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THEORY OF MUSIC I
MUSC 210
Dr. Jon Gonder Fall 2016
Brodie 107 TR 2:30-3:45
245-5187 Brodie 210
Course Description Elementary training in the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements of music. Terminology
and musical examples will be presented in analytical, compositional, perceptual, critical, and
performing contexts. Prerequisites: An ability to read music fluently. Credits: 3(3-0)
Course Objective and Approach As stated above, the primary goal of this course is to provide you with a basic level of fluency
with the elements of music theory. In the first part of the course we will cover the rudiments of
notation and some of the basic harmonic structures such as key, scale, intervals, chords, rhythm,
and terminology. In the second part we will progress on to a more detailed study of diatonic
harmony, including basic progressions, voice leading, and smaller aspects of form; that study
will include analysis and composition. We will regularly be using the keyboard and singing in
class, as well as doing some dictation.
Student Learning Outcomes By the end of the course, the successful student will be able to:
a) demonstrate an understanding of the rudiments of music theory, including scales, key
signatures, and intervals;
b) demonstrate an understanding of triadic harmony, including usage of root position and
inverted triads, standard cadences, sequences, simple diatonic modulations, and the standard
voice-leading procedures associated with these;
c) demonstrate basic musicianship skills including performance of simple keyboard harmony
and accompaniment patterns for triads, sight-singing of primarily conjunct melodies using
“moveable do” solfège, and aural identification of cadences and melodic patterns;
d) demonstrate familiarity with basic concepts of form and music analysis, including the formal
construction of musical themes.
Supplies and Resources
There is no textbook to purchase for this course. However, there are free materials available
online that you will be asked to download, print, and bring to class. Further, you will need to
purchase a membership to www.teoria.com (details below).
For those who would like to have a textbook to use as a resource to reinforce classroom
instruction, The Music Kit by Tom Manoff is available on reserve in the Library, and the course
schedule gives you the list of chapters that are germane to each topic.
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In addition to those materials, you will also regularly need manuscript paper in class. You can
purchase some or you can download a template from the Internet and print your own. These are
available free from many sites, usually in Adobe format that you can save to your hard drive. For
example, try: http://www.songseek.com/paper/manuscript.html#paper. Please be kind to my eyes
and use 10 staffs to a page rather than 12 to a page – besides, it’s easier for you to write legibly
in a slightly larger staff. You can find this particular size of manuscript paper on the MyCourses
page for this course. Since your assignments must be stapled for submission, you will also need a
stapler for this course.
Teoria.com You will be using the www.teoria.com website in order to practice skills, do some assessments,
and demonstrate skills acquisition. As you work with teoria.com on practicing your skills, you
will store your scores on its database. This, in turn, will provide information to me about what
score you have accumulated, and I will be using that score to determine part of your grade in this
course. Thus a membership is required. It is not expensive – somewhere between $15 and $25
for a year, which is much less than the cost of a typical textbook.
I have established a group with the title of gonder2016 and you need to subscribe to that group
when you purchase your membership online. The instructions for purchasing a membership can
be found at:
http://www.teoria.com/en/help/member.php
When you are ready to purchase your access, you will need a password from me in order to join
the group; at that time, please email me and I will provide the password. Do not use anyone
else’s password.
Dannhäuser We will be using Dannhäuser for the purposes of developing facility with solfège in class. You
must print off a copy (Part I only) from www.imslp.org and bring it to class with you. From time
to time throughout the semester, there will be a quiz on singing melodies using solfège.
MyCourses The MyCourses site for this course is available at http://mycourses.geneseo.edu. Once you log
in, you should find the course among those automatically listed for you. There will be
assignments completed on MyCourse, particularly for the first part of the course, so you must
have access to and use the MyCourses site. All MyCourses assignments will have start and end
dates and times for availability.
In addition, your grades and attendance will be posted to MyCourses, so you will be able to track
your progress on individual assignments as they are completed. As for your overall grade,
experience has shown that MyCourses does not always accurately calculate your grade until all
of the items are in it at the end of the course – if you run into a problem interpreting what your
grade actually is, get in touch with me.
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Online Resources
AUDIO - Naxos Music Library (streaming audio via Milne Library – login required)
www.geneseo.edu/library ⇨ Subject Guides ⇨ Music ⇨ Streaming Audio ⇨ Naxos Online
SCORES - IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library
www.imslp.org
C.A.I. for Skills
www.teoria.com (paid subscription required)
www.musictheory.net (free)
www.noteflight.com (free or paid)
www.ars-nova.com (various softwares – not all free)
GROVE MUSIC ONLINE (best first place to go for any research on music – login required)
www.geneseo.edu/library ⇨ Subject Guides ⇨ Music ⇨ Grove Music Online
Attendance Policy and Class Environment This is a skills-based course, and class attendance is essential both to your development of those
skills and my monitoring of that development. Therefore, regular attendance and participation in
class is expected, and I will take attendance, but only for the purposes of getting to know you
better. There will be no grades for attendance, and no penalties for lack of attendance. However,
you can be assured that the content of class and the discussions in class will be at the core of the
tests and examinations, as well as the out-of-class assignments, and it is in your best interests to
be regular in attendance. Nevertheless, it is my view that you are responsible for your own level
of engagement for this course. A full level of participation is expected from you, but it is up to
you to decide whether you will rise to the level of full participation or not.
