Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
"Composing for the pianotrio" is Anton Dromberg’s degree project at the jazz institution of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where his field of study is jazz piano.
The text is centered around the composing process, specifically focused on the harmonic aspects of his music, with the purpose of developing his composing abilities as well as his artistic voice in general. For inspiration and as a manner of improving his general harmonic knowledge he has been studying two books: "Romantikens harmonik" written by music theorist Jörgen Jersild and "The theory of harmony" written by the great 20th century composer Arnold Schönberg. The way of examining the degree project was to record the songs he written in the studio of The Royal College of Music.
In the text’s introduction Anton explains his musical background and the purpose of this degree project. After that he explains his method of composing in general and why he chose the particular way of composing. He then goes on to talk about the two books he chose to study and explains their contents briefly.
The next section is the largest section of the degree project, in which he explains the specific compositional process of each individual song. Here he goes into detail regarding the harmonic, rhythmic and melodic structure of his songs, illustrated with examples from the sheet music.
After that section Anton explains the rehearsal process and the general planning that went into preparing for the recording session. He then talks about the recording itself and reflects on each song individually.
The last section of the degree project is his reflections on the project as a whole, explaining what he learned and his general thoughts on how he followed up on the projects original purpose.
2018. , p. 40