Jazz Composition

Course #: MUSI 3343, Section 1 (3 credits)
Semester: Spring 2026
Instructor: Earl MacDonald, Professor of Music & Director of Jazz Studies
Class meeting time: Thursdays, 4 – 6 PM
Classroom: MUSB 109
Office: MUSB 207
Office Hours: Wednesdays at 10 a.m., and by appointment

This course is an immersive exploration of jazz composition as a living, creative practice. Students will engage with the core musical elements—form, melody, harmony, rhythm, and orchestration—and learn how composers shape these materials to create compelling works for small-group improvisational settings. Equal emphasis is placed on craft, imagination, and the practical realities of writing music that is meant to be played by real musicians.

Rather than treating composition as a purely academic exercise, this course encourages students to think like working jazz composers: listening deeply, borrowing intelligently from tradition, experimenting boldly, revising thoughtfully, and learning through rehearsal and performance. The goal is not imitation for its own sake, but the development of a personal compositional voice that is informed by the lineage of the music.

Prerequisites & Preparation

Prerequisite: MUSI 1601, Introduction to Jazz Improvisation
Recommended Preparation: MUSI 1314, Harmony II

Required Text

Jazz Composition: Theory & Practice
Ted Pease, Berklee Press
ISBN: 978-87639-001-6

Instructional Format

The course meets weekly for two hours during the spring semester. Class time will include listening, score study, analysis, discussion, short compositional exercises, guided workshops of student work, and direct feedback.

Course Content

Study units include melodic construction, motivic development, harmonic motion, blues and song form, rhythmic organization, and metric modulation. These concepts will be examined through historical examples and applied directly to original student compositions.

Listening & Analysis

Listening is a central component of this course. Students will engage with landmark recordings and write weekly observations focusing on form, harmony, orchestration, motivic development, and rhythm section roles.

Performance & Realization

Selected student works will be rehearsed and performed during Music Convocation.
Friday, April 10th is reserved for the public presentation.

Schedule and Assignments

Schedule and Assignments:

Week 1 · Thurs., Jan. 22:

Week 2 · Thurs., Jan. 29:

  • Motivic Devices
    • melodic repetition, sequence, motivic transformation, motivic embellishment, motifs based on intervallic patterns, melodies based on guide tones, melodies based on compound lines
  • assignments: p. 22 – 25, 27, 29, 32 – 33
  • listening: Art Blakey – Free for All, Bill Holman – Big Band in Jazz Orbit, Pat Metheny – Pat Metheny Group

Week 3 · Thurs., Feb. 5:

 UConn Jazz Festival – No class

  • listening: Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – Thad Jones Legacy, Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage

Week 4 · Thurs., Feb. 12:

  • antecedent and consequent phrases, pitch contour and range, apex, melodic tension
  • assignments: p. 36, 40 & 41, 43, 45
  • listening: Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um, Fred Hersch – Forward Motion

Week 5 · Thurs., Feb. 19:

  • Harmonic Considerations
    • tonal harmony, modal harmony
  • assignments: p. 55, 56, 60 – 61, 72 – 75
  • listening: Miles Davis – Kind of Blue, Chick Corea – Three Quartets

Week 6 · Thurs., Feb. 26:

  • modal interchange, chromatic harmony, harmonic rhythm, modulations, ostinato, slash chords, pedal point and constant structures
  • pedal point and pandiatonicism, harmonization, reharmonization
  • assignments: p. 79, 86, 87, 89, 93
  • listening: Clifford Brown – Study in Brown, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – Up from the Skies

Week 7 · Thurs., March 5:

No class; instructor away.

  • assignments: p. 96, 101 – 103, 107 – 108
  • listening: Kenny Wheeler – Music for Large & Small Ensembles, Miles Davis – Milestones

Week 8 · Thurs., March 12:

  • Blues and Song Form
    • the blues – harmonic form and melodic form
  • assignments: p. 123 – 124 (p. 125 — this week or next)
  • listening: John Coltrane – Love Supreme, Carla Bley – Fleur Carnivore

SPRING BREAK: March 15 – 22

Week 9 · Thurs., March 26:

  • “Rhythm Changes”
  • assignments: p. 125. Write 2 songs, choosing from the 8 listed exercises, p. 131, p. 136
  • listening: Duke Ellington – Far East Suite, Wayne Shorter – Ju Ju

Week 10 · Thurs., April 2:

  • AABA song form
  • assignments: p. 137. Write 4 songs, choosing from the 8 options listed.
  • listening: Ornette Coleman – Shape of Jazz to Come, McCoy Tyner – The Real McCoy

Week 11 · Thurs., April 9:

  • AABA song form, continued
  • assignments: Convo performance – Friday, April 10
  • listening: The Best of Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk – At the Five Spot

Week 12 · Thurs., April 16:

  • AABC song form
  • assignments: p. 142. Write 2 songs, choosing from the options listed.
  • listening: Larry Young – Unity, Maria Schneider – Evanescence

Week 13 · Thurs., April 23:

  • Ostinatos, ABCA song form, through-composed tunes
  • assignments: p. 145, 148, 158 – 162
  • listening: Miles Davis – Complete Birth of the Cool, John Coltrane – My Favorite Things

Week 14 · Thurs., April 30:

  • Metric Modulations
  • assignments: p. 163, 183: complete 1 of the 5 listed exercises.
  • listening: Bob Brookmeyer & Clark Terry – With Mel Lewis Orchestra Live at the Village Vanguard, Eric Dolphy – Out to Lunch

Grading

  • Listening reports: 28%
  • Performance preparation: 12%
  • Textbook assignments: 50%
  • Participation: 10%

Late assignments are generally not accepted without documented circumstances.

Grading Scale

Grade Letter GPA
93–100 A 4.0
90–92 A- 3.7
87–89 B+ 3.3
83–86 B 3.0
80–82 B- 2.7
77–79 C+ 2.3
73–76 C 2.0
70–72 C- 1.7
67–69 D+ 1.3
63–66 D 1.0
60–62 D- 0.7
<60 F 0.0

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Useful Telephone Numbers

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