Lecture: 4 hours per week
Classes will include explanation and demonstration of concepts by the instructor and practice of the concepts by the student in the form of written, verbal, individual and group activities.
- Pitch Notation
- The staff, the grand staff
- Treble and Bass clefs
- Notes
- Ledger lines
- Pitch and the Keyboard
- Octave registers, 8va, 8vb
- Accidentals
- Tones and Semitones
- Enharmonic Equivalents
- Time Notation
- Note values
- Dots
- Stems, flags, beams
- Ties
- Rests
- Meter
- Simple meters
- Compound meters
- Anacrusis
- Guidelines for rhythmic notation
- Tonality
- Tonal centre
- Major scales, key signatures
- Scale degrees
- Relative and parallel key relationships
- Minor scales, key signatures
- Natural, harmonic, and melodic forms of minor scale
- Circle of fifths
- Intervals
- Numerical value
- Quality
- Inversion
- Melodic and harmonic
- Simple and compound intervals
- Melody
- Contour
- Simple transposition of tonal melodies
- Triads and Harmony
- Basic chord terminology (i.e. root, third, fifth, doubling, open, closed)
- Tonic, subdominant, and dominant triads in major and minor keys
- Triad inversions
- Roman numeral labels
- Lead-sheet chord symbols
- Basic Performance Indications
- Tempo, changes in tempo
- Dynamics, changes in dynamic
- Expressive indications
- Articulation
- Repeat devices
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- identify visual elements of the modern staff notation system;
- reproduce musical elements in writing;
- demonstrate a working knowledge of music rudiments, as outlined in the Course Content;
- compose short musical exercises using specified materials;
- participate constructively in the college classroom.
Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation in a course as part of the student’s graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation must be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline.
The following is a sample grades breakdown:
| Homework / small assignments (no individual grade weighted at more than 2%) | 15% |
| Quizzes, Speed Drills, In-class Activities (minimum of 10) | 30% |
| Tests (4 tests, top 3 grades recorded @ 10% each) | 30% |
| Final Examination | 20% |
| Class Participation | 5% |
| TOTAL |
100% |
A required text and/or digital resource may be assigned by the instructor.
Text example:
Current edition of Henry, Earl, Jennifer Snodgrass, and Susan Piagentini. Fundamentals of Music: Rudiments, Musicianship, and Composition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Digital resource example:
Student subscription to Artusi Music (www.artusimusic.com)
Completion of MUSC Placement Assessment (Literacy)