Phantasme

Thank you so much, that was so helpful!! So you mean I can just write down my prime row and then continue with whatever row I want?

Hi, I'm a first year music student in a third-year class. The abridged version of that story: There's only two first-year composition majors, so myself and the other fellow have been put (temporarily) into a third-year elective class called "Composition 1000" because the regular composition studio teacher is away. Anyways, in class we are to compose a piece for solo clarinet using a twelve-tone matrix. Apparently all of the third-years know how to do this, but I have no clue. I got my matrix through an online calculator, but how exactly do I go about putting this to music?? Which rows do I use and in which order?? Help???

University of Lethbridge.

The composition program is fairly new, but the university has a good reputation for it already. In Western Canada it seems like composition has just been starting to catch on for the last couple years. It seems like the standards here aren't quite as rigid as in other schools. For example, I auditioned with two grade 9 conservatory pieces and passed easily. The minimum for auditions is grade eight conservatory pieces. Most of the eastern Canadian music schools like McGill and U of T require at least grade 10 pieces.

That's a really good point. So you mean, play in more of a self-directed sort of way? Or continue with a private teacher?

How would I do that, degree-wise?

I have recently been accepted into my first choice of university for both Performance and Composition. I auditioned with two piano pieces and also submitted a composition portfolio. I talked with the advisors and they said that I could choose either performance or composition or I could do both if I wished. The problem is, I'm not sure which one to do. Part of the issue is that I'm not exactly sure what the performance programs in most universities entail. I know for certain that I don't want to be a concert pianist. My ideal career is composing soundtracks for films, television, video games and the like. However, I've been playing the piano my whole life and I don't feel it would be right to simply drop the performance aspect of my musical experience. I love playing the piano and I like performing, but I'm not really into the "competing against wunderkind ten-year-olds and practicing seven hours a day" aspect of performing. Any suggestions for which degree I should pursue, or whether I should pursue both? Am I being too paranoid about the performance aspect?