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Core Subjects for your Second Year

6 CORE SUBJECTS, ONE ELECTIVE PER SEMESTER

SEMESTER 3

Jazz Performance Studies

Concert Performance Practice 3 (3 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Concert Performance Practice 3
Subject Code: 21109
Credit Points: 3
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Students who do not pass a semester of this subject will be required to repeat
Modes: Full-time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hour practical class per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Dan Quigley, Paula Girvan other sessional staff when required

Subject Rationale:
Jazz musicians need to perform together with other musicians, and be able to engage in reflective and analytical discourse about their own performance and that of their peers. Concert Performance Practice gives students the opportunity to perform among and with their peers and engage in such discourse. In the context of this course, Concert Performance Practice provides the outlet in which the students’ developing body of knowledge and skills come together in performance and critical analysis. It offers a range of performance practice formats and styles which build the student  s’ experiences from conceptual and practical perspectives. Covering all set lists, it expands student familiarity with repertoire. Both sequenced and layered in experience, the subject has students draw upon their own understanding of jazz style, materials, historical and social contexts, and performance practice to make informed comments on their own work and that of their peers. Engaging with students of different levels of experience expands the breadth of their experience. This subject involves all students from all levels and is a core subject throughout all semesters of study. Thus it exposes all students to all set repertoire lists, although they will only be required to perform from the list appropriate to their level.

Learning Outcomes
Through reflective and analytical discourse about their own performance and that of their peers, their ensemble participation and leadership, improvisation, technique, and presentation, students will develop the knowledge and confidence required to:

  1. Engage in critical listening and constructive reflection on performance
  2. Expand their understanding of theoretical and stylistic concepts
  3. Write constructively in response to the performances of their peers, noting sectional skills and sight reading
  4. Enhance their own performance skills through analysis and reflection
  5. Lead a performance ensemble
  6. Write constructively in response to their own performance

Assessment

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Week Content Delivered Due Weighting
Practical workshop before peer audience 1 workshop per semester 1,2,5,6 1-6 As scheduled 20%
Practical Performance: 10 minutes maximum before peer audience 1 performance per semester 1,2,5,6 7-13 As scheduled 50%
Written Assessment: Individual Reflective Essay 500 word reflective essay 1,3,4,5 7-13 One week after first performance 15%
Written Assessment: Peer Review 500 word reflective essay 1,3,4,5 7-13 Week 13 15%

Ensemble 3 (5 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Ensemble 3
Subject Code: 21115
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Ensemble 2
Modes: Full-time, in person. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 Hours per week for 12 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: All Sessional Staff

Subject Rationale
Professional jazz players need highly developed ensemble skills and experience. Ensemble aptitude is therefore an integral component of the course for all students. In this subject, students experience the dynamics of working in a jazz ensemble and develop skills and understanding appropriate to this setting. In the context of this course, Ensemble brings all the elements together, practical and theoretical. Using the set repertoire which students are learning in Principal Study and developing through Improvisation and Contemporary Performance Practice, it integrates student experience of all set repertoire through a sense of balance, style, timing, tone colour, intonation, interpretation, sectional playing and sight reading, etiquette and ethics relevant to ensemble performance. In this subject students will be placed in one or more small group ensembles and will develop repertoire from the supporting lists as well as other suggestions from students and teachers. All chosen repertoire will be learned, practised and analysed in this subject, using knowledge and skills developed in other subjects of the course. Ensemble classes will refine listening skills, reading skills, and blending within an ensemble. It is recommended that ensembles rehearse regularly outside the formal supervised times. Although there is a focus on small ensembles, students have the opportunity to play in a range of ensembles, including various jazz combos, vocal groups, duos, trios, quartets, quintets and larger contemporary music ensembles depending on the student cohort.

