COURSE SYLLABUS

MUSC 105 Music Theory for Non-Majors

(January 2009)

Prof. Terry B. Ewell

Phone: Office 410-704-2143

 

Email: Ewell email

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Theoretical concepts through practical experiences with notation, meter, scales, intervals and chord structures.

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES: 1) Introduction to basic musical terms and concepts, 2) Practical experience with music notation, 3) Practical experience with correlating sound with music notation.

 

COURSE GOALS

This course has been designed and structured for students with very little or no musical background. Its goal is to provide students with the tools for a basic understanding of the rudiments of music. In addition, students will comment upon and create small musical projects.

Course topics include:

  1. The Keyboard
  2. Notation, The Staff, and Melody
  3. Clefs
  4. Major Scales
  5. Key Signatures
  6. Intervals
  7. Triads and Dominant 7ths
  8. Introduction to Rhythm and Meter
  9. Basic Ear Training Exercises

REQUIRED MATERIALS: 1) Purchase of CD-ROM OnMusic Fundamentals by Connect4Education (ISBN 0-9720627-1-8). This is available at the Towson University Store or at www.connect4education.com. 2) Finale NotePad2009 (download $9.95) available at http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/.

 

MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:

Required Hardware

 

PC

Macintosh

CPU

Pentium 133 MHz or better

G4, G5, or Intel

Monitor

Thousands of colors

Thousands of colors

Memory

64 MB RAM or more

128 MB RAM or more

Sound

SoundBlaster compatible

Built in

CD-ROM

16X or better

16X or better

OS

Win 95, 98, NT, ME, or XP

Mac OS X or better

Modem

28.8 or better

28.8 or better

 

 

MINIMUM SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

To run this course successfully, you will need the latest version of the following free software.

PC Users

Macintosh Users

Flash Player

Flash Player

Sibelius Scorch

Sibelius Scorch

RealPlayer

RealPlayer

Microsoft Internet Explorer*

Mozilla Firefox 1.5

*Windows Users: You do not need to install this. Most likely it's already installed on your computer.

*Macintosh Users: You do not need to install this. Most likely it's already installed on your computer.

 

EMAIL ACCOUNT

You must have an email address prior to starting the class.

COURSE FORMAT

This is a fully paperless class. All course materials, including the musical examples on CD-ROM, will be accessed electronically. Assignments will distributed electronically by professor and students.

You must be fully conscious, however, that despite its present state of sophistication, computer technology is, for many reasons, quite immature. Expect to encounter some hurdles along the way. Don't be frustrated by them. Learn from your shortcomings and those of the technologies that we will be using. Above all, please read and follow setup instructions carefully before starting the course. Doing so will save you precious time and help you avoid unnecessary frustration.

EVALUATION AND GRADING

 

Assignment

Grade

Weight

% of Final

Quiz: High and Low sounds

 

2

2

Keyboard Quiz: Key Identification

 

2

2

Clef Quiz

 

2

2

Ledger Lines Quiz

 

2

2

Whole/Half Steps Quiz

 

2

2

Scales Quiz: Degree Functions

 

2

2

Comment Project 1

 

2

2

Major Scales Quiz

 

2

2

Assignment

Grade

Weight

% of Final

Key Signatures Quiz

 

2

2

MIDTERM EXAM

 

27

27

Rhythm Quiz

 

2

2

Creative Project 1

 

4

4

Meter Quiz

 

2

2

Intervals Quiz 1: Numerical Size

 

2

2

Comment Project 2

 

2

2

Interval Quality Quiz

 

2

2

Triads Quiz

 

2

2

Assignment

Grade

Weight

% of Final

Creative Project 2

 

4

4

Dominant Sevenths Quiz

 

2

2

Comment Project 3

 

2

2

Creative Project 3

 

4

4

FINAL EXAM

 

27

27



PLEASE NOTE: The midterm and final exams are available only at these times and dates:

Midterm examination: 15 Jan (12:01AM) - 17 Jan (11:59PM)

Final examination: 23 Jan (12:01AM) -  25 Jan (11:59PM)

All course work must be completed prior to the Final examination.

Late Comment and Creative Projects will be penalized 5-10% depending upon the number of days they are tardy, and at the instructor's discretion. Projects over five calendar days late will receive a grade of 0.

Grading

The course will use a fixed grade scale. Here is how the grade points on connect4education will equate to the TU letter grades:

93 to 100% = A
90 to 92% = A-
87 to 89% = B+ 
83 to 86% = B 
80 to 82% = B-
77 to 79 % = C+  
70 to 76% = C
67 to 70% = D+
60 to 66% = D
below 60% = F

COURSE PROJECTS

The course contains two types of projects:

Comment projects requires students to critique supplied examples and creative work of their colleagues in the course. Students will download MIDI files, import into Finale NotePad, and then listen to the examples. Students will forward comments to the  www.connect4education forum. 

Creative projects require students to modify and create music with Finale NotePad software. Students will import MIDI files supplied by the instructor, edit files in the software using music notation, and then export MIDI files to the instructor.

Further details about the projects will by supplied later in the course.

 

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

Keep up with the work! This is an intensive course. You may work at your own pace, using the dates as guidelines. Due dates for the Comment Projects and Creative Projects are fixed, however.

This schedule is supplied on the connect4education.com website for the course.


 

For further information please visit connect4education.org and select “Student support.”