Help on contemporary things

I'm about to start my junior year in high school and I've began attempting to prepare for college and in looking through requirements for composition majors one of the questions Oberlin college of music asks is:

Applicants wishing to major in composition will be judged on their knowledge of contemporary music. They should submit lists of the following:

1. contemporary music pieces (scored for traditional instruments) they have heard;

2. electronic pieces they have heard;

3. jazz pieces (or performers) they have heard;

4. 20th-century pieces in other categories (such as multimedia) they have heard; and

5. the pieces, composers, and performers they prefer from each of these categories.

Could anybody explain to me and possible give me examples for 1, 2 and 4?

Also, has anyone here had any experiences at oberlin? It looks like an amazing program and I would be curious to hear others opinions.

1 and 2 -

List contemporary pieces of music you've heard. Generally this means post-50's, at least in my experience. (Although really you should try for very recently written pieces, from the last couple years or so.)

Ligeti's violin concerto, Ades' Asyla, Ferneyhough's Lemma-Icon-Epigram, etc.

Electronic music...look at Stockhausen and other composers who were experimenting with electronic music at around the same time. There's also a wealth of electronic music being composed today.

Thank you Voce, that helps me decide what sort of things to look into.

Would Steve Reich count for both of those? Edgar Varese for contemporary? My experience with contemporary music is VERY limited.

Thanks

1. Anything from Steve Riech, Micheal Torke, Philip Glass, George Crumb, Jonathan Harvey, John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Nico Muhly, Arvo Part, Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Olivier Messiaen, Arron Copland the list goes on. but if you need one I guess you can go with Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto

2. Some of the same composers apply, especially Jonathan Harvey's Ritual Melodies For Tape

4. Same thing.

you might want to look these guys up first. Just in case they ask you about them. plus they are just really really awesome composers. And those are just the few Post war composers (and some pre-war composers) I can think of off the top of my head. If they are asking for pre-war composers you might want to go with the following and look them up:

Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Stravinsky, Bartok, Messiaen (again), Mahler, Gershwin, Copland, Barber, Bernstein, and so on and so forth.

Still look these guys up, if not for the requirements of the school you are applying to but for yourself.

Thank you Plutokat, it really helps to have a big list like that, luckily I still have a year until I need to answer that question so I can really read up and listen and maybe even try to find performances.

I'm about to start my junior year in high school and I've began attempting to prepare for college and in looking through requirements for composition majors one of the questions Oberlin college of music asks is:

Applicants wishing to major in composition will be judged on their knowledge of contemporary music. They should submit lists of the following:

1. contemporary music pieces (scored for traditional instruments) they have heard;

2. electronic pieces they have heard;

3. jazz pieces (or performers) they have heard;

4. 20th-century pieces in other categories (such as multimedia) they have heard; and

5. the pieces, composers, and performers they prefer from each of these categories.

Could anybody explain to me and possible give me examples for 1, 2 and 4?

Also, has anyone here had any experiences at oberlin? It looks like an amazing program and I would be curious to hear others opinions.

Is this Oberlin's? It looks smilar to the one I faced.

The best advice: LIE, LIE, LIE. Find out from more experienced composers what composers' names to cite, listen to the professors' music where you are applying and make them feel like they are "known" in the classical music world. The professional world is full of BS, so be the best at it. Drop names that you've only heard in passing. Never listened to Milton Babbitt? That odesn't matter, just drop the name and cite a piece and something you "like" about his music.

Trust me, I've been trained by the best in this department.

DUDE TALK TO ME. I just graduated from Oberlin's composition department.

Never listened to Milton Babbitt? That odesn't matter, just drop the name and cite a piece and something you "like" about his music.

Except if someone asks you anything in detail your plan falls apart. Intellectual dishonesty FTL.

Thank you Voce, that helps me decide what sort of things to look into.

Would Steve Reich count for both of those? Edgar Varese for contemporary? My experience with contemporary music is VERY limited.

Thanks

Var

I applied and got into Oberlin...god their application was terrible, especially because of that list and having to handwrite some scores, but the interview went well. They didn't ask me anything about the list nor mention it at all. It's your portfolio that they'll spend the most time talking about and what you should be most worried about. I almost went there, but ultimately couldn't afford it. I am glad I didn't go either in retrospect (though I spent 2 summers there and LOVED LOVED LOVED their program, I wish I could have gone) - unless you have cash to burn or a big scholarship (hah, good luck on this with the comp department) it's probably not the best comp program for that kind of money. What a great environment for new music though.

In jcharney's direction, where did you go? Where are there better composition programs in the area? I've looked at cleveland institute and capitol and they seemed decent (cleveland more than capitol)

There aren't many (any?) better composition programs than Oberlin. You'll find programs to match it in terms of pedagogy at most large conservatories, but what sets Oberlin apart is the other musicians, most or all of whom have the skills and the desire to perform new music. In addition, because there is no graduate program, you'll have your pieces performed pretty much whenever you want them to be; there's no preference given to older vs. younger students.

and Ligeti?! And I have pieces from other hungarian composers...

Penderecki, Stockhausen.. very importants!

I think first of all think about the style you want to write in... and then decide

minimalistic - steve reich, john cage

repetitive - steve reich, john adams

'fully' avant-garde - penderecki, stockhausen and a lot of other composers

'understandable' avant-garde - Ligeti (very-very important)

aleatoric - madar

Thanks gollam, the stylistic list helps. Ive already been exploring reich, cage and a little bit of adams, ill start taking a look at the hungarian composers next

I don't know if it helps at Oberlin, but Jazz had a pretty crazy modernist period too.

I don't know if it helps at Oberlin, but Jazz had a pretty crazy modernist period too.

Totally helps. Oberlin's going to have a new Jazz building this coming year sometime (so they say).