At YST, we seek to open up platforms and pathways for people to pursue their passions and aspirations in music. For Semester 2 of the 2018/19 academic year, we are pleased to announce that 20 Conservatory modules are available to NUS students. Current students enrolled in an undergraduate programme in NUS may bid for these modules through the Centralised Online Registration System (CORS).

In addition, YST offers a Minor in Music & Society that is open to NUS students. The minor specifically focuses on music’s societal dimension, with broad disciplinary outreach that encompasses the study of music in potential social, political, economic and aesthetic contexts.

Read more about the available modules below, and we hope to see you at the YST Conservatory!

*For modules marked with an asterisk, a theory placement test on 2 January 2019, 11.00am-12.00pm at YST Conservatory SR1 is required. Bidding on CORS is not required for these modules. Your requested module will be pre-allocated upon meeting Placement requirements. Learn more about Theory Placement here and sign up here.

COMPOSITIONAL ENGAGEMENT

1. *MUT3222 CHORAL COMPOSITION, 4 MCS 

Dr Chen Zhangyi

Thursdays 10.00-12.00pm Lecture, SR8

This module provides an overview of various compositional approaches to choral music. Styles surveyed range from English madrigals to popular a capella styles, and diverse modern composers such as Ligeti and Whitacre. Assignments will feature creative choral composition, arrangement, paying attention to details of idiomatic voicing, practical voice leading, text setting, and accompaniment. The module aims to bridge compositional thinking with performance and interpretative analysis. Thus, analysis, composition, and performance are represented as modes of learning. Major assessment is in the form of analytical work and music compositions that are performed in class and/or public concerts.

2) *MUT3220 WIND ENSEMBLE ARRANGING/COMPOSITION, 4 MCS

Dr Lien Boon Hua

Tuesdays 9.00-11.00am Lecture, SR5

This module will introduce students to the fundamental components of arranging and composing for wind ensemble through listening, score study, and scoring projects. The module includes both theoretical and practical components. Students will analyse works to further their understanding of module topics and create arrangements and/or compose original works to demonstrate their comprehension of module content.

3) *MUT3223 EARLY 20TH CENTURY MUSIC, 4 MCS 

Ms Adeline Wong

Thursdays 2.00-4.00pm Lecture, SR4

This module introduces students to the compositional ideas developed in the early twentieth century (1900-1945). It provides students the skills and techniques for analysing this repertoire and composing music in this style. Perspectives will include not only the musical materials of these works but also some insights into their cultural context and historical placement. 

4) *MUT3202 SONATA FORMS, 4 MCS

Ms Adeline Wong

Thursdays 10.00-12.00pm Lecture, SR3

This module is designed for students who wish to further explore the depth and diversity of the most complex of all tonal forms: sonata. After reviewing its historical predecessors (binary and ternary forms), formal principles, and terminology, it will investigate various sonata movements from different genres (solo sonata, chamber and orchestral music, vocal music) in chronologiical order, following their development and enlargement. Other topics include: sonata-rondo, sonata movement in concerto, single-movement sonata (Liszt, Schoenberg), and post-tonal sonata (Bartók, Boulez). Students will work on the individual analysis of a sonata in their current repertoire.

5) MUT1201 INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL MUSIC COMPOSITION, 4 MCS    

Assoc Prof Ho Chee Kong

Tuesdays 2.00-4.00pm Lecture, SR3

The module uses the online course ‘Write Like Mozart’ available on the Coursera platform as the basis of its content. It introduces students to strategies for style writing in European art music. Issues of harmonic progression, voice leading, and texture are addressed as are relevant compositional concepts like repetition, variation, and elaboration. A blended learning module with video lectures and demonstrations, class time is dedicated to hands-on workshops. Simple compositions in the style of common practice European music form the bulk of the assessment. A familiarity with musical rudiments is highly recommended. Prior experience with composition is not required.

CONTEXTUAL ENGAGEMENT

1) MUH3203 EVOLUTION OF THE MUSIC OF THE STAGE, 4 MCS

Dr Marc Rochester

Fridays 9.00-11.00am Lecture, SR4

This module traces the history of opera from its origins in Ancient Greece, through the creation of “modern opera” in the Renaissance, the musical theatre plays staged on Broadway and London’s West End, and on to the musical films of Hollywood and the current opera scene in Singapore and Southeast Asia. While at the core of the module is the thread of history which traces the evolution and development of the musical stage, a significant focus is the social and political attitudes which are reflected in the stories and the music. From a celebration of gods and superheroes, to contemporary political events, and on to the mundane lives of ordinary people (and their pets), the module looks at how this art form has fomented political uprising and social revolution and how it has been affected by advances in technology, from electricity to social media and beyond. Students enrolling on this module need a working knowledge of basic musical terminology but no other specialist musical knowledge is required.

