Presentation

The ability to present one's work attractively and articulately is a very important part of surviving as a professional composer. The mark awarded for presentation is based on the clarity and articulacy of the accompanying commentary as well as the physical presentation of the portfolio where appropriate.

The Commentary

In formulating the commentary which is supplied with the final portfolio, the student learns to analyse their composition and articulate their intentions. This aids the examiners in understanding the work, and so being able to award marks objectively, but also helps to develop the communication skills that are so important to the modern professional composer at meetings with clients.

The Portfolio

If a student chooses to submit the portfolio as a full score, they are expected to be presented in the traditional way, they should be immaculately handwritten in ink or computer derived. Students who submit audio, video or multimedia portfolios are encouraged to generate their own artwork where appropriate, or else to be involved to some extent as artistic director if artwork is supplied by someone else.

Artwork and Multimedia Resources

The multimedia studio is equipped with various software applications to help students in this respect, including Opus, Paintshop Pro, Surething CD labeller and Pinnacle Studio 8 video editing. During the second semester seminars are given in the use of these applications as well as basic HTML editing and web page authoring.

Students are not expected to have advanced artistic or graphic skills, marks are based more on the conceptual understanding of how the artistic presentation fits with the composition, although if a student feels confident of their abilities they may negotiate to have the actual artwork included in the presentation mark.