Craft Classes
"I have so much more awareness of form now than I did previously.
The things I learned in craft class are immediately and thoroughly beneficial"

"Craft Class taught me a lot about how a good melody is formed."

"I gained a lot from the discussions we had about specific ways to improve composing,
such as considering energy flow, cadence points, transitions, etc. Seeing examples in actual literature
helped a lot, too. I've already started employing some of the techniques we talked about."

"The discussions of different techniques were very interesting and helpful."

"It was great to be able to work on a short piece all week and then hear how it sounded when the quartet played it."

"Great discussions and score study. One of the best parts was working with
the other students and hearing the their input regarding various scores and composers."

Each morning the YCP students spend two hours in craft class. Two different classes are offered each year. In 2004 a two-hour afternoon seminar dealing with the unique and creative problems of musical notation was added to the students' schedule.

Craft A: Musical Line has as its core an introduction to the principles of counterpoint, as an element of craft that can be applied to any style of music.  Exercises in basic 2-voice species counterpoint have a variety of functions:  to give students experience manipulating notes beautifully in a coherent and flexible musical language; to explore consonance and dissonance and what they mean; to understand the craft and beauty behind much of their favorite music of the past; to prepare students for further studies in counterpoint and harmony/voice-leading; to explore the notion of "independent musical voices" which has been crucilal to music by composers as diverse as Josquin, Schumann, Schnittke, and Michael Gordon.  Each class also features musical examples from the past and present, as well as in class activities that illuminate points of interest in response to student goals or discussions that come up during the week.    


Craft B: Energy Flow studies control of musical energy in time through rhythm, phrase and form, by focusing specifically on the unique compositional problem of transitions on both the small scale and the larger scale. Half of the class is comprised of examining "tricks of the trade" by listening to, studying and performing works from all eras. The other half of the class has the students compose a "laboratory" piece throughout the week which the class discusses with a special eye towards the techniques of musical flow revealed in analysis. The class culminates on Saturday when the YCP Ensemble workshops each of the laboratory compositions. Students, faculty and ensemble members make suggestions, all contributing to an educational and experimental atmosphere.
Michael Gilbertson's class exercise at the 2003 YCP (above) did more than just give him an opportunity to experiment with increased flexibility of meter and phrase... it also became the basis of his piece for the 2004 YCP: Pastorale.

See Other Classes Exercises

Quotations above come from survey responses

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