Class will start on time and end on time. If you sleep in class, you will be asked to leave class.
Side chat is disruptive to other students and to me, and while I might tolerate the latter, I
certainly will not tolerate someone disrupting the learning environment of any other student in
the classroom. More than one occurrence of either of these behaviors will lead to removal from
the course. If you need to leave early for any reason, leave with as little noise and disruption as
possible, take your belongings with you, and don’t return to class. Unless you have a
documented medical condition, this includes side trips to the bathroom. Cell phone use is not
permitted during class. If your cell phone rings in class, you don’t get to answer it – I do.
Pacing Ourselves
There is an understood axiom in colleges that says that a student should expect to do a minimum
of two hours per week outside of class for every hour spent in class, hence a total of 6 hours per
week outside of class for this course (whether or not you come to class) – that’s about 1 hour per
day. The due dates are set up in such a way as to pace the work as evenly as possible throughout
the course, for you and for me. For that reason, due dates are not flexible, and late work will not
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be accepted. Written assignments are due at the start of the class period on the due date; you are
to place them on the piano on the way into class. Once class starts, the due date and time have
passed. Your assignments are to be submitted STAPLED. Likewise, tests will only be offered on
the dates on the schedule, and there will be no make-up tests or exams. Since the class schedule
shows all dates for tests and the exam, you should refer to it before making any plans to be
absent on those dates. I occasionally remind the class of an upcoming due date, but typically
there is no reminder, so you need to keep track of all due dates as set out in the Class Schedule
below.
Just to make sure this is clear – a late assignment receives a grade of zero. If you think you might
be disappointed by the application of this policy, particularly if you are late for class on a due
date, or you leave the assignment in your dorm room, then I recommend that you avoid the
problem by being on time for class and by remembering to bring the assignment with you.
Get Out Of Jail Free
You get one GOOJF during the semester. It can be used for the following:
a) submitting a written assignment late
b) resubmitting an assignment in which you did not do well
c) having access to a late online assignment
You may not use it for anything related to a test or exam, nor for missing an in-class quiz or any
other type of participation credit. Any other use of GOOJF will be at my discretion.
You get one and only one GOOJF. Once you use it, it is gone. You may not request that you
substitute a different GOOJF, once you have used it. All GOOJF use expires on the final day of
classes.
Academic Dishonesty There are various forms of academic dishonesty, as outlined in Geneseo’s Academic Policies.
You are responsible for knowing what constitutes a violation of these academic policies; they
can be found at http://www.geneseo.edu/dean_office/dishonesty. Due to the alarming increase in
the types and the number of occurrences of academic dishonesty, the minimum penalty for any
form of academic dishonesty will be a grade of zero for the particular assignment. It is possible
that additional sanctions could include a grade of E for the course, or suspension or dismissal
from the University.
Students who are retaking this course with me as the instructor may not resubmit assignments
that were submitted during their previous time in the course; those assignments must be done a
second time in their entirety. Students who are retaking the course after taking it with a different
instructor may not submit any work that was previously submitted to that instructor.
For the most part, music theory does not involve group work, so you need to be very cautious
when working together on assignments for this course. You are welcome to work together on
assignments that appear during the main body of the various chapters in the workbook. However,
you may not work together on the end-of-chapter Review Exercises that you must submit for
grading. Any violation of this will be considered plagiarism, and will receive a minimum penalty
of a failing grade for the course for each student involved in the violation.
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Disability Accommodation
SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical,
emotional, or cognitive disabilities. Accommodations will also be made for medical conditions
related to pregnancy or parenting. Students should contact Dean Buggie-Hunt in the Office of
Disability Services ([email protected] or 585-245-5112) and their faculty to discuss needed
accommodations as early as possible in the semester.
Office Hours I have established regular office hours for this course on Wednesday morning from 9:00 a.m. to
12:00 noon. I am in my office almost every day, and I am happy to meet with you at your request
at a time other than the published office hours; for quickest results in setting up a time, please
send me an email so that we can schedule an appointment. I make every effort to respond to
email within 24 hours.
There is one caveat to my willingness to meet with you. If you are not fully engaging yourself in
this course in terms of attendance and doing your work, I will not meet with you privately in
order to go over materials that you missed or didn’t complete. So, for example, if you miss a
class, without one of the standard reasons for doing so (medical, legal, or crisis -- all of which
requires appropriate documentation), and find yourself having difficulty with the concepts or
processes that we covered during that class, I will not meet with you to re-teach the material.
