AP Music Theory / 2015/2016 /

Mrs. Jennifer Culver

Room 623

330.926.3808, ext. 502083

(teacher website)

@MrsCulver_music

Course Objective

The ultimate goal of an AP Music Theory course is to develop a student’s ability to recognize,understand, and describe the basic materials and processes of music that are heard or presented in a score. The achievement of this goal will be donethrough integrated approaches to the student’s development of:

Aural SkillsListening Exercises

Sight-Singing SkillsPerformance Exercises

Written Skills throughReading and Writing Exercises

Compositional SkillsCreative Exercises

Analytical SkillsCritical-Thinking Exercises

Content

The course should seek first to instill mastery of the rudiments and terminology of music, including hearing and notating:

  • pitches
  • intervals
  • scales and keys
  • chords
  • meter
  • rhythm

These concepts will be introduced and developed through listening to a wide variety of music, including not only music from standard Western tonal repertoire but also twentieth-century art music, jazz, popular music, and the music of non-Western cultures. While this beginning college course will focus primarily on the system of major–minor tonality, there will be a brief introduction to modal, pentatonic,whole-tone, and other scales. Attention will be given to the acquisition of correct notational skills. Speed and fluency with basic materials will be emphasized.

Building on this foundation, the course will progress to include more sophisticated and creative tasks, such as:

  • melodic and harmonic dictation
  • composition of a bass line for a given melody, implying appropriate harmony
  • realization of a figured bass
  • realization of a Roman numeral progression
  • analysis of repertoire, including melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, and form
  • sight-singing

Like most first-year college courses, this AP course will emphasize aural and visual identification of procedures based in common-practice tonality:

  • functional triadic harmony in traditional four-voice texture (with vocabulary including nonharmonic tones, seventh chords, and secondary dominants)
  • cadences
  • melodic and harmonic compositional processes (e.g., sequence, motivic development)
  • standard rhythms and meters
  • phrase structure (e.g., contrasting period, phrase group)
  • small forms (e.g., rounded binary, simple ternary, theme and variation, strophic)
  • modulation to closely related keys

Because this course is designed to meet college requirements, students can expect to have homework on a consistent basis. Homework will consist of ear training practice, composition exercises, reading assignments, and written work.

AP Test Information

Advanced Placement examinations are administered each year in May. This exam is considered optional. If a student chooses to take the AP exam (approximately $89.00), the student will receive a weighted grade (5.0 scale) for the corresponding AP course. If a student chooses not to take the AP exam, the weighted grade will not be given and the student’s grade will be determined on the enriched (4.5) scale. The final decision on whether a student will or will not take the exam must be determined by the end of the first semester. All Advanced Placement examination fees will be included in the student fees. They MUST be paid IN FULL by the end of the first semester (January) in order for the student to receive a weighted grade. Students who chose to take the AP examination will not be required to take the final exam for the course.

Required Materials

  • Writing implement – PENCIL!!!! No assignments will be accepted in pen.
  • Minimum 1 ½ inch three ring binder. There will be numerous handouts in this course and it is critical for you to have them organized.
  • Earbuds/headphones
  • Internet access (home or school)
  • Staff paper

Resources

  • Alfred’s Essentials of Music Theory (workbook)
  • Tonal Harmony (textbook we will begin working with during second quarter)
  • Websites –
  • (ear training and aural skills)
  • (ear training and aural skills)
  • (comprehensive)
  • (comprehensive)
  • (sight singing)
  • (sight singing)
  • (staff paper)
  • (music writing software)

Note: This is a short list of very good free resources on the internet. We will begin with this list and continue to add to it over the course of the school year.

Grading - 90/10

  • What does this mean?
  • 90% of the grade will be based on mastery of the topics covered in this course.
  • 10% of the grade will be based on practice and work habits.
  • What does this look like?
  • Instruction Practice Activity Review Assessment

10% 90%

Homework Quiz/Test

Quiz Project

Class Activity

  • Some assignments may be counted in more than one area or receive more than one grade.
  • Students will be well informed as to how their grade for each assignment will be determined.
  • There are fewer assignments making up the greatest portion of the final grade. Students will need to take these assessments very seriously and adequately prepare for them.
  • What if a student doesn’t do well on an assignment and it will go into the 90%?
  • All students will be offered a “second chance assessment”. This means that after completing an assignment that will be counted in the 90%, they will have a chance to redo the work for a higher grade. The following conditions must be met:
  • The student and teacher must agree to a reasonable timeline to complete the work.
  • No work will be made up during the final week of the grading period.
  • There will be no zeros given for any assignment counted in the 90% for any reason. Students MUST complete the work in order to earn credit for the course.

Grading Scale

The following grading scale will be used to determine grades.

Traditional Letter Grades / Percentage
(Tests/Quizzes) / 4 Point Scale (Rubric) / Definition of Grade
A / 90 – 100 / 4 / Proficient, exceeds standard
B / 89 – 80 / 3 / Capable, meets standard
C / 79 - 70 / 2 / Adequate, making progress
D / 69 – 60 / 1 / Limited, unable to begin effectively
F / 59 – / 0 / Poor, no attempt

Student work on projects will be assessed using a rubric. Student achievement on tests/quizzes will be determined using a percentage. All grades will be entered into Progress Book using a percentage. (The correlation between these two methods is shown above.)

Curriculum Schedule

Because of the nature of music, students will be required to demonstrate their mastery of the material in this course through not only a written assessment, but a performance based assessment as well. Therefore, our classwork will reflect the need to develop comprehensive musicianship.

A typical weekly class schedule is listed below.

Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
Aural Exercise (10 minutes)
New Material
(25 minutes)
Homework
(5 minutes) / Aural Exercise (10 minutes)
Clarify/Reinforce Material
(25 minutes)
Homework
(5 minutes) / Aural Activities and Exercises
(entire class) / Aural Exercise (10 minutes)
Review Material
(30 minutes) / Assessment
(20 minutes)
Listening Activity
(20 minutes)

This yearlong course will be divided into four phases, culminating in preparation for the AP examination. A detailed schedule will be presented at the beginning of each phase. The following is a brief overview of the material to be covered in class.

Phase 1 – Fundamentals

  • Notation and literacy (meter and pitch)
  • Major scales (written and aural)
  • Key signature identification (major)
  • Interval identification (written and aural)
  • Triads and seventh chords (written and aural)
  • Basic harmonization
  • Rhythmic dictation, melodic dictation and sight singing

Phase 2 – Extension

  • Triads and seventh chords inversions (written and aural)
  • Minor Scales (written and aural)
  • Cadences (written and aural)
  • Nonharmonic tones
  • Roman numeral analysis
  • Four part writing
  • Voice leading in harmonization
  • Figured bass
  • Elements of melody
  • Rhythmic dictation, melodic dictation and sight singing

Phase 3 – Application

  • Transposition
  • Altered chords (augmented sixth chords, borrowed chords, secondary dominants)
  • Modulation
  • Structure and musical form
  • Composition and harmonization
  • Rhythmic dictation, melodic dictation and sight singing

Phase 4 – Preparation

  • Comprehensive review, refinement and reinforcement of content
  • Test taking strategies
  • Practice tests

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