Developing an intro-level music theory course

In the fall of 2019, I started teaching Fundamentals of Western Music at the New School’s Eugene Lang College. It combines the usual Music Theory I content with a broader, more ethnomusicological perspective that brings in various forms of pop, non-Western musics, and (most excitingly for me) the blues. It’s an existing course, but I have had wide latitude to remake it. The students need to know how notation works, what major and minor keys are, some basic chord progressions, some rhythms, and a few other musical parameters like loudness/dynamics. They need some exposure to the Western canon, to modernist and contemporary composers, and to some other sounds outside their usual listening habits. And, most importantly, they need to retain that information for future music courses and beyond.

Tritone resolution

If you read this blog, you know that I take a dim view of traditional music theory pedagogy, which tends to present the aesthetic preferences of Western European aristocrats of the 18th and 19th centuries as if they’re a universally valid and applicable rule system. I don’t mind the idea of teaching the classical canon, as long as I can approach it as an ethnic music of a particular time and place, not a transcendent or universal one. So it’s refreshing that the New School has such a broad and expansive view of how to teach theory.

I was been told to expect that about a third of the students will be coming in with extensive classical music training and prior study of music theory; a third will be self-taught pop musicians like me; and a third will have zero music experience of any kind. The challenge is to have assignments with low floors and high ceilings, so that half the class isn’t overwhelmed or bored at any given moment. I’m open to suggestions as I develop this further. Here’s the syllabus, which I have been updating regularly as I go:

What you will need

Notation

You will compose and notate a lot of music for this class. You can write your music by hand if you would like. (If you Google “blank staff paper pdf” you will find many templates that you can print out.) However, you will probably find it easier to use a notation editor, especially if you are inexperienced. Noteflight and Flat.io are online editors that work like Google Docs, and their free versions are fine for this class. You can also use more advanced/professional programs like Dorico, Sibelius or Finale.

Digital audio workstation

Notation programs can export audio, but it usually does not sound very good. You will get more musical-sounding results using a digital audio workstation (DAW.) You can also use DAWs to record and edit audio. If you have a Mac, you already have GarageBand, which is fine for class purposes. Soundtrap and Bandlab are similar to GarageBand, but they run entirely in the web browser. I use Ableton Live and recommend it. There are many other good DAWs, including Pro Tools, Logic, and FL Studio.

Other useful software

Audacity is a free audio editor. It’s especially useful for converting audio from one format to another.

Spinning vinyl at 5 Pointz

Critical Listening

Resources

Submit at least two questions or comments on this material: things you did not understand, related ideas that occur to you, arguments you disagree with.

Projects

  • Sound writing – Choose a physical location, and describe its soundscape in 500-1000 words. List all of the sound sources you can and describe them in as much detail as possible. Describe your emotional reactions to these sounds individually and collectively. If you like, review the sounds as if they are a musical work.
  • Choose a song or other short musical recording. In 500-1000 words, describe all of the sound sources (instruments, voices, samples, sound effects, etc) in the order they appear. Use as much detail as you can: what physical environment does the sound occupy? What is its emotional tone? Is it loud or quiet, peaceful or aggressive, close up or far away, clear or distorted? If you can identify specific instruments or pieces of equipment, do so, but otherwise simply describe each sound as best you can.

Groove Pizza - Bembe

Rhythm and Meter

Submit at least two questions or comments on this material: things you did not understand, related ideas that occur to you, arguments you disagree with.

Resources – Part One

Resources – Part Two

  • The Great Cut-Time Shift – Explains the concept of swing, and the difference between eighth-note swing and sixteenth-note swing.
  • Click click – Simple web interactive that demonstrates how clicks fuse into a tone at around 20 Hz.
  • Rhythm/Pitch Duality – Chords are really just fast polyrhythms.
  • Groove Pizzeria – Explore polyrhythm and polymeter.

Projects

  • Beat transcription – Find a short, repeated drum or percussion pattern (four bars maximum) and transcribe it. You can use standard notation or a time-unit box system (examples here.)
  • Beatmaking – Using the Groove Pizza or any other hardware or software tool of your choice, create a dance beat in 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, or 12/8 time (on the Groove Pizza, 16 or 12 slices).
  • Odd-meter beatmaking – Using the Groove Pizza or the tool of your choice, create a dance beat in an odd meter (not 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, or 12/8).
  • Create a short repeated melody using only two distinct pitches. They can be played on the same instrument, or on two different instruments. I encourage you to use pitched percussion like bells, congas, or toms. You can use whatever additional unpitched drum sounds you want. Listen to some agogô bells for inspiration.

Harmonics and Tuning Systems

Submit at least two questions or comments on this material: things you did not understand, related ideas that occur to you, arguments you disagree with.

Resources – Part One

Resources – Part Two

Projects

  • Spectral music – Create a short piece of music on a single pitch that only changes the overtones/timbre. Use the spectrogram to help you.
  • Beyond 12-TET – Create a short piece of music using any tuning system other than twelve-tone equal temperament. Use any of the interactive tools listed above, the Wilsonic app, or Audiokit Synth One.

