Week of Dec. 5

Crew,

Don't forget: there's a pep rally Friday, so we'll only be having class Monday & Wednesday this week. Today we'll spend most of the class practicing dictation. I have your quizzes from Thursday - great job everyone! You'll have a dictation quiz this Wednesday.

Word on the street is that our hoodies are finally under way. Thanks to Alyssa for getting in touch with Mr. Eubanks! Maybe we'll have them in time for cold weather...'cause it gets so cold around here...ha.

Hang in there - only 15 days left until winter break!

ms/p

Week of Nov. 14

Hey gang,

This week we're covering the basics of how to voice a chord, types of structure, spacing, & parallels.

A few points:

Open structure: soprano & tenor are an octave or more apart.
Close structure: soprano & tenor are less than an octave apart.

Spacing: there cannot be more than an octave between soprano & alto or alto & tenor.

Objectionable parallels: 5ths & 8ves (parallel, parallel by contrary motion, unequal, direct)

We'll also sit in on Ms. Woolf's lecture recital Wednesday for some applicable chord analysis.

See you soon!

ms/p

Diatonic triads & 7ths quiz

Hey gang!

Sorry I missed you Friday. I hope you enjoyed the film and that the worksheet was beneficial. We will have your quiz Tuesday (TOMORROW) instead. Be ready!

Quiz Bonus:

How did the whole tone scale originate in western classical music and who was the Impressionist composer best known for implementing it? (Answers should be thorough, i.e. at least 2-3 sentences.

See you tomorrow!

ms/p

Diatonic everything

Crew,

This week we'll continue to work with diatonic chords, both triads & 7ths. Homework due Monday (today) is pp. 31-32 from the workbook copies. We'll do a wrap-up Wednesday and then a quiz on Friday.

Has anyone spotted a 2-5-1 bass pattern in a song recently? Hmmmmm??? Keep your ears working! =]

PS - If you guys are serious about the hoodie idea, let's get going on it. Cold weather is a' comin'! (We hope...)

See you soon,

ms/p

7th heaven

Hey gang,

Great work this week on the 7th chords. I know they can be tedious, but pretty soon they'll start to get much easier / quicker to deal with.

Enjoy the film Friday. I think it's fascinating!

Homework due is the copy of p. 43 from your textbook. (entire page)

Stay in tune! (ha)

ms.p

Rhythm-a-ning

Simp-dup everyone!

Great work today despite the gloom outside. Homework due Thursday is pp. 12-13. We'll rap up rhythm & meter Thursday and have our quiz next week.

Happy Tuesday!

msp[

A la mode...

You guys did a great job yesterday. I was very impressed by your compositions using pentatonic & blues scales. Now let's see what you do with modes! Homework for Wednesday is to compose 1 4-bar melody based on a mode other than Ionian or Aeolian. :)
Also, please finish the pitch collection worksheet if you didn't do so in class. See you tomorrow!

ms/p

Intro to pitch collections

Hey gang,

I'm grading the interval quizzes right now and will get the grades posted sometime tomorrow. Hope you did well... :)

We started working with other pitch collections today. ("Other" as in not major/minor scales.) Here are the ones we talked about:

Pentatonic (Major, Hirajoshi, Minor & Blues)
Whole tone
Octatonic

Your homework for Monday, Sept. 12, is to write two 2-bar melodies, each implementing a different pitch collection (from the list we talked about today).

We will resume with church modes on Monday.

Have a great weekend! And please - take a moment on Sunday to reflect on 9/11. You may have only been 7 or 8, but it was an event that changed the world we live in.

ms.p

Intervals continued

Homework due Tuesday, Sept. 6:

p. 7 - B
p. 8 - C (1st 2 lines only)
p. 9 - A (1st line only) & B

Also, find any song that incorporates a repeated interval pattern. Identify the intervals and be prepared to sing it in class.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

ms/p

Intervals

No homework due Wednesday.

Here is a list of the websites we checked out Monday:

www.teoria.com
www.emusictheory.com
www.8notes.com/theory

We'll continue with intervals Thursday. See you then!

