Instrumentation and Orchestration will enhance students' knowledge of the key instruments of the modern orchestra. The study of instrumentation will develop in-depth understandings of the technical limitations and creative potential of the main instrumental families. The study of orchestration will examine instrumental combinations with reference to the use of colour to foreground and background musical lines. Additional content will include some study of acoustics and the perception of timbre, arranging and transcribing as well as notational standards and conventions. Works examined in class will span the entire 20th century. Students will be expected to undertake weekly readings and/or listenings and conduct independent research.

New Music, New Thinking is designed to challenge the way in which students' understand the music of our time. Through in-depth analyses of music of the past 100 years, students will be exposed to a variety of compositional techniques, concepts and aesthetics. Areas of enquiry may include noise, stasis, pastiche, the open form, unconventional instruments and microtonality. The content and assessment of this subject will enable students to further develop critical thinking and judgments with regards to the composition of new classical music and relate this knowledge to other contemporary cultural practices. Students will be expected to undertake weekly readings and listenings, participate in discussion and conduct independent research.

This unit of study looks at classic techniques and processes in composition which emerged during the middle to the later part of the twentieth century. The focus is on key works of this period by composers such as Stockhausen, Xenakis and, Ligeti and others. The material covered will enable the student to strengthen their own repertoire of compositional techniques and allow them to understand their own work in a clear historical context.

This unit of study looks at techniques and processes in tonal and minimalist composition which emerged during the later part of the twentieth century. The focus is on key works of this period by composers such as Andriessen, Reich, Adams and others. The material covered will enable the student to strengthen their own repertoire of compositional technique and allow them to understand their work in a clear historical context.

This unit aims, through performance, to help students develop vital aural and improvisational skills which will significantly enhance their compositional process.

This unit continues to develop through performance and investigation into experimental modes of presentation, to help students develop vital aural and improvisational skills which will significantly enhance their compositional process.

This unit of study is designed to enable composers to gain insights into composing for percussion instruments. Knowledge about percussion composition will be facilitated by a 'hands on' approach incorporating basic stick techniques, rudiments, pulse and subdivision and ensemble performance utilizing improvisation and indeterminate notation systems.

This unit of study enables composers to develop an understanding of percussion composition through the development of basic percussion performance techniques, the creation of percussion ensemble compositions, performing complex rhythms and the experience of ensemble performance.

This unit will explore current techniques in electroacoustic composition through the completion of small tasks in signal processing and the composing of an electroacoustic sound work. Students will discuss recent examples of the electroacoustic repertoire to gain an understanding of current practices, and will gain an insight into the recording process leading to the making of their piece.

Electronic music composers have been "diffusing" stereo works in surround spaces for many years. Until recently, there has been no standard to which composers could adhere when mixing their works to multichannel tape. Although it has some limitations for the electroacoustic composer, sound encoded for 5.1 on DVD now offers the composer a medium through which to share surround sound electroacoustic works. This unit of study explores composing for a surround space, and investigates writing and electroacoustic work that also includes a live instrumental/vocal performer.

This unit will focus on interactive and algorithmic composition based on formal processes to create music with computers. This unit investigates an interactive graphical programming environment for music, audio and media called Max/MSP/Jitter, allowing the composer to program and implement interactive music processes quickly and with varying levels of sophistication, thus encouraging the student to explore real-time creative possibilities of digital music technology.

This unit will focus on interactive and generative composition within the digital audio domain and the application of sound synthesis to live electronic music performances in which sound is generated and transformed during the performance rather than pre-recorded. This unit investigates sound generation techniques allowing the composer to create and modify sound with Max/MSP/Jitter. Students will explore the means by which sound is produced with computers to extend the creative possibilities of digital signal processing.