Learning Outcomes:
Through effective integration of the knowledge and skills gained from other subjects in this course, on successful completion of this subject, students will be able to

  1. Demonstrate effective sectional skills and group cohesion within an ensemble whilst playing in different tempi, keys and styles
  2. Demonstrate advanced sight reading and performance skills in set and selected repertoire, revealing understanding of jazz style and interpretative principles, and applying improvisation informed by theoretical, historical and contextual understanding of the music.
  3. Engage in collaborative discussion and peer review of each ensemble’s performance
  4. Analyse melodic and harmonic structure and collaborate on musical arrangements
  5. Demonstrate increasingly efficient rehearsal strategies resulting in confident performances
  6. Demonstrate highly reliable intonation, and good communication skills within an

Assessment

Assessment Item Detail Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Due Weighting
Group Performance 1 x 30 minute performance 1,2,3,4,5 As scheduled 50%
Ensemble Contribution Weekly contribution towards Ensemble class 1,2,3,4,5 Each Week 36%
Oral Presentation Critical review of performance 3 Week following performance 14%

Principal Study 3 (12 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Principal Study 3
Subject Code: 21147
Credit Points: 12
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Principal Study 2
Modes: In person. On campus only
Delivery / Contact hrs: 1 hour per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Sessional staff

Subject Rationale:
Principal Study 3 develops each student’s technical skill in their discipline, and challenges and extends their artistic understanding and creativity. The study is sequenced according to the needs and abilities of each individual, and the demands of each instrument. In the context of this course, Principal Study prepares the student technically and musically to be able to apply knowledge developed in academic and practical classes and ensembles. Study is undertaken through individual lessons, workshops and masterclasses in the instrument/voice, in which the student’s technical and musical proficiency is assessed and developed and a range of repertoire is explored.

Principal Study uses the repertoire list to foster:

  • an advancing technical foundation in the instrument, repertoire and stylistic knowledge,
  • the ability to perform required repertoire confidently in public,
  • the ability to express and communicate artistic ideas and intentions,
  • secure knowledge of repertoire and stylistic understanding
  • independence and problem solving,
  • self reliance in practice
  • depth in critical reflection on personal musical expression
  • self motivation and organisation
  • management of physical demands, and
  • reliability in meeting practical requirements and deadlines

Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to demonstrate developing understanding and proficiency in all aspects of performance relative to their instrument/voice commensurate with established international benchmarks, in particular:

  1. Advanced and secure technical skills
  2. The ability to perform required repertoire in public with accuracy and fluency, displaying rhymic control with an advancing expressive range
  3. Advancing ability to express creative ideas using musical language
  4. Depth of knowledge of relevant literature and repertoire, scales and chords set to date
  5. A deep knowledge of stylistic features of jazz (tone, phrasing, rhythm, feel, etc) relevant to repertoire experienced to date
  6. Memorised and prepared 12 standard repertoire tunes, as set for this level.
  7. An advancing ability to improvise creatively using set repertoire
  8. A well developed conceptual understanding of the pieces performed together with an ability to communicate them to the audience with confidence
  9. Advanced and independent practice habits

Repertoire list

  • A Night in Tunisia
  • All The Things You Are
  • Alone Together
  • Out of Nowhere
  • Night and Day
  • If I Should Lose You
  • Four
  • In A Sentimental Mood
  • In Walked Bud
  • On Green Dolphin Street
  • Blues for Alice- technical piece

Assessment

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Due Weighting
Performance: 20  – 30mins,  Internal Panel (3 staff) * Performance Recital 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Exam Period 40%
Scales exam Technical requirements set at beginning of semester; including Scale/Chord syllabus and the required technical piece set for the semester. 1,2,3,4,5,9 Week 13 25%
Transcription At least 32 bars from selected or otherwise approved solo. 1,3,4,5,7 Exam period 15%
Research essay 2000 Word essay on selective topic 4,8,9 Week 8 20%

Core Studies

Aural and Analysis 3 (5 Credits Points)

