Basic Aural Skills Fall 2017

Announcements, links, and information. As I add new posts, the old posts will move down the page.

Syllabus

11/20 Last Website Update

Today was our last quiz and then we worked on more complex rhythms and conducting to help you conduct comfortably and feel the meter. We are coming down to the last few classes. Remember that we do not have class this Wednesday (11/22) because of Thanksgiving Break. The next time we will see each other is Monday, 11/27. Here’s a final updated calendar for you with more specifics about the last two exams.

• M 11/27
  • Sign Up for Sight Singing Exam Times
  • Intervals (most of class)
  • A few more Chapter 3 melodies
  • Hearing rhythms
• W 11/29 Review for Exams
• M 12/4 Dictation Exam 3
  • 1 Dictation Rhythm in 2/2 with divisions of the beat as fastest pulse (quarter notes)
  • 1 Dictation Melody with multiple tonic triad leaps similar to melodies early in chapter 3.
  • 10 intervals outside of a key including all intervals from m2 up to P8 as possibilities.
• T 12/12 Sight Singing Exam 3
  • Will take place in our classroom CMUS 313 between 8am and 10:30am. You will sign up for times.
  • Sing one warm up on solfege. Choose one of the following:
    • Triad Arpeggios (Do Mi Sol, Re Fa La, etc.) ascending and descending.
    • Fourths (Do Fa, Re Sol, Mi La, etc.) ascending and descending.
  • Perform a Sight Rhythm with conducting and counting syllables like chapter 1 rhythms: 1.30 to 1.42.
  • Perform a Sight Melody with conducting and solfege like chapter 3 melodies: 3.1 to 3.22.

This is the last update for our course website. I’ve enjoyed working with you this semester. This has been my last semester at Winthrop (I move to Ohio next month), so thank you for your hard work and I wish you the best of luck in whatever way your life spills forward. I hope it includes music in some way, and that you found our class together helpful.

Thanks!

David

11/15 Last Quiz on Monday

Today in class we worked on intervals, sang from chapter 3, and worked on melodic dictation with tonic triad leaps. Our last quiz, which is on melody, will be next class (Monday 11/20). It will contain a sight melody and a melodic dictation, both of which will be like the melodies at the beginning of chapter 3. The rest of class will include working again on conducting while performing rhythms and intervals. (Also remember that there will be no class on Wednesday for Thanksgiving break.)

See you on Monday!

David

11/13 Hearing Intervals

Today we had our rhythm quiz, worked on singing fourths, and talked about hearing m6 & M6. Next class will be focused on melodic dictation, singing more from chapter 3, and hearing all the intervals. Here’s a summary of how I’ve taught you to hear each interval.

Hearing Intervals

When we are given intervals outside of context, we have various ways to listen to an interval to figure out its size and quality.

• We can listen to its size. Do the notes sound close together or far apart?
  • Closer intervals are 2nds and 3rds, farther ones are 6ths and 7ths.
• We can listen to its level of consonance or dissonance. This is where we listen for ways to describe the sound with adjectives. Does it sound pleasant, stable, or buzzy?
  • The dissonant buzzy intervals are the two seconds (m2, M2), the two sevenths (m7, M7) and the tritone.
  • The consonant intervals that sound pleasant and stable are grouped in two categories:
    • The perfect consonances sound stable and open: PU, P4, P5, and P8 (notice they are all perfect intervals).
    • The imperfect consonances sound pleasant and sweet or sad: m3, M3, m6, and M6.
  • We can listen to its possible place in a tonal context. This is what I’ve been focusing on in class. I use the first two things above as ways to narrow down the interval to certain possibilities and then I check my guess against this information by supplying solfege and often other notes to confirm what the interval is. Here’s a list of tonal possibilities. The format is number of half steps, interval name, and then solfege in parentheses.
    • 0: PU (same note)
    • 1: m2 (Ti up to Do) I check by singing Do Ti Do.
    • 2: M2 (Do up to Re) I check by singing Do Re Mi.
    • 3: m3 (Do up to Me) I check by singing Do Re Me (the 3rd syllable is sung as “may”). (Minor key)
    • 4: M3 (Do up to Mi) I sing Do Re Mi.
    • 5: P4 (Sol up to Do) I sing So La Ti Do.
    • 6: TT (Do up to Fi; Fa down to Ti) I make them Do Fi Sol (like “The Simpsons” or “Maria”) or Fa Ti Do, like the end of a melody.
    • 7: P5 (Do up to Sol) I sing Do Re Mi Fa Sol.
    • 8: m6 (3 possibilities)
      • Do up to Le, which I then resolve to Sol: Do Le Sol. (Minor key)
      • Sol up to Me, which I then add Re Do: Sol Me Re Do. (Minor key)
      • Mi up to Do. I sing the lower not up an octave to make Do Mi, which is a M3, the inverse of a m6. (Major key!)
    • 9: M6 (3 possibilities)
      • Do up to La, which I then resolve to Sol: Do La Sol. (Major key)
      • Sol up to Mi, which I then add Re Do: Sol Mi Re Do. (Major key)
      • Me up to Do. I sing the lower not up an octave to make Do Me, which is a m3, the inverse of a M6.
    • 10: m7 (Sol up to Fa; Re up to Do) I sing Sol Fa Mi or I sing the lower note up an octave to make Do Re.
    • 11: M7 (Do up to Ti) I sing Do Ti, then resolve up to Do to make an P8 with the lowest note.
    • 12: P8 (same note name, but far apart) I sing a major scale from the bottom note to the top one.

