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MUS 15A MUSICIANSHIP I

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE FALL 2015

Instructor: Dr. Seth Houston Office: Music and Media 109 Email: seth.houston@uci.edu Phone: (949) 824-4913 Class Time and Location

• MW 9:00-9:50 am, Music and Media 202 (section A) • MW 10:00-10:50 am, Music and Media 202 (section B)

Office Hours

• Mondays, 11:00 am-12:00 pm, Wednesdays, 10:00 am-1:00 pm, and by appointment

Final Exam Time

• Wednesday, December 9, 8:00-10:00 am (9:00 am class) • Monday, December 7, 10:30 am-12:30 pm (10:00 am class)

Note: The two final exams will test the same information but will have different musical examples. In addition to the posted time, students must sign up for individual times with the professor for individual assessment.

Course Goals

• The MUS 15 sequence (A-B-C) is designed to give freshman music majors—and other interested students—a solid foundation in musicianship, defined here as a general understanding of music as a language, a language that flows freely between different sensory experiences (heard, seen, sung, played, written, imagined), a language that underlies and ties together whatever each person’s individual specialty might be. Particular skills to be taught include tonal and chromatic sight-singing, melodic and harmonic dictation, interval and chord quality identification, and rhythmic reading and dictation.

At the end of the first quarter, students will be expected to be able to:

• Audiate (hear in your mind), sing, and transcribe tonal melodies built on simple chord progressions, incorporating solfege, conducting, and/or Curwen hand symbols

• Audiate, sing, name, and transcribe major and minor intervals, both ascending and descending, and understand their relationships to major and minor scales

• Audiate, sing, name, and transcribe major, minor, and diminished triads, both individually and in progressions, and understand their relationships to major and minor scales

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• Audiate, sing, and transcribe rhythms, with some syncopation, using the numeric method

• Improvise simple chorale-style progressions including tonic, predominant, and dominant chords, with a variety of melodic figures and multiple inversions for tonic and dominant

For all of the above: • Become fluent in treble and bass clefs and conversant in alto and tenor clefs • Relate skills to “real” musical experiences in a variety of idioms • Skills will be assessed through sight singing, dictation and other written

exercises, and keyboard evaluations. Course design

• The first quarter of the class will cover the introduction and chapters 1-5, i.e. tonal melodies, simple harmonic progressions, and some syncopations. The second quarter will cover chapters 6-11, i.e. more advanced tonal melodies with more complete harmonic structures. The third quarter will cover chapters 12-13, 15-16, 19, and 21-22, which encompass a range of chromatic expansions of the tonal system and take us firmly into the nineteenth century. Due to limitations of time, late tonal and post-tonal music will not be covered.

Required Materials • Textbook: Aural Skills in Context, by Evan Jones, Matthew Shaftel, and Juan

Chattah (Oxford, 2014) • Student subscription to SmartMusic, available at www.smartmusic.com;

headphones and microphone for your computer recommended • Access to a practice room with a piano • Music manuscript paper • Pencil

The textbook is large and you will use it for the entire year. Feel free to take it apart and re-bind just the chapters you need for each quarter. Course Websites

• UCI website: canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/635 • Textbook website: www.auralskillsincontext.com • Course SmartMusic page: MUS 15ABC, accessible through your SmartMusic

software

Expectations • Be on time to class • Come to class prepared, with

o pencil, textbook, homework complete, etc. o energy and a smile: get enough sleep, and leave your worries at the door

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• Do not be late for any assignments. This course will move quickly, and you cannot afford to fall behind. The only reasons for which late assignments will not be accepted are:

o A serious health condition (i.e. you cannot get up from bed; note from doctor required)

o A family emergency (i.e. death in the family, very serious illness) o A major audition (the L.A. Opera, studio orchestra, or equivalent)

• Be humble and supportive. Musicianship is difficult! Let yourself make mistakes, and be supportive of your classmates when they make mistakes.

• Let this class be a musical community. These are the colleagues with whom you will be spending the next few years at UCI. Some of them may be your colleagues or friends for the rest of your life!

Attendance and Punctuality

• Each singer is allowed two absences per quarter, no questions asked. • Any additional unexcused absences will reduce your quarter grade by two

points per class. • The only acceptable reasons for an excused absence are:

o severe illness, with a note from the doctor o a family emergency such as a death in the family o a major audition

• If you are sick, you should attend class, sit to the side, and take notes in your music.

• If you are more than fifteen minutes late, your attendance will be counted as half a class. (Thus, you will lose one point from your quarter grade if you have reached your limit of two “free” absences.)

Grades

• 4% Participation and preparation • 4% In-class performances • 6% Dictation assignments (to be posted on Canvas) • 6% Other written homework (Contextual Listening, Expanding the Repertoire,

etc.) • 4% Pop quizzes on assigned homework • 16% SmartMusic assessments • 6% Quiz (foundations) • 17% First test (chapters 1-2) • 17% Second test (chapters 3-4) • 20% Final exam • Note: your quarter grade will be reduced by up to two points per class for absences and

tardiness, as described in the “Attendance and Punctuality” section above.

