Jefferson County High School AP Music Theory Syllabus Mr. Greg Jones, Instructor. Course Overview

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1 Jefferson County High School AP Music Theory Syllabus Mr. Greg Jones, Instructor Course Overview The AP Music Theory course is intended to give the student of music the tools necessary to continue and be successful in the college music classroom, ensemble, and studio. While most of our time will be spent in western music of the common practice ( ), we will spend time with music prior to the common practice and modern music of the Classical, Popular, and World styles. Course Objectives We will be starting at the very beginning of music study. Concepts will include: a. Basic notation of rhythm and pitch. b. Read melodies in treble, bass, and C clefs. c. Writing, singing, and playing major/minor scale forms and simple intervals. d. Ear training to include major/minor scale forms, simple intervals, and simple harmonic progression. e. Sight-singing simple melodies. We will continue with basic rules of harmony by learning: a. Triad construction with inversions. b. How to analyze chords of a composition by number and letter name. c. The basic rules of part writing/voice leading. d. How to harmonize a simple melody. e. Transposition of melodies and progressions from one key to another. We will finish with: Text Book a. Composition and arranging exercises. b. Understanding of basic forms such as ternary, binary, rondo, theme and variations, etc. c. Taking rhythmic and melodic dictation. Kostka, Stefan, Dorothy Payne, Byron Almen. Tonal Harmony with an Introduction to Twentieth-Century Music. 7 th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013.

2 Course Schedule The schedule provided here is a guide for our study as we prepare for the AP exam. It is approximate, in that we may move faster or slower depending on the involvement and mastery of the students in class. You will be assigned reading and written homework that will enhance and reinforce the concepts learned in class. Most of the homework will be from the workbook that accompanies the Kostka, Payne, and Almen text. Ear training is a vital part of your development as a musician and will be practiced at each session. There are many sights on the internet that you can use for practice on your own. One that I use and is easy to follow is good-ear.com. We will look at it in class so you are familiar with the way the web site works. Other example will be provided in class as we learn together. Week 1 and 2 Written skills: We will learn basic notation (rhythm and pitch), how to read a piano keyboard, major and minor keys, simple intervals, and memorization of the Circle of 5ths for major key signatures. Ear training: We will learn to recognize simple intervals by ear (intervals of less than an octave) and complete simple dictation exercises in rhythm (4 to 8 beats in duration) and melody (5 to 6 notes with no distinct rhythm at first). Tonal Harmony Chapters 1 and 2 Week 3 and 4 Written skills: We will learn to construct triads and seven chords, recognize and write the chords in the inversions, and read chord symbols. Ear training: We will continue interval recognition practice, as well as short dictation exercises, and learn to sing major and minor scales. Progress report quiz at the end of week 4 Tonal Harmony Chapters 3 and 4 Week 5 through 8 Written skills: We will learn part writing by understanding melody construction and simple harmonic progression. We will practice writing conjunct melodies and harmonize them with primary chords in root position.

3 Ear training: We will enhance our dictation skills by combining rhythm and melody in short exercises. Continue singing scales and add triads in root position both M and m. Tonal Harmony Chapters 5, 6, and 7 Week 9 Review for mid-term exam. End of the first grading period. Week Written skills: We will use 1 st and 2 nd inversion triads in the harmonization of melodies. Ear training: We will begin sight-singing short melodies in major and minor tonalities. We will continue to drill triads, scales, and intervals to keep our skills sharp as well as dictation exercises. Tonal Harmony Chapters 8 and 9 Week Skills: We will begin formal analysis by identifying phrases, non-harmonic tones, and cadences. Written skills will be developed through the use of the workbook that accompanies the Tonal Harmony Text. Ear Training: We will continue drills with dictation but will add harmonic progressions to our listening skills. We will begin simply by using the I and V chords. Tonal Harmony Chapters Week Written Skills: We will learn to identify, spell, and use diatonic 7 th chords to enhance our understanding and use of harmonic progressions. Ear training: We will concentrate more on identifying harmonic progressions by ear and add the IV chord to our repetoire. Chapters Week 18 Review of Skills to this point and prepare for first semester exam. Exam date is December 18. The exam will be in two parts; written skills and aural skills.

4 Class Strategies and methods: While many of you have backgrounds in music, either through band, choir, piano lessons, etc., we will begin at the very beginning in order to lay a solid foundation of skills to build on. Therefore, much of our time in class will be spent in drill work. To this end, you will be provided a workbook that correlates with the text. There will be many times when I will bring music from outside the text, either in written or aural form, to enhance our understanding and skill development. You will, also, be encouraged to find examples in the music that you participate in that correlate with the concepts that we are learning in class. Sight singing is an essential part of your Theory training. We will learn to sing using numbers so that your skills will be reinforced in your scale and interval study as well as singing. Don t be afraid of the singing! Everyone has a voice and it can be trained to do what you want it to do. We are not becoming Opera singers unless you want to become one. In that case, I will direct you to the people that can help you. If this isn t you, then just relax and have fun with it. Each student will need access to a piano style keyboard for work outside of class. We have very limited resources at our school so this will be essential to your skill development. Most of the skills that we will learn are anchored by familiarity with the piano keyboard. We will, also, use some computer programs to enhance your skills. You will be made familiar with Finale Notepad, and certain web sites that you can use on your own to practice away from class. Don t worry if you don t have access at home, you will not be penalized. These resources will be enhancements only. I plan to use released copies of previous AP tests to help prepare you for the test at the end of the year. However, this will be contingent upon the schools ability to purchase these tests. I will be giving you short quizzes throughout the year using the same methods and techniques that you will find on the AP Test. Our goal is to prepare you to do well with your exam as proof of your newfound skill with music. Grading Policy Grades for the class will be determined by your quizzes, workbook exercises, participation in class, and the test at each nine week end. Participation in class will be 40% of your grade while the remaining 60% will be quizzes, homework, and tests. Teacher Resources Kostka, Stefan, Dorothy Payne, Byron Almen. Workbook for Tonal Harmony with an Introduction to Twentieth Century Music, 7 th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill publishers, 2013.

5 Benward, Bruce. Music in Theory and Practice. 1 st ed. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, Burkhart, Charles. Anthology for Musical Analysis, 6th ed. Thomson/Schirmer, Berkowitz, Sol, Gabriel Fontrier, Leo Kraft. A New Approach to Sight Singing. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.