Assignments are listed in reverse chronological order.
Assignments will be added over the course of the quarter for each upcoming class session.
Prepare the most complete, refined copy possible of your composition score and turn it in either a) electronically in the EEE DropBox called "CompositionFinal", or b) on paper during the final session.
Rehearse your composition and be prepared to perform it with your partner in the final session, scheduled Tuesday December 11, 10:30am-12:30pm in Room 218 of the Music and Media Building. You should plan to be present for the entire session.
Study the topics likely to be on the final exam.
The final theory exam will be administered during class session on Thursday December 6. No make-up exams will be given.
The final musicianship exam will be administered during the lab session times, 10:00am-12:00pm on Friday December 7. You should sign up in class for a specific individual test time. It's important that you be on time for your musicianship test, so that the tests stay on schedule. No make-up tests will be given.
The scheduled final exam session, Tuesday December 11 10:30am-12:30pm, will be devoted to performances of the final compositions. Attendance and performance in that session is mandatory.
Study the topics likely to be on the final exam.
For Thursday November 29, 2012
Turn in a completed score of your composition project. The composition should be at least 32 measures long, for a duo consisting of yourself and one other musician, and should follow the theoretical principles of chord progression, voice leading, and use of non-chord tones that we have studied in the class. Include analysis of the intended harmonies, and indicate what you consider to be the non-chord tones, to help us evaluate your work. You can produce the score with computer or by hand; either is acceptable, but if you do it by hand, please hand in a xerox copy or a scan of your score rather than the original, so we won't lose the only existing copy of your piece. You can turn in your score in either of two ways: 1) electronically in the EEE DropBox called "Composition", as a .sib, .mus, or .pdf file, or as any standard graphic file containing a scan of your handwritten score, or 2) on paper in class.
Study the score to the composition #4 by Michael Dessen. Practice singing the bass line while tapping the drum rhythm. You can hear the correct relationship between those two parts in a MIDI realization. Also practice singing the trombone part while listening to the MIDI realization of the other two parts. Think about what strategies help you to hear the correct pitches for the bass and trombone parts, and what strategies help you perform the correct rhythms, and use those strategies as you practice.
Plan to attend the concert of new compositions by first-year ICIT students at 8:00 pm Thursday November 29 in Music and Media 218 (Motion Capture Studio), free.
Plan to attend the concert by the Michael Dessen Trio at 8:00 pm Saturday December 1 in Winifred Smith Hall, $11 for students.
Continue composing your final project. If you'd like to get commentary on it before handing it in (on Thursday, November 29), make an appointment to meet with a TA or the professor during office hours.
Practice the drill for lower chromatic neighbor tones and appoggiaturas. The goal is to hear the leading tone to each note of the diatonic major scale. Replace the solfège syllables with note names, singing the drill in different keys.
Once you have mastered that drill, try this very similar drill for lower chromatic appoggiaturas, imagining the resolution note before singing the appoggiatura. Replace the solfège syllables with note names, singing the drill in different keys.
Practice the given two chromatic melodies and be prepared to sing them in class. What do you think is the rhythmic implication of the marking "Tempo di Blues"?
For Thursday November 22, 2012
There is no class, due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Begin composing your final composition/performance project. The composition should be no less than 32 measures long, for two players. The piece may be in either jazz or classical harmonic language, and should follow good classical principles of counterpoint, harmony, and voice-leading as discussed in class. Every note in the piece should demonstrably belong to a particular intended chord or should be a properly-handled non-chord tone (passing tone, neighbor tone, suspension, or appoggiatura).
The first step is to consult the list of composers and their partners to see for whom you (as composer) will be writing. The two of you will perform the piece, so the instrumentation of the piece will of course be determined by what instruments the two of you play. The next step (for you as the composer) is to make an appointment with your partner for as soon as possible to learn as much as possible about their instrument: range, clef, transposition if any, types of sounds they can produce, what they can and can't do well, what they like to do, etc. Ask them to recommend one or two simple pieces you could study to learn more about the instrument.
