AP Music Theory
2017 – 2018
Course Title:Advanced Placement Music Theory
Credit:(1) One elective credit*; satisfies fine arts requirement
* Upon successful completion of the course and a score of a 3 or better on the AP Music Theory examination, students may be eligible for a number of semester hours of collegiate credit. Inquiries should be made with individual institutions.
Instructor:Luis Rivera
(727) 893-2780 x2339
Prerequisites:
Students must have at least one year of a high school level musical ensemble or have taken Music Theory 1.
Course Overview
The AP Music Theory course is designed for the student wishing to further his or her knowledge of the structure of music beyond what is provided in common performance-based classes. The students will develop their aural and analytical skills through the study of western tonal music. The music of the common practice period will be the focus of this course.
Course Objectives
Students will develop:
- Aural skills through listening exercises
- Interval recognition and chord quality
- Progressive melodic dictation
- Progressive harmonic dictation
- Identification of cadences, form, and phrase structure
- Analysis of musical excerpts of western music
- Sight-singing skills through performance exercises
- Progressive sight-singing
- Written skills through written exercises
- Four-part writing conventions
- Harmonic analysis
- Compositional skills through creative exercises
- Realization of figured bass
- Harmonization of a melody line
- Analytical skills through analytical exercises
- Analysis of form, harmony, cadences
Primary Text
Scoggin, Nancy. Barron’s AP Music Theory.Barron’s Educational Series, 2010.
Supplementary Texts
Kostka, Stefan and Dorothy Payne. Tonal Harmony: With an Introduction to Twentieth Century Music. 6thed. McGraw-Hill College, 2008.
Clendinning, Jane Piper and Elizabeth West Marvin. The Musicians Guide to Aural Skills. 1sted. W.W. Norton, 2004.
Other Required Materials
Pencils (any work done in pen will not be graded)
Staff paper (this may be purchased from most music stores)
Notebook paper (standard or college ruled)
3-Ring Binder (1½ - 2”)
Week / Written Skills / Aural Skills (cumulative*)1 / Fundamentals of Pitch: notation, clefs, major and minor scales, scale degrees, key signatures, extended musical vocabulary; Fundamentals of Rhythm: durational symbols, beat and meter, simple and compound time signatures / Rhythmic reading/dictation incorporating beat, division of the beat, dots, triplets, and syncopation
2 / Fundamentals of Pitch: intervals, interval inversion, modes, whole tone scale, pentatonic scale / Aural analysis of intervals and scale recognition
3-4 / Triads and Seventh Chords: triads, seventh chords, chordal inversions, figured bass / Read and dictate stepwise melodies in major keys and common time signatures; Aural analysis of chord quality
5 / Functional Harmony: diatonic triads in major and minor, diatonic seventh chords in major and minor / Read and dictate melodies with skips that outline the tonic and dominant triad in major keys and common time signatures
6 / Functional Harmony: principals of voice leading / Read and dictate melodies with large leaps in major keys and common time signatures
7 / Part Writing: diatonic triads in root position, interpreting figured bass / Read and dictate melodies in minor keys and common time signatures
8 / Part Writing: diatonic triads in first and second inversion, Instrumental Transposition / Read and dictate melodies in compound time signatures
9-10 / Harmonic Progressions and Preparation of the Dominant / Dictate diatonic harmonic progressions in major keys with emphasis on the tonic and dominant harmonies, inversions
11 / Cadences and Phrases: perfect and imperfect authentic cadences, half cadences, plagal cadences, deceptive cadences / Dictate diatonic harmonic progressions in major keys with emphasis on cadential patterns and preparation of the dominant
Aural analysis of musical excerpts with emphasis on cadential patterns
12-13 / Non-Chord Tones I & II / Aural analysis of musical excerpts with emphasis on NCTs
14-15 / Diatonic Seventh Chords: V7, other seventh chords / Dictate diatonic harmonic progressions in minor keys with emphasis on identification and resolution of V7
16-17 / Secondary Functions: secondary triads, secondary seventh chords, tonicization / Dictate harmonic progressions with emphasis on identification of secondary functions
Aural analysis of musical excerpts with emphasis on tonicization
18
19-21 / Realization of figured bass, harmonization of a melody line / Aural analysis of musical excerpts with emphasis on error detection, interval recognition within a phrase, timbre recognition, motivic analysis, texture identification
22-23 / Harmonic Analysis I (emphasis on preparation of the dominant, cadential patterns, NCTs) / Survey of Music Literature (Renaissance to 1750)
24-25 / Harmonic Analysis II (emphasis on chromaticism) / Survey of Music Literature (1750 to present)
26 / Binary and Ternary Forms, Rounded Binary / Aural analysis of musical excerpts with emphasis on form
27 / Modulation: Common Chord and Other Techniques / Aural analysis of musical excerpts with emphasis on modulatory techniques
28-31
32
33-36
* Aural skills require practice and drill to achieve mastery. This column indicates when a concept is first introduced; daily exercises will continuously adapt to include the new content in addition to all previous material.
Student Assessment
Exams35%
Quizzes20%
SS Benchmark20%
Homework/Classwork10%
Notebook *15%
* See below for notebook criteria
The final exam will factor into your semester grade only.
* Notebook (15% of grade)
Each student must keep a section for AP Music Theory in their AVID binder notebook at all times that will contain the following sections:
- Notes – taken by students (Cornell)
- Handouts – these are provided to the students by the instructor
- Homework/Classwork – all homework is returned to students
- Tests – all tests are returned to students
- Sight-Singing Exercises – these are provided to the students by the instructor
Grading Scale
A100-90
B89-80
C79-70
D69-60
F59 or below
Late Work and Make-up Testing Policy
Homework is due on the day it is indicated. Late work will only be accepted for full credit with a written note from a parent excusing the student from school on the due date. Unexcused late homework is accepted at the cost of one letter grade per day overdue.
Tests may only be made up if the student is excused from school in the method described above. Students with unexcused absences on scheduled testing days forfeit the opportunity to earn any credit.
YOU MUST ATTEND AND TAKE THE AP MUSIC THEORY EXAM AT THE END OF THE YEAR. FAILURE TO ATTEND WILL RECEIVE A GRADE OF 0% FOR THEIR EXAM.