Looking for help designing your course(s)? Contact me here.
I wrote about my theory courses in Promoting Equity: Developing an Antiracist Music Theory Classroom and am posting a rough guideline of what things look like in practice. These notes represent only part of the work we did, the conversations we had, and the music we studied over the course of the semester.
I’m especially grateful to Gilad Cohen, who gave me his lecture notes when I first started adjuncting, to Ethan Hein for his extreme generosity and deep thinking about music theory pedagogy, and to Michelle Ohnona and James Olsen for leading the Doyle: Engaging with Difference Teaching Fellowship.
Week 1: Class Introduction, Close Listening (only 1 class this week)
Class 1
Goals: Break ice, music theory is/should be, introduce course, close listening
Questions
What is Classical Music?
Music theory is [blank]. Music theory should be [blank]
Disclaimers
You DO NOT need to be able to read and write music in order to make really amazing music
NO GUILTY PLEASURES
Developing our learning community.
Contextualize the theory sequence
What we’re not
traditional theory
What we are
should be able to turn on the radio and be able to say something intelligent about the music you hear, regardless of era or style
understand music as a social and a cultural product
think about big-picture issues that exist beyond the notes on the page
Final Paper
Expands on one of the approved discussion topics from our Canvas posts examining the relationships between music, culture, and society.
Ear Training Expectations (drum machines, big ears listening)
Week 2: Musical Fundamentals, Major Scales, Keys, Key Signatures
Class 1
Goals: Introduce notation basics, Major Scales
Ode to Joy theme
what can we say about this melody? how can we describe it?
how do I tell my friend how to play this?
by ear
write it down (we will focus on this method in this class)
how does musical notation work?
relationships and measuring distance
diatonic scale introduction
Class 2
Goals: Major Scales cont, Keys, Key Signatures (both Treble and Bass), Circle of Fifths, Intervals in the Major Scale, Close Listening
Review diatonic scale
Introduce keys and key signatures
Circle of Fifths
Close Listening Practice
Week 3: Minor scales, Rhythm Fundamentals
Class 1
Goals: Minor scales, Key signatures of minor scales
Warm up with scale practice
Introduce the 3 types of minor scales
Update Circle of Fifths with relative minor
Class 2
BRING PUSH
Goals: Start our module on rhythm
Quick chart of the three types of minor scales and the two types of relationships, plus any review necessary
With a partner, define the following terms:
beat
tempo
swing
shuffle
What do we as a class think these terms mean?
Rhythmic tree practice
Introduce 4/4 briefly
Close listening
Week 4 Rhythm Module! (basics, breakbeats)
Class 1
BRING PUSH
Goals: Continue refining ideas of rhythm, basic drum set notation, break beats
Rhythmic tree with drum machine
Conducting pattens (everybody stand up)
simple meter and compound meter
odd meter and mixed meter
syncopation!
Drum Kit notation
Make beats with the class
Class 2
Goals: lots of listening and practice, start studio lesson
Transcribing and notating simple rhythms in 4/4
Subdivision, how to count and notate
Riddims
Breakbeats
Week 5: Rhythm, Discussion 1, Sampling, Melodic Writing
Class 1
Goals: make beats, Discussion 1 (What Makes Music Good?)
The beats in the beat on the beat in the beat.
Rhythmic practice
Discussion 1: What Makes Music Good? 30-45 minutes
Class 2
BRING PUSH
Goals: sampling, rhythmic practice, how to write melodies
“Spot the error” with rhythm
Sampling
Melody and writing variations of melody (use Star Wars in class as example)
Week 6: Triads, Roman Numerals, and Harmonic Functions Intro
Class 1
Goals: Triads, Inversions, Roman Numerals
Harmony
Triads (history, types, inversions)
Class 2
Goals: Cage 4’33”, Roman Numerals, v vs V
Perform Cage 4’33”
Triad grunt work
Roman Numerals (classical v pop)
Harmonic function
Week 7: Harmony, Melody, and Harmonizing Melodies
Class 1
Goals: Bach chorales, Beyond the block chord, how to harmonize
Go over critical reading practice with Cage
Go over their melodies
Go through a Bach chorale together
How does this become music?
Class 2
Goals: start NCT, but probably just get ready for midterm
Harmonizing melodies
Week 8: Review day for Midterm
Class 1
Goals: Midterm review, midterm
Spend class reviewing
Class 2
Midterm
Week 9: Finish NCT, 7th chords, Harmonic Function, Discussion 2
Class 1
Goals: finish NCT, 7th chords and their inversions, Doyle 2
Melody and harmony working in tandem
Non-chord tones
Discussion 2: “The Music Itself”
Class 2
Goals: 7th chords and Harmonic Function
Finish NCT
Close listening
Week 10: Harmonic Syntax of Classical Style
Class 1
Goals: Classical Syntax
7th chords
Harmonic Function and Syntax
Class 2
Goals: finish syntax, do harmonic rhythm
Syntax continued
Harmonic Rhythm
Close listening practice—let them pick
Week 11: Applying the Syntax, Pedal Points
Class 1
Goals: Catch up if necessary, continue looking at classical syntax
More harmonic rhythm
Close listening
Modular harmony
Class 2
Goals: Pedal points
Pedal points and their uses
Other forms of static harmony
Introduce Vamps
Week 12: Vamps and Discussion 3 (one class)
Class 1
Goals: Vamps
More vamps
Discussion 3: What do we mean by “authenticity” when we talk about music?
Week 13: Timbre and Pop (one class due to Thanksgiving)
Class 1
Goals: Timbre
Thoughts on timbre
Ableton fun-fest
Week 14: More Pop and Rock
Class 1
Goals: introduce rock and pop, get to 4 chord progressions and axis of awesome
What is “Rock”?
General features of pop harmony
Pop progressions
Class 2
Goals: More progressions
“Music is a language” discussion
More progressions
Week 15: Rock Chords and Scales, Review Session
Class 1
Goals: Finish up rock/pop
Rock Chords
Pentatonics
Close listening
Class 2
Goals: Review for Final
Share final projects
Big questions and big-picture ideas
Bigger questions
Even bigger questions
Elements of Music (and what we can say about them)
Big Full Circle Moment
Big Ears listening