COURSE TITLE

AP Music Theory

LENGTH

Full Year

Grade 11 or 12

DEPARTMENT

Fine, Practical & Performing Arts

Brian Ersalesi, Supervisor of English and Arts

SCHOOL

Rutherford High School

DATE

Primary Content - Visual and Performing Arts

Initial Approval: May 10, 2021

Revised: June 27, 2022

Embedded Content - Career Readiness, Life Literacies and Key Skills

Initial Approval: May 10, 2021

Embedded Content - Computer Science and Design Thinking

Initial Approval: May 10, 2021

AP Music Theory

I.        Introduction/Overview/Philosophy

Throughout time, the arts have served as a distinctive vehicle for self-discovery and a means of understanding the world in which we live. The Rutherford Public School understands this and will continue to foster the arts as the state of New Jersey continues to transform public education to meet the needs of a changing world and the 21st century workforce, capitalizing on the unique ability of the arts to develop creativity, critical thinking, and innovation skills is critical to the success of our students.

The arts infuse our lives with meaning on nearly all levels—generating significant creative and intellectual capital. They inspire creative and critical thinking and encourage acceptance of diversity. A well-designed sequential arts program promotes responsible decision making, enhances self-awareness, builds self-esteem and self-management skills, and helps students build relationship and collaboration skills; all of which is essential to prepare Rutherford Public Schools’ students for post-secondary success.

This course adheres to The New Jersey Student Learning Standards – Visual and Performing Arts which are designed to promote lifelong artistic literacy and fluency and are guided by the mission and vision statements that follow.

Mission: To empower students to develop creative and critical thinking, social-emotional competencies, and intellectual and expressive abilities that will allow them to become active, contributing members of a global society.

Vision: All students will have equitable access to a quality, arts education that leads to artistic literacy and fluency in the artistic practices of the five art disciplines as a mechanism for:

• Performing, presenting or producing, as artistically literate individuals, by expressing and realizing creative ideas and implementing essential technical skills and cognitive abilities significant to many aspects of life and work in the 21st century;
• Responding to artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and cognizance of the ability of the arts to address universal themes, including climate change;
• Creating new artistic work reflective of a variety of different ethnic, racial, and cultural perspectives;
• Connecting and evaluating how the arts convey meaning through all arts and non-arts disciplines and contexts of our global society.

The development of artistic literacy is dependent on creating an environment in which students are encouraged to independently and collaboratively imagine, investigate, construct, and reflect. Philosophically speaking, the arts serve to communicate ideas, as an opportunity for creative personal realization, to connect and reflect culture and history, and as a means to well-being and mechanism for problem solving universal, global issues including climate change.

Within the broad lifetime goal of preparing artistically literate individuals, learning experiences that engage students with a variety of artistic media, symbols, and metaphors for the purpose of creating and performing in ways that express and communicate their own ideas are essential. Additionally, to become artistically literate, students need opportunities to respond to the arts through analyzing and interpreting the artistic communications of others.

All lessons in this course will follow the NJSLS that allow students to CREATE by:

• Imagining
• Planning and Making
• Evaluating and Refining

All lessons in this course will follow the NJSLS that allow students to PERFORM by:

• Selecting, Analyzing, and Interpreting
• Rehearsing, Evaluating and Refining
• Presenting

All lessons in this course will follow the NJSLS that allow students to RESPOND by:

• Selecting and Analyzing
• Interpreting
• Evaluating

All lessons in this course will follow the NJSLS that allow students to CONNECT by:

• Interconnecting

The Advanced Placement Music Theory course is designed for the committed music student planning to study music after graduation. It introduces a student to musicianship, theory, musical materials, and procedures. It integrates aspects of melody, harmony, texture, rhythm, form, musical analysis, elementary composition, and some history and style. Musicianship skills such as dictation, sight-singing, and keyboard harmony are included. The student’s ability to read and write musical notation is fundamental to the course. It is also assumed that the student has acquired at least basic performance skills in voice or on an instrument. The course’s ultimate goal is to develop a student’s ability to recognize, understand, and describe the basic materials and processes of music that are heard or presented in a score. Additionally, the development of aural skills is a primary course objective.

A major component of a college music curriculum is a course introducing the first-year student to musicianship, theory, musical materials, and procedures. AP Music Theory is such a course. Melody, harmony, texture, rhythm, form, musical analysis, elementary composition, and history and style will be covered. Dictation, sight-singing, and keyboard harmony are also an important part of AP Music Theory. The student’s ability to read and write musical notation is fundamental. Students are also expected to acquire at least basic performance skills in voice or on an instrument.

All students are encouraged to work both inside and outside the classroom. Homework assignments are very important. Students are expected to attend concerts as extensions of the classroom. They should gain exposure to and familiarity with a wide variety of musical literature.

All students are required to take the AP Music Theory exam and receive its benefits.

This course meets all New Jersey Student Learning Standards and mandates. It also meets the AP program’s requirements.