Before you begin actually writing notes, give some thought to the formal structure you want to use, the total length of the piece, its tempo, mood, harmonic structure, etc. If you're writing for voice you may want to choose a text, but you are also welcome just to write for non-text syllables (such as ah, la, etc.). You might well decide to model your own composition closely on some existing piece. That's okay, as long as you identify the piece that is the model for your own work, give credit to the composer, and do not actually plagiarize anyone else's work. In other words, you can borrow concepts, formal structures, etc. from another work, duly credited, but you should not use any actual excerpts or quotes from existing works.
The composition is due Thursday November 29. Set a regular daily regimen of composition time for yourself so that you don't procrastinate. (If you compose at least four measures of music per day, you should complete your piece on time.)
Practice and master the four melodies provided on this page. For each difficult part, decide on a mental strategy that works best for you -- chromatic neighbor to something known, known chord type, octave displacement, etc. -- so that you know how you can best interpret the written notes in order to hear them in your head.
Study and practice lines 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the page containing all cross-rhythms up to 8. Be prepared to perform those cross-rhythms. (Practice other rhythms on that page, too, if you'd like.)
For Thursday November 15, 2012
Practice the rhythm below with a metronome at an extremely slow tempo--so slow that even the thirty-second notes don't seem fast to you--focusing on performing the beat divisions accurately and paying particular attention to the discrete differences in speed from one beat to the next. Gradually increase the tempo toward andante, up to the fastest tempo at which you can still sing the rhythms accurately.
Practice this rhythm in 6/8, repeating each measure as many times as necessary to perform it accurately, and notice its relationship to the measures that precede it and follow it. Be prepared to perform it in class.
Continue practicing the thirds in a major scale in all keys, substituting note names in place of the solfège syllables.
Read pages 323-333 of Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music by Robert Gauldin, on the topic of leading-tone seventh chords.
Print out pages 153-155 of the workbook for Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music by Robert Gauldin. Complete exercises 1, 2, and 3 on those pages.
Print out the enharmonic spelling sheet for diminished seventh chords, and follow the directions on it.
Hand in all four completed pages (the three pages from the Gauldin workbook and the one page of enharmonic spellings) in class on Tuesday.
Spend time each day practicing singing the exercise containing all the thirds in a major scale in different keys, substituting note names in place of the solfège syllables.
Print out the two-page PDF document of melodies for sightsinging. Practice singing these melodies, using a) note names (C, D, E, etc.), b) solfège syllables (la-based for minor keys), and c) scale degrees (1, 2, 3, etc., no need to state the alterations). Focus primarily on the melodies notated in alto and tenor clefs; do the other melodies, too, if you have time. The main goals are: a) to become fluent in reading alto and tenor clefs, and b) to detect the harmonic implications of the melodies and use that information to help you sing the correct pitches.
Plan to attend the concert by the UCI Symphony Saturday November 10 at 8:00 pm in the Irvine Barclay Theatre.
Read about binary form and (especially) sonata form on Wikipedia and in your textbook (Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music by Robert Gauldin, 2nd edition), pp. 429-432 and 558-569. Consider how binary form and sonata form are related to each other, and how they are related to some pieces you have already studied: the Sarabande and Double from J.S. Bach's Partita No. 1 in B minor and Joseph Koska's Autumn Leaves.
Listen to, and study the score of, the first movement of Symphony No. 5 in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Identify the primary and secondary key areas and melodic themes/motives in the exposition. How does the composer get from one to the other? What are the most obvious ways in which the recapitulation differs from the exposition?
After repeated listenings, identify one very specific and very brief moment in the movement that you find especially attractive or interesting. It could be as little as a single chord, but more likely it will be some very short passage (say, a couple of measures). Study the score at that point to figure out, to your own satisfaction, just what it was about that moment that you found particularly interesting. (Was it an unusual chord progression or chord voicing? A particular dissonance? Something in the choice of orchestration? Something that was particularly unexpected? Some combination of factors?) Be prepared to explain your "fave" moment.
