MUS 2112: Aural
Skills IV, section 001
Tuesday, Thursday 8:00-9:50,
2.03.08 ARTS
Dr.
Office hours: Monday 1-2pm; Tuesday 2-3pm; Wednesday 3-4pm, Thursday
2:30-3:30pm or by appointment
Prerequisite: successful completion of Aural Skills III
Required Textbooks and Materials:
Robert Ottman and Nancy
Rogers, Music for Sightsinging (seventh
edition) - always bring to class
staff paper, pencils (not pens) - always bring to class
Blank CD-R (for project)
Course Description:
Aural Skills IV is designed to develop your eartraining
and sightsinging skills, increasing your aural
understanding of music. Classroom time is primarily for drill; most of the work
you will do for this course will be done outside of class.
Goals of the Course:
After going through this course, the student should be able to:
-
do harmonic dictation writing bass and soprano lines using diatonic and
chromatic harmonies
- do melodic dictation on diatonic and chromatic melodies (major and minor), in
the church modes, and using artificial scales
- do rhythmic dictation on rhythms using borrowed rhythms and other advanced
rhythmic techniques
- sight sing chromatic and modulating melodies, modal melodies, melodies using
artificial scales and tone rows
-
use hand signs for diatonic melodies
-
use both la-based and do-based minor systems
- perform rhythmic exercises containing extreme subdivisions of the beat,
borrowed rhythms, cross-rhythms, and metric modulations
- improvise a consequent phrase for a given antecedent
Grading and course policies
Grading will be done on the following
formula: 90-100: A; 80-89: B; 70-79: C; 69 and lower: F. A grade of “D” will
only be awarded when a higher grade has been achieved before accounting for attendance. Number grades will be
determined on the following basis:
|
|
3
Sightsinging exams: |
30% |
|
|
Daily
Sight singing/Rhythmic performance work: |
15% |
|
|
4
Dictation quizzes: |
40% |
|
|
Transcription
project: |
10% |
|
|
Homework and preparation: |
5% |
Course Policies
Attendance:
Attendance is essential and will be taken at the beginning of each class. It
will be factored into your grade by the following formula: zero absences will add
2 points to your Final average; 1 absence will add 1 point; each absence
after 2 will lower your final grade by 2 points. Being late to class
will also lower your grade: two tardies equal one
absence. If a student is absent more than 8 times for any reason during the
semester, the instructor, at his discretion, may assign a final grade of F for
the course.
ALL absences and tardies count. Due to my inability to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate excuses, I choose not to deal with them (excuses, that is). The two absences you are allowed (a week of classes) are expected to be legitimate (why would you not come to class if you were able?). The only exception to this policy would be a case of prolonged forced absence, such as would be caused by a serious injury requiring hospitalization, or the like. In these cases, documentation is required (of course); otherwise, I do not wish to be shown doctor's notes, letters from funeral directors or a mechanic's bill.
I reserve the right to count you as absent or tardy if you habitually (more than twice) come to class without the required materials (textbook, anthology, staff paper, etc.).
Make-up Work: Students are expected to make up all
work missed. If you are absent, it is
your responsibility to get the notes from a classmate and to come to my office
to pick up your homework. I am willing to meet with you and discuss the course
material only after you have taken appropriate steps to get caught up on your
own. Do not make my office your first stop when you are trying to find out
what you missed in class.
Daily Sightsinging and Rhythmic Performance: Each week you are assigned melodies and rhythms from the Ottman/Roger’s Music for Sightsinging book. You should prepare these exercises for the first class day of the week they are assigned. I will call on students to perform melodies and rhythms every day except test days, and these performances will be graded. If you are unprepared you will receive a grade of “F” for that day.
Homework will be accepted past the day it is due, but not for a
grade. Late homework may not always be returned to you in a timely manner.
Exams: Make up exams for scheduled exams will be allowed only if notice is given prior to the scheduled time.
Class Deportment: Students are expected to assist in maintaining a classroom environment that is conducive to learning. To assure all students have the opportunity to gain from time spent in class, students are prohibited from engaging in any form of distraction. Inappropriate behavior in the classroom shall result, minimally, in a request to leave the class. Examples of inappropriate behavior include the use of cellular phones or beepers, eating in the classroom, prolonged chattering, excessive tardiness, sleeping, and overt inattentiveness.