Also, I will want to see completed work in your workbook before I meet with you about a
problem that you are encountering with any particular topic.
METHOD OF DETERMINING FINAL GRADE
The basic framework for grading in this course is as follows:
Regular Written Assignments * 25 %
Assignments from MyCourses 10 %
Participation (see details below) 10 %
Rudiments Exam (see pass:fail grading requirement below) 30%
Quizzes and the like (including keyboard and solfège) 10 %
Final Exam 15 %
Pass:Fail Rudiments Requirement
The mastery and ready application of music theoretical rudiments is essential to the
development of functional musicianship and is therefore required for continuation on to
Music 211. Mastery of theoretical rudiments is evaluated on a pass:fail basis. To receive
a passing mark, students must receive a 90% or better (27 out of 30) on a written and
timed rudiments exam. Scores of lower than a 90% will receive a failing mark of 0/30 for
the rudiments portion of a student’s overall final grade, resulting in a maximum grade of
C- for the course (see “Assignments and Grading” below). The exam will cover the
construction and identification of intervals, triads, dominant seventh chords, scales, and
key signatures. The exam will be administered three times over the course of the
semester. Students may take the exam multiple times.
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Keyboard and Accompaniment Technique
In addition, all music majors are expected to develop functional keyboard technique during the
first-year music course, including the ability to harmonize melodies in two and four parts on
sight at the keyboard, harmonize unfigured bass lines, and accompany simply melodies at the
piano. All students registered for MUSC 210 must therefore sit for a piano placement interview
with Dr. Stanley during the first week of the semester. All prospective music majors are
strongly encouraged to register for MUSC 140 simultaneously with MUSC 210. From time
to time during the semester, there will be a keyboard quiz that tests a specifically-assigned
element of keyboard performance.
* Non-stapled work is reduced by a letter grade for the first occurrence, two letter grades for the
second, and three letter grades for each subsequent occurrence.
You are required to attend three concerts presented by the Music Department as part of the
participation grade for this course. The list of concerts is available in the Music Department’s
office and also on the MyCourses page for this course.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CLASS SCHEDULE and ASSIGNMENT LIST
Some Important Information and Thoughts
As you will read in the schedule below, the course is divided into two segments. The first, which is
primarily about rudiments, will unfold almost precisely as listed in the schedule; thus the MyCourses
due dates given here for Unit 1 are exact. N.B.: other due dates related to Unit 1 will be announced in
class. The date of the first test is also exact, so you should put it on your calendar now. The second
unit deals primarily with harmonies and how voices and chords move and relate to each other.
One overarching principle is that we will become more involved and active with skills development
as we progress. Thus when you are looking at the schedule for Unit 2, you (and I, likewise) can only
approximate what the order of topics and due dates will be. The order of topics shown in Unit 2
reflects loosely, at present, one logical order of presentation. However, there are many other orders of
presentation that will also be logical, and we will certainly not be sticking slavishly to the order you
see here. There is no way to know now exactly how it will unfold. All of that is to say that you must
consider the schedule for Unit 2 to be ‘conceptual’ rather than ‘linear.’ For that reason, you will see
almost no due dates set up now.
Therefore, this means that we will also be using a large number of exercises and assignments that will
be provided during class time that are uniquely developed for our purposes. Out of those will come
due dates that are not on the schedule below, and which will be announced at that time. As noted
earlier, you can continue to expect regular assignments as those two units move along, usually for
each class. Another good reason to attend class.
Bring all relevant materials to every class, as well as manuscript paper and pencils.
Remember: NEATNESS COUNTS!
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UNIT ONE – Rudiments
Date Topic The Music Kit MyCourses DUE
8/30 Introduction
9/01 Notation, clefs, staff , tones, semitones Chapters 1, 2, 3 MC 1 - 09/02
9/06 Major scales and keys, tetrachords Chapter 4, 5 MC 2/3–09/05
9/08 MC 4 – 09/09
9/13 Intervals Chapter 6 MC 5 – 09/14
9/15 MC 6/7 – 9/19
9/20 Minor scales and keys Chapter 7
9/22
9/27 Triads (all positions) Chapter 8
9/29 MC 8 – 09/30
10/04
10/06 Rhythm Topics
10/11 Fall Break – NO CLASS
10/13 RUDIMENTS TEST
UNIT TWO – ABCs of Harmony
10/18 through 12/08 (no class November 24 - Thanksgiving)
Dominant Sevenths Chapter 10
Harmonic Function
Melody
Harmonizing Melody
Non-chord tones
Phrase
Cadences
Basics of Form Chapter 11
Voice Leading and Part Writing
Melody Writing
Sequence
Basic Chromaticism
Tempo and Expression
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Thursday, December 15 FINAL 12:00 noon – 2:30 p.m.
The above schedule is subject to change, and you will be notified of any changes. If any change
affects a due date, that due date will not be earlier than that specified in the schedule.
There are NO make-up tests and exams in this course.