Practice singing the viola part on pp. 9 and 10 of the score. Print out those pages (they're pages 13 and 14 of the PDF file) and bring them to class, prepared to sing the viola part.
Study all previous assignments in preparation for the midterm theory exam (Nov. 1) and the musicianship test (Nov. 2). Make sure that you have signed up for a musicianship testing time for Friday November 2, and be prompt for that test.
Continue to practice singing the I-IV-V arpeggiation exercise in all major and (harmonic) minor keys, replacing the solfège syllables with note names and transposing to all keys. Be prepared to sing the exercise as a solo, with note names in any major or minor key.
Print out the lead sheets for the jazz standards Autumn Leaves and How High the Moon. Analyze the harmonic progression of each piece using key labels, Roman numerals, pivot chord boxes, and proper identifications of secondary chords, as demonstrated in class. Hand in your completed papers in class on Tuesday.
Review -- and practice as necessary -- all previous assignments in preparation for the midterm exam, which will include both theory and musicianship.
Practice singing the I-IV-V arpeggiation exercise in major and minor keys, replacing the solfège syllables with note names and transposing to other major and minor keys. Be prepared to sing the exercise as a solo, with note names in any major or minor key having up to two flats or sharps, i.e., C, F, G, Bb, and D major, and a, d, e, g, and b minor.
Print out the jazz chord nomenclature worksheet and fill in the correct chord spellings and chord names requested. Hand in your completed paper in class on Thursday.
Continue practicing the up-down drill in harmonic minor, singing note names in place of the solfège syllables, in the minor keys having up to five flats or sharps: a, e, g, b, d, f#, c, c#, f, g#, b-flat.
Study the way that Bach combines harmonic progression and counterpoint in his Sarabande and Double movements from his Partita No. 1 in B minor. Note how the melody of the Double follows exactly the same harmonic progression as the Sarabande, how he uses the melody to delineate those harmonies, and how he uses the cognitive phenomenon of streaming in the Double to imply counterpoint with a single melody.
Print the tonal melody worksheet that shows a chord progression. Most measures have one chord; some measures have two chords, a half note for each; measure 5 has a chord lasting three beats followed by a chord lasting one beat; measure 7 has a chord lasting two beats followed by two chords each lasting one beat.
Using the worksheet as your guide, write one melody for voice (any range, tempo, and mood) that conforms to the chord progression shown, and that uses only chord tones. This melody need not try to display the entire harmony. It can be as simple or as complex as you'd like, need not necessarily be Bach-like, and can really be anything you'd like. But it must be singable, meaning it should contain no ridiculously difficult leaps, and it should stay within the range of a normal voice type. And it must use only chord tones.
Write a second melody for voice (any range, tempo, and mood) that conforms to the chord progression shown, and that once again uses only chord tones, but in which you try to use enough notes to give some sense of the underlying harmony. Think about what are the notes that are most crucial to imply the given chord, and try to include enough different pitches per chord to suggest that chord. Usually two pitches are needed to imply a particular chord, but if you think one is enough, or simply can't figure out a way to use more than one note in a given chord, that's okay. You don't necessarily need to use three or four different pitches to imply a chord, if you choose wisely. Try your best to keep the melody singable and attractive.
Write a third melody for voice (any range, tempo, and mood) that conforms to the chord progression shown, but this time you may use traditional classical types of non-chord tones we've discussed in class, namely passing and neighbor tones (either accented or unaccented) or suspensions. (No escape tones, appoggiaturas, etc. for now.) Label the non-chord tones.
Hand in your completed melodies in class on Tuesday.
Practice the up-down drill in harmonic minor, singing note names in place of the solfège syllables, in the minor keys having up to five flats or sharps: a, e, g, b, d, f#, c, c#, f, g#, b-flat.
