[Smt-talk] Core music theory courses for undergraduates

Wed May 21 09:19:27 PDT 2014

Hi everyone,

At NEC we have 4 semesters of 2 separate sequences:  solfege with fixed do
runs for 4 semesters; fundamentals for students who need it, followed by
harmony, called Tonal Practice (TP), which has 3 semesters: TP I does an
intro species ctpt, diatonic harmony with V7 & inversions, and phrase
structure (periods/sentences); TP II adds 7th chords, applied chords,
modulation/tonicization and binary/ternary forms; TP III continues with
chromaticism and sonata form.  Both these sequences meet MWF for 3 credits
each.

While solfege is a separate sequence, the TP classes incorporate solfege and
try to use some of the repertory from solfege.  TP also includes a lot of
dictation and listening.  All form units use aural recognition (from CDs),
all new topics are introduced by ear,  and we have species ctpt & harmonic
progressions for homework (Cloud) through the sequence.  This sequence also
has keyboard labs, 30 minutes/week taught by TAs that aim to correspond to
the written work.

There are some frustrations, of course:  (1) almost no 20th-century music in
the core; (2) not enough time for keyboard; (3) not enough time for real
mastery of part writing and analysis.  One major issue is not having a
required course on 20th-century analysis.

The rest of the training is within a variety of  electives: 16th-century and
18th-century counterpoint courses, various courses in 20th-century and
21-century topics; a German Lied course and an extended-tonality (advanced
harmony); intro to Schenker for performers, rep courses for Bach, Beethoven
and Brahms, etc.  But only so many students get to take these (between 16
and 20 per class).

One of the things I feel good about is how we incorporate keyboard (through
the coordinated syllabi) and ear training in our so-called written theory.
I cannot imagine not having aural development along with part writing.  And
the students are very motivated to HEAR the materials they compose.

I look forward to seeing what other schools do!

Deborah

Deborah Stein
Music Theory Department
New England Conservatory
290 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

(617) 469-2490 

From:  MICHAEL KLEIN <mklein01 at temple.edu>
Date:  Wednesday, May 21, 2014 10:43 AM
To:  "smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org"
<smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org>
Subject:  Re: [Smt-talk] Core music theory courses for undergraduates

Dear Colleagues,

Responding to Anna's request (which, I'm guessing, is of interest to all of
us).

Temple's theory sequence (for all music majors) consists of 4 semesters:
diatonic theory, chromatic theory, form, and post-tonal theory. Each course
is 4 credits and meets 5x a week (M/W/F with a professor, and T/R with a
graduate student). We try to do both written AND aural work in each session,
but the reality of the situation is that aural work (sadly) often gets
pushed to the Tuesday/Thursday sessions with our grad students.

Keyboard Harmony is taught as a separate class -- though not all of the
music majors are required to take the course.

Our system is not optimal, but it is the best we can do under our many
constraints, which include (but are not limited to):

1. A credit-heavy GenEd course-load, required of all Temple students (we're
not a conservatory, so we don't have that many credits to devote to music
courses).

2. A large number of students in a music-ed curriculum, which includes many
state-mandated courses that squeeze out music courses.

In short, we only have 16 credits to play with for theory. Having said that,
we do have music majors outside of music-ed who take several additional
theory courses. 

On a personal note: when I think of the many theory courses that I took as
an undergraduate at Eastman (courses that gave me a solid foundation in
music theory), I feel a sense of frustration that so many institutional
barriers prevent me from devoting the time necessary to train our music
majors with the same attention to detail that I enjoyed as a student. I am
reminded of Foucault's notion of power relations, which are decentralized in
institutions. That is, it is not as easy as one might hope to find a "person
in power," whom we can hold responsible for the situations we face. Often,
the power we need to address is really an assemblage of different
constituencies, all of which (whom) have their priorities; priorities that
can be at cross purposes.

--Michael

On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 8:44 AM, Anna Gawboy <gawboy.2 at osu.edu> wrote:
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> My institution has recently begun to contemplate a revision of the entire
> undergraduate curriculum. I'm curious how much time other schools devote to
> core theory (i.e., those courses required of all undergraduate music majors)
> and the basic format for their delivery.
> 
> Are theory and aural skills integrated or taught in separate classes? Are
> keyboard skills included or taught separately?
> 
> How many semesters/quarters of theory are required?
> 
> How many credit hours are assigned to each class, and how much time does each
> class meet per week?
> 
> Many thanks in advance,
> Anna Gawboy
> 
> -- 
> 
> Dr. Anna Gawboy Assistant professor of music theory
> Ohio State University School of Music
> 304A Hughes Hall | 1899 College Road Columbus, OH 43210-1234
> 614-292-2044 <tel:614-292-2044>  Office
> gawboy.2 at osu.edu osu.edu <http://osu.edu/>
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Smt-talk mailing list
> Smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.o
> rg
> 

-- 
Michael Klein
Chair, Department of Music Studies
Professor of Music Studies
Temple University
Boyer College of Music and Dance
316 Presser Hall
michael.klein at temple.edu

http://www.youtube.com/user/MLKPianist

Intertextuality in Western Art Music:
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=21727

Music and Narrative since 1900:
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?isbn=978-0-253-00644-8

"Denn alles Fleisch ist wie Gras. . ."
_______________________________________________ Smt-talk mailing list
Smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory
.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.societymusictheory.org/pipermail/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org/attachments/20140521/d55dd17e/attachment-0002.htm>