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Syllabus: This written syllabus, which will be passed out at the beginning of the quarter and posted as a .pdf document on the course webpage, is the document of record for course policies. Every attempt will be made to have the course website match the syllabus, but in the case of any divergence, this syllabus is the definitive document. The instructor and the university reserve the right to modify, amend, or change the syllabus (course requirements, grading policy, etc.) as the curriculum and/or program require(s).

Accommodation Policies: If you need an accommodation to participate in this course, please come see the instructor. Review the policies on accommodation at: http://disability.uci.edu/. Academic Honesty/Principles of Community: Students are responsible for turning in their own work, citing material properly, and conducting themselves in a civil and ethical manner. Students are also responsible for abiding by the University Academic Honesty policy and the Principles of Community (http://www.editor.uci.edu/11-12/appx/appx.2.htm).

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COURSE SCHEDULE Before the first class

• Read: 1-5 • Purchase the textbook and your subscription to SmartMusic

Monday, September 28 Introduction to the course

• Introductions and roster • Syllabus

o Course goals and philosophy o Learning styles, course design

Foundations of Aural Skills • Degrees of the scale • Solfege (fixed and movable do) • Curwen hand symbols

Assignment

• Read: 5-18 • Practice: Exercises F.1-F.6 (pp. 4-5) • Find and bookmark:

o The course’s Canvas website: canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/635 o The textbook’s website: www.auralskillsincontext.com o Smartmusic.com; be sure to set up your account

Wednesday, September 30 Foundations, continued

• Rhythm: the numeric method • Conducting • The Piano Keyboard • Intervals, introduction

Assignment

• Read: 18-28 • Practice: Exercises F.7, F.8, F.19, F. 20, F. 22, F.12, F. 19-32 (pp. 6-13) • Familiarize yourself with and explore SmartMusic

Monday, October 5 Foundation, continued

• Intervals, continued • Master Interval Drill, starting with modified version taught by Dr. Houston • Neighbor and Passing Tones • Triads and triad names (tonic, supertonic, etc.)

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Assignment • Practice: Dr. H’s Master Interval Drill, F.47, F.48, F.49, F.46, F.52, F.53, F.54,

F.55 in major and minor, F.60, F.61, F.62, F.65, F.68, F.69, F.73 (pp. 16-25) • Contextual Listening F.1, F.2 (pp. 29-32)

Wednesday, October 7

• Triads, continued • Multiple clefs • Strategies for using SmartMusic and performing dictations • Review

Assignment

• Review exercises from the last assignment, especially those after F.60 • Review for the quiz

Monday, October 12 QUIZ: Foundations Quiz to include:

• Identifying scale degrees and solfege syllables in major and minor, and multiple clefs, and vice versa

• Notating rhythms with the numeric system, and vice versa • Aurally identifying major and minor triads and their inversions • Aurally identifying and being able to write triads by name (tonic, supertonic,

etc.) in different inversions • Vocabulary: solfege, Curwen, Kodaly, Gordon, mnemonic, audiation,

anacrusis, neighbor tone, passing tone Assignment

• Read: 35 • Practice singing: 1.1-1.4. You may use SmartMusic if you wish • Contextual Listening F.3 (pp. 33-34)

Wednesday, October 14 Chapter 1: introduction

• Scale degrees 1-5 • Introduction to Chorale Workshop • Intervals within the scale

Assignment

• SmartMusic Exercises 1.1 (soprano and tenor parts), 1.4, 1.8, 1.9, 1.11. Practice with scale degrees, solfege, and note names, all the time while conducting. Record your assignments with at least one exercise in each style (scale degrees, solfege, note names). Also practice 1.17.

• Improvisation Exercise 2 (p. 45) (assignment continues on the next page)

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• Drills 1-3 (p. 46) • Dictation 1 (available on Canvas; turn this in). For extra practice, see “Short-

Term Musical Memory” 1.1-1.4 (pp. 48-49).

Monday, October 19 Chapter 1: drills and dictation practice Assignment

• SmartMusic Exercises 1.13, 1.14 (sing top voice while playing lower voice), 1.17, 1.20, following instructions on p. 48.

