Harmony, Form, and Score Study

This unit develops practical skills in reading and analyzing scores, understanding harmony (intervals, triads, extended chords), and recognizing musical form and rhythm in a range of styles and historical contexts. Students apply these skills to real-world materials (full and miniature scores, fake books, tabs) and prepare to synthesize form and orchestration in the next unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze full and miniature scores to identify key signatures, tonal centers, formal sections (phrase, period, movement), textures, and contrapuntal devices (e.g., fugal subject and answer)
• Apply interval, triad, inversion, voicing, and extended-chord knowledge to realize and notate chord progressions from lead sheets, fake books, and tabs
• Demonstrate rhythmic and conducting competence by reading and performing asymmetrical time signatures and varied note values (half/minim and quarter/crotchet) in ensemble and conducting contexts
• Evaluate historical and compositional techniques (e.g., medieval and Renaissance theory, opera, twelve-tone, microtonality, and classical forms) to contextualize analytical and performance decisions