Course Syllabus

Music 16D
Theory/Musicianship

University of California, Irvine
Fall 2021

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SYLLABUS

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Grau, theurer Freund, ist alle Theorie,
Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum.

All theory, dear friend, is gray;
The golden tree of life is green.

--Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust

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Class Sessions
Contact Information
Topics
Materials
Grading
Exams
Important Dates
Communication
Academic Integrity
Disability
Pandemic Considerations
Other Information

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Class Sessions

Class meets three times weekly for ten weeks, beginning Thursday September 23, 2021 and ending Friday December 3, 2021. There will be no class session on Thursday November 25, 2021 or Friday November 26, 2021 due to the Thanksgiving holiday break. The final examination session is scheduled for Tuesday December 7, 2021, 10:30am-12:30pm.

Class meeting times are Tuesday and Thursday 11:00-12:20 in Room 220 of the Music and Media Building. Required TA-led lab sessions will be taught Friday 9:00-10:50 and 10:00-10:50 in Room 220 of the Music and Media Building; students must attend one of those two lab sessions each week.

An attendance record of 90% or better is required to pass the class. Please make every effort to arrive on time. Please plan not to use electronic devices such as computer, tablet, or phone during class time. Taking notes on paper is strongly advised; staff paper will be necessary for good note taking.

Professor and TA Contact Information

Professor Christopher Dobrian
Music and Media Building, Room 211
dobrian@uci.edu

Office hours with Professor Dobrian are by appointment. Talk to him before or after class, or contact him by email, to set up an appointment for a meeting.

Teaching Assistant Isaac Otto Hayes
ihayes@uci.edu

Teaching Assistant Atticus Reynolds
ajreynol@uci.edu

Office hours are by appointment.

Topics

As the course title implies, this class will combine training in music theory and musicianship skills. Successful completion of Music 15ABC and Music 16ABC is a prerequisite for enrolling in this class. The class will review and extend topics covered in Music 15ABC and Music 16ABC, and will also introduce some new approaches and topics for which those courses are a necessary basis. Below is a listing of topics and activities likely to be dealt with in this class.

Theory - Review

• The contrapuntal basis of harmony
• Tonic, dominant, and predominant functions (and their contrapuntal basis)
• Proper use of non-chord tones in classical harmony
• The contrapuntal basis of seventh chords
• The contrapuntal basis of chromatic chords (secondary dominants, diminished sevenths, augmented sixths, etc.)
• "Modal mixture", and chords "borrowed" from the parallel key

Theory - New Topics

• Basics of the physics of sound and the harmonic series
• Dobrian's rules of harmonic voice leading
• The historical evolution of harmony and dissonance
• Church modes in all keys
• Tunings and temperaments
• Instrument transpositions and score reading
• Notation conventions
• Jazz nomenclature (9th, 11th, and 13th chords, and jazz-specific chords)
• Structural approach to analysis
• Some standard classical forms
• Some standard jazz forms
• Characteristics and usages of pentatonic, whole-tone, blues, and octatonic (diminished) scales
• Quartal harmony

Musicianship - Pitch

• Ability to (instantly!) spell and correctly sing scales, intervals, and chords in all major and minor keys
• Chromatic upper and lower neighbor tones in all major and minor scales
• Arpeggiation of common basic chord progressions
• Sightsinging of diatonic and chromatic melodies
• Melodic and harmonic dictation
• Modes
• C clefs

Musicianship - Rhythm

• All beat divisions up to 9
• Time points in 3, 4, 5, and 6 (and 8)
• All cross-rhythms up to 8
• Changing divisions, changing meters
• Irregular beat lengths (e.g. Messiaen)
• Metric Modulation
• Advanced rhythm learning methodology
• Relevant musical excerpts (e.g., Stravinsky Le Sacre, Nancarrow String Quartet)

Musicianship - Dictation

• Interval recognition
• Melodic dictation relevant to current pitch studies
• Harmonic dictation of progressions being studied
• Rhythmic dictation of current rhythm topics
• Error recognition

Materials

Most of the reading, listening, and score materials needed for the class will be provided online by the professor as needed.

Students will usually be asked to hand in written assignments on paper or in the form of an electronic file provided via the Canvas dropbox associated with the assignment. Assignments involving written music may be done by hand or by computer; either is equally acceptable, provided it's legible and correct.

