Music Notation 1b
CCMP2206/5206 | Spring 2026
Tuesday 4:00-5:40pm | Arnhold Hall 55 W13th, Room 710
Christopher Cerrone
cerronec@newschool.edu
The New School | College of Performing Arts | Mannes School of Music
cerronec@newschool.edu
The New School | College of Performing Arts | Mannes School of Music
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Course Overview
This course addresses how to translate musical ideas into notes and rhythms that performers can understand. The focus is on orchestral, microtonal, and electroacoustic music notation, with practical engraving projects using Dorico, Sibelius, and Finale.
Required Text
Behind Bars by Elaine Gould
(Kindle edition suggested for searching)
Grading
- Attendance: 17%
- Participation: 17%
- Midterm: 33%
- Final: 33%
Key Dates
- Midterm: March 3, 2026
- Final: May 12, 2026
Week 1 – Wind Notation: Flute & Clarinet
January 27 | Introduction to class, syllabus review, flute and clarinet notation
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| Piece | Links |
|---|---|
| Debussy – Syrinx | View Score Listen |
| Varese – Density 21.5 | View Score Listen |
| Furrer – Presto | View Score Listen |
| Soper – Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say | View Score Listen |
| Cerrone – Pirouette | View Score Listen |
| Sciarrino – L’Opera per Flauto Vol. 1 | View Score Listen |
| Shaw – Liminal Highway | View Score Listen |
| Corigliano – Clarinet Concerto (Original) | View Score Listen |
| Corigliano – Clarinet Concerto (2015 Engraving) | View Score |
| Cerrone – South Catalina | View Score Listen |
| Lachenmann – Dal Niente (Interieur III) | View Score Listen |
Additional Resources: New Directions for Clarinet | Clarinet Multiphonics Database
Week 2 – Guest Visit: Tim Munro
February 3 | Tim Munro, flutist, former member of Eighth Blackbird, Professor of Flute at University of Queensland, Brisbane
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| Piece | Topic | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Angelus Novus: Aliya | Oboe Multiphonics | Listen |
| Angelus Novus – Peshat | Oboe Multiphonics | Listen |
| Viet Cuong – Extraordinarily Fancy | Oboe Multiphonics | View Score Listen |
| Singleton – Argoru Va | Bass Clarinet | View Score Listen |
| Rachmaninoff – Symphonic Dances | Saxophone Solo | View Score Listen |
| Wubbels – This is This is This is | Saxophone Extended Techniques | View Score Listen |
| Barber – Summer Music | View Score Listen | |
| Ligeti – Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet | View Score Listen | |
| Sciarrino – Lo Spazio Inverso | View Score Listen | |
| Norman – Severance | View Score Listen | |
| Stravinsky – Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) | View Score Listen | |
| Stravinsky – Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1947) | View Score | |
| Viet Cuong – Vital Sines | Listen | |
| Zorn – Angelus Novus | View Score |
Week 4 – Harp Notation
February 17 | Harp techniques, pedal diagrams, harmonics
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| Piece | Topic | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Tchaikovsky – Swan Lake Cadenza | Chords | View Score Listen |
| Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Cadenza | Alternate notation | View Score |
| Ravel – Alborada del Gracioso | Enharmonic spelling, gliss, pdlt | View Score Listen |
| Sciarrino – Fauno che fischia a un Merlo | Bisbigliano | View Score Listen |
| Nico Muhly – The Street | Harmonics | View Score Listen |
| Mussorgsky/Ravel – Pictures at an Exhibition (Gnomus) | Double harmonics | View Score Listen |
| Hoyt-Schermerhorn | Fingerings, l.v., Gould example | View Score (Sibelius) Listen |
| Andriessen – Melodien | Microtones | View Score |
| Fujikura – Floating Fireflies | Xylophonic sound, one staff harmonics | View Score Listen |
| Saariaho – Fall/Maa | Electronics | View Score Listen |
| Igor Santos – Anima | Prepared harp | View Score Listen |
| Balter – Omolu | Extreme scordatura | View Score Listen |
| John Luther Adams – Become Ocean | Orchestral context | View Score Listen |
| Cerrone – In a Grove (Harp Part) | Part example | View Score Listen |
| Bosnic – Vessels | View Score Listen | |
| Gould – Harp Chapter | Reference | View PDF |
Week 5 – Brass Notation
February 24 | Brass instruments, transposition, mutes, extended techniques
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| Piece | Links |
|---|---|
|
Beethoven – Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale”
Keys, transposition (p. 66) |
View Score Listen |
| Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring (1947) | View Score Listen |
| Hillborg – Brass Quintet | View Score Listen |
| Joan Tower – Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman | Listen |
| Nina C. Young – Glow/Glare | View Score Info |
