104224 - MUSICAL CREATION

Subject type: Mandatory

Coordinator: Rafael Suarez Gómez

Trimester: Second term

Credits: 4

The course is taught in Catalan, although various supporting materials (documentaries and articles) will be used in English.

The course provides the basic theoretical and practical knowledge needed for musical creation associated with an audiovisual product. This knowledge will contribute to deepen the understanding of the various meanings, uses and functions of music in audiovisual products (cinema, documentary, advertising, video games, etc.).

At the end of the course students must be able to:

1. Understand the concepts of rhythm, harmony and melody.
2. Know computer music notation systems.
3. Create a topic with a proper structure.
4. Know the different parts of a musical arrangement.
5. Know the different musical styles and their characteristics.
6. Know how to plan a musical recording.
7. Use the equalization and compression parameters.
8. Apply sound analysis tools.
9. Work with Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and Virtual Studio.
10. Make your own personal study based on DAW and / or Virtual study.
11. Create your own sounds and sound textures for both music and special effects.
12. Create structured and homologable themes of electronic music in any style and for any possible recipient of the audiovisual sector.

In addition, the student will also achieve the following learning outcomes:

13. Have a generic vision of the possibilities of application of technologies linked to the musical creation.
14. Know the basic parameters of Western music theory. 
15. Have practical vocabulary to have a better understanding of the analysis and description of any sound phenomenon. 
16. To be able to analyze the role of sound in the audiovisual media beyond strictly technical issues.

The subject combines theoretical sessions with practical sessions. The work methodology is divided into two distinct parts:

- Large group sessions (3h / week) where theoretical knowledge is taught. 

- Practical sessions in small groups (2h fortnightly), where activities focused on the creation, editing and mixing of music are developed.

Attendance at internships is mandatory.

In the theoretical classes the teacher presents concepts and examples while encouraging student participation while in the practical classes students make use of specialized software to work in the various situations proposed.

All materials will be published on the virtual campus. Notices to students will also be made by this means; it is the student's responsibility to consult this virtual space regularly.

I. Basic elements of musical language

Duration: Pulsation, tempo, rhythm. Figures and silences. Accents. Compass. Syncopes, setbacks. Polyrhythm.

Height: Intervals. Steps. Agreements. Tonality. Melodic construction (phrases, motifs). Scope or extension, tessitura. Melodic outline. Monody, polyphony. Homophony and counterpoint. Melody and accompaniment. The leitmotif. Progressions of typical agreements.

Intensity: Very slow, very strong, growing, decreasing, straining, etc.

Timbre: Instrumentation, orchestration. Enveloping. Effects (filters, reverbs, delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, distortion, etc.).

Aural staging.

Musical form, structure.

Musical genres and styles. Musical conventions in audiovisual media, clichés (horror music, science fiction, romance, adventure, action, western, comedy, etc.).

The romantic symphonic model. Programmatic music. Dodecaphonism and atonality. Electronic music. Jazz. World Music. Modernism. Minimalism.

II. Introduction to music creation with DAW tools

Reaper, Reason and Pro Tools:

Presentation of the environments

Audio tracks, MIDI and virtual instruments

Audio editing tools

MIDI edition

III. Musical creation in the field of audiovisual media

Bookstore music

Original music i compilation scores

Uses and functions of film music

Elaboration of a queue list

Temp tracks, Click tracks

Mixing processes i dubbing

Musical analysis in the field of audiovisual media 

Activity 1. Introduction to the practices

Deepening in the knowledge of the DAW tools that will be used during the subject: Reaper, Reason and Pro Tools.

Description of work environments. 

Creation of audio, MIDI and virtual instrument tracks.

Import audio tracks. Basic edition.

Learning outcomes. At the end of the activity the student must be able to:

LO7. Use equalization and compression parameters.
LO8. Apply sound analysis tools.
LO9. Work with Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and Virtual Studio.
LO10. Make your own personal study based on DAW and / or Virtual study.
LO11. Create your own sounds and sound textures for both music and special effects.

