Chromatic Harmony: Advanced Music Theory

Term: Fall 2018

Location: Digi Lab
Time: Thursday, 8-9:30, 12-1:30, Period A
Instructor: Mark Cocheo
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: by appointment, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday
Course Purpose: Students will continue their analysis of major and minor key harmony.
This course will introduce modulation, modal interchange, chord substitutions, and
advanced chromatic harmony and modal concepts. Students will also work on 4 part
writing in preparation for the AP music theory exam. This course is suitable for students
who wish to pursue a musical career as well as those who desire to further their musical
knowledge. A computer lab containing midi keyboards, notation software, video editing
software, and audio editing software will also be available for additional student support
and practice.
Course Goals: Students will expand their knowledge of music theory and composition,
and will learn how these elements are used in music. This course will concentrate on
rules of theory and composition, and analysis. Students will have the opportunity to
master beginning keyboard skills to help develop theoretical skills learned in class.
Course Objectives:
Students will be able to…
• Identify and notate pitch in four clefs: treble, bass, alto, and tenor.
• Notate, hear, and identify simple and compound meters.
• Notate and identify all major and minor key signatures.
• Notate, hear, and identify the following scales: chromatic, major, and the three
minor forms.
• Name and recognize scale degree terms, for example: tonic, supertonic, median,
subdominant, dominant, submediant, subtonic, leading tone.
• Notate, hear and transpose the following modes: Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and
Mixolydian.
• Notate, hear and identify whole-tone and pentatonic scales.
 • Notate, hear, and identify all major, minor, augmented and diminished intervals
inclusive of an octave.
• Transpose a melodic line to or from concert pitch for any common band or
orchestral instrument.
• Notate, hear and identify triads, 7th chord including inversions.
 Detect pitch and rhythm errors in written music from given aural excerpts.
 Notate, hear and identify the following nonharmonic tones: passing tones
(accented or unaccented), neighboring tone, anticipation, suspension,
retardation, appoggiatura, escape tone, changing tone (cambiata), pedal tone.
 Notate the soprano and bass pitches and the Roman and Arabic numeral
analysis of a harmonic dictation, eighteenth-century chorale style, seventh
chords, secondary dominants, 4 to 8 bars in length, major and minor key, three
to four repetitions.
 Compose a melody or expand a motive with or without text, 6 to 12 bars long,
given specific directions about key, mode, phrasing rhythm, and harmonic
language.
 Harmonize a 4 to 12 bar melody by writing a bass line, chords and/or chord
symbols, given specific directions about key, mode, phrasing, rhythmic and
harmonic language.
 Define and identify common tempo and expression markings.
 Identify aurally and/or visually the following: modulation, transposition, melodic
and harmonic rhythm, sequence, imitation, ostinato, augmentation, diminution,
inversion, retrograde, and fragmentation.
 Recognize standard musical idioms (i.e., standard melodic, rhythmic and
harmonic idioms) that occur in music.
 Analyze 20th century music, atonal music, tone rows, magic squares, and
chromatic harmonic techniques

Required Texts:

Alfred’s Essentials of Music Theory Complete by Andrew Surmani, Karen Farum

Surmani and Morton Manus

Scoggin, Nancy. Barrons AP music theory. Hauppage, NY: Barrons Educational Series,
2014.

Required Materials:
2” Binder
Staff Paper (This can be either bought in notebook form or printed off of the Internet.
Make sure you always have at least two blank sheets for each class.)
Sharpened Pencils (Please do not use pen in this class.)

Provided Materials: Sheet music, recordings, music texts.

Recommended Materials and Resources: Metronome, Tuner, MP3 recording device
Benward, Bruce, and Marilyn Saker. Music in Theory and Practice, 8th edition. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.

Berkowitz, Sol, et al. A New Approach to Sight Singing, 5th edition. New York: W. W.
Norton, 2010.

Turek, Ralph. The Elements of Music: Concepts and Applications, Vols. 1 & 2, 2nd
edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.

Turek, Ralph. Analytical Anthology of Music, 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.

Ottman, Robert W. and Nancy Rogers. Music for Sight Singing, 8th edition. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc, 2001.

Kostka, Stefan and Dorothy Payne. Tonal Harmony, 6th edition. New York: McGraw-
Hill: 2009

Online Resources

https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-music-theory/about-the-exam

 This website contains helpful information and a detailed description of what to

expect when taking the AP Music Theory Exam.
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/213059.html

 This website contains previously administered AP exams. This can give you a
general idea of what to expect when taking the AP exam.
Musictheory.net

Teoria.com

Gmajormusictheory.com

Eartraining.com
 Calendar
9/6 Review of basic pitch notation: clefs, ledger lines, grand staff, octave
designation, half steps and whole steps, intervals, chromatic alterations,
enharmonic equivalents, accidentals.

HW: Read Chapter 1-2

9/13 Review of meter and rhythm: the proportional system, beat and tempo,
accent, meter and measure, meter signatures, simple meters, compound
meters, asymmetric meter, conflict of rhythm and meter, borrowed
divisions, syncopation, cross rhythms, hemiola, dots, ties, rests, dynamic
and articulation markings
Harmonic Dictation: bass voice

HW: Read Chapter 3

9/20 Review of major scales/circle of fifths/key signatures: the chromatic
scale, the whole tone scale, the major scale, pentatonic scale,
transposition, tonality, key signatures, the placement of sharps and flats,
the outer circle of fifths.

