AP Music Theory is an accelerated course designed to give students an understanding of the underlying mechanics and structures of written music. We will be studying various aspects of music stemming from its three main components: rhythm, melody, and harmony. An in-depth study of 18th century voice leading principles will be the stepping stone for several student compositions that will be created this year. Ear training is an important and fundamental music skill that we will be developing. We will spend considerable time training the ear to recognize the notational and rhythmic patterns that we have learned as it is our goal to develop the ability to reproduce aural stimuli both visually and vocally.
MATERIALS:
Each student is expected to have for every class:
- pencils (NO assignments will be accepted in pen)
- three ring binder (or digital notebook)
- manuscript notebook
- access to a piano, keyboard, or virtual keyboard
- chromebook
- headphones/earbuds / AirPods / etc
The school will provide our text for this course: Tonal Harmony by Stefan Kostka & Dorothy Payne.
The text will be distributed in the beginning of November.
MUSIC THEORY NOTEBOOK:
Each student is expected to keep a music theory notebook. All class notes and handouts should be kept in this notebook along with quizzes and tests. All materials in the notebook should be arranged in a systematic order according to date. If you would prefer to store all of your documents digitally, you can keep a digital notebook.
This notebook will be checked once a marking period and will count as one homework grade. Anyone with an “A” average at the time of the notebook check will receive an automatic “A” for their notebook grade.
GRADING:
This course will run for a full year and will be based on the following types of grades:
40% of Grade: Homework & In Class Assignments
10% of Grade: Sight Singing, Prepared Singing, Keyboard, & Dictation Grades
50% of Grade: Quizzes, Tests, and Large Projects
Assignment Due Dates Are FIRM! NO late assignments will be accepted for a grade.
It is your responsibility to stay on top of due dates and to make-up notes, assignments, or quizzes that are missed as the result of absence from class.
EXAMS:
There will be a final exam for this course.
