College Bowl:
 
Every student will be required to participate
in this year's most important event: College
Bowl 2010. The specific dates will be      posted  as soon as it becomes available. In past years it has taken place in late March. Stay tuned for a class announcement. Failure to appear will result in a zero.







 
Made on a Mac
RESOURCES: www.emusictheory.com www.musictheory.net __________________________________________________________ click below for THIS WEEK’s LESSON PLANS __________________________________________________________ read below for your current ASSIGNMENTS --9-2-09: Write ten different plagal cadences (I-IV-I). Due immediately. --9-9-09: RE-DO Project --9-11-09: Minor Plagal cadences. Due immediately. --9-20-09: Authentic Cadences --9-23-09: Imagine transcription/dictation --9-24-09: i iv V7 vi ii0 i64 V7 i -10-26-09: Ten counterpoint exercises. Obtain cantus firmus from www.emusictheory.com -11-1-09: Secondary Dominants -11-10-09: Re-do i v i ____________________________________________________
Review Materials (CM1 and CM2) ELEMENTS OF PITCH Notation The aspects of sound: pitch, amplitude, timbre, articulation, and duration Aspects of notation as they relate to aspects of sound The representation of pitch and the musical alphabet The Keyboard and Octave Registers Knowledge of the keyboard as a visual and kinesthetic means of understanding the musical alphabet Range identification and the influence of MIDI Patterns of white and black keys Notation of the Staff & Clefs G clef vs. treble clef, etc. Discuss the use of clefs as it relates to instrument range Read and sing melodies in the various clefs Transcribe melodies from one clef to the other Evoking pitch memory Introduction of solfege syllables Scales, Keys, and Key Signatures Scales covered are the major and three forms of the minor scale Introduction of the scale as a pattern of half steps and whole steps and exploration of a variety of possibilities using the white keys of the piano The pattern of the major scale The position of the half steps and their “tendencies” Using accidentals to make the scale conform to the “major” pattern Exercises emphasizing aural recognition Major key signatures Mnemonic devices for key signatures, the circle of 5ths and accidental order The pattern of the natural (pure) minor scale Minor scale relationship to the major key signature and the concept of relative keys Harmonic and melodic minor scales Scale degree names Relative and parallel key relationships Intervals Quantity and quality as a means of relating two notes Aural recognition and oral reproduction Familiar contexts Melodic vs. harmonic intervals Written study – recognition of Perfect and Major intervals in relation to the major key signature Other intervallic qualities (minor, Aug, dim, etc.) Interval inversion Compound intervals Exercises: Singing, interval identification, intervallic tendencies as they relate to structural position Harmonic Study: Prevalent chordal intervals, simple and compound intervals, inversion study Singing and dictation of intervals ELEMENTS OF RHYTHM Definitions (duration, rhythm, meter, pulse, beat, tempo) Durational symbols Beat and tempo Meter and Division of the Beat Reading and writing rhythms, rhythmic groupings and metrical coordination Oral and aural exercises Simple Meter vs. Compound Meter Rhythmic and metrical study of familiar songs (with and without the score) Basics of conducting as they relate to rhythm and meter Score study of rhythm, meter, and notation Writing music in different meters INTRODUCTION TO TRIADS AND SEVENTH CHORDS Triads The importance of the third in chordal construction Using thirds and fifths to construct triads Visual and aural recognition of chords Seventh Chords Use of the 5 common practice seventh chords Using thirds, fifths and sevenths to construct seventh chords Visual and aural recognition of chords Inversions of Chords Inversion symbols and figured bass Lead sheet symbols Recognizing chords in different textures Diatonic chords in major and minor keys Diatonic triads found in the major key, including V7, ii7, viiø7 Common diatonic triads found in the minor key, including V7, iiø7, viio7 Discuss scalar variants dependent upon scale form Specific AP Content INTRODUCTION TO PART-WRITING The grand staff and vocal ranges Vertical rules Spacing and voice crossing Standard doublings in major and minor triads, inversions and standard doubling Similar, contrary, and oblique motion, parallelisms Horizontal rules General concerns of contour Conjunct vs. disjunct motion and characteristic motion for each of the four parts Implications based upon bass line or melody line Writing progressions Dictation involving progressions Singing progressions Special uses of the 6-4 chord Bass arpeggiation Cadential 6-4, Passing 6-4, Pedal 6-4 Implications of figured bass and Roman numerals HARMONIC PROGRESSION Sequences and the Circle of 5ths Chord progression chart based on most stable and most unstable chords Analyzing and writing progressions using these chords Proper resolution of tendency tones Analysis and singing of appropriate melodies Simple melodic harmonization Beginning harmonic dictation EXPANDING THE BASIC PHRASE Progressions using the I, V and V7 and their inversions The subdominant chord and introduction to the supertonic The secondary chords from the main functional areas: ii, ii7, vi, vii°, viiØ7 (their inversions and minor key equivalents) CADENCES, PHRASES, AND PERIODS Musical form Comparing phrases and cadences to language structures Comparing small forms to large forms Cadences Introduction of authentic and half cadences Use of the plagal cadence The vi as a substitute for I (deceptive cadence) Cadences and harmonic rhythm Aural exercises using different cadences Motives and Phrases Phrases vs. subphrases Identifying phrases in familiar contexts The importance of tempo and context to determine phrases Similar and contrasting phrases Period forms Repeated phrases vs. parallel period Periodic structure and familiar songs Enlarged, expanded, and double periods (parallel and contrasting) Phrase groups NON-CHORD TONES Classification of Non-Chord Tones Use of passing tones and neighbor