GENERAL EDUCATION MODULES

1) GEH1047 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES THROUGH MUSIC, 4 MCS    

Assoc Prof Ty Constante

Tuesdays 12.00-2.00pm Tutorial, SR3/SR8/RS/Workshop and Fridays 12.00-2.00pm Lecture, SR8

This module provides a cross-cultural introduction to music both as an art and as a human, socio-cultural phenomenon. Through lectures, reading and listening assignments, and actually playing different styles of music, students will learn how music works, why people listen to and make music, what its roles are in a society, and how these things vary in different cultures. The module introduces a variety of musical styles and cultures that represent an enormous wealth of human experience. At the end of the course the students will have access to a much wider variety of music to listen to, participate in, enjoy, and understand.    

2) GET1039 WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE IS ART?, 4 MCS    

Assoc Prof Greg Petersen

Choose one of the following:

• Mondays and Thursdays 12.00-1.00pm, SR6
• Mondays and Thursdays 1.00-2.00pm, SR6
• Mondays and Thursdays 2.00-3.00pm, SR6

This course explores the arts through three different, but overlapping, questions: 

What is art? (including the polemics associated with this question);

When is art? (i.e. creations that are interpreted as art, or not art, at different times); and

Where is art? (i.e. why something is perceived as art when it is in one setting, but is generally otherwise unnoticed). 

Visits to Singapore locations for case studies are required. Students will study and apply several disparate theories, and will also write their own.

3) GES1020 WESTERN MUSIC WITHIN A SINGAPOREAN CONTEXT, 4 MCS

Dr Marc Rochester

Choose one lecture (both held at SR8): Tuesdays 2.00-4.00pm or Fridays 2.00-4.00pm

Choose one tutorial (all held at SR8): 

• Tuesdays 4.00-5.00pm
• Wednesdays 2.00-3.00pm
• Wednesdays 3.00-4.00pm
• Wednesdays 4.00-5.00pm
• Fridays 4.00-5.00pm

This module will look at the place of the Western Classical music tradition within the cultural life of Singapore. It will assess the impact of majority cultures (particularly from the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities) on the general reception of Western music, as well as on music written by Singapore-based composers. Students will be introduced to the principal figures in Singapore’s musical development. The module will also chart the growth of music education in Singapore, both in the national schooling system as well as in private institutions and tertiary academies. A prior knowledge of music is helpful but not required.

4) GEH1060 SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE PIANO, 4 MCS

Dr Koo Siaw Sing

Choose one lecture (both held at SR4): Thursdays 10.00-11.00am or Thursdays 11.00am-12.00pm

Choose one tutorial (all held at SR2): 

• Mondays 9.00-10.00am
• Mondays 10.00-11.00am
• Mondays 11.00am -12.00pm
• Mondays 12.00-1.00pm

An interdisciplinary study of how societies and different generations responded to the invention of the piano. This module focuses on the social history of the piano throughout the past three centuries, canvassing a wide array of performers, composers, supporters, manufacturers, “heroes”, politicians, teachers and students. Various expressions of ideologies from differing periods eventually revolutionised and effectuated the versatility of the piano, shaping a legacy which led to the “globalisation” of the piano, in countries including China. Students will learn through lectures, readings, discussions, listening, playing, and attending piano recitals and masterclasses.

5) GEH1040 EXPLORATION IN MUSICAL PRODUCTION, 4 MCS (OPEN TO HALL STUDENTS ONLY)

Assoc Prof Ho Chee Kong

Wednesdays 7.00-10.00pm Lecture, Raffles Hall Conference Room

This module engages students to think and express themselves through the production process of a musical. By introducing the various aspects of mounting a musical production, it empowers the students to transmit this understanding into an actual display of intrinsic ideas. The module will be executed through classroom seminars and an experiential component culminating in the form of a micro-musical. The content coverage embodies a survey and appreciation of Singapore musicals; and to expound on the hardware and software requirements in mounting a musical. This include individual elements like acting, singing, writing, composing, music-making and dancing which are interwoven in the creation of this art form; as well as the financial and budget planning, safety measures and basic aspects of stage management.