• Improvisation Exercise 5 (p. 45) • Drills 1-3 (review), Master Interval Drill (p. 46) • Dictation 2 (available on Canvas; turn this in). For extra practice, see “Short-

Term Musical Memory” 1.5-1.8 (p. 49). • Contextual Listening 1.2 (pp. 55-6) (turn this in)

Wednesday, October 21 Chapter 1: questions, drills, contextual listening, wrapping up Assignment

• Read: 59-61, 69-73 • Practice 2.1-2.3 • Expanding the Repertoire 1.3 (pp. 57-58) (turn this in)

Monday, October 26 Chapter 2: Introduction

• Scale degree 6 (“submediant”?) • The Major Pentatonic Scale • Compound Meters (use “1-and-a” instead of “1-la-li”) • Introduction to Chorale Improvisation

Assignment

• SmartMusic Exercises 2.3, 2.8, 2.11, 2.15 • Improvisation Games/Exercises 1-4 (p. 71) • Dictation 3 (available on Canvas; turn this in). For extra practice, see “Short-

Term Musical Memory” 1-4 (pp. 74-75) • Contextual Listening 2.1 (p. 77) (turn this in)

Wednesday, October 28 Chapter 2: questions, drills, contextual listening, review Sign up for a time for individual assessment with Dr. Houston Assignment:

• Review for test

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Monday, November 2 TEST: Chapters 1 and 2 Test also includes individual assessments with Dr. Houston Assignment

• Read pp. 83, 93-4 • Practice 3.2, 3.13, 3.10, 3.14 • Improvisation, Focus on Rhythm and Meter, 1-2 (p. 71) • Contextual Listening 2.2 (p. 79) (turn this in) • Expanding the Repertoire 2.3 (p. 81) (turn this in)

Wednesday, November 4 Chapter 3: introduction

• Scale degree 7 • Minor Pentatonic • Melodies with expanded range • I-IV-V progressions • Form groups for small group performances, on Nov. 11, 3.3, 3.5, 3.7, or 3.9

AND 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, or 3.16 (each group prepares one from the first group and one from the second).

Assignment

• SmartMusic Exercises 3.1, 3.3 (both parts), 3.4 (both parts), 3.6, 3.14 • Dictation 4 (available on Canvas; turn this in). For extra practice, see “Short-

Term Musical Memory” 1-7 (p. 97). • Improvisation Games/Exercises 3, 4 (pp. 94-95) • Contextual Listening 3.1 (p. 99) (turn this in) • Expanding the Repertoire 3.3 (p. 103) (turn this in) • Start practicing small group performances

Monday, November 9 Chapter 3, continued Assignment

• SmartMusic Exercises 3.12 (both upper parts), 3.13 (both upper parts), 3.17 • Contextual Listening 3.2 (p. 101) (turn this in) • Expanding the Repertoire 3.4 (p. 105) (turn this in) • Dictation of Longer Examples: choose two (p. 98) • Practice small group performances

Wednesday, November 11 Chapter 3, continued

• Small group performances of 3.3, 3.5, 3.7, or 3.9 AND 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, or 3.16 (each group prepares one from the first group and one from the second)

• Chapter 3: questions, drills, wrapping up

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Assignment • Read 107, 114-115 • Practice 4.1, 4.4, 4.5, 4.8

Monday, November 16 Chapter 4: introduction

• Plagal Melodies • Chorale Workshop: Expanding with Inversions of the Tonic

Assignment

• SmartMusic Exercises 4.10 (both parts), 4.11 (both parts), 4.15 (top and bottom parts)

• Chorale Progressions (pp. 114-115) • Dictation 5 (available on Canvas; turn this in). For extra practice, see “Short-

Term Musical Memory” 1-8 (pp. 117-118). • Contextual Listening 4.2 (p. 121) (turn this in) • Expanding the Repertoire 4.4, 4.5 (pp. 125-8) (turn these in)

Wednesday, November 18 Form small groups to “perform” together on Nov. 30 Chapter 4: Catch up and review Assignment

• Study for the test! Monday, November 23 TEST: Chapters 3, 4 Test also includes individual assessments with Dr. Houston Assignment

• Read 129 • Practice Drills 1, 2 (p. 116) • Practice 5.2, 5.5, 5.6 • With your small group, start practicing 5.3, 5.4, 5.12, 5.13, or 5.15

Wednesday, November 25 Chapter 5: introduction

• Plagal melodies, continued • Chorale Workshop: Expanding with Inversions of the Dominant

Assignment

• SmartMusic Exercises 5.8 (top voice), 5.9 (bass part only), 5.15 (viola part only; sing the note names), 5.16 (top voice only)

• With your small group, continue practicing 5.3, 5.4, 5.12, 5.13, or 5.15 • Practice: Up-Down Interval Drill (p. 143) (assignment continues on next page)

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• Contextual Listening 5.1 (turn this in) • Expanding the Repertoire 5.3 (turn this in)

Monday, November 30

• Small group performances of 5.3, 5.4, 5.12, 5.13, or 5.15 • Chorale harmonizations • Catch up

Assignment

• Dictation 6 (available on Canvas; turn this in) Wednesday, December 2 Review Final Exam:

• Wednesday, December 9, 8:00-10:00 am (Section A—9:00 am class) • Monday, December 7, 10:30 am-12:30 pm (Section B—10:00 am class)

The two final exams will test the same information but will have different musical examples. In addition to the posted time, students must sign up for individual times with the professor for individual assessment.