tones to embellish a simple texture Suspensions and retardations Classification of suspensions Use of suspensions as implied by figured bass Introduction of appoggiaturas and escape tones (also neighbor group) Anticipations and pedal point Problems in the analysis of non-chord tones Recognizing non-chord tones in common-practice period scores Writing non-chord tones within a four-voice texture as implied by figured bass SECONDARY FUNCTIONS Secondary dominants General considerations of spelling and resolutions of V7 chords Identifying and constructing secondary dominants Study of music using secondary dominants (harmonization and analysis) Four-part writing with secondary dominants Aural practice Secondary leading tone chords General considerations of spelling and resolutions of viio(7) chords Identifying and constructing secondary leading tone chords Study of music using secondary leading tone chords (harmonization and analysis) Four-part writing with secondary leading tone chords Aural practice Sequences involving secondary functions DIATONIC MODULATIONS Modulation vs. change of key vs. tonicization Key relationships Modulation to closely related keys Common-chord or Pivot-chord modulation Writing and analyzing modulations to closely related keys Aural progressions modulating to closely related keys OTHER MODULATIONS Other modulatory techniques Altered chords as common chords Sequential modulation Modulation by common tone Monophonic modulation Direct modulation Writing and analyzing other modulatory techniques Aural progressions involving other modulatory techniques BINARY, TERNARY, AND OTHER LARGE FORMS Binary Forms Sectional vs. continuous Two-reprise Balanced vs. unbalanced Aural and visual examples from the common practice period Ternary Forms Sectional vs. continuous Two-reprise Minuet-trio-minuet Aural and visual examples from the common practice period Rounded Binary Forms Sectional vs. continuous Two-reprise Aural and visual examples from the common practice period Other Formal Designs 12-Bar Blues American Ballad Form Sonata Form Rondo Form CHROMATICISM Modal Mixture Use of borrowed chords in minor keys Use of the lowered sixth scale degree in major keys Modulations involving mode mixture INTRODUCTION TO 20TH CENTURY MUSIC Scales Modes, pentatonic scales, and other modern scales Visual and aural representation Introduction to 20th Century composition techniques Serialism Aleatoric music Electronic music Teaching Strategies/Student Activities: Aural Skills: Students perform various activities to strengthen their aural skills. For instance, melodic dictation skills are built using singing first. All students in my class must learn solfege in addition to scale degree names and numbers. After students understand the concept of using solfege for scale degrees, I sing three to four note patterns on solfege and the students echo the patterns back on solfege. On the staff paper in front of them, I ask them to notate one of the patterns. This continues as I sing, they echo, and then they notate. The next step in the process is thus: I sing on a neutral syllable, students echo in solfege, and then they notate. As they begin to master this, the patterns get longer and begin to resemble melodies from past AP Music Theory exams. My singing is eventually replaced by different instrumental sounds, and the students will audiate the patterns rather than sing out loud. This process also helps students notate the soprano and bass lines in harmonic dictation exercises. Analytical Skills: Students begin looking at scores from the first day of class. It is important that students see a variety of scores with different instrumentation, clefs, and notation. Students in my class are expected to analyze piano music, orchestral scores, string quartets, solo vocal or instrumental music, choral music, and even popular music. Even if the students are unable to identify every element in a score, they can point out significant musical elements from the very beginning. I will usually focus their attention on a particular clef, measure, staff, marking, chord, passage, etc. to guide their learning. They must discuss what they see, sometimes in small student-directed groups, sometimes as a class. Even in the most complicated score, as the year progresses, students are able to make sense of the music, discussing Roman numerals, inversions, chord spellings, non-chord tones, voice leading, form, cadences, etc. Composition Skills: Students have frequent practice realizing figured bass examples, part writing from a Roman numeral progression, and harmonizing a melody. To expand these basic composition skills, students are given a lead sheet of a folk melody and asked to write a variation of the melody with harmonization for the instrumental or vocal ensemble of their choice using Finale music software. Students have chosen to write for solo piano, brass quartet, string quartet, choir, and various other instrumental and vocal combinations. They write their variations by altering the mode, adding appropriate chromatic chords, embellishing the melody with non-chord tones, expanding harmonic progressions, modifying the form, and other compositional techniques they have studied throughout the year. This is an excellent way for the students to synthesize and apply their knowledge creatively. Performance Skills: Students perform in class daily, usually singing melodies or chorales at sight. Occasionally, students are asked to bring their instruments to class. One activity using instruments also involves realization of a figured bass. Students are grouped, not necessarily by like instruments, and given a bass line with figures. They must work as a group to realize the figured bass correctly with proper chord spellings, voicings, and voice leading. After all the groups have completed their realizations, they perform their realizations for the class. The different timbres of the instruments bring out the individual lines and students are better able to hear both errors and successful part-writinqweqweqweqweqweg. http://duilio.onlinestoragesolution.com/btw/lessonplansAP.pdf http://www.emusictheory.com shapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1