DURATION: 1 year
ADDITIONAL ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
National Bachelor Certificate or equivalent with the minimum percentage of 30%, and an audition. Upon satisfying the conditions during the audition, a student may then proceed to register.
AIMS:
- Improve awareness of choral performance contexts and choral traditions in South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world.
- Develop music communication skills for enabling successful sustained learning.
- Improve the student’s ability to comprehend, analyse, evaluate and transmit ideas about choral music.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES:
The certificate prepares students to enter a degree programme in music and other related fields.
SPECIFIC OUTCOMES:
This programme will ensure that:
- Students are introduced to sight–singing and dictation, based mainly on the tonic solfa system.
- Students develop working knowledge of the keyboard necessary for choir training, arranging, improvisation, harmony and composition.
- Students develop a musical ear through the teaching of sight sing, rhythmic and melodic dictation.
- Students are equipped with knowledge concerning chord construction and modulations/transitions.
- Students can demonstrate awareness of elements of music such as pitch, harmony, form and rhythms.
- Students extend their practical abilities with more technical keyboard technique.
ARTICULATION:
This qualification leads to a bachelor’s degree in music and other related degrees.
PREREQUISITES: None
ACADEMIC STRUCTURE
The programme consists of four modules per semester. Each first semester module is a prerequisite for its second semester module.
| YEAR 1 | |||||
| SEMESTER 1 | SEMESTER 2 | ||||
| Module Title | Codes | Credit s | Module Title | Codes | Credit s |
| Music literacy | CML 1521 | 20 | Music literacy | CML 1621 | 20 |
| Practical musicianship | CMP 1511 | 10 | Practical musicianship | CMP 1611 | 10 |
| Choral Training and Directing | CTD 1511 | 15 | Choral Training and Directing | CTD 1611 | 15 |
| Basic keyboard training | CBK 1511 | 5 | Basic keyboard training | CBK 1611 | 5 |
| History of Choral music | CCM 1511 | 10 | History of Choral Music | CCM 1621 | 10 |
| Total credits | 120 | ||||
CML 1521: Music literacy: A first semester module, which aims at introducing students to the elements of music with continued emphasis on music notation.
CCM 1511: History of choral music: This module will trace the development of Western choral music from the gothic period to the 21st century. There will be an in-depth study of different musical styles of periods.
CTD 1521: Choral training and directing: students will be introduced to human voice and the important aspects of choir training such as posture/ breathing, tone, balance, blending, dynamics and rhythm.
CPM 1511: Practical musicianship: students will be assisted to develop a good musical ear by teaching them how to sight sing, rhythmic and melodic dictation.
CBK 1511: Basic keyboard training: This module will equip a student with a working knowledge of a keyboard to assist him or her in choir training.
CML 1621: Music literacy: A continuation from first semester. Students will further be equipped with knowledge concerning chord construction and modulations/transitions.
CCM 1611: History of choral music: This module will trace the development of South African choral music. Students will be equipped with knowledge pertaining to choral eisteddfods and also prolific South African choral music composers.
CTD 1621: Choral training and directing: A continuation from first semester. Special emphasis will be put on training techniques. Students will be expected to demonstrate their practical knowledge by handling choirs themselves.
CPM 1611: Practical musicianship: A continuation from first semester. Students will then be expected to demonstrate perfect pitch, which addresses intonation.
CBK 1611: Basic keyboard training: A continuation from first semester. Students will be required to extend their practical abilities with more technical keyboard technique.
MUSIC
Module content
• DML 1521: Music Literacy: A first year module, which aims at introducing students to the elements of music with continued emphasis on music notation and rudimentary theory. Concomitant with this, special attention will be paid to dual notation (staff and tonic solfa) reading and singing.
• DPM 1521: Aural skills: A first year module, during the course of which students will be assisted to develop the perception of pitch, rhythm and metre organisation. Sight–singing and dictation, based mainly on the tonic solfa system, will be accorded special attention.
• DKT 1521: Keyboard technique 1: This course will provide a student with a working knowledge of the keyboard to assist him or her in choir training, arranging, improvisation, harmony and composition.
• DKT 2521:Keyboard technique 2: Only students who have passed Keyboard technique 1 take this course. It is a continuation from the first year of study. Students will be required to extend their practical abilities with more technical and specialised keyboard techniques.
• DCT 1521: Choir training 1: Students will be introduced to knowledge about the human voice and the important aspects in choir training such as: stance/posture, breathing techniques, voice production, intonation, dynamics, blend, balance, rhythm and tempo.
• DCT 2521: Choir training 2: Only students who have passed choir training 1 take this course. It is a continuation from the first year of study. Special emphasis will be put training techniques. Students will extend their practical skills by handling choirs themselves.
• DWH 1521: History of Western Choral Music: This module for first year students will trace the development of Western choral music from the period of Palestrina, Byrd and Lassus to that of Barber and Britten. There will be an in-depth study of the different musical styles of the periods, and the relevant performance criteria.
• DAH 1521: History of African Choral Music: This module, also for first year students, will trace the development of African choral music form the period of master composers such as Tiyo Soga, John Knox Bokwe and Enoch Sontonga to the present generation. Emphasis will be on an in-depth study of the different musical styles of the periods. The study will also trace the gradual attempt (and the significance thereof) by South African composers through the years to incorporate indigenous traditional musical features in their works.
• DCC 2521: Choral Direction/Conducting: To be taken in the second year, this module will help students to develop their skills in conducting techniques, performance or/and stage etiquette, selecting repertory, auditioning, rehearsal procedures, building a concert programme, and other necessary skills. Under the supervision of a staff member of the Music Department, the student will be required to work practically with choirs/a choir. At the end of the year, the student will be required to submit a concert programme, with programme notes, after approval of which the student will give an end of- year public concert with a choir/choirs of his/her choice. Members of staff of the department and an external examiner will evaluate the concert performance.
• DHC 2521: Elementary Harmony and Counterpoint: This second year module will consist of elementary four-part harmony and basic counterpoint. It also entails the study of harmonic concepts as applied in improvisation, composition and arranging.
• DMC 2521: Introductory Composition: A second year module forming an introduction to basic composition skills. Students will be introduced to basic, systematic approaches to the art of composing in the choral idiom, such as; exploration of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic principles. The module is designed to give students, particularly those aspiring to be choral music composers, some fluency in setting down musical thoughts.
• DMA 2521: Arranging: In order to enable the student to learn to recreate the many different traditional and contemporary folk songs in a professional manner, or create new ones, the fundamental arranging techniques will be introduced during the second year.