Diatonic Scales and Keys

Submit at least two questions or comments on this material: things you did not understand, related ideas that occur to you, arguments you disagree with.

Resources – Part One

Resources – Part Two

Projects

  • Twelve major keys – Pick a short, familiar major-key tune (or write your own) and notate, sequence or record it in all twelve keys.
  • Twelve minor keys – Pick a short, familiar minor-key tune (or write your own) and notate, sequence or record it in all twelve keys.

Blues tonality

Modes and Blues Scales

Submit at least two questions or comments on this material: things you did not understand, related ideas that occur to you, arguments you disagree with.

Resources – Part One

Resources – Part Two

Projects

  • Random modes – You will be given a mode and key. Compose a short melody using that mode.
  • Blues – Write a 12-bar blues melody. Suggestion: repeat the same 4-bar phrase three times.

Melody

Resources – Part One

Resources – Part Two

Projects

  • Melodic Adaptation – Take an existing melody and adapt it into a new one by keeping the rhythms the same but changing all of the pitches. Be sure to tell me what melody you adapted.
  • Rhythmic Adaptation – Take an existing melody and adapt it into a new one by keeping the pitches the same but changing all of the rhythms. Be sure to tell me what melody you adapted.
  • Call and Response – Create a short melody that includes a series of call phrases answered by response phrases.
  • Narrow Range – Create a short melody where all of the notes lie within the span of a minor third (for example, between C and E-flat.)
  • Angularity – Create a short melody where every interval between one note and the next is larger than a fifth (for example, from C to G.)

Counterpoint

Resources – Part One

Resources – Part Two

Projects

  • Robot counterpoint – Use the Bach Google Doodle to generate counterpoint for the melody of your choice. You can compose an original melody, or enter an existing one. It may take you several tries to generate a satisfying result.

Chords

Resources – Part One

Resources – Part Two

Projects

  • Fill in the chords – You will be given a melody, a bassline, and a scale. Add chords comprised only of the notes in the scale. For a more advanced challenge, use non-scale notes in your chords as well.
  • Harmonize a melody – You will be given a short melody and a scale. Create a bassline and chords using only the notes in the scale.

Chord Progressions

Resources – Part One

Resources – Part Two

Projects

  • All twelve keys – Choose or compose a four-bar chord progression and write it out in all twelve keys using notation or chord symbols.
  • Major chord progression – You will be given a major key. Create a four bar loop in that key, with one chord per bar.
  • Minor chord progression – You will be given a minor key. Create a four bar loop in that key, with one chord per bar.
  • Modal chord progression – You will be given a mode and a key. Create a four bar loop in that mode and key, with one chord per bar.

Chameleon - circular bass

Notation

Resources – Part One

Projects

  • Accidentals and key signatures – You will be given a short melody in a major key. Write it using accidentals, then determine the key and write it using the appropriate key signature.

Dynamics and Loudness

Resources

Projects

  • Environmental dynamics – Choose two locations, one indoor and one outdoor. I recommend using your bedroom and the street outside your building. For each location, write a list of all the sound sources you can hear in decreasing order of loudness. Also write the peak and average decibel levels of each location.
  • Make it loud – Take a tune typically played quietly (e.g., a lullaby) and play it as loudly as possible.
  • Make it quiet – Take a tune typically played loudly (e.g., a punk tune or the end of a Beethoven symphony) and play it as quietly as possible.

Arc diagram of "Für Elise" by Martin Wattenberg

Form and Structure

Resources

Projects

  • Song structure analysis – Choose a song and analyze its structure. List the sections of the song: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Breakdown, Bridge, Drop, Lift, etc. For each section, give its length in measures and its start time. You can also create a visualization of the structure using a tool like Canva.

"Follow The Leader" visualized in Melodyne

Going Further

Resources

Projects

  • Be the critic – Choose a work, performance, or album. In 1000-2000 words, write a review in the style of your favorite critic, publication or blog.
  • Music Theory Online article response – Choose a paper from this open-access online music theory journal. In 1500-2500 words, explain it in plain language to the best of your ability. If you do not understand aspects of it or disagree with any conclusions, please say so.

4 replies on “Developing an intro-level music theory course”

  1. Hi, I found your site somewhat recently and it’s refreshing to see a less classical approach to music theory. (I would have commented on a more appropriate post but the comments are closed there.) I compose video game music and I deeply regret learning music theory. I felt like it was a big waste of time and the focus on harmony was the least important thing in my music, when I just wanted to make lots of fast catchy melodies. Some of the arguments about music theory just make no sense and contradict themselves, even (music theory is used to communicate… but apparently people that don’t know any music theory supposedly ‘know their own kind of music theory’ but they can’t communicate in it? the tonic is home but it’s not home in locrian? consonance and dissonance is based on the overtone series except the perfect 4th and the augmented triad?)

    I’d perhaps want some discussion or time devoted to talking about sound design. I know it’s intro-level, but pop music involves many things in sound design and I don’t think it would hurt to discuss things like basic EQ and distortion or something. Theming is very important for video game music (but not much for other genres, I guess) where for example, throwing in an organ in a grasslands track would be strange.

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