Goal

The goal for this unit is to promote musical fluency in the areas of rhythm, melody, and harmony. This unit will focus on aural recognition of rhythmic and melodic patterns, connecting rhythmic and melodic “vocabulary” already engaged in performance with sounds in real musical contexts. This unit will also focus on performance of keyboard-style harmonic progressions, in order to internalize harmonic “vocabulary” (specific patterns), which will aid your ability to perform music including these patterns (with practice and from sight), and to recognize them by ear. Melodic and harmonic content will include both diatonic elements and chromatic elements within a tonal context (including both non-diatonic tones and modulation).

Video portfolio

Essential to developing fluency in melody is training oneself to perform complicated melodies with minimal or no mistakes. This process leads to a development of good practice habits, as well as an internalization of complex musical figures that will assist in musical tasks like sight-reading, aural recognition, and performance of musical literature that include those figures.

To that end, each student will assemble a portfolio for Unit III including video performances of six keyboard-style harmonic progressions (download score | additional practice materials).

In your video performances, strive for perfection. You can use as many takes as you like to get each individual excerpt as close to flawless as possible.

When you make your videos, please encode them in a Quicktime-friendly format (.mov, .m4v, etc.). You can make one video of all six passages, or six videos in a single folder. Share that video or folder with your instructor on Google Drive.

Be sure to reference your performance in these videos in your self-evaluations. Your end-of-unit self-evaluation should include working links to both videos.

There will be no end-of-unit sight-reading exam.

Transcription project

In groups of 2–3 students, you will transcribe all vocal parts, the bass guitar part, and any melodic instrumental parts (no piano or guitar chords) to one of the following songs:

• “Automaton,” Pernice Brothers
• “Bridge over Troubled Waters,” Simon & Garfunkel
• “Les Champs-Elysées,” Joe Dassin
• “Pyramid Song,” Radiohead
• “A Wolf at the Door,” Radiohead
• “The Tourist,” Radiohead
• “Vale of Tears,” Jay Clifford

Please use the recordings on this Spotify playlist. Only one group per section may transcribe the same song.

Your transcriptions should be done in music notation software, and submitted as a PDF to your instructor. (Be sure that the names of all group members are on the score and/or in the file name.) In addition to correct pitch and rhythm material for each part transcribed, place a Roman-numeral analysis under the bass part, reflecting all modulations and all chromatic chords (secondary/applied dominants, Neapolitan and augmented sixth chords, etc.).

As you begin your transcription work, I highly advise that you create a Google Drive folder for your group, share it with each group member and your instructor, and keep all of your drafts and notes in that folder. This will help you coordinate your project, as well as allow your instructor to check in on your progress easily, especially if a question arises. Final transcriptions should be submitted via Google Drive.

At the end of the unit, reference your individual work in this project (parts your transcribed, corrected, or analyzed) in your self-evaluation.

Rhythmic dictation

Throughout this unit, you will spend a fair amount of class time on dictation—identifying and transcribing passages quickly, in real time with a limited number of listenings. This unit will focus specifically on dictation of rhythm, culminating in an end-of-unit quiz.

As we progress through the unit, be sure to keep track of all dictation activities. Each time you take dictation in class, erase nothing. Instead, if you need to make a change, make it on the next line on your staff paper. This will help you study, as you will see patterns, parts of melodies, etc. that you are routinely getting wrong or needing extra hearings to get right, which will help you focus your individual practice. It will also allow you to cite your in-class dictation work on your self-evaluation. If you lose your in-class work, or if you do not clearly note what you heard, what you discussed with your classmates, and what was given to you by your instructor, you will not be able to cite that work on your self-evaluation. In that case, your entire grade will rely on the end-of-unit quiz. However, if you keep good notes and can demonstrate mastery or significant progress there, you will have somewhat of a “safety net” for your grade when taking the quiz.

Assessment

Unit III will address all concepts and skills listed on the syllabus. It will be the last unit in which we will address performance.

Students will be assessed individually, according to each student’s self-evaluation. In that self-evaluation, you should make the case, citing evidence from class activity, your video portfolio, your playlist contributions, and your sight-singing exam, that you have mastered the material for each concept/skill or are on the way to doing so by the deadline. Be sure to keep records of anything not automatically recorded (in other words, things done on paper or in-person, rather than on Piazza, Learning Catalytics, or Google Drive). If you have any questions about this process, please consult your instructor early.

Schedule (subject to change)

TBA.