<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><div>Hi everyone,</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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).</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>I look forward to seeing what other schools do!</div><div><br></div><div>Deborah</div><div><br></div><div><div><div>Deborah Stein</div><div>Music Theory Department</div><div>New England Conservatory</div><div>290 Huntington Avenue</div><div>Boston, MA 02115</div><div><br></div><div>(617) 469-2490 </div><div><br></div></div></div><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; text-align:left; color:black; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #b5c4df 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 3pt"><span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span> MICHAEL KLEIN <<a href="mailto:mklein01@temple.edu">mklein01@temple.edu</a>><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span> Wednesday, May 21, 2014 10:43 AM<br><span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span> "<a href="mailto:smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a>><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span> Re: [Smt-talk] Core music theory courses for undergraduates<br></div><div><br></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>Dear Colleagues,<br><br>Responding to Anna's request (which, I'm guessing, is of interest to all of us).<br><br></div>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.<br><br></div>Keyboard Harmony is taught as a separate class -- though not all of the music majors are required to take the course.<br><br></div>Our system is not optimal, but it is the best we can do under our many constraints, which include (but are not limited to):<br><br></div>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).<br><br></div>2. A large number of students in a music-ed curriculum, which includes many state-mandated courses that squeeze out music courses.<br><br></div>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. <br><br></div>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.<br><br></div>--Michael<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 8:44 AM, Anna Gawboy <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gawboy.2@osu.edu" target="_blank">gawboy.2@osu.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Dear colleagues,<div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Are theory and aural skills integrated or taught in separate classes? Are keyboard skills included or taught separately? </div><div><br></div><div>How many semesters/quarters of theory are required?<br></div><div><br></div><div>How many credit hours are assigned to each class, and how much time does each class meet per week? </div><div><br></div><div>Many thanks in advance,</div><div>Anna Gawboy</div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><div><br></div>
-- <br><div dir="ltr"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; "><img src="http://osu.edu/assets/site/images/logos/osu-emailsig.png" alt="The Ohio State University"><br><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(187, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; ">Dr. Anna Gawboy</span> Assistant professor of music theory<br><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(187, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; ">Ohio State University School of Music</span><br>
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Smt-talk mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org" target="_blank">http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org</a><br><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Michael Klein<br>Chair, Department of Music Studies<br>Professor of Music Studies<br>Temple University<br>Boyer College of Music and Dance<br>316 Presser Hall<br><a href="mailto:michael.klein@temple.edu" target="_blank">michael.klein@temple.edu</a><br><br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/MLKPianist" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/user/MLKPianist</a><br><br><i>Intertextuality in Western Art Music</i>: <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=21727" target="_blank">http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=21727</a><br><br><i>Music and Narrative since 1900</i>: <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?isbn=978-0-253-00644-8" target="_blank">http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?isbn=978-0-253-00644-8</a><br><br>
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