RMA Theory Class Syllabus

Please note: in addition to the material listed below, corresponding ear training and sight reading will be part of the course. We will also incorporate music appreciation (listening to music from different musical periods). The placement exam will not include ear or sight tests or music-appreciation testing.

Beginner

This class is designed for very young students, primarily ages six and seven. Students need to be able to write at approximately a grade one level so that they can manage elementary notation of clefs, notes, etc. It is expected that students for this level have little or no formal written theory background.

Level One

Source: Rudiments: a Foundation in Music, Part I

• Pitch
  • treble and bass clefs
  • names of notes
  • names and use of ledger lines
  • accidentals (sharp, flat, natural)
  • whole and half steps
  • diatonic and chromatic half steps
• Rhythm
  • Time values (duration) of notes and rests
  • dotted notes
  • triplets
  • simple time signatures: 2/2. 3/2, 4/2, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 2/8, 3/8, 4/8.
  • bar lines and rests in simple time
  • addition of a time signature, bar lines and rests to a given line of music
• Scales (keys up to four sharps and flats)
  • major scales
  • minor scales (natural, harmonic, and melodic)
  • key signatures for the above scales
  • tonic, subdominant, and dominant notes of the above scales
• Intervals
  • perfect, major, and minor intervals above a given note
• Triads
  • tonic, subdominant, and dominant triads in root position
• Recognition of keys
  • identification of the key of a given excerpt with a key signature
• Transposition
  • transposition of a melody up or down one octave
  • transposition of a melody from one clef to another
• Musical terms and signs
  • a comprehensive list of terms is in Rudiments: a Foundation in Music Part I

Level Two

Source: Rudiments: a Foundation in Music, Part II

• Level Two incorporates ALL material from Level One PLUS the following:
• Pitch
  • double sharps and double flats
• Rhythm
  • compound time signatures: 6/4, 9/4, 12/4, 6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 6/16, 9/16, 12/16
  • irregular groupings of notes (quintuplets and septuplets in simple time, duplets and quadruplets in compound time)
  • addition of time signature, bar lines, and rests to a given line of music in simple or compound time
• Scales
  • all major and minor (natural, harmonic, and melodic) scales
  • technical names of scale degrees (tonic, supertonic, etc.)
  • whole-tone scales
  • chromatic scales
  • blues, octatonic, and pentatonic scales
• Intervals
  • all intervals: perfect, major, minor, augmented, and diminished above a given note
  • inversions of intervals
• Triads
  • triads in root position and inversions
• Recognition of keys
  • identification of the key of a passage with or without key signature
• Transposition (major keys)
  • transposition up any interval within the octave
• Cadences
  • writing cadences in keyboard or chorale (SATB) style: Authentic and Plagal
• Musical terms and signs
  • -a comprehensive list of terms is in Rudiments: a Foundation in Music Part II

Level Three

Source: Rudiments: a Foundation in Music, Part III

• Level Three incorporates ALL material from Levels One and Two PLUS the following:
• Pitch
  • alto and tenor clefs
• Rhythm
  • time signatures in simple and compound time
  • time signatures for mixed meters such as 5/4, 7/8, 10/16
  • Addition of bar lines and rests
• Scales
  • Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and Mixolydian modes
• Intervals
  • intervals and their inversions above and below a given note including compound intervals and enharmonic equivalents
  • identification of all scales that contain a certain interval
• Chords
  • all triads (major, minor, augmented and diminished) in root position and inversions, in close or open position
  • dominant sevenths in root position and inversions, in close position
  • identification of all scales in which a certain triad is found
• Cadences and melody writing
  • Authentic, half, deceptive, and plagal cadences
• Transposition
  • transposition of a melody up or down any interval
  • transposition to concert pitch of a single line of music for orchestral instruments;
    • in B flat (clarinet, trumpet)
    • in F (French horn, English horn)
• Score types
  • rewriting excerpts in the following score types:
    • vocal score with C clefs for alto and tenor
    • modern vocal score
    • string quartet
    • short score (four parts on two staves)
• Musical terms and signs

Harmony III

(This was last year's advanced class. Students preparing to enter this year's advanced class, Harmony IV, should be proficient in the following)

Source: Harmony: a Practical Approach, Part I

• Vocabulary includes
  • root position and inversions of all triads
  • dominant-seventh chords
  • supertonic seventh chords
  • V/V, V⁷/V, viio/V
  • modulations to the dominant key
  • non-chord tones
  • pedal points
• Melody writing in major and minor keys
  • composing a responsive phrase to a given four-measure phrase.
• Harmonization in major keys only
  • SATB
• Harmonic analysis
• Structural analysis
  • simple forms (binary, rounded binary, ternary)

Harmony IV

(This is the new material that will be covered in this year's Advanced/Harmony IV class.)

Source: Harmony: a Practical Approach, Part II

• root position and inversions of the following chords
  • all triads
  • V9, V11, V13
  • diatonic 7th chords
  • applied dominant-function chords
• modulation to closely-related keys
• modulation from between parallel major and minor keys
• non-chord tones
  • passing tone
  • neighboring tone
  • accented passing and neighboring tones
  • incomplete neighboring tones
  • appoggiaturas
  • éhapée
  • suspension
  • anticipation
• melody writing: to expand a given melodic fragment to a 16-measure, four-phrase composition including modulation to the dominant (in major keys) or mediant (in minor keys) and back to the home key in a binary or rounded binary form.
• structural anlaysis of small forms, sonata form, composite ternary form, and rondo form.
• harmonization for SATB
• harmonic analysis

Harmony V

• all triads
• dominant 9th, 11ths, and 13ths
• diatonic 7ths
• applied dominants and leading-tone chords of all degrees
• advanced chromatic harmony (II, altered triads, augmented 6th chords, common-tone diminished 7th chords)
• modulations to both closely-related and remote keys
• non-chord tones and pedal points
• Students will be applying this vocabulary to their own compositions.