By means of diagnostic examinations, a significant number of incoming college freshman music students at Murray State University are shown to have less than adequate preparatory music theory knowledge. To enroll in and successfully pass the first semester of four sequenced levels of music theory courses, a vast majority of students first need remedial help in such fundamental concepts as constructing scales, labeling intervals, counting simple rhythms, naming key signatures, broadly defining the most basic terminology, and recognizing common notational symbols. A course called Introduction to Music Theory and Aural Skills was designed and implemented to fulfill that need in the Fall of 1991.

Although the creation of the course "fixed" the problem of remedial skills at the college level, students with a weak theoretical background continue to enroll as music majors in increasing numbers. To solve this problem, two options became the focus of attention when the decision was made to develop an internet version of the fundamental music theory course. The objectives for course development became clear … to create an interactive web course that could be taken by: 1) anyone with a computer requiring no help from an instructor or 2) by anyone who has paid to be officially enrolled, allowing for minimal help from an instructor. The course could be completed by: 1) college freshmen music majors who are diagnosed as being "borderline" in music theory preparation; 2) high school students (in a music class and supervised by a music instructor); 3) high school students (on their own initiative to prepare for college level diagnostic exams); or 4) anyone with an interest in the fundamentals of music theory.

Practical design considerations for an internet music theory fundamentals course involved recognizing the need to create musical examples as images, musical examples as sound files, and an interactive learning environment. To create an interesting user-interface, certain programming objectives and considerations were established as high priority.

First, reading text is fundamental. Reading from the computer screen can be naturally interactive. By pointing and clicking the mouse, a user can react to the written text. Instructions can be highlighted, essential points can be clarified, and questions can be answered by passing the mouse over text or images. Second, hearing the examples is of paramount importance. One can argue that music is not music unless it is heard. If the sound files are small enough to be downloaded quickly, the computer is an adequate tool for providing audio examples. When discussing scales, students should be able to experience the difference between major and minor by listening to examples of each. When determining the characteristic sound of a particular interval, no verbal explanation can replicate the actual sound of that interval. Third, the course must be cross-platform and current (but not necessarily "cutting-edge"). Most public school systems in our area do not have the funding to maintain technological currency, so remaining behind the state-of-the-art by one generation seemed a practical consideration. Fourth, internet students must have the same ability to put pencil to paper as the students who take the in-class course. For that reason, Adobe Acrobat files are available for download. Such files may include manuscript paper for drawing symbols, practice tests that include musical examples and glossary files that can be downloaded, printed, and studied.

Interactivity was deemed very important from the beginning of the development process. The course author and developer is not a programmer and was initially confined to writing in HTML code. To create the interactive element, some public domain JavaScript was borrowed and modified to suit the needs of the course.

Course content is very similar to the on-campus version of the course. It follows the same content outline as many programmed textbooks and could be used to supplement most of them. The chapters include:

Near the end of most chapters there are several introductory ear training exercises. Some of the exercises include intervallic, melodic, and rhythmic identification. Most melodic and rhythmic exercises are very brief excerpts, allowing for relatively fast downloads. For those enrolled in the course, tests are provided periodically throughout the course. At appropriate times, four major exams are emailed to students. Instructions are given to download the Adobe Acrobat file (in PDF format), print it out, fill it out, and FAX it back to the instructor within 24 hours. A final exam may be taken anytime during final exam week as defined by the university.

Users may access the course without any restrictions or they may formally enroll to take the course through our university. Non-enrolled users would not receive college credit or any benefits provided by the instructor. Enrolled students are able to email requests for tests at appropriate times and to ask for help from the instructor. In the future, a forum will be developed to provide students the ability to communicate with each other and with the instructor during designated "office hours".

The instructor’s involvement in the course administration is, by design, very minimal. The university registrar completes the enrollment process and handles all fees and records, the Office of Continuing Education promotes the course and disburses information regarding enrollment procedures and course requirements, and the Department of Music handles referrals and answers departmental questions. The maximum enrollment for the course is officially set at one student so that all students above that number must seek special approval to register for the course. An unofficial enrollment cap has been set at 10 students. The initial contact with the instructor is usually nothing more than an email request to get started on the course.

Introduction to Music Theory and Aural Skills (the web version) was offered for the first time in the Fall semester of 1998. Seven students were officially enrolled: one out-of-state and six on-campus students. One student received an "incomplete" grade for not completing all exams prior to the final exam week, five students received passing grades and one student received a failing grade. Although little can be determined conclusively regarding this teaching/learning method after only one semester and with so few students involved, it may be fairly observed that such web-based courses may be best reserved for students who are highly academically motivated.