Composition

Composers do more than interpret great music. They create it. At the OU School of Music, award-winning composers and music educators strive to help composition students to achieve the fullest development of their individual creative talents by providing a solid foundation in the basic principles of music theory, musicianship, history, and literature - and also in composition techniques, including those related to technological innovations in the field. Upon completion of the program, students will have begun to develop a personal voice in their composition as they prepare for a professional career in music composition, theory or for advanced academic study.

Composers Forum is the weekly department meeting that is used to share compositional ideas, present research, or to simply share a piece of music that has been influential in some way. These meetings, usually on Thursdays at 2:30p, are also home to many guest artist lectures from the world of music composition.

Composing Tomorrow is a concert series featuring the solo and chamber works of student composers. This two-night event occurs every semester and serves as a meaningful proving ground for new music. Dates and Locations of these events are found online.

New Century Ensemble is OU's new music ensemble, featuring faculty and student performers presenting music from the 20th and 21st century, including new works by faculty or students that fit the themes of a concert in a given semester.

The New Century Improv! Ensemble is an improvisation-based ensemble anchored by OU's student composers that focuses on unwritten, chance-based music. In the past, this ensemble has given performances at events such as the National Weather Center's bi-annual conference, for which a group of composers wrote pieces of music using data-sets based on Earth's Climate History provided by the National Weather Center's Center for Climate Study.