All of this is a method to learn what these sounds are. The goal is to get good enough so that you just know them like when you see a color. “It’s red.” “It’s a major third.” I know it takes a while to get to this point, but it is an achievable goal and an important part of being a musician.

Let me know if you have any questions.

See you on Wednesday!

David

11/8 Rhythm Quiz on Monday

We worked on intervals including m7 & M7, rhythmic dictation in 2/2, and melodies at the beginning of chapter 3 today. Next class will include our fifth quiz. It will be on rhythm like the previous ones where there is a rhythm for us to perform and one to write down. Both will be in 2/2 meter and similar difficulty to the one we did in class today. The rest of class will focus on hearing m6 & M6 and singing more out of chapter 3.

See you on Monday!

David

11/6 Calendar for the Rest of the Semester

We worked on conducting, singing with solfege, and a little bit on intervals today. Here’s a calendar for the rest of the semester. Notice the two quizzes and the order of the ending exams.

• W 11/8
  • Work on Rhythm Dictation in 2/2
  • Begin Chapter 3 Melodies
  • Intervals: m7 & M7
• M 11/13
  • Quiz 5 Rhythm
  • Intervals: m6 & M6
  • Continue Chapter 3
• W 11/15
  • Work on Melodic Dictation with more tonic triad leaps
  • Talk about hearing triadic chunks in melodies
  • Intervals: All combined
• M 11/20
  • Quiz 6 Melody
  • Work more on Rhythm with Conducting
  • Singing Patterns
• W 11/22 NO CLASS Thanksgiving Break
• M 11/27
  • Intervals
  • More Chapter 3
  • Hearing Rhythms
• W 11/29 Review for Exams
• M 12/4 Dictation Exam 3
• T 12/12 Sight Singing Exam 3

Let me know if you have any questions.

See you on Wednesday!

David

10/26 Practicing Intervals for Monday’s Exam

I’ve been helping some of you with intervals outside of class, and I wanted to give all of you the way to practice these on your own. So here’s a way to use musictheory.net to practice for Monday’s exam.

1. Go to musictheory.net.
2. Click on “Exercises” on the top of the page.
3. Under “Ear Training” near the bottom of the page choose “Interval Ear Training.” (Click on this link to go directly this page.)
4. Go the gear wheel in the upper right hand corner to change the following settings:
   1. Change the intervals to only include Minor 2nd, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Tritone, and Perfect 5th. (Uncheck the unison, 6ths, 7ths, and octave.)
   2. Change the play mode to include both the 4th and 5th options (where it plays the notes individually and then together). Uncheck the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ones.
   3. You can leave the rest of the settings unchanged.

Happy practicing!

See you on Monday for the exam,

David

10/25 Exams Next Week

We have our second sight singing and dictation exams next week. Here’s information on the two exams and the sight singing times you’ve signed up for.

