ORCHESTRATION
Course Syllabus


Music 136, Winter 1998
Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00am-12:20pm
Music Building, Room 190A

Professor Christopher Dobrian
294E Music Building
824-7288
dobrian@uci.edu

Office hours by appointment Tuesday and Thursday 3:00pm-5:00pm.


Required text:
Kennan, Kent Wheeler. The Technique of Orchestration, 5th edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.

Works for study:
See the Orchestration Study Guide: http://music.arts.uci.edu/dobrian/orch.study.htm.

Course Requirements

  1. Participation in at least 95% of all class meeting time.
  2. Adequate preparation for class discussions and presentations: timely completion of reading, score study, listening, and arranging assignments.
  3. Attendance at one orchestral concert and one chamber music concert at UCI, and a short written study of unique instrumentation demonstrated by the music in each event.
  4. A well prepared classroom demonstration of the capabilities and techniques of your instrument, with commentary about its use in ensembles.
  5. Technical arranging/composing studies employing techniques explained and demonstrated in class, and/or exemplified by the works studied in class.
  6. A brief (1-2 minute) arrangement or composition for orchestra.
  7. A final examination involving knowledge of instrument ranges and capabilities, correct notation, and important musical terms.

The required arranging or composing studies are intended as technical/stylistic exercises in which you demonstrate your understanding of the instrumentation and orchestration concepts and techniques studied in class. The duration of each study will be extremely short--usually 30 seconds to two minutes. Each study will be due on Tuesday of the following week, at which time you should hand in a copy of your score, plus parts if necessary. To the extent possible, the assignments will be performed in class the following Thursday.

Grading for the course will be based on timely and thorough completion of all the course requirements. Since every requirement is considered a vital part of the educational experience of the course, serious and high quality work is expected at all times. Grading will be based in more or less equal proportion on the following activities:

  1. Active and informed participation in discussions and presentations held in class,
  2. Assigned short arranging/composing studies,
  3. Final orchestration assignment, and
  4. Final exam.

Regarding Academic Integrity

Students are encouraged to exchange ideas, opinions, and information, and you are encouraged to help each other with performance of instrumental assignments. However, you are expected to complete all written assignments on your own, with your own ideas.


Christopher Dobrian
January 5, 1998
dobrian@uci.edu