Cheating: Cheating
in any form will not be tolerated.
All infractions will be reported to Student Judicial Affairs and
prosecuted to the maximum extent allowed by the university. Any work you hand
in is expected to be your work and your work only; claiming someone else’s work
as your own is cheating.
Communication: If you need
to contact me, there are a number of ways to do it. I am usually in my office,
and will often be available to see students outside of posted office hours. If
my door is closed, please check the schedule next to my door before knocking to
make sure you are not interrupting a lesson or lunch. You can also reach me via
my office phone and email, which are listed above and on the web (http://music.utsa.edu/Faculty/heuser/index.html).
Emails should be courteous and formal, with proper spelling, capitalization,
etc., and with a subject line that clearly states the purpose of the message.
Ambiguous subject lines may result in an email being deleted as suspected spam.
All Music Department faculty also have mailboxes
located in the music office (3.01.58). If you would like to put something in my
mailbox, give it to the office staff and ask them to place it there. If you
have a concern, problem, question, issue or whatever, the best thing you can do
is talk to me about it. Stay in touch!
Aural
Skills IV Schedule
|
Week |
Topics |
|
|
Unit 1 Sight singing: review chromaticism and
modulating melodies Harmony: minor diatonic chords & V7/V Rhythm: changing time signatures, less common time signatures & hemiola |
|
Week 1, January 15, 17 Week 2, January 22, 24 |
Ottman/Rogers – 13.13-13.17, 14.19,14.25, 14.28, 14.35 Ottman/Rogers
– rhythms from 17.1-17.27 |
|
|
Unit 2 Sight singing: further chromaticism Harmony: further secondary harmonies, diatonic 7th
chords Rhythm: further subdivision of the beat |
|
Week 3, January 29, 31 |
Ottman/Rogers
- melodies 19.1-19.6 Dictation Quiz 1: Tuesday, January 29 |
|
Week 4, February 5, 7 Week 5, February 12, 14 |
Ottman/Rogers
– melodies 19.8-19.10 Sightsinging Exam 1: Thursday, February 12 |
|
|
Unit 3 Sight singing: Neoplolitan 6th, handsigns, la minor Harmony: Neopolitan 6th
& Augmented 6th chords Rhythm: two-voice examples in simple & compound meters |
|
Week 6, February 19, 21 |
Ottman/Rogers - melodies 19.12-19.18 Rhythms: handout 1: two-voice examples Dictation Quiz 2: Tuesday, February 19 |
|
Week 7, February 26, 28 Week 8, March 4, 6 Week 9, March 11, 13 |
Ottman/Rogers
- melodies from chapters 8 & 9, with handsigns
(do major, la minor) |
SPRING BREAK - March 13-17
|
|
Unit 4 Sight singing: modes Harmony: extended chords (9ths, 11ths &
13ths) Rhythm: 20th rhythmic examples |
|
Week 10, March 25, 27 |
Ottman/Rogers
- melodies 20.1-20.6, 20.8 Dictation Quiz 3: Thursday, March 27 |
|
Week 11, April 1, 3 Week 12, April 8, 10 |
Ottman/Rogers - melodies 20.9-20.14, 20.16-20.20 Ottman/Rogers - rhythms 21.1-21.11 continued Sightsinging Exam 2: Tuesday, April 8 |
|
|
Unit 5 Sight singing: whole-tone & octatonic scales, other 20th century melodies Harmony: transcription project preparation Rhythm: tempo modulation |
|
Week 13, April 15, 17 |
Singing whole-tone scales, octatonic scales & atonal melodies Ottman/Rogers melodies: 21-42-21.46, 21.49, 21.51 Rhythms: handout 2: tempo modulation |
|
Week 14, April 22, 24 |
Ottman/Rogers melodies: 21.52-21.55, 21.60-21.62 Rhythms: handout 2: tempo modulation continued Dictation Quiz 4: Tuesday, April 22 |
|
Week 15, April 29 |
Continued from week before Transcription project due April 29 during class |
Final:
Sight singing Exam 3: Thursday, May 8, 7:30pm-10:00am
Copyright (c) 2000,
Revised - January 2008
Email any problems, questions or requests about this page to david.heuser@utsa.edu
URL: http://music.utsa.edu/electron/aural4.html