Subject Name: Aural and Analysis 3
Subject Code: 22103
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music Jazz in Jazz performance
Core/Elective: Core
Pre/Co-requisites: Aural and Analysis 2
Modes: Full-Time. On Campus only
Delivery / Contact hours: 2 hr Lecture per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Paula Girvan
Teaching Staff: Paula Girvan

Subject Rationale
Musicians (and particularly jazz musicians) rely heavily on aural acuity in making appropriate interactions during performance. This subject unites the areas of listening, aural analysis and memory and is therefore critical to overall progress for each student, because it re-establishes the ear as the primary element in the creation and reception of jazz music. In the context of this course, through aural analysis this subject enhances performance through the development of aural memory and awareness, and integrates with other subjects by developing aural recognition of rhythmic, harmonic (diatonic and modal) and melodic elements of set repertoire. Through aural analysis, this subject broadens stylistic knowledge in parallel with Jazz in Context, and the practice-based classes. Aural & Analysis classes develop aural awareness through multi-tasking, combining such skills as listening, aural modelling, conceptual tasking, analysing, performance, sight-singing, memorisation and improvisation in an interactive group. 

Learning Outcomes:
Aural and Analysis 3 continues to advance aural awareness through recognition of increasingly complex intervals, intonation, chord quality, and rhythm and chord progressions, and adding modes, transcriptions and perception of texture/timbre as set for this level.

On successful completion of the subject, students will be able to:

  1. Recognise, aurally analyse and accurately reproduce intervals, and chords set for this level
  2. Aurally analyse chord quality and progressions, including turnarounds
  3. Aurally analyse timbral and textural detail and variance
  4. Recognise and correctly reproduce increasingly complex rhythmic patterns as set for this level
  5. Perform tasks involving aural cognition and coordination, e.g. identifying and responding to indifferent intonation; accurately transcribing from recorded and live sources

Assessment

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Week Content Delivered Due Weighting
Individual Assessment 1 Recognition: Intervals, triads, chords, chord progressions, rhythm dictation, melodic dictation, modes 1,2,3 1 – 5 Week 6 20%
Individual Assessment 2 Recognition: Intervals, triads, chords, chord progressions, rhythm dictation, melodic dictation, modes 1,2,3 1 – 9 Week 10 20%
Final Assessment Assessment covering all content from the semester 1,3,5 1 – 13 Exam period 30%
Transcription Assignment: melodic/harmonic transcription from recorded source Aural Analysis 1,2,3,4,5 Weeks 11 – 13 30%

Jazz Materials 3 (5 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Jazz Materials 3
Subject Code: 22135
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Jazz Materials 2
Modes: Full-Time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 Hour lecture per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Paula Girvan
Teaching Staff: Josh Hatcher

Subject Rationale:
In this subject students develop a working knowledge of jazz theory as it is applied in practice. It fosters awareness and understanding of jazz harmony, melody, rhythm and notation which will serve their needs as performers, composers, arrangers, teachers, and other professions in the jazz.

Learning Outcomes:
In this subject students will develop a clear understanding of, and ability to demonstrate:

  1. An insightful conceptual understanding of the musical components and processes learned in this course, and those acquired in earlier subjects in this series
  2. An increasing ability to create, interpret, present, analyse and evaluate jazz music
  3. An acquired knowledge of harmonic and modal progressions which are relevant also to jazz
  4. An advancing capacity to integrate musical knowledge and skills
  5. An advancing ability to apply the concepts studied at this level to practice

Assessment:

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Week Content Delivered Due Weighting
Individual Assessment 1 Written Exam 1,2,3,4,5 1-6 Week 7 40%
Individual Assessment 2 Contrafact 1, 2, 3, 4,5 1-13 Week 14 40%
Individual Assessment 4 Piano skills 1,2,3,4,5 Week 14 20%

Creative Studies

Improvisation Techniques 3 (5 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Improvisation Techniques 3
Subject Code: 23121
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Improvisation Techniques 2
Modes: Full-time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hours per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Travis Jenkins, Dr Rob McWilliams

