MUSC 114

I. Course Title: Ear Training and Sight Singing I (GE)

II. Course Number: MUSC 114

III. Credit Hours: 1 credit

IV. Prerequisites: Music Major, Music Minor or permission of instructor.

V. Course Description: 

In this course, students learn foundational musicianship skills through exercises in listening, singing and chanting rhythmically, improvising, reading and writing music through dictation and composition.

Note(s): General Education and Applied Learning designated course.

VI. Detailed Description of Content of the Course:

In this course, students will:

1. Listen and recognize music in major and minor tonality, duple and triple meter.
2. By ear, sing folk tunes and chord roots in major and minor tonality, focusing mainly on I and V tonal functions, in duple and triple meter.
3. Sing by ear, read and improvise tonal patterns in major and minor with I and V tonal functions
4. Chant by ear, read and improvise rhythm patterns in duple and triple meter with Macrobeats, microbeats, division and elongation rhythm functions.
5. Improvise melodies in major and minor tonality, duple and triple meter, with chord functions I & V
6. Sight-read one-line melodic exercises in major and minor, duple and triple meter
7. Compose simple melodies in major and minor using I and V chord functions, in duple and triple meters

VI. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course:

The class is conducted as a group practice time for the skills taught in the course. The practice takes the form of singing tunes, chord roots, tonal pattern and rhythm pattern exercises, tonal, rhythm, and melodic improvisation, sight singing melodies, tonal and rhythmic dictation, simple, guided composition, and other appropriate exercises. Students work individually outside of class time with assigned materials, such as the Auralia and SightReadingFactory.com.

VII. Goals and Objectives of the Course:

At the conclusion of the course, the student will have developed beginning-level aural skills in ear training and sight singing and will understand how to use these skills for their career or avocation in music.

Students will develop the ability to:

1. Recognize and identify elements of pitch and tonality: resting tone, tonality, harmonic quality, and chord progression.
2. Recognize and identify elements of rhythm and meter: beat, division, patterns, groupings, and syncopation.
3. Sing/chant given written patterns with accurate pitch and rhythm.
4. Write from dictation given tonal and rhythm patterns in accurate notation.
5. Improvise tonal, rhythmic, and melodic passages within given guidelines.
6. Compose melodies within given guidelines.

VIII. Assessment Measures:

Learning Outcomes will be met through a combination of the following activities:

1. Listening exercises aimed at developing a sense of tonality and meter.
2. Dictation exercises aimed at developing a sense of memory and accessibility to notation.
3. Graded homework assignments 
4. Exams and quizzes designed to test and assess a combination of aural and visual music skills.

 

Other Course Information: None

 

Review and Approval

DATE ACTION REVIEWED BY
Revised February, 2009

March 01, 2021