The goal of MUS-106 is musical fluency—the successful depositing of musical information into readily-accessible long-term memory and the successful cognitive assimilation of musical skills and concepts.
This term, our goal is a more advanced level of musical fluency with concepts and skills that will allow you to compose and analyze short pieces of music in a variety of styles, and sing and actively listen to this music as well. The course is divided into written theory, which meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and aural skills, which meets on Tuesday and Thursday.
##Assessment and Grading Assessment in this course follows a standards-based model. Written theory and aural theory are divided into three categories each. In written theory, music fundamentals, music analysis, and composition. In aural skills, performance skills, keyboard skills, and dictation.
Each of the six categories contains between 6 and 20 specific objectives that students should aim to master. For example:
Create an analytical sketch of a passage containing functional progressions, any type of dominant function chord, dominant preparation chords, and non-chord tones.
At any point in the semester, for each objective, students will have a current mark of N – not attempted, A – attempted, P – passed, or NP-not passed. Only the most recent attempts will count toward a student’s grade.
A student’s letter grade for each category is determined by the number of objectives passed. And final grades are a simple average of the six category grades.
Current grades are available at tinyurl.com/your-UB-ID-number, where “your-UB-ID-number” is the 8-digit number assigned to you by UB.
###Reassessment Objectives in aural skills and written theory are tied to units of study—three each for written theory and for aural skills, and students should aim to complete all of the relevant objectives before the end of each unit.
Students will have multiple attempts to demonstrate mastery of the concepts. Only the most recent attempts will count toward a student’s grade. In general, students may reassess the relevant objectives within one week of the unit deadline.
For any given skill, only two assessment opportunities are allowed each day.
##Tutorials Once each week, every student will have a 10-minute tutorial with one of our teaching assistants. These tutorials are opportunities for students to get individual help with the various aural skills, and for them to attempt keyboard and singing objectives.
Students will sign up for these tutorials during the first week of classes and should maintain the same time throughout the term.
##Unit Guides
Specific information about the units of study in both written theory and aural skills, including relevant concepts and objectives, resources, and deadlines, are included below.
####Written Theory
Unit 1Unit 2Unit 3
####Aural Skills
Unit 1Unit 2Unit 3
##Course materials
- Charles Smith, Tonal Models of Music. (Unpublished text.)
- Text and Examples, Chapters 9-17: Available online and in hard copy at the UPS Store in the UB Commons.
- Workbook, Chapters 10-17: Available online and in hard copy at the UPS Store in the UB Commons.
- Gary Karpinski and Richard Kram, Anthology for Sight Singing
- Gary Karpinski, Manual for Ear Training and Sight Singing
##Final exam No required class activities will take place during finals week, only final assessments and reassessments.
##Policies For university policies relevant to this course, please see this page.
##About this syllabus This syllabus is a summary of course objectives and content and a reminder of some relevant university policies, not a contract. All information in this syllabus (except for the general description at the top of this page) is subject to change, with sufficient advanced notice provided by the instructor.