Subject Rationale
Excellent skills in improvisation are essential to jazz musicians, and therefore form a fundamental component of this course. This subject develops skills and conceptual understanding of improvisation. In the context of this course, Improvisation uses set repertoire and general improvisation concepts which are in common with those in Principal Study, Ensemble, Jazz Materials, Aural & Analysis and Contemporary Performance Practice. In this subject, students will build on the concepts learnt in Improvisation Studies 2. This subject builds a deeper understanding of Western Harmony through a range of approaches to Minor modal harmony and its application to the repertoire for this semester. In this subject is developed use and application of ‘guide tones’, syncopated rhythms and melodic patterns. In the process, they also develop sight reading and sectional skills.

Learning Outcomes:
Through increasingly creative improvisation founded on theory and practice, on successful completion, students will be expected to:

  1. Demonstrate an advanced range of melodic, harmonic and rhythmical improvisational techniques, sectional skills and sight reading based on the material in this subject and that accumulated this far
  2. Demonstrate an extended vocabulary of melodic material based on that learned in this subject and applied in improvisation through repertoire
  3. Reveal internalized advanced melodic, harmonic and rhythmical improvisational techniques developed through critical listening and shaped by theoretical and historical insights into the material
  4. Demonstrate fluent and creative improvisation moving through different key centres and chord changes such as are included in this subject

Assessment:

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Week Content Delivered Due Weighting
Practical Assessment Repertoire Assessment 1 1,2,3,4 1-5 Week 6 (in class) 25%
Practical Assessment Repertoire Assessment 2 1,2,3,4 6-11 Week 12 (in class) 25%
Practical Assessment: individual improvisations Demonstrate multiple improvisation techniques learned to include use of rhythm, guide tones; harmonic relationship; and melodic embellishment over 3 repertoire pieces of assessor’s choice with staff rhythm section. 1,2,3,4 1-13 Exam period 30%
Practical assessment Set practical tasks as set by the teacher 1,2,3,4 1-10 Week 10 20%

SEMESTER 4

Jazz Performance Studies

Concert Performance Practice 4 (3 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Concert Performance Practice 4
Subject Code: 21110
Credit Points: 3
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Students who do not pass a semester of this subject will be required to repeat
Modes: Full-time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hour practical class per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Dan Quigley, Paula Girvan other sessional staff when required

Subject Rationale:
Jazz musicians need to perform together with other musicians, and be able to engage in reflective and analytical discourse about their own performance and that of their peers. Concert Performance Practice gives students the opportunity to perform among and with their peers and engage in such discourse. In the context of this course, Concert Performance Practice provides the outlet in which the students’ developing body of knowledge and skills come together in performance and critical analysis. It offers a range of performance practice formats and styles which build the student  s’ experiences from conceptual and practical perspectives. Covering all set lists, it expands student familiarity with repertoire. Both sequenced and layered in experience, the subject has students draw upon their own understanding of jazz style, materials, historical and social contexts, and performance practice to make informed comments on their own work and that of their peers. Engaging with students of different levels of experience expands the breadth of their experience. This subject involves all students from all levels and is a core subject throughout all semesters of study. Thus it exposes all students to all set repertoire lists, although they will only be required to perform from the list appropriate to their level.

Learning Outcomes
Through reflective and analytical discourse about their own performance and that of their peers, their ensemble participation and leadership, improvisation, technique, and presentation, students will develop the knowledge and confidence required to:

  1. Engage in critical listening and constructive reflection on performance
  2. Expand their understanding of theoretical and stylistic concepts
  3. Write constructively in response to the performances of their peers, noting sectional skills and sight reading
  4. Enhance their own performance skills through analysis and reflection
  5. Lead a performance ensemble
  6. Write constructively in response to their own performance