MOn 10/30 Dictation Exam 2

Dictation Exam 2 will cover the following:

• 4 measure Rhythm in either 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 with divisions (eighth notes).
• 4 measure bass clef melody with divisions. Stepwise with one or two leaps between Do, Mi, or Sol.
• 5 intervals in a key. Options include m2, M2, m3, M3, P4, TT, P5. You will circle the correct interval.

Wed 11/1 Sight Singing Exam 2

Sight Singing Exam 2 will cover the following:

• Sing a major scale in 3rds (Do Mi, Re Fa, Mi Sol, etc.) ascending and descending.
• Rhythm with divisions in 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 like Chapter 1, pp. 4-5.
• Melody in bass clef in 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 with divisions, like Chapter 2, pp. 16-18.

Sight Singing Exam Times in my office (CMUS 104):

• 7:55 Jonathan
• 8:00 Luna
• 8:05 Malenah
• 8:10 Jasmine
• 8:15 Tymia
• 8:20 T’Asia
• 8:25 Alexis
• 8:30 Jordan
• 8:35 Rachel
• 8:40 Danielle
• 8:45 Abigayle

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to meet with me outside of class time.

See you on Monday!

David

10/18 Melody Quiz next class

Welcome back from Fall Break! We will have our 4th quiz next class (Monday 10/23) on melody. There will be a sight melody like the ones in chapter 2 around pages 18-19 and a dictation melody like we did in class today in bass clef with one or two leaps in the tonic triad (Do-Mi-Sol-Do). I will stick close to the calendar I gave you in the previous website update, so look to that if you want to keep track.

Let me know if you have any questions.

See you on Monday!

David

10/9 Rhythm Quiz And Updated Calendar

Today we worked on rhythmic dictation with divisions of the beat and began working on hearing small intervals: major seconds and minor seconds. If you would like interval practice online, head on over to musictheory.net and teoria.com. Make sure you customize them so that you can focus on seconds. Here’s info on Wednesday’s quiz and an updated calendar.

Quiz 3 (Wed 10/11)

We will have our third quiz on Wednesday (10/11) on rhythm where I will ask you to perform a rhythm at sight and also to write down a rhythm I play for you, like our first quiz. Both of these will focus on rhythms with divisions (1 + 2 +) like 1.11 to 1.24 in your textbook.

Updated Calendar

• W 10/11
  • Quiz 3: Rhythm with divisions
    • Perform rhythm at sight
    • Write down rhythm from dictation
  • Intervals (m3 & M3)
  • Start Chapter 1 rhythms pp. 8-11
• M 10/16 Fall Break NO CLASS
• W 10/18
  • Work on melodic dictation
  • Sing more out of chapter 2
  • Intervals (all 2nds and 3rds)
• M 10/23
  • Quiz 4: Melody
    • Sing stepwise melody at sight in bass clef
    • Write down melody from dictation
  • Intervals (add P4, TT, & P5)
  • More rhythms from Chapter 1 and melodies from chapter 2
• W 10/25
  • Review for exams
• M 10/30 Dictation Exam 2
  • Rhythm with divisions
  • Stepwise melodies in bass clef (one or two skips)
  • Intervals (2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths)
• W 11/1 Sight Singing Exam 2
  • Sing thirds pattern on solfege
  • Perform rhythm with divisions
  • Sing bass clef melody at sight

Let me know if you have any questions.

See you on Wednesday!

David

9/20 Exams on Monday and Wednesday

We have our sight singing and dictation exams this coming Monday and Wednesday. Here’s the list of your sight singing times that will take place in my office, CMUS 104, on Monday. I will also post it on my office door. So don’t come to the classroom on Monday. We will all be together again in our classroom on Wednesday for the dictation exam.

Sight Singing Exam Times (Mon 9/25 in CMUS 104)

• 7:50
• 7:55
• 8:00 Logan
• 8:05 Luna
• 8:10
• 8:15 T’Asia
• 8:20 Jordan F
• 8:25 Tymia
• 8:30 Danielle
• 8:35 Jasmine
• 8:40 Rachel
• 8:45 Alexis
• 8:50 Malenah

See you individually on Monday and collectively on Wednesday!

David

9/18 Exam Review on Wednesday

We had our second quiz today on singing and hearing stepwise melodies to give you a feel for the two upcoming exams. Today in class we chose to have the Sight-Singing Exam on Monday. So here’s an updated calendar for the next 3 classes.

