Unit II: Listening to chromatic common-practice music & analysis of post-common-practice music (March 18–April 29)

Unit II will cover the following four topics:

• melodic listening (tonal-chromatic)
• harmonic listening (tonal-chromatic)
• analysis (post-common-practice)

Also included in this unit of study will be work that contributes to the semester-long technology and writing about music topics.

Final assessment opportunities for melodic listening and harmonic listening will take place in a dictation exam during the second exam slot for this class during finals week: Thursday, April 25, 8:30–10:30am.

Assessment for the analysis, writing, and the final component of the technology categories will come in a paper due at 4pm on Monday, April 29.

Work for each topic of study will be evaluated on a four-point scale: mastery (4), working knowledge (3), incomplete understanding (2), poor understanding (1), and no significant attempt made (0). Rubrics for each category are provided below. (For further information on how final grades are calculated, consult the course syllabus.)

Assessment rubrics

Melodic listening

The objective for melodic listening is for all students to listen to a melody approximately 10–15 seconds long, three times, and notate it with minimal or no errors in pitch or rhythm. The complexity of the melodies will fit those covered in Chapters 1–70, though mainly 40–70 (skipping over Chapters 49, 50, 61, and any that focus solely on harmony or other non-melodic structures), of Karpinski’s Manual for Ear Training and Sight Singing and the accompanying Anthology for Sight Singing.

There will be a final dictation test during finals week, which will determine students’ final grades for this criterion. That test will contain multiple melodies in major and minor, in simple and compound meter.

Each melody on that test will receive two scores on a four-point scale: one for pitch content and one for rhythmic content. Those four-point scores will follow this rubric:

• 4: Perfect or nearly perfect
• 3: a couple small errors
• 2: more than a couple small errors, or one or two bigger errors
• 1: significant problems, or an inability to finish the melody
• 0: no significant attempt made

The final score for that test will be the median of all the pitch and rhythm scores earned on the melodies on the test, with the provision that the final grade cannot be higher than the highest score for major-key pitch, minor-key pitch, simple-meter rhythm, or compound-meter rhythm. For example, if a student’s median score is a 3, but her highest score for rhythm on the compound-meter melodies is a 2, the final score is a 2.

Throughout Unit II, we will do some in-class dictation practice, and students will do out-of-class dictation practice with the accompanying CD to the Karpinski text. Students are expected to practice dictation with this CD. Student practice will not only aid their learning, but provide an opportunity for a “safety net” for the final grade. A student’s final score will be no lower than one level below what the student masters in practice. For example, if a student has demonstrated a consistent ability to dictate at the level of 4 in advance of the test, the lowest score they can achieve on the final test (even if they do not take it) is a 3. If 3s are consistently achieved in advance, the lowest final score is a 2. Etc. If a student does no practice work, their final test grade is their final grade for this criterion.

Harmonic listening

The objective for harmonic listening is for all students to listen to a phrase-long, non-modulating chord progression that includes the most common diatonic and chromatic chords (covered up to Unit I of this course) and reliably dictate the melody, bass line, and harmonic content.

A student’s grade for a dictation exercise will be the number of the following four elements that the student can dictate with minimal or no errors after four hearings:

• melody
• bass line
• chords (thoroughbass figures above the bass notes)
• harmonic functions (functional bass symbols below the bass notes)

There will be a final dictation test during finals week, which will determine students’ final grades for this criterion. That test will contain multiple phrase-length progressions in major and in minor. The student’s grade on that test will be the median score for all the progressions dictated, with the provision that the final grade cannot be higher than the highest score for a minor- or a major-key exercise. (In other words, if a student is better at major than minor, their final score cannot be higher than the score of their best minor-key exercise.)

Throughout Unit II, we will do some in-class dictation practice, and students will do out-of-class dictation practice with a computer application I developed, called BassGenerator. Students are expected to practice dictation with this application. Student practice will not only aid their learning, but provide an opportunity for a “safety net” for the final grade. A student’s final score will be no lower than one level below what the student masters in practice. For example, if a student has demonstrated a consistent ability to dictate all four elements reliably in advance of the test, the lowest score they can achieve on the final test (even if they do not take it) is a 3. If consistency is achieved for three of the four elements in advance, the lowest final score is a 2. Etc. If a student does no practice work, their final test grade is their final grade for this criterion.

Analysis

The objective for this category is for all students to be able to verbally communicate about the primary structural elements of a post-tonal piece of Western art music. The focus will primarily be on atonal and 12-tone music. This category will be assessed according to a written project due during finals week.

Analyses will be assessed according to the following criteria. The first three are musical features that must be substantially (though not necessarily completely) explained.

• Primary parameters (pitch and/or rhythm)
• Secondary parameters (timbre, orchestration, dynamics, tempo, etc.) and/or text, if applicable
• Large-scale formal structure
• Construction of a single analytical thesis

The number of these criteria that a student meets in a paper for a piece not discussed in class will be the grade for this category.

The number of these criteria that a student meets in a paper minus 1 for a piece discussed in class will be the grade for this category.

In other words, if a student chooses to write on a piece discussed in class, the highest possible grade is a 3, and all four criteria must be met in order to receive a passing grade on the paper.

Writing about music

Generally, writing will be assessed according to following five criteria:

• Identify and write appropriately for a target audience.
• Generate an original thesis based on evidence (that is, your analysis).
• Construct clear linear argument in support of a thesis and devoid of unnecessary details.
• Use musical terminology appropriately and effectively.
• Demonstrate mastery of Chicago Manual of Style for writing on music and citing sources.

For each written work (there is one at the end of Unit II), you will receive a grade on the standard four-point scale equal to the number of these criteria you satisfy by the deadline, minus one. (I.e., fulfill all five and get a grade of 4; fulfill three and get a grade of 2; etc.)

There will be two written assignments during the semester (since Unit III was dropped). You will be allowed to reassess one of those papers after its deadline (that reassessment opportunity has already taken place with the Unit I paper revision). At the end of the term, the median/mean of your revised Unit I paper and your Unit II paper will be your final grade for this category.

Technology

The technology grade for the semester will be determined according to which of the following things you demonstrate an ability to do:

• Typeset a harmonic reduction (bass & figures)
• Include harmonic analysis in that reduction
• Include a musical graphic in a written paper
• Use Twitter, DropBox, BassGenerator, and any other technological tools required during the course of the semester

The grade is the number of these things you demonstrate an ability to do by the end of the semester (submission of the final paper).