12 Weeks
Level 3
3-Credit Tuition
$1,290Non-Credit Tuition
$1,545This course will open for April enrollment in January 2025.
Since the mid-nineteenth century to the present, composers have expanded the musical potential of the chromatic scale, discovering new types of melody and harmony, with great expressive power. In Chromatic Writing and Analysis, you will analyze chromatic music from concert repertoire, film scores, and dramatic music. Then you will apply your analytical discoveries to create new compositions, broaden your personal compositional voices, and lay the foundation for future expansion. Your compositions will then be brought to life through live performances by skilled musicians and recorded for posterity.
The analysis and example repertoire will include music by composers, including works by Florence Price, George Walker, and Elizabeth Lutyens.
Specific topics covered in this course will include:
- pan-triadic progressions and other triad-based post-tonal relationships
- polychords
- melody and harmony generated from non-diatonic scales and altered modes
- composing using small sets of selected intervals
- free atonality
- twelve-tone technique
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- analyze different applications of chromatic harmony and melody in a variety of musical styles
- identify chromatic techniques aurally and through score study
- create new works using various chromatic techniques
- articulate the basis on which the compositions are created
- notate new works accurately and clearly
- perform and/or coach readings of new works
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Review of Chromatic Harmony Within Diatonic Tonality
- Historical Perspective
- Review of Secondary Functions in Tonal Music
- Review of Modal Interchange in Tonal Music
- Chromatic Counting, Essential Ideas of Pitch Class Set Theory
- Assignment 1: Composing with Secondary Functions and Modal Interchange
Lesson 2: Rhythm, Meter, and the One-Note Composition
- Discussion of Two Musical Examples and Definition of Pan-Triadic Harmony
- Neo-Riemannian Transformations
- Harmonic Chains Based on Neo-Riemannian Transformations
- Continuation of Pitch Class Set Theory: Transposition and Inversion
- Assignment 2: Using Pan-Triadic Harmony
Lesson 3: Pan-Triadic Harmony and Analysis 2
- Review of Hexatonic and Octatonic Spaces
- Visualizing Pan Triadic Spaces: The Tonnetz
- Organizing around the Augmented Triads, the Cube Dance
- Voice Leading Regions, Chord Substitutions, and Smoothness
- Pitch Class Set Theory continued: Normal Order and Prime Form
- Assignment 3: Pan-Triadic Harmony using a Tonnetz or Cube Dance Diagram
Lesson 4: 7th Chords in Chromatic Space
- The Diminished 7th Chord
- ‘Dominant’ 7th Chords
- The ‘Tristan’ Chord: The Half-Diminished Seventh Chord
- Pitch Class Set Theory Continued: Normal and Prime Forms of Larger Sets
- Assignment 4: Duet Using 7th Chord and Cube Trio Diagram
Lesson 5: Polychords and Polytonality
- Polychords using Major and Minor Triads
- Polytonality and Polymodality
- Poly-textural Music, through Rhythm and Timbre
- PC Set Theory Continued: Interval Content and the Interval Vector
- Assignment 5: ABA’ Form
Lesson 6: Six-Tone Scale Systems and Mystic Chords
- Six-tone Scales and Resulting Harmonies
- Harmonic Tension and Release
- Texture and Timbre as Formal Elements
- Pitch Class Set Theory Continued: Complementarity and Hexachords
- Assignment 6: Composition Etude
Lesson 7: Octatonic Systems and Scales
- Octatonic Scale
- Analyzing Octatonic Music
- Composing Octatonic Music
- Pitch Class Set Theory Continued: Subsets and Supersets
- Assignment 7: Octatonic Song
Lesson 8: Motives and Interval Sets in Monophonic Music
- Introduction to Atonal Music and Using PC Set Theory to Analyze It
- Monophonic Composition
- Harmony in Monophonic Composition
- Timbre and Articulation in Monophonic Composition
- Paul Hindemith: Another Approach to Modern Harmony
- Assignment 8: Monophonic Composition
Lesson 9: Motives and Interval Sets in Harmony
- Musical Textures and Atonality
- Thematic Approaches to Atonal Composition
- Athematic Approaches to Atonal Composition
- Voice Leading in Non-tonal Harmony
- Novel Textures
- Assignment 9: Composing Homophonically and Polyphonically with PC Sets
Lesson 10: 12-Tone Techniques, the Basics
- 12-Tone Technique, the Solution to a Creative Crisis
- Making a 12-Tone Row: Different Approaches
- Deploying a 12-Tone Row
- Analysis of 12-Tone Music
- Assignment 10: 12-Tone Composition 1
Lesson 11: 12-Tone Techniques, a Deeper Dive
- Working with Invariants
- Hexachordal Combinatoriality
- Rows with Fewer than 12 PCs
- Reordered Series and Tropes
- Assignment 11: Final Composition Project
Lesson 12: Aesthetics, 12-Tone Tonality, and Live Reading Session
- Purity vs. Eclecticism: A Side-Trip into Aesthetics
- Defining and Analyzing 12-Tone Tonality
- Composing with Interval Cycles
- Form for the Final Project
- Assignment 12: Culminating Assignment: Final Project Composition Live Reading
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
Prerequisite Courses, Knowledge, and/or Skills
Completion of Tonal Writing and Analysis, Music Theory and Composition 1, Music Theory and Composition 2, Counterpoint, and Music Notation and Score Preparation Using Sibelius Ultimate, or equivalent knowledge and experience is required.
Software
- Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Free options, such as GarageBand (Mac) or Cakewalk by BandLab (PC), are acceptable.
- Notation software with orchestral sound library, such as Dorico Pro or Sibelius Ultimate (MuseScore or NoteFlight not sufficient)
Hardware
- Students are encouraged but not required to capture a live performance of their composition in high quality and monitor audio output. Options include:
- Input (one recommended):
- XLR microphone and audio interface (recommended option)
- USB microphone
- Portable audio recorder
- Output (one recommended):
- Headphones (required if multitracking and/or input monitoring)
- Studio monitors and audio interface
- Built-in or external speakers
- Input (one recommended):
- Note: Depending on your setup, you may also need an XLR cable, microphone stand, and pop filter.
Other
- Blank paper (tabloid or A3 size) and colored pens
- Recommended: Manuscript paper with 8 or 9 staves per page (printable template provided in the course)
Student Deals
After enrolling, be sure to check out our Student Deals page for various offers on software, hardware, and more. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu with any questions.
General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
PC Users
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author & Instructor
Arnold Friedman taught at Berklee for 14 years and chaired the Composition department from 2012 to 2016. He has also taught at the University of North Texas, where he directed the NOVA Ensemble, and at Western Oregon University. His music has been performed throughout the US and in Italy. He has performed in the cello sections of the Dallas Opera Orchestra and the Rhode Island Philharmonic, as well as with Dinosaur Annex and Notariotous. Friedman writes and performs in the Melde and Friedman Bass-Cello Duo.
What's Next?
When taken for credit, Chromatic Writing and Analysis can be applied towards the completion of these related programs:
Related Certificate Programs
Related Degree Major
Questions?
Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.
