through musical rehearsal in preparation for each keyboard tutorial.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 16 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
188 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
70 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course has 3 assessment components.
- Class exam (20 minutes), 30%, Semester 2 Week 2.
- Creative project (video and supporting materials), 30%, May exam diet.
- Final exam (30 minutes), 40%, May exam diet. |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback
Verbal feedback is provided throughout the course by the course tutors during the fortnightly tutorials. Students also receive feedback on formative tasks undertaken midway through the course (such as a viva voce and melodic harmonization task). Verbal and written feedback on these tasks is shared within 15 working days, feeding directly into the creative project and final exam components.
Summative feedback
Written feedback is provided by tutors on each assessed component. Summative feedback will be provided according to University regulations. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Final Exam | 180 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Use keyboard skills to express a secure knowledge of idiomatic tonal composition devices, within a variety of styles including jazz, folk and pop.
- Extemporise both melody and harmonic accompaniment through idiomatic co-performance with a course tutor.
- Apply these newly developed skills to individual exploration, beyond the conventions associated with a classical recital format.
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Reading List
Bailey, Derek. 1992. Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music / Derek Bailey. 2nd ed. London: British Library National Sound Archive.
Brockmann, Nicole M. 2009. From Sight to Sound: Improvisational Games for Classical Musicians / Nicole M. Brockmann. Bloomington, Ind: Indiana University Press.
Ruth Lloyd, and Norman Lloyd. 1975. Creative Keyboard Musicianship: Fundamentals of Music and Keyboard Harmony through Improvisation. Mead Dodd.
Sarath, Ed. 2013. Music Theory Through Improvisation: A New Approach to Musicianship Training. 1st ed. United Kingdom: Routledge. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Personal development mindset: The developmental of disciplined, creative musical practice requires individual commitment and self-discipline, motivated primarily by a personal aspiration simply to play better! The way that you can teach yourself to practice and improve through this course will bring benefits on many levels - practical, creative and intellectual.
Communication: The course provides you with the opportunity to develop your skills of personal expression, and also your interpersonal skills. To be able to perform expressive, spontaneous music in a given idiom is enriching in itself for you and for others. Meanwhile, to accompany other musicians in performance requires very refined skills as a responsive listener which you may be able to notice and transfer to other social contexts. |
| Keywords | music,keyboard,skills |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Nishlyn Ramanna
Tel: (0131 6)51 5800
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Rowan Paton
Tel:
Email: |
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