Skills to be worked on: E10, E11

Activity 2. Music design for an audiovisual product

The knowledge of the main strategies of composition, recording, editing and mixing of music for audiovisual media will be deepened. This activity will be done in pairs, only a group of three will be accepted when, in case the total number of students is odd, the teacher authorizes it beforehand at the beginning of the activity. Under no circumstances will an individual work be accepted. Works based on loops with platforms such as Soundtrap or similar will not be accepted. 

Learning outcomes. At the end of the activity the student must be able to:

LO1. Understand the concepts of rhythm, harmony and melody.
LO4. Know the different parts of a musical arrangement.
LO5. Get to know the different musical styles and their characteristics.
LO6. Know how to plan a music recording.
LO8. Apply sound analysis tools.
LO9. Work with Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and Virtual Studio.
LO10. Make your own personal study based on DAW and / or Virtual study.
LO11. Create your own sounds and sound textures for both music and special effects.

Skills to be worked on: E5, E9, E10, E11, E16, E18

Activity 3. Music production for an audiovisual product

The knowledge of the main strategies of composition, recording, editing and mixing of music for audiovisual media will be deepened. This activity will be done in pairs, only a group of three will be accepted when, in case the total number of students is odd, the teacher authorizes it beforehand at the beginning of the activity. Under no circumstances will an individual work be accepted. Works based on loops with platforms such as Soundtrap or similar will not be accepted. 

Learning outcomes. At the end of the activity the student must be able to:

LO1. Understand the concepts of rhythm, harmony and melody.
LO4. Know the different parts of a musical arrangement.
LO5. Get to know the different musical styles and their characteristics.
LO6. Know how to plan a music recording.
LO8. Apply sound analysis tools.
LO9. Work with Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and Virtual Studio.
LO10. Make your own personal study based on DAW and / or Virtual study.
LO11. Create your own sounds and sound textures for both music and special effects.

Skills to be worked on: E5, E9, E10, E11, E16, E18

Activity 4. Follow-up tests

Two tests, distributed throughout the term, where theoretical contents and aspects related to the contents worked on in the practical activities will be evaluated.

Activity 5. Final test

Final test that will include all the contents of the subject.

The subject proposes the evaluation in three blocks:

Activity 3. Music production for an audiovisual product (40%)

Activity 4. Follow-up tests (10%)

Activity 5. Final test (50%)

To take the average, you must have passed the final test with more than a 5 out of 10. Those students who obtain a grade lower than 5 will have to take a recovery test. The recovery test is passed with a 5. The remaining marks of the partial tests will be kept. In no case will it be possible to opt for recovery to raise a grade. Partial tests and internships have no recovery.

Grades may be reviewed at a date and place posted by the teacher through the eCampus.

Chion, Michel (1997). Music in cinema. Barcelona: Paidós.

Álamo, Lamberto del (2020). Cinema and its music. Secrets and keys Madrid: Rialp.

Kalinak, Kathryn (2010). Film Music. A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.

Xalabarder, Conrado (2013). The Musical Script in Cinema. World BSO

Mouëllic, Gilles (2011). Music in cinema. Barcelona: Paidós.

Davis, Richard (2010). Complete Guide to Film Scoring. Boston: Berklee Press.

Audissino, Emilio (2017). Film/Music Analysis. A Film Studies Approach. Southampton: Palgrave Macmillan.

Herrera, Henry (1995). Musical Theory and Modern Harmony (Vol. I & II). Barcelona: A. Bosch.

Kühn, Clemens (1998). Treatise on musical form. Cooper City, Fl: SpanPress.

Kühn, Clemens (2003). History of musical composition in commented examples. Barcelona: Idea Books.

Piston, Walter (1984). orchestration Madrid: Real Musical.

Smith, Reginald (2002). Musical Composition. Oxford University Press.

Bribitzer-Stull, Matthew (2015). Understanding the Leitmotif. From Wagner to Hollywood Film Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Neumeyer, David (2015). Meaning and Interpretation of Music in Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Tagg, Philip (2013). Music's Meanings: a modern musicology for non-musos. New York: The Mass Media Music Scholars' Press.

Denisch, Beth (2017). Contemporary Counterpoint: Theory & Application. Boston: Berklee Press.