Next week

Great job on your quizzes!!

We'll start with intervals next week. Please review what we covered last year. We'll begin with major/minor intervals and work our way into augmented/diminished.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, 24 agosto 2011

We'll have a quiz Friday over Major/Minor Key Signatures & Scales. I strongly recommend that you look over your homework assignments (pp. 3-6) in the workbook copies as you study for it. No other homework.

Bonus question for the quiz:

(from our listening in class) - Who wrote Le Nozze di Figaro and in what period of music history did he compose?

Monday, August 22

Homework due Wednesday 8/24:
pp. 4-6 in workbook copies

Key Signature & Scale (majors & minors) quiz Friday!

3 Forms of Minor Scale:
Natural: 1 - 2 - thra - 4 - 5 - sox - sahv - 1
Harmonic: 1 - 2 - thra - 4 - 5 - sox - 7 - 1
Melodic: 1 - 2 - thra - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 1 - sahv - sox - 5 - 4 - thra - 2 - 1

Thursday, August 18

Homework due Monday, August 22:

*Write out all major scales using accidentals. Use circle of 5ths (p. 10) for order. 15 scales in all. Alternate clefs: treble, bass, any c clef

*Page 3 from workbook copy

(Don't forget that we'll have our pre-test Monday. Please don't be absent!)

Avez-vous un bon weekend! :)

ms/p

Welcome!

Hi gang,

I'm very excited about this year and am thrilled to have you in this class. We're going to be listening to a lot of great music as well as learning howto listen to great to music.

Please visit the blog regularly. I've already posted the syllabus, and there will be other important information posted (homework assignments, etc.) as well. It's very important that you begin reviewing your key signatures and intervals now. We will be moving on to new material in September so it is crucial that you have a solid foundation upon which to build.

Keep reviewing the theory we've covered in your previous vocal classes, and we'll pick up with that on Thursday. We'll have the AP Theory pre-test next week, either Monday or Tuesday.

See you Thursday!

Ms. P

Congrats!

You did it!!! Congrats everyone on completing the AP Music Theory exam. I have your sight-singing examples which we will look over on Monday. I also have your free-response inserts...but not the answers, so there's only so much we can do with that.

Have a great weekend & see you Monday!

ms/p

AP Theory study guide website

www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/3468010/download?commit=download+nowandsecret_password=

Thanks, Justin! :)

1 week until the exam!

Eek, it's almost here!

Don't forget that you have a quiz Wednesday over the minor progression we talked about in class: i - V64 - i6 - V65/iv - iv - iv6 - V. Make sure you can write a bass and soprano line to go with this (you may use the one we did in class) in ANY minor key. Also, don't forget that the cadence at the end is phrygian half...

The last morning ear training session will be this Thursday at 7:30 am. Please try to be on time so we can beat the bells & intercom announcements.

We'll have an AP Exam Day Breakfast Monday morning before the exam. Meet in the conference room at 7:15 am.

Good luck everyone!!!

ms/p

Quiz Friday, 4/22!

There will be a quiz this Friday. You will need to be able to identify & analyze secondary dominants (5 questions) as well as write secondary dominants (5 questions). There will also be one harmonic dictation (2 measures) and one melodic dictation (4 measures.)

Also, don't forget that we have ear training every Monday and Thursday morning at 7:30!

NCTs and Cadences

Spring break...it's almost here!

This week we will be covering step-wise non-chord tones and cadences. We'll do a quiz on both Friday.

NCTs:
passing tone (PT) - approached by step, left by step in same direction
neighboring tone (NT) - approached by step, left by step in opposite direction
suspension (SUS) - approached by same note, left by step down. 9-8, 7-6, 4-3, 2-3
retardation (RET) - approached by same note, left by step up. no arabic numbers.

