CCOG for MUC 101 Spring 2024
- Course Number:
- MUC 101
- Course Title:
- Contemporary Music Theory I
- Credit Hours:
- 3
- Lecture Hours:
- 30
- Lecture/Lab Hours:
- 0
- Lab Hours:
- 0
Course Description
Covers music theory as exhibited in contemporary musical styles such as jazz, blues, rock, hip hop, funk, electronic dance music, and folk. Includes notation, pitch, meter, tonality, intervals, chord construction, and harmony. Includes basic music analysis focusing on diatonic harmonies and lead sheet notation as well as written composition. This is the first course in a three-course sequence. Recommended: concurrent enrollment in MUC 120A, MUC 130A, and MUC 140A. Audit available.
Intended Outcomes for the course
Upon completion of the course students should be able to:
- Identify and notate rhythms in both simple and compound meters.
- Read and write primary melodic ideas in treble and bass clefs.
- Identify major and minor scales, key signatures, intervals, triads, and seventh chords.
- Voice triads and seventh chords in root position and in inversion.
- Compose and notate a simple melodic phrase.
- Analyze simple diatonic harmonies using lead sheet symbols.
- Exhibit developing musicianship by applying music theory components through musical expression.
Course Activities and Design
Material for the course will be presented in a lecture format but also includes question and answer sessions as well as discussion of recorded musical examples.
- In-class written and aural exercises
- Homework assignments (written exercises, analysis, listening)
- Aural skills training (singing and dictation)
- Composition projects
- Brief in-class quizzes (written and aural)
- Class participation, small group work, and discussion
- Constructive critique and feedback to in-class performances
Outcome Assessment Strategies
- Participation in class discussion and group activities
- In-class and homework assignments
- Exams and quizzes
- Composition project performances
Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)
- Pitch, Clefs, The Staff, The Keyboard
- Rhythm and Beaming in Simple and Compound Meters
- Major Scales
- Minor Scales
- Simple Intervals, Interval Inversion
- Compound Intervals
- Triads and Inversions
- Seventh Chords and Inversions
- Lead Sheet Symbols
- Final Projects, Final Exam