| Druckman – Other Voices | View Score Listen |
| Hillborg – Fanfare | View Score Listen |
| Ligeti – Horn Trio | View Score Listen |
| Ligeti – Hamburg Concerto | View Score Listen |
| Berio – Sequenza V for Trombone | View Score Listen |
| Daugherty | Listen |
| Nono – Post-Prae-Ludium per Donau | View Score Listen |
Week 8 – American Indeterminacy
March 24 | Graphic notation, chance operations, minimalism
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| Piece | Topic | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Lukas Foss – Baroque Variations | Three movements with different “Free” aspects | View Score |
| Cage – 4’33” (Cage’s Handwriting) | View Score | |
| Cage – Hymns and Variations | Cut away scores, approach to generating material | View Score |
| Feldman – The King of Denmark | Graphic Scores | View Score |
| Feldman – De Kooning | “Connect the dots” scores | View Score |
| Feldman – For John Cage | Double-flats for microtones | View Score |
| Feldman – For Philip Guston | Non-alignment of parts | View Score |
| Feldman – Piece for Four Pianos | Same part but no time alignment | View Score |
| Earle Brown – Available Forms I | Conductor as “composer” | View Score |
| John Adams – Shaker Loops | Practicality of indeterminacy | View Score |
| Shaker Loops (Original Version) | Original withdrawn version | View Slides |
| Terry Riley – In C | View Score | |
| Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians | View Score | |
| Julius Eastman – Femenine (Manuscript) | View Score | |
| Caroline Shaw – Partita for 8 Voices | Recording as source | View Score |
Week 9 – European Aleatoricism
March 31 | Controlled indeterminacy, Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Boulez
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| Piece | Topic | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Lutoslawski – Symphony No. 2 | “Free” parts that are controlled | View Score |
| Lutoslawski – String Quartet | “Free” parts that are controlled | View Score |
| Ligeti – Requiem (Vocal Score) | Written out indeterminacy – black lines indicate freedom | View Score |
| Ligeti – Requiem (Orchestral Score) | Written out indeterminacy – black lines indicate freedom | View Score |
| Corigliano – Phantasmagoria on the Ghosts of Versailles | Neoromantic appropriation of aleatoricism | View Score |
| Boulez – Messagesquisse | View Score | |
| Berio – Folk Songs | View Score | |
| Lutoslawski – Symphony No. 3 | View Score |
Week 10 – Microtonal Notation
April 7 | Quarter-tones, spectral music, scordatura, alternative tuning systems
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| Piece | Topic | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Ives – Three Quarter-Tone Pieces | Retuned pianos | View Score |
| I Hold the Lion’s Paw | Use of tuned pipes | View Score |
| Chiaroscuro | Retuned pianos | View File |
| Dennehy – Tessellatum | Overtones notated in strings | View Score |
| Can’t and Won’t | Arrow Noteheads | View Score (Sibelius) |
| Dennehy – Gra agus Bas | Notation of overtones | View Score |
| Abrahamsen – Schnee 1A and 1B | Retuning of instruments | View Score |
| Grisey – Vortex Temporum | Retuning of instruments | View Score |
| Murail – Serendib | Microtonal clefs | View Score |
| Brooke | Scordatura Microtones | View File |
| Harmonium 2 | Scordatura Microtones | View Score |
| Ligeti – Violin Concerto | Orchestral Microtonality | View Score |
Week 11 – Electroacoustic Notation
April 14 | Fixed media, live electronics, time-based notation
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| Piece | Topic | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Stockhausen – Kontakte | Seconds to align | View Score |
| Ligeti – Artikulation | “Hortpartitur” (listening score) | View Score |
| Harvey – Tombeau de Messiaen | Rough notation of electronics part | View Score |
| Saariaho – Noa Noa | Live Electronics | View Score |
| Nina C. Young – Sun Propeller | Live Electronics | View Score |
| The Language of Landscapes | Live Electronics | View Score Listen |
| Johannes – Cello Piece | Cues | View Score (Sibelius) |
Week 12 – Notation Off the Grid
April 21 | Polymetric notation, metric modulation, proportional notation
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| Piece | Links |
|---|---|
| Maderna – Quartetto | View Score |
| Ives – The Unanswered Question | View Score |
| Ives – Symphony No. 4 | View Score |
| Nancarrow – Two Canons for Ursula | View Score |
| Carter – String Quartet No. 1 (Version 1) | View Score |
| Carter – String Quartet No. 1 (Version 2) | View Score |
| Ades – Asyla | View Score |
| Reading a Wave I, II, and III | View Score |
| Ades – Piano Quintet | View Score |
| Once Removed | View Score |
| Violin Sonata II (2022 version) | View Score (Sibelius) |
| Violin Sonata II (2015 version) | View Score (Sibelius) |