Assessment

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Week Content Delivered Due Weighting
Practical workshop before peer audience 1 workshop per semester 1,2,5,6 1-6 As scheduled 20%
Practical Performance: 10 minutes maximum before peer audience 1 performance per semester 1,2,5,6 7-13 As scheduled 50%
Written Assessment: Individual Reflective Essay 500 word reflective essay 1,3,4,5 7-13 One week after first performance 15%
Written Assessment: Peer Review 500 word reflective essay 1,3,4,5 7-13 Week 13 15%

Ensemble 4 (5 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Ensemble 4
Subject Code: 21116
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Ensemble 3
Modes: Full-time, in person. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 Hours per week for 12 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: All Sessional Staff

Subject Rationale
Professional jazz players need highly developed ensemble skills and experience. Ensemble aptitude is therefore an integral component of the course for all students. In this subject, students experience the dynamics of working in a jazz ensemble and develop skills and understanding appropriate to this setting. In the context of this course, Ensemble brings all the elements together, practical and theoretical. Using the set repertoire which students are learning in Principal Study and developing through Improvisation and Contemporary Performance Practice, it integrates student experience of all set repertoire through a sense of balance, style, timing, tone colour, intonation, interpretation, sectional playing and sight reading, etiquette and ethics relevant to ensemble performance. In this subject students will be placed in one or more small group ensembles and will develop repertoire from the supporting lists as well as other suggestions from students and teachers. All chosen repertoire will be learned, practised and analysed in this subject, using knowledge and skills developed in other subjects of the course. Ensemble classes will refine listening skills, reading skills, and blending within an ensemble. It is recommended that ensembles rehearse regularly outside the formal supervised times. Although there is a focus on small ensembles, students have the opportunity to play in a range of ensembles, including various jazz combos, vocal groups, duos, trios, quartets, quintets and larger contemporary music ensembles depending on the student cohort.

Learning Outcomes:
Through effective integration of the knowledge and skills gained from other subjects in this course, on successful completion of this subject, students will be able to

  1. Demonstrate effective sectional skills and group cohesion and communication playing in ensemble, revealing understanding required to play in different tempi, keys and styles; different combinations and contexts
  2. Demonstrate advanced sight reading and performance skills in set and selected repertoire, revealing insight into stylistic and interpretative principles, and demonstrating well-informed improvisation through conceptual understanding of theoretical, historical and context of the music.
  3. Engage in useful collaborative discussion and constructive peer review of each ensemble’s performance
  4. Demonstrate highly efficient rehearsal strategies resulting in confident performances, recovery from mistakes and strong group dynamics
  5. Collaborate effectively to develop creative musical arrangements for the ensemble
  6. Demonstrate highly reliable intonation, clear articulation and a variety of tonal colour across the ensemble

Assessment

Assessment Item Detail Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Due Weighting
Group Performance 1 x 30 minute performance 1,2,3,4,5 As scheduled 50%
Ensemble Contribution Weekly contribution towards Ensemble class 1,2,3,4,5 Each Week 36%
Oral Presentation Critical review of performance 3 Week following performance 14%

Principal Study 4 (12 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Principal Study 4
Subject Code: 21148
Credit Points: 12
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Principal Study 3
Modes: In person. On campus only
Delivery / Contact hrs: 1 hour per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Sessional staff

Subject Rationale:
Principal Study 4 develops each student’s technical skill in their discipline, and challenges and extends their artistic understanding and creativity. The study is sequenced according to the needs and abilities of each individual, and the demands of each instrument. In the context of this course, Principal Study prepares the student technically and musically to be able to apply knowledge developed in academic and practical classes and ensembles. Study is undertaken through individual lessons, workshops and masterclasses in the instrument/voice, in which the student’s technical and musical proficiency is assessed and developed and a range of repertoire is explored.

