The Neither/Nor Composer Ensemble

In the Neither/Nor Composer Ensemble, students compose new works for the ensemble and perform each other's music. Students are expected to perform and compose every week. This ensemble focuses on contemporary concert music, with an openness to including improvisation, unconventional notational styles, and other forms of experimentation. Instrumentation is based on the instruments of the students participating in class. Curriculum focuses on a workshop approach for both composing new music and performing extended techniques, microtones, chance procedures, and other contemporary techniques. The ensemble uses guided improvisation and graphic scores as a way to generate ideas for fully notated works. Each week students write notated scores for the entire ensemble to rehearse and play. The final project includes a new composition by each student to be performed by the ensemble.