MUSC 151. THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC I
Spring 2007, TR 8:30-9:55, Booth 204
Irene Girton
Contact information:	igirton@oxy.edu. Office hours by appointment; additional hours TBA. I have two offices: Johnson 109, and Booth 205 323.259 2590 (my office) 323.259 2785 (Music Department office) 323.341 4983 (fax) Check the Blackboard site for this class every day for announcements, assignments, the class schedule, and resources (http://blackboard.oxy.edu).

Required materials:

1) Clendinning and Marvin. The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis. W. W. Norton & Co., 2004, chapters 1-??. ISBN 0-393-97652-1

2) Clendinning and Marvin. Workbook for The Musician’ Guide to Theory and Analysis. W. W. Norton & Co., 2004, chapters 1-??. ISBN 0-393-97653-X

3) W. W. Norton’s website for this textbook: http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/music/musictheory/premium/

4) Music manuscript paper.

Optional materials:

4) Harnsberger, Lindsey C. The Essential Dictionary of Music. Alfred Publishing Company, 1996.

5) Gerou, Tom, and Linda Lusk. The Essential Dictionary of Music Notation. Alfred Publishing Company, 1996.

Material covered:

By the end of the semester, you will have achieved a high level of basic music literacy. You’ll be thoroughly comfortable with the structure of all major and minor keys and standard modes, simple and compound intervals, triads and seventh chords in all qualities and inversions. You’ll achieve a solid understanding – analytic, compositional, and aural – of I,V,and IV (primary triads and V⁷). You will study voice leading in historical context, through the introduction of methods of strict 2-voice and 4-voice composition. You’ll begin thinking about issues of form and analysis, beginning with cadence recognition and an understanding of the interaction of harmony and melody and their effect on formal structure.

Music 151L: Sight singing, dictation skills, and keyboard skills related to Music 151 material.

Concert attendance: You will attend and type reports (at least one page in length, 1-inch margins on all four sides) on four concerts this term, each worth 2% of your final grade. Three of the four concerts must be largely devoted to "classical" or art music. Make sure you comment on aspects of the music that relate to material discussed in class. You must include a program with your report (unless no program is provided, of course). The first two concert reports are due by Thursday, March 8 (week 7). PLEASE NOTE: only one concert report will be accepted at the final exam (date TBA)! Make sure to begin going to concerts right away, and type up your reports as soon as possible. This is an easy A (at least 8% worth). Check the Music Department’s online calendar, or the class Blackboard site, for listings. For guidelines on concert report writing, check in the Links & Resources section on the Blackboard site for this course.

There is a free concert (“Sundays Live”) every Sunday afternoon at 6 pm at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Blvd. between Fairfax and La Brea, as well as many other free or inexpensive concerts throughout the city. Excellent sources for concert information include the Sunday Los Angeles Times Calendar section, and the LA Reader and LA Weekly free newspapers.

Musicianship (Music 151L): Your instructor, Jennifer Logan, will orient you. Your performance in Music 151L will contribute 25% to your final grade in Music 151. Please remember: you must register for Music 151L, even though it carries no units. You can view Prof. Logan’s syllabus at her website: http://www.faculty.oxy.edu/jlogan/Spring07.html

Peer advising: David Bergner is the peer advisor for this course. Please be sure to contact him for assistance as often as you like. He works by appointment, so email him at dbergner@oxy.edu.

Grading Policy: Homework is graded on a scale from 0 to 10. Note: an unsatisfactory assignment (grade lower than 8.0) may be redone once.

Elements of an excellent music theory assignment:

Accuracy of information

Notation

Completeness

Timeliness

At the end of each class period, you should summarize for yourself the main point(s) of the lectures and discussions, as well as any unanswered question(s) you still have.

For the Occidental College policy on student conduct and honor, please visit the following link: http://www.oxy.edu/departments/registrar/catalog/genpolicy.html. Students with documented learning disabilities are encouraged to speak with me concerning exam arrangements.

Music 151	Written homework	50%
weighted at 75%	Concert reports	10%
	Blackboard discussion group participation	8%
	Quizzes	17%
	Final exam	15%
Music 151L weighted at 25%	Key signatures
	Intervals
	Dictation
	Sight singing

class meeting	material covered
Week 1: 1/23-25	Introduction. Notational review, intervals, rhythm and meter. Chapters 1-2.
Week 2: 1/30-2/1	Tonality (including scales, keys, key signatures), rhythm and meter. Chapters 3-5.
Week 3: 2/6-8	Intervals and melody, chapter 6. Improvising a melody.
Week 4: 2/13-15	Introduction to two-voice counterpoint: Chapter 8, and my online Species Counterpoint Handbook, and a species counterpoint website from the University of Chicago), Review materials to date. Quiz 1: Thursday, 2/15, material TBA.
Week 5: 2/20-22	Triads and 7^th chords (chapter 7).
Week 6: 2/27-3/1	More about counterpoint (chapter 9).
Week 7: 3/6-8	Four-part harmony and notation (chapter 10). Quiz 2: Thursday, 3/8, material TBA.
SPRING BREAK, 3/12-16
Week 8: 3/20-22	Consolidate concepts discussed to date.
Week 9: 3/27-29	Analysis excursion: the phrase (chapter 12).
Week 10: 4/3-5	TBA.
Week 11: 4/10-12	Quiz 3: Thursday, 4/12, material TBA
Week 12: 4/17-19
Week 13: 4/24-26
Week 14: 5/1-3	Analysis excursion 2 (Tuesday). Consolidate concepts and look forward to next semester.

Final exam: Wednesday, May 9, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Music 151 ASSIGNMENTS

Due	concert reports
3/8, R	Week 7, first two concert reports by this date
5/9	Final exam, last concert report by this date

Due date	Homework
R, Jan. 25	Reading: Chapters 1-2. Discussion forum: Please contribute to the Musical Experience forum.
T, Jan. 30	Reading: finish chapters 1 and 2. Hmwk: Do some of all “try it” exercises in the textbook. Check your work in Appendix 1
R, Feb. 1	Wkbk 1: Writing exx IA2, IB2, IIB. In class on Thursday: wkbk Analysis (pp8-9)