Principal Study uses the repertoire list to foster:

  • an advancing technical foundation in the instrument, repertoire and stylistic knowledge,
  • the ability to perform required repertoire confidently in public,
  • the ability to express and communicate artistic ideas and intentions,
  • secure knowledge of repertoire and stylistic understanding
  • independence and problem solving,
  • self reliance in practice
  • depth in critical reflection on personal musical expression
  • self motivation and organisation
  • management of physical demands, and
  • reliability in meeting practical requirements and deadlines

Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to demonstrate developing understanding and proficiency in all aspects of performance relative to their instrument/voice commensurate with established international benchmarks, in particular:

  1. Advanced and secure technical skills
  2. The ability to perform required repertoire in public with accuracy and fluency, displaying rhythmic control with an advancing expressive range
  3. Advancing ability to express creative ideas using musical language
  4. Depth of knowledge of relevant literature and repertoire, scales and chords set to date
  5. A deep knowledge of stylistic features of jazz (tone, phrasing, rhythm, feel, etc) relevant to repertoire experienced to date
  6. Memorised and prepared 12 standard repertoire tunes, as set for this level.
  7. Musical and stylistic sensitivity
  8. An advancing ability to improvise creatively using set repertoire, and displaying familiarity with a range of improvisatory language
  9. A well developed conceptual understanding of the pieces performed together with an ability to communicate them to the audience with confidence
  10. Advanced and independent practice habits

Repertoire list

  • I’ll Remember April
  • It Could Happen to You
  • Just Friends
  • Body And Soul
  • Ornithology
  • Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
  • Have You Met Miss Jones
  • Someday My Prince Will Come
  • Stella By Starlight
  • What Is This Thing Called Love
  • Donna Lee – technical piece

Assessment

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Due Weighting
Performance: 20  – 30mins,  Internal Panel (3 staff) * Performance Recital 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Exam Period 40%
Scales exam Technical requirements set at beginning of semester; including Scale/Chord syllabus and the required technical piece set for the semester. 1,2,3,4,5,9 Week 13 25%
Transcription At least 32 bars from selected or otherwise approved solo. 1,3,4,5,7 Exam period 15%
Research essay 2000 Word essay on selective topic 4,8,9 Week 8 20%

Core Studies

Aural and Analysis 4 (5 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Aural and Analysis 4
Subject Code: 22104
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music Jazz in Jazz performance
Core/Elective: Core
Pre/Co-requisites: Aural and Analysis 3
Modes: Full-Time. On Campus only
Delivery / Contact hours: 2 hr Lecture per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Paula Girvan
Teaching Staff: Paula Girvan

Subject Rationale
Musicians (and particularly jazz musicians) rely heavily on aural acuity in making appropriate interactions during performance. This subject unites the areas of listening, aural analysis and memory and is therefore critical to overall progress for each student, because it re-establishes the ear as the primary element in the creation and reception of jazz music. In the context of this course, through aural analysis this subject enhances performance through the development of aural memory and awareness, and integrates with other subjects by developing aural recognition of rhythmic, harmonic (diatonic and modal) and melodic elements of set repertoire. Through aural analysis, this subject broadens stylistic knowledge in parallel with Jazz in Context, and the practice-based classes. Aural & Analysis classes develop aural awareness through multi-tasking, combining such skills as listening, aural modelling, conceptual tasking, analysing, performance, sight-singing, memorisation and improvisation in an interactive group.

Learning Outcomes:
Aural and Analysis 4 continues to advance aural awareness through recognition of increasingly complex intervals, intonation, chord quality, and rhythm and chord progressions, including modes, transcriptions and perception of texture/timbre as set for this level.