Cadences:
perfect authentic cadence (PAC): V -> I w/ 1 in soprano
imperpect authentic cadence (IAC): V -> I w/ no 1 in soprano (3 or 5)
plagal cadence (PC): IV -> I
deceptive cadence (DC): V -> vi
half cadence (HC): ? -> V

3 more days...have fun & be safe!

Ms/p

Quiz Thursday!

Hey gang,

We're going to have a quiz on Thursday. Make sure you look over the 4 types of six-four chords as well as sequencing (difference between real & tonal) and imitation (how it's different from sequencing). There will also be a short part-writing example involving 1st inversion triads as well as some chord identification. (Ex. write the iii chord in Bb major)

Also, don't forget to check out www.emusictheory.com for some extra ear training! :)

'Til then...

Ms/p

Week 10

2 weeks 'til spring break! Hang in there! :)

We'll finish the rest of our dictation quiz in class on Tuesday. I hope you enjoyed the listening examples we heard today. Next week we'll begin with 6/4 chords. You don't have any homework due Tuesday. Just try to get some rest. :)

Have a great weekend and good luck on your senior recitals!!!! (Kate: great job last week!)

mih p

Practice AP Test

So tomorrow will be our first practice AP exam!!! It will probably take most of the period, so please make sure you're on time and ready to go. There is no homework due tomorrow. Next week we'll get started on part-writing with inversions.

ms/p

March madness!

Hi Everyone!

Everyone did a great job on the harmonic flow chart quiz today - congratulations!

Homework due Friday, 3/4 is p. 57, D and p. 60, J. Also, please finish the harmonization example you were working at the end of class today. Don't forget that you have a dictation and sight-singing quiz on Friday.

Next week: we'll wrap-up Chapter 7 (harmonizing a simple melody) with a harmonization quiz Tuesday 3/8 and do our first practice AP Exam Thursday 3/10.

ms/p

Ch. 6 test

Bonjour a tous!

Don't forget that tomorrow we'll have our Ch. 6 test. I've left a 3-measure roman numeral progression on the board in the piano lab. Your test consists of providing a correct SATB root-position realization of the chords with good, smooth voice-leading. Once that is complete, you should arrange your composition for 4 instruments, at least 3 of which should be transposing. You may use your text book.

I'd also like you to turn in your homework that was assigned Tuesday. It was a 2-bar progression in D major: I - vi - IV - V- vi - IV - V - I.

Have fun with this and have a WONDERFUL WINTER BREAK!!!! See you February 28!

ms/p

Transposition

Hey gang,

Homework due Friday 2/11 is p. 54 in your packet. On Friday we'll continue to practice transposition as well as part-writing. We will DEFINITELY have a Ch. 6 quiz over root-position part-writing as well as instrumental transposition next week. If you were/are going to be absent this week please keep this in mind. We really can't afford to spend any more time on this material. We have to hit progressions before our first PRACTICE AP EXAM which will be the week we get back from winter break.

Toodles,

ms.p

Transposition

Homework due Wednesday, 9 Feb. is pp. 51 & 53 in your packet. We'll do the Chapter 6 quiz next week..

Week of Jan. 24

Greetings APers,

This week we will be focusing mainly on part-writing in root position. Homework due Wednesday is p. 45 A (1-5). In class Wednesday we'll review root movement by 3rd/6th and cover movement by 2nd/7th. Get ready for a fun chord-spelling review!

(And keep your eyes out for a chord-spelling / part-writing quiz on Friday...)

ms/p

Post-Snowpocalypse

Part-writing... So we have a LOT of ground to make up in this area due to the snow week. For Monday's class please read over the rest of Ch. 6 in the text. We'll pick up with root movement that is a 3rd or 6th apart on Monday. Next week's classes will focus mainly on part-writing rather that the usual ear training.

No written homework for Monday.

ms/p

Welcome back!

Welcome back, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful winter vacation. Time to get crunk with part-writing... :)

Homework due today is p. 41 from the Ch. 6 packet you got in class Wednesday. Today we will be doing some part-writing error detection as well as discussing root movement that is a 4th or 5th apart.

Good luck at All State tonight!

ms/p