 | Syllabus for Music 3: Fundamentals of Music | |
| Syllabus for Music 3: Fundamentals of Music | |
This course covers the basics of theory, notation, and composition of music of the European tradition. It is largely a skills based course, intended to give students tools to help achieve creative goals such as composing, reading music in performance, or analyzing scores. It is a prerequisite to more advanced music theory courses, such as MUS 101 at Scripps College and MUS 80 at Pomona College. Although students come to this class with a variety of backgrounds, from no musical experience at all to some years of experience reading music, all can benefit from learning or reviewing a consistent sequence of skills and applying them analytically and creatively.
The materials for this course will include the following:
| Melos quizzes | 40% |
| Other assignments | 45% |
| Final project | 15% |
Melos quizzes: The Melos software helps you practice your skills reading and interpreting musical notation and listening. A Melos "lesson" is a sequence of several short quizzes typically due before each class. If you pass the lesson by the due date, you will get full credit for the assignment. If you do not pass some of the lesson quizzes by the due date, you will only get credit for those quizzes that you pass. If you have not passed any quizzes, I will give half credit for late completion, but because each lesson builds on the last one, it's important not to fall behind. Each quiz should take only a minute or so to take. If you have prepared but you are still taking quizzes so many times that the Melos assignment is taking more than an hour, you should consult with Prof. Alves.
Other assignments: Before most classes, you will also have a brief assignment using the Musescore software or the Ultimate Fake Book. Late assignments will be penalized the equivalent of one letter grade for each class late. Although late assignments will always receive some credit, it's important not to fall behind on subsequent assignments. Unless otherwise indicated, these assignments are designed to take a half hour or so. If you are spending considerably more time, you should consult with Prof. Alves.
Final project: The final project will consist of a composition in the style of a song, with a melody accompanied by harmony. You must complete a final project in order to pass the class.
Class participation: Much of the learning in class will come from in-class group activities and discussions. Your attendance and conscientious participation will benefit not only yourself but others in the class. Therefore, unexcused absences after the first three will result in reduction in points of your final grade. Reasons for excused absences include college isolation, illness, family death, and religious holidays. Please do not attend class if you have any symptoms of illness. Reasons for unexcused absences include travel for clinic or athletics, grad school visits, and airline schedules for spring break. Also, in order to fully facilitate everyone's participation in discussions when we are face to face, there will be no open laptops during class except when required for an in-class activity. And please make sure your cell phones are switched off.
Accommodations: Harvey Mudd College strives to make all learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you need accommodations for a documented disability, please talk to me or contact the Office of Accessible Education (ability@ hmc.edu). You will find information about accessibility resources on the college website: https://www.hmc.edu/ability.
| Date | Topic | Reading due | Assignment due | Vocabulary to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 17 | Introduction to the class, music notation | |||
| Jan. 22 | Pitch organization | Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16 | al'ottava/8va, bass clef, clef,flag, frequency, grand staff, interval, key, leap, ledger line, mode, notehead, octave, octave equivalence, pitch, scale, scale degree, semitone, simple interval, solfege, staff, stem, step, tonality, tonic (tonal center, key center), treble clef, tuning system, whole tone | |
| Jan. 24 | Time organization | 1 | bar line, beam, beat, down beat, duple meter, flag, measure, meter, metric stress, repeat sign, rest, simple meter, rhythm, tempo, time signature, triple meter | |
| Jan. 29 | Rhythm and meter | Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 | 2 | anacrusis or pick up, augmentation dot, fermata, repeat sign, syncopation, tie, triplet, volta |
| Jan. 31 | Modes and scales | Chapters 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 | 3 | accidental, courtesy accidental, enharmonic, flat, natural, sharp |
| Feb. 5 | Intervals | Chapters 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 | 4 | compound interval, consonance, dissonance, interval quality, interval inversion, non-diatonic interval |
| Feb. 7 | Melody | Chapters 22, 23, 24 | 5 | antecedent/consequent, cadence, contour, motive, period, phrase, resolution |
| Feb. 12 | Triads | 6 | chord, harmony, inversion, root, triad | |
| Feb. 14 | More chords | Chapters 25, 26, 27, 28, 35 | 7 | seventh chord, ninth chord, chord extenison, altered tone |
| Feb. 19 | Harmony and melody | Chapters 38, 39 | 8 | anticipation, consonance, dissonance, neighbor tone, non-harmonic tone, passing tone, preparation, resolution, suspension |
| Feb. 21 | Harmonic progressions | 9 | circle of fifths, harmonic progression, harmonic rhythm, normal progression, plagal progression, transposition | |
| Feb. 26 | Other major keys | Chapters 34, 37, 40 | 10 | key, key signature |
| Feb. 28 | Compound meter | Chapter 21, 33 | 11 | |
| Mar. 4 | The minor mode | Chapter 8 | 12 | natural minor scale, melodic minor scale, harmonic minor scale, parallel key, relative key |
| Mar. 6 | Other harmonic progressions | Chapters 29, 30, 31, 32 | 13 | deceptive progression, elision, modulation, retrogression |
| Mar. 11 | Spring Break | |||
| Mar. 13 | Spring Break | |||
| Mar. 18 | Graceful melodies | |||
| Mar. 20 | Voice leading | 14 | contrary motion, parallel motion | |
| Mar. 25 | Accompaniments, dynamics | Chapter 36 | 15 | arpeggio, dynamics, articulation, crescendo, decrescendo, pianissimo, piano, mezzo-piano, mezzo-forte, forte, fortissimo |
| Mar. 27 | Other diatonic modes | 16 | ||
| Apr. 1 | Harmonic progressions and song form | Chapter 43 | 17 | |
| Apr. 3 | Setting lyrics | 18 | ||
| Apr. 8 | Song analysis Introduction to Final Project | 19 | ||
| Apr. 10 | HSA advising (no class) | 20 Final Project Proposal | ||
| Apr. 15 | Fun with rhythm | Final project interim | ||
| Apr. 17 | The harmonic series | Chapters 44, 45, 46 | ||
| Apr. 22 | Final projects | Final Project due | ||
| Apr. 24 | Final projects | |||
| Apr. 29 | No class: Presentation Days | |||
| May 1 | No class: Presentation Days |
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