On successful completion of the subject, students will be able to:

  1. Recognise, aurally analyse and accurately reproduce intervals and chords set for this level.
  2. Aurally analyse chord quality and progressions set for this level and those which have been set for previous levels
  3. Recognise and correctly reproduce increasingly complex rhythmic patterns as set for this level.
  4. Aurally analyse timbral and textural detail and variance
  5. Perform tasks involving aural cognition and coordination, e.g. identifying and responding to indifferent intonation; accurately transcribing musical elements

 Assessment

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Week Content Delivered Due Weighting
Individual Assessment 1 and 3 Recognition of Intervals, Melodies, Chords, Chord progressions, Modes, Rhythms and core rep tunes, including lyrics 1,2,3 1 – 7 Week 5 & Exam period 60%
Individual Assessment 2: Transcription Assignment: melodic/harmonic/rhythmic from recorded source Aural Analysis 1,2,3,4,5 1 – 13 Weeks 4, 8 12, 13 40%

Jazz Materials 4 (5 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Jazz Materials 4
Subject Code: 22136
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Jazz Materials 3
Modes: Full-Time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 Hour lecture per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Josh Hatcher

Subject Rationale:
In this subject students develop a working knowledge of jazz theory as it is applied in practice. It fosters awareness and understanding of jazz harmony, melody, rhythm and notation which will serve their needs as performers, composers, arrangers, teachers, and other professions in the jazz.

Learning Outcomes:
In this subject students will develop a clear understanding of, and ability to demonstrate:

  1. A clear conceptual understanding of the musical components and processes introduced at this level, including non-tonal and chromatic elements
  2. An ability to create and arrange music for jazz ensembles
  3. An acquired knowledge of non-tonal and chromatic progressions which are applied in jazz
  4. Acquired capacity to integrate musical knowledge and skills

Assessment:

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Week Content Delivered Due Weighting
Individual assessment 1 Mid-Semester Exam 1,2,3,4,5 1-6 Week 7 40%
Individual Assessment 2 Final Exam 1,2,3,4,5 7-13 Week 14 40%
Individual Assessment 3 Piano Skills 1,2,3,4,5 1-13 Exam Period 20%

Creative Studies

Improvisation Techniques 4 (5 Credit Points)

Subject Name: Improvisation Techniques 4
Subject Code: 23122
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Improvisation Techniques 3
Modes: Full-time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hours per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Travis Jenkins, Dr Rob McWilliams

Subject Rationale
Excellent skills in improvisation are essential to jazz musicians, and therefore form a fundamental component of this course. This subject continues to develop skills and conceptual understanding of improvisation. In the context of this course, Improvisation uses set repertoire and general improvisation concepts which are in common with those in Principal Study, Ensemble, Jazz Materials, Aural & Analysis and Contemporary Performance Practice. In this subject, students will build on the concepts learnt in Improvisation Studies 3.  This subject involves the use of extended harmonic ideas over fundamental harmonic progressions, including the use of upper structures, poly-chordal ideas, Pentatonic scales, heavy use and application of ‘guide tones’, syncopated rhythms. . In the process, they also develop sight reading and sectional skills.

Learning Outcomes:
Through increasingly creative improvisation founded on theory and practice, on successful completion, students will be expected to:

  1. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge and range of melodic, harmonic and rhythmical improvisational techniques, sectional skills and sight reading
  2. Demonstrate an extensive vocabulary of melodic material applied in improvisation through repertoire
  3. Reveal a high level of internalization of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisational techniques which have been developed through critical listening and shaped by conceptual understanding of theory in practice
  4. Demonstrate fluent improvisation through different key centres and chord changes, applying all of the material introduced in this subject and that which has been accumulated in previous subjects

Assessment:

Assessment Item Topic/s Learning Outcomes assessed (LO) Week Content Delivered Due Weighting
Practical Assessment Repertoire Assessment 1 1,2,3,4 1-5 Week 6 (in class) 25%
Practical Assessment Repertoire Assessment 2 1,2,3,4 6-11 Week 12 (in class) 25%
Practical Assessment: individual improvisations Demonstrate multiple improvisation techniques learned to include use of rhythm, guide tones; harmonic relationship; and melodic embellishment over 3 repertoire pieces of assessor’s choice with staff rhythm section. 1,2,3,4 1-13 Exam period 30%
Practical assessment Set practical tasks as set by the teacher 1,2,3,4 1-10 Week 10 20%