Grading

Students will be graded on their assigned written work, their performance of assigned musicianship skills, and their class participation. Grading duties will be shared by the professor and the teaching assistants, but the professor is ultimately responsible for all grades.

Grading in any music class is necessarily subjective to some degree, as there are often various "right" and "wrong" ways of doing things. Every effort will be made a) to provide assignments that are clear, and for which the range of possible "right" answers is as objectively measurable as possible, and b) to grade in a manner that is fair and consistent. In general students in this class should assume that the professor's and the assistants' experience enables them to evaluate work fairly even in ambiguous situations; however, if a student feels they have been graded incorrectly or unfairly, they're welcome to discuss the grade with the TA or the professor. (Translation: "No whining over grades, but if you really feel a mistake was made, you're welcome to explain why.")

To receive full credit, students must hand assignments in at the scheduled due time. If a student is unable to complete the assignment on time for a legitimate reason (e.g., illness), they must provide written documentation of the reason (e.g., a doctor's statement) in order to receive full credit for the late assignment. Late assignments will be accepted in the subsequent class session for a reduced grade. Assignments handed in later than that will not be given credit.

There is no specific percentage or weighting of importance predetermined for each assignment, quiz, or exam. Here are the factors that will contribute to the grade, in approximately descending order of importance.

• Final exam
• Final project
• Midterm exam
• Weekly musicianship assignments as evaluated in class and lab sessions
• Weekly theory assignments
• Class attendance and constructive participation

Exams

The scheduled final exam time is Tuesday December 7, 2021, 10:30am-12:30pm. The midterm exam is planned to take place during class session on Thursday October 28, 2021. Additional testing will take place during the lab sessions, and will be announced in class.

The final theory exam will in fact be administered during class session on Thursday December 2. No make-up exams will be given. The final musicianship exam will be administered during the lab session times, 9:00am-11:00am on Friday December 3. You will sign up in class for a specific individual test time. The scheduled final exam session, Tuesday December 7 10:30am-12:30pm, will be devoted to performances of the final compositions in MM 220. Attendance and performance in that session is mandatory.

Permission to make up a missed exam will be granted only in the case of documented incapacity to attend at the regularly scheduled time. Acceptable forms of documentation include, for example, a written report from a medical doctor or a police officer stating that the student was unable to attend.

Important Dates

• Thursday, September 30, 8:00 p.m.: Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones; Winifred Smith Hall, free.
• Thursday, October 28, 11:00 a.m.: Midterm theory/musicianship exam; MM 220.
• Friday, October 29, 9:00-11:00 a.m.: Midterm musicianship exam (five-minute singing session); MM 220 and MM 218.
• Thursday, December 2, 11:00 a.m.: Final theory/musicianship exam; MM 220.
• Friday, December 3, 9:00-11:00 a.m.: Final musicianship exam (five-minute singing session); MM 220 and MM 218.
• Tuesday, December 7, 10:30 a.m.: Final project performances/recordings; MM 220.

Communication

You can reach the professor Christopher Dobrian by email.
You can reach teaching assistant Isaac Otto Hayes by email.
You can reach teaching assistant Atticus Reynolds by email.
You can make an announcement to the class, or engage in discussion with classmates, on the Music 16D 2021 Canvas Discussions board.
You can reach the entire class by email. (Please use wisely.)

Academic Integrity

Plagiarism of any kind is a violation of UCI policy on Academic Integrity, and penalties for cheating or plagiarism can be severe. In this class you will be expected to attribute due credit to the originator of any ideas, music, or other work which you incorporate substantially into your own assignments. While supportive co-education between colleagues is encouraged, written assignments must be accomplished individually, without collaboration with others.

Disability

If you have a disability that inhibits you from performing any of the stated requirements of this course, as approved and documented by the UCI Disability Services Center, please ensure that the professor and the teaching assistants are thoroughly aware of the matter as early in the term as possible.

Pandemic Considerations

Because of the pandemic, certain safety precautions have been instituted and mandated by the UCI administration. Specifically, all in-person participants in this class must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 [except with an officially UCI-certified exception] and must wear a mask when indoors amongst other people. Please familiarize yourself with the required pandemic considerations.

Other campus information

The UCI Policy on Student Conduct is available in its entirety online.
The UCI Counseling Center provides various types of counseling and mental health services.
The UCI Emergency Procedures are summarized in a one-page document online.

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Assignments
Resources

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This page was last modified September 21, 2021.
dobrian@uci.edu