Composition Minor (B.Mus.) (18 credits)
Offered by: Music Research (Schulich School of Music)
Degree: Bachelor of Music
Program credit weight: 18
Program Description
The Minor Composition is available to all students with approval (with the exception of students in the Major Composition.) This option will take the place of music and/or free electives.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (9 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MUCO 230 | The Art of Composition. | 3 |
The Art of Composition. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to compositional techniques and notational practices of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including the analysis of selected works. | ||
| MUCO 260 | Instruments of the Orchestra. | 3 |
Instruments of the Orchestra. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introductory study of the instruments of string, woodwind and brass families, elementary acoustics of the instruments. Techniques of playing including embouchure, fingering, bowing, hand-stopping, transposing instruments. Evolution of the instruments, their technique and their music from the 18th century to the present. | ||
| MUCO 341 | Digital Studio Composition 1. | 3 |
Digital Studio Composition 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Composition with MIDI, audio recording, digital audio signal processing software and hardware. Creation of small-scale composition studies using technological resources in the context of electroacoustic music. The hands-on activities will include critical listening and evaluation of electronic and computer music repertoire. | ||
Complementary Courses (9 credits)
9 credits selected from
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MUHL 385 | Early Twentieth-Century Music. | 3 |
Early Twentieth-Century Music. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Development of European, Russian, and American music from the 1890s until the early 1940s, tracing its roots in late 19th-century Romanticism and following its evolution in central Europe, France, and the United States. The music of major innovators such as Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Ives, and Varèse will be discussed. | ||
| MUHL 391 | Canadian Music. | 3 |
Canadian Music. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Survey of music in Canada from the 16th Century to the present. Current musical organizations and institutions, and contemporary Canadian music will be stressed. Time permitting, brief reference will be made to the folk music of indigenous and immigrant groups. | ||
| MUHL 392 | Music since 1945. | 3 |
Music since 1945. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Appearance and evolution of such post-war phenomena as total serialism, "chance" music of various kinds, and electronic music as seen in major figures such as Boulez, Stockhausen, Cage and others in Europe and the United States. Important developments during the 1960s. Rise of "minimalism" and "neo-Romanticism" during the 1970s and 80s. | ||
| MUTH 322 | Topics in Post-Tonal Analysis. | 3 |
Topics in Post-Tonal Analysis. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Topics in advanced analysis of post-tonal music. | ||
| MUTH 539 | Topics in Advanced Writing Techniques. | 3 |
Topics in Advanced Writing Techniques. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Advanced writing skills, including intensive four-part harmonization, advanced harmonic vocabulary and syntax, post-tonal counterpoint. | ||