Harmonic dictation: outer voices

HW: Finish Composition Project

9/27 Review of minor scales/circle of fifths/key signatures: the inner circle of
fifths, relative major and minor scales, the natural minor scale, the
harmonic minor scale, the melodic minor scale, the parallel minor keys,
modal scales.
Harmonic dictation: outer voices

Composition Project #1 Due

HW: Read chapter 5.
10/4 Review of intervals: numeric values of intervals, quality of intervals
(major, minor, diminished, augmented), the intervals of the major scale,
alteration of interval quality, enharmonic intervals, inversions of intervals,
simple versus compound intervals, diatonic versus chromatic intervals.
Harmonic Dictation: outer voices

HW: Study for quiz

10/11 Review of triads/seventh chords: building and identifying triads (major
triads, minor triads, diminished triads, augmented triads), building and
identifying seventh chords (major seventh chords, Major/minor seventh
chords (dominant), minor seventh chords, half diminished, diminished
seventh chords, augmented seventh chords).
Harmonic Dictation: outer voices
Quiz 1- Scales/Chords/Intervals

HW: Read Chapter 6

10/18 Chord inversions: identifying and building triadic inversions (root position,
first inversion, second inversion), identifying and building inversions of
seventh chord (root position, first inversion, second inversion, third
inversion).
Chapter 4, part 2
Harmonic Dictation: outer voices

10/25 Review of form (simple binary, rounded binary, ternary, theme and
variation, strophic), Chord symbols and figured bass: using traditional
eighteenth-century nomenclature to identify and analyze chords,
realization of Roman numeral progressions.
Harmonic Dictation: outer voices

Composition Project #2 Due

11/1 Diatonic triad functions in major and minor keys: diatonic primary and
secondary chords in a major key, diatonic and chromatically altered
primary and secondary chords in a minor key (based on form of scale).
11/8 Functional tonal principals: tonality, chordal hierarchy, progression
versus regression, harmonic motion, harmonic rhythm, variants in a
minor key, idiomatic chord substitutions (vii/V, IV/ii) chapter 5 part 2.
Harmonic Dictation: outer voices and authentic cadence.

Quiz 2- Chord Analysis

11/15 Cadences: authentic and perfect authentic cadence, plagal cadence, half
cadence, deceptive cadence.
Harmonic Dictation: outer voices and authentic cadence.

HW: Analysis Sheet

11/29 Embellishing/non-harmonic tones: passing tone, neighboring tone,
changing tone, anticipation, suspension, retardation, simultaneous
embellishing tones, pedal point; use of non-harmonic tones in harmonic
analysis. Harmonic Dictation: outer voices and authentic cadence

HW: Composition Project #3

12/6 Melodic Principals in four part writing/voicing chords: characteristics of
the individual line’s range, tessitura, spacing, movement, doubling and
resolution of tendency of notes.
 Harmonic Dictation: outer voices and authentic cadence.
Principles in chord connection: contrary motion, oblique motion, similar
motion, parallel motion.
Harmonic Dictation: outer voices and primary triads (major and minor).

Composition Project #3 Due.

12/13 Connecting root position triads: triads in a fifth relationship, triads in a
third relationship, triads in a seconds relationship.
Harmonic Dictation: outer voices and primary triads (major and
minor).

Quiz 3- Part Writing Rules

12/20 Voicing triads in first inversion: frequency, spacing, doubling of first

inversion chords, connecting root position and first inversion triads,
successive first inversion triad.
1/10 Mid Term
1/17
Mid Term Overview
1/24 Composition, Theory, and Orchestration

Composition Project #4 Due.

Grading Policy:
Grading:
Knowledge: 40% (Tests, quizzes, classwork, homework)
Skills: 40% (Composition Projects)
Attendance/Participation: 20%
                                                                                   
**Assignments should be handed in on the scheduled due date. Late assignments will
result in a loss of up to 10 points per day missing.

**There will be a formal test and composition each quarter.

Guidelines for Music Class Participation:

 Come to class with a positive, supportive, and helpful attitude.
 Come to class ready to play your music well and ready to learn.
 Be prepared.
 Focus your attention on the music.
 Be intent on improving as the school year progresses.

Student Expectations
 Come Prepared: Please come to class on time and ready to work every day. Make sure
that you have all of your required materials and any assignments for the day. Take a
moment before each class to prepare yourself for learning and creating music with your
peers.
 Open Mindedness: Learning about music theory and analysis takes work, but, with the
right attitude, anyone can do it! I hope that you will accept the challenges before you with a
positive attitude and learn from both success and failure.
 Ask Questions: This class may move along quickly for some students who have less
experience in music theory. Please feel free to ask questions at ANY TIME. I am here to
HELP YOU . I will be available before and after school for any student who would like extra
help.
 Show Respect: Show respect to me, your peers, and yourself at all times. Together we will
create great music together, but it starts from a point of respect and honesty. Do your best
and support your classmates with what they do.
 No food or drinks in class. This is the department’s policy, no exceptions. Bottled
water is permitted.
 Please silence/ turn off cell phones during class.
 Please avoid distracting others during class (holding conversations during class,
“noodling”, etc.). If you are disrespectful, you will be asked to leave the class.
 Please respect the instruments, computers, and equipment.

The Information in this syllabus is subject to change in extenuating circumstances.

Changes to the course syllabus will be provided to the student in writing within 1 week
to the event.