Print out pp. 15-16 (pages 6 and 7 of the PDF document) of the Partita in B-minor for violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. On the printed page, write in an analysis--designating each chord with Roman numeral and inversion, and labeling any non-chord tones--of the A section (first eight measures) of the Sarabande and the A section (first eight measures) of the Double that follows it. Hand in your work in class on Thursday.
Plan to attend the free concert featuring The Music of Conlon Nancarrow at 8:00 pm in Winifred Smith Hall on Thursday evening.
Practice the up-down drill in natural minor, singing note names in place of the solfège syllables, in the minor keys having up to five flats or sharps: a, e, g, b, d, f#, c, c#, f, g#, b-flat.
Practice "gear-shifting" between beat divisions of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 by practicing the rhythm exercise containing all adjacencies of all beat divisions 2 through 6.
Study the pages provided from the String Quartet No. 1 by Conlon Nancarrow, focusing on quintuplets and cross-rhythms combined with hemiolas. In pp. 26-27, practice accurately singing the rhythm of the second violin part (you don't need to sing the correct pitches) from the beginning of page 26 till rehearsal number 21, while tapping the downbeat of each measure. (The meter is cut time and the tempo is marked "Presto", so the music goes by very quickly and can best be thought of "in one", with one beat per measure.) Be prepared to perform it and to discuss what patterns and trends you discover. In pp. 28-29, practice the rhythm of the second violin and viola parts from rehearsal number 24 to the end of page 29. (Once you have mastered the rhythm of the viola part, you can try adding the pitches.) What patterns do you find in these two parts? What ratios do you find between the two parts? Be prepared to perform these rhythms and to discuss how these are examples of hemiola.
Study the examples of passing tones, neighbor tones, and suspensions provided online.
In classic 4-part chorale style, in one major key and one minor key each having two or more flats or sharps, write several short chord progressions that essentially follow the tonic-to-variable-to-predominant-to-dominant-to-tonic model, as you did in your previous assignment, while also employing instances of passing tones, neighbor tones, and suspensions (no other types of nonchord tones for now). Try both unaccented and accented passing tones and neighbor tones, although unaccented ones are more common in baroque and classical style.
The goal is to experience the effect that different nonchord tones have, depending on what the harmony is and what note of the chord is being embellished; you will also get to know what circumstances lend themselves well to particular nonchord tone usage, and what problems are involved. Beware of inadvertently introducing unwanted parallelism such as parallel fifths; those parallels, which should be avoided, might not exist in the simplified voice leading, but might occur unintentionally because of your embellishment. Also be aware of how a nonchord tone might change the harmony being implied in some way you didn't intend. As a rule of thumb, use nonchord tones to improve each voice's melody and to introduce desirable dissonance, but don't insert them in places where they serve merely to complicate the melodies.
In order to help us know what chord you intend and what kind of nonchord tone you intend, label all your chords with Roman numerals and inversion numbers, and label all your nonchord tones with "PT", "NT", or "sus" as appropriate.
Submit your work for this assignment no later than 11:00 am on Tuesday October 16. You may submit your work in electronic form (.sib file, .mus file, or .pdf file) via the EEE DropBox called "NonchordTones", or you may bring a hard copy of your work to class.
Practice the up-down drill in natural minor, saying note names in place of the solfège syllables, in the minor keys having up to three flats or sharps: a, e, g, b, d, f#, c.
Practice the "sixes" exercise, which emphasizes two different ways of thinking about (and notating) sextuple beat divisions: as three groups of two (exercise 1) and as two groups of three (exercise 2). In some instances there is more than one possible way to write a particular rhythm; notice those cases (especially evident in exercise 3) and decide which way you think is best for the performer.
