MUSIC THEORY/COMPOSITION I

FOR JUNIOR HIGH

Introduction ~

This course is designed as an introduction to music theory and assumes no previous musical study on the part of the student; a minimum of four months experience in a performance-based music class is helpful. If you, the student, are a musician, involved in a school or community ensemble (choir, band or orchestra) or have studied music privately, chances are that you have had little previous exposure to music theory. As a musician, you have studied certain skills to improve your performance: rhythm, meter, balance, intonation, tone, phrasing, dynamics, articulations and tempos. The more you practice these skills and become part of you, the better musician you become.

You've gotten by just fine without the study of music theory, so why should it occupy your time? The longer that you're involved in music the more complex and organized you realize it is. The study of music theory gives you further insights into how music is organized and put onto paper. Perhaps you have tried your hand at writing down a short piece for your instrument. You were able to write down, for example, sixteen measure but couldn't think of what to do beyond that. Perhaps you tried putting lyrics to a melody, but in the end were unsure how to write it down.

The purpose of this course will be to enable you to understand the music that you listen to and to transfer that knowledge to music that you will write. Much of what you will learn from this will seem at first mechanical. You will learn many new terms and concepts, accompanied by written and aural (listening) exercises to increase your understanding. As these concepts and ideas begin to gel in your mind, you will soon begin to apply them to music that you're studying and then to the music that you'll be writing--the ultimate test of your comprehension. This course will essentially focus on six skill areas:

Analyzation    The ability to understand the structure and design of a piece;

                        discern patterns

Historical    Learn about the trends in music and how musical styles

                    developed over the centuries

Listening    Listen to works that support the topics being studied

Ear training    Recognizing pitch, intervals, chords, etc.

Composition    Forms and elements required of a composer that the student

                         will integrate into his/her final project

Performance    Perform a work written by students of the class as a final project

Technology    The use of music notation software for computer and the keyboard lab

This course is offered only offered when enough students enroll to justify a class.