Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0264 - Tonal Theory I

This course is for students with the solid knowledge of Western music fundamentals including the proficiency with staff notation. After a quick rigorous review of these basics, we delve deeper into functions of diatonic harmony, beginning with two-voice species counterpoint composition with basic melodic embellishments. The class then proceeds to four-part harmony and voicing techniques. In this section, we also explore relationship between cadences and forms; students compose a four-voice chorale using a binary form. In the last section, students engage in a more comprehensive multi-level analysis: harmonic, contextual, motivic, hypermetric, and formal. For their final, students apply the knowledge to analyze a minuet in a basic ternary form and compose their own for the instrumentation of their choice. In addition to the regular class meetings, participation in the weekly ear training is mandatory. Prerequisite: HACU 119 Musical Beginnings or equivalent AND the placement test in the first class.

Independent Work In this course, students are expected to spend 4-5 hours a week in preparation and work outside of class time.