Course Description
Fundamentals of the notation and underlying concepts of Western European art music and related traditions, including staves, clefs & pitches, rhythm & meter, major & minor scales, key signatures, intervals, and triads.
Syllabus
Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:
Students successfully completing this course will be able to:
Translate between pitch names and staff notation (treble and bass clefs)
Translate between pitch names or staff notation and location on a piano keyboard
Contextualize pitches within major and minor scales
Identify and notate pitch intervals and triads
Translate between fractions and durations as given in Western rhythm notation
Translate between meter time signatures in Western staff notation and meter types
Count out simple rhythms in a metric context (simple and compound meters)
Translate from symbol to sound (skills or performance) and from sound to symbol (dictation or transcription)
Converse about musical features using proper terminology
Aurally discern and distinguish musical features, and communicate these observations through a variety of mediums, such as through written or oral formats
Course Grading Information:
Passing the course depends on completing nine total content modules. The final grade is determined by a combination of the following:
The number of modules completed with grades between 75% and 100%.
The number of modules completed with grades between 50% and 74%.
Any module with a percentage of < 50% will be considered incomplete.
A student can earn an F if all 9 modules are complete, but 5 or fewer are in the range of 75 to 100%.
A student could earn an F if any single module has a score of less than 50%, regardless of how they score on the remaining ones.
See the “Grading Scale” section for more details.
Grading Scale
Grade | # of modules completed with grades between 75-100% | # of modules completed with grades between 50-74% | # of modules completed with grades between 0-49% | Total modules completed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | 9 | and | 0 | 0 | 9 |
B | 8 | and | 1 | 0 | 9 |
C | 7 | and | 2 | 0 | 9 |
D | 6 | and | 3 | 0 | 9 |
F | < 6 | and | > 3 | ≥ 1 | < 9 |
Note: A student can earn an F if all 9 modules are complete, but 5 or fewer (< 6) are in the range of 75 to 100%. A student could earn an F if any single module has a score of less than 50%, regardless of how they score on the remaining ones.
Attendance/Participation:
Students must complete a course orientation module to earn up to six as-needed absences.
Each unexcused absence from class beyond the earned as-needed absences applies a deduction to a student's score on the current content module.
Additional excused absences can be requested through an attendance excusal form.
Accommodations-related absences can be discussed with the instructor.
Course Materials Purchased by the Students:
Artusi: Interactive Music Theory and Aural Skills. Students must purchase an individual license (artusimusic.com) and enroll in MUS100: Fundamentals (F26).
Pencils, erasers, music staff paper (e.g., available free at blanksheetmusic.net)
Scholarly Perspectives
This course engages diverse scholarly perspectives to develop critical thinking, analysis, and debate and inclusion of a reading does not imply endorsement.