In classic 4-part chorale style, in even rhythm, in one major key and one minor key each having two or more flats or sharps, write as many variations as you can think of on the basic progression below, as demonstrated in class. You'll be credited for good voice leading and for sheer number of (hopefully interesting) variations that conform to these guidelines.
tonic function --> "variable" function (could be almost anything) --> predominant (or secondary dominant) function --> dominant function --> tonic function
Here are a few examples in major:
I - vi - IV - V - I
I - V7/ii - V7/V - V7 - I
I - iii - ii6 - V7 - vi, etc.
Here are a few examples in minor:
i - VI - iv - V - i
i - V2/iv - iv6 - V7 - i
i - VII - iiø65 - V - i, etc.
Start with just triads, and do as many progressions as you can. Then try using some seventh chords. You should definitely feel free to extend the basic harmonic functions as far as you'd like, including the use of seventh chords, ninth chords, borrowed chords, recognized chord substitutions, etc. The possible realizations of this chord progression are infinite, so you should be able to produce many solutions.
Submit your work for this assignment no later than 11:00 am on Thursday October 11. You may submit your work in electronic form (.sib file, .mus file, or .pdf file) via the EEE DropBox called "BasicProgressions", or you may bring a hard copy of your work to class.
Review pages 117-133 of Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music by Robert Gauldin. Focus especially on the discussions of 'Harmonic Tendency' (tonic, dominant, predominant, and "variable" chord functions), 'The Underlying Basic for Harmonic Tendency' (how harmonic movement is driven by melodic movement), 'The Prolongation of Tonic Harmony' (arpeggiation, passing tones, and neighboring tones), 'Partwriting Connections Between the Primary Triads (voice leading guidelines), and 'The Authentic Cadence' (the dominant-tonic resolution).
Read Dobrian's 4-part voice leading rules for root-position triad progressions. Study the examples of how to realize Dobrian's 4-part voice leading rules on the keyboard, notice how the voice leading works, and practice them until you can play them with a fair amount of fluency.
Continue practicing the major up-down drill till you can perform it accurately in all major keys at a steady, moderate tempo, one that permits you to "feel" what it's like to be on each degree of the scale and to really hear/feel each interval. (If that's fairly easy for you, push your tempo to see how fast you can do it without sacrificing accuracy of pitch, rhythm, or note names.)
Practice "gear-shifting" between adjacent triple, quadruple, and quintuple beat divisions, until you can reliably and accurately perform a rhythm such as this, which contains all possible transitions between triplets, sixteenths, and quintuplets.
Prepare to perform the Hocket Exercises for practicing all timepoints in beat divisions of 4 and 3. Practice singing the upper line, the lower line, and both lines at once (differentiating between the two lines by singing a different syllable or a different pitch). Practice at first at a medium-slow tempo, focusing on precision, then finally practice at three different tempi: quite slow (MM 48-52), medium (MM 76-80), and quite fast (MM 96-100, faster if you can do it without sacrificing accuracy).
Write out the first sixteen harmonics of three harmonic series, beginning on the pitch classes C, E, and Bb. Indicate the notes that are approximately a quarter tone out of tune compared to equal temperament, either by using quarter-tone-sharp and quarter-tone-flat signs, or by using arrows and a "1/4" notation. Deposit your completed assignment in the EEE assignment DropBox called "HarmonicSeries" by class time on Thursday, or bring your completed assignment to class on paper.
Read the course syllabus and be prepared to ask questions about anything in it that you don't understand.
Read Appendix 1, "Some Fundamentals of Acoustics", pp. A0-A5 in Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music by Robert Gauldin. At a minimum, focus on the explanations of the terms "frequency", "pitch", and "harmonic series". Be prepared to ask questions about anything you don't understand.
Practice singing the "Up-Down Drill" in major scales, replacing the solfège syllables with note names and transposing to every major key. Be prepared to sing the drill with note names in any major key having up to three flats or sharps, i.e., C, F, G, Bb, D, Eb, and A.
This page was last modified November 29, 2012.
dobrian@uci.edu