• Wed 9/18
  • Review for exams
• Mon 9/25
  • Sight-Singing Exam 1
    • Sing a major scale on solfege with conducting
    • perform a rhythm at sight with counting syllables and conducting
    • perform a melody at sight with solfege and conducting
• Wed 9/27
  • Dictation Exam 1
    • notate a rhythm from hearing it
    • notate a melody from hearing it

See you on Wednesday!

David

9/13 Quiz 2 on Monday

I hope our class today on working with melodies was helpful. We will have our second quiz next class (Monday 9/13) where you will sight-sing a melody and write a melody down from hearing me play it on the piano. Both will be all stepwise and repeated notes with basic rhythms like we did in class today.

We will also choose together the order of our first exams. Would you like the sight-singing exam to be first or the dictation exam? The rest of class will be spent with rhythm and talking about hearing “Do” in music.

See you on Monday!

David

9/11 Melody work next time and Updated Calendar

We had our first quiz today and it went well. Now you have examples of how the rhythm will work in both the sight-singing and dictation exams. We also learned the scale I will ask you to sing during the first singt-singing exam with solfege and conducting to verify that you can sing accurately. We will spend Wednesday’s class working on melody out of the textbook (and some rhythm as well). I hope us listening to music today in class gave you good examples of how to find meter from listening. Here’s a calendar of what to expect for the next few weeks.

Updated Calendar

• Wed 9/13
  • Work on singing and hearing melodies.
  • Work from Rogers/Ottman sight-singing textbook.
  • More on solfege patterns.
• Mon 9/18
  • Quiz 2: Melody
  • Choose the order of the exams coming up.
  • Listening for “Do” in music.
  • More on solfege patterns.
• Wed 9/20
  • Review for both exams.
• Mon 9/25
  • Sight-Singing Exam 1 OR Dictation Exam 1
• Wed 9/27
  • Sight-Singing Exam 1 OR Dictation Exam 1

See you on Wednesday!

David

9/6 Rhythm Quiz on Monday

Today we used the textbook for the first time. Please make sure you have the book. We will use it regularly from now on.

There will be a two-part rhythm quiz on Monday (9/11). I will have you in groups perform a rhythm at sight with conducting and rhythm syllables. It will be similar in difficulty to the first page of rhythms in our textbook (beats and longer notes). I will also ask you write a rhythm I play for you in rhythmic notation. It will be about the same difficulty.

Next class we will also spend more time sight singing melodies from the textbook and talk about meter.

See you on Monday!

David

8/30 No Class on Monday; Have Book for Wednesday

I hope today’s class was helpful on conducting, listening for rhythm, and then listening for melodic steps and leaps. There is no class on Monday 9/4 for Labor Day. So the next time we will see each other will be Wednesday 9/6. We’ll begin using our “Music for Sight Singing” textbook that day. So make sure you have it. We will spend some time in both chapters 1 and 2. Also make sure you have some staff paper. We will start working on dictation.

Theory Grad Assistant for Tutoring

Our theory graduate assistant, Zach McLean, came in and spoke to you all today. If you would like to contact him for individual help, his email is mcleanz2@winthrop.edu. He also has a sign up sheet on the bulletin board across from CMUS 115. Remember that I have time to help you as well.

See you on Wednesday!

David

8/28 Staff Paper and Conducting

I hope you found today’s work on connecting our ears to read pitches on the staff and connecting our ears to organizing rhythm. We’ll work more on both of these skills on Thursday. I’ll also introduce conducting to you. If you would like to print staff paper off of the internet, like I did, go to this website: https://www.blanksheetmusic.net/.

See you on Wednesday!

David

8/23 Syllabus and Staff Paper

Welcome (back) to Winthrop! It was good to meet you this morning. I hope you enjoyed talking singing a little and listening to chunks of Whitney Houston and Dolly Parton. This is our course website for Basic Aural Skills. I will be posting links, announcements, and other information for you here regularly.

• For example, if you click on the Syllabus link above, you can see our syllabus. I recommend you print it out for yourself. I went through some of it this morning in class, but please make sure you read through it. Here is another link to it.
• Bring some staff paper to class on Monday, if you can get some by then. I will have some, if needed.

I look forward to our time together this semester.

See you on Monday,

David