II.        Objectives

Course Outline:

• The course will seek first to instill mastery of the rudiments and terminology of music, including:

• Notation
• Intervals
• Scales and keys
• Chords
• Metric organization
• Rhythmic patterns
• Basic sight-singing and sight-reading

• Building on this foundation, the course will progress to include more sophisticated and creative tasks, such as:

• Composition of a bass line for a given melody, implying appropriate harmony
• Realization of a figured bass
• Realization of a Roman numeral progression
• Analysis of repertoire, including study of motivic treatment, examination of rhythmic and melodic interaction between individual voices of a composition, and harmonic analysis of functional tonal passages
• A brief introduction to twentieth-century scales, harmony, and compositional procedures

• This course will emphasize procedures based in common-practice tonality such as:

• Functional triadic harmony in traditional four-voice texture (with vocabulary including non-harmonic tones and secondary dominants)
• Tonal relationships
• Modulation to closely related keys
• Standard rhythms and meters
• Phrase structure
• Small forms (e.g., rounded binary, simple ternary, theme and variation, strophic)
• Chromatic harmony
• Techniques of modulation
• Distant key relationships
• Larger musical forms

• In AP Music Theory, the student will be required to read, notate, compose, perform, and listen to music. The development of aural skills is a primary objective of AP Music Theory. Throughout the course, students will listen to musical works attentively and analytically, developing their “musical memory” and their ability to articulate responses to the formal, stylistic, and aesthetic qualities of the works. Attendance at live musical performances is encouraged. Student performance, via singing, keyboard, and/or the student’s primary instrument, will also be a part of the learning process. Although sight-singing is the only performance skill directly tested by the examination, training in multiple areas will help develop the necessary aural skills for that test. Regular homework assignments are part of the course. Meaningful exercises will also be derived from the student’s own solo and ensemble repertoire.
• The AP Examination in Music Theory tests the candidates’ understanding of musical structure and compositional procedures through recorded and notated examples. Strong emphasis is given to listening skills, particularly those involving recognition and comprehension of melodic and rhythmic patterns, harmonic functions, small forms, and compositional techniques. Most of the musical examples are taken from standard repertoire, although examples of contemporary, jazz, popular, or music beyond the western tradition are sometimes included for testing basic concepts. The examination assumes fluency in reading musical notation and a strong grounding in music fundamentals, terminology, and analysis. The AP examination may include any or all of the following:

• Musical Terminology

• Interval, chords, scales, and modes
• Rhythm and meter,
• Melodic construction and variation
• Harmonic function
• Cadences and phrase structure
• Texture
• Small forms
• Musical performance

• Notational Skills

• Rhythmic and metric notation
• Clefs and pitch notation
• Key signature, scales, and modes
• Intervals and chords
• Transposition of melodic lines

• Basic Compositional Skills

• Four-voice realization of figure-bass symbols and Roman numerals
• Composition of a bass line (with chord symbols) for a given melody

• Score Analysis (with or without aural stimulus)

• Small-scale and large-scale harmonic procedures, including:

• Identification of cadence types

• Roman-numeral and figured-bass analysis, including nonharmonic tones, seventh chords, and secondary-dominant chords

• Identification of key centers and key relationships; recognition of modulation to closely related keys
• Melodic organization and developmental procedures
• Scale types; modes                         
• Melodic patterning
• Motivic development and relationships (e.g., inversion, retrograde, sequence, imitation)
• Rhythmic/metric organization
• Meter type (e.g., double, triple, and quadruple) and beat type (e.g., simple, compound)
• Rhythmic devices and procedures (e.g., augmentation, diminution, hemiola)

• Texture

• Types (e.g., textural inversion, imitation)
• Devices (e.g., textural inversion, imitation)

• Formal devices and/or procedures

• Phrase structure
• Phrases in combination (e.g., period, double period, phrase group)
• Small forms

• Aural Skills

• Sight-singing
• Melodic dictation
• Harmonic dictation
• Identification of isolated pitch and rhythmic patterns
• Detection of errors in pitch and rhythm in one-and two-voice examples
• Identification of processes and materials within the context of music literature representing a broad spectrum of genres, media, and styles
• Melodic organization (e.g., scale-degree function of specified tones, scale types, mode, melodic patterning, sequences, motivic development)
• Harmonic organization (e.g., chord function, inversion, and quality)
• Tonal organization (e.g., cadence types, key relationships)
• Meter and rhythmic patterns
• Instrumentation (i.e., identification of timbre)
• Texture (e.g., number and position of voices, amount of independence, presence of imitation, density)
• Formal procedures (e.g., phrase structure; distinctions among literal repetition, varied repetition, and contrast; small forms)

Student Outcomes:

The ultimate goal of an AP Music Theory course is to develop a student’s ability to recognize, understand, and describe the basic materials and processes of music that are heard or presented in a score. The achievement of this goal may be best promoted by integrated approaches to the student’s development of:

After successfully completing this course, the student will be able to:

• listen to music works attentively and analytically, develop musical memory and be able to articulate responses to formal, stylistic and aesthetic qualities (Aural)
• use singing, keyboard or student’s primary instrument (Performance)
• be fluent in reading with strong grounding in music fundamentals, terminology, and analysis (Notation)
• Complete four-voice realization and composition of a bass line for a given melody (Composition)
• Analyze melodic organization, rhythmic organization, small and large-scale harmonic procedures, texture, and formal devices and procedures (Score Analysis)

Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills Practices

CRLLKSP 1                Act as a responsible and contributing community member and employee.

Students understand the obligations and responsibilities of being a member of a community, and they demonstrate this understanding every day through their interactions with others. They are conscientious of the impacts of their decisions on others and the environment around them. They think about the near-term and long-term consequences of their actions and seek to act in ways that contribute to the betterment of their teams, families, community and workplace. They are reliable and consistent in going beyond the minimum expectation and in participating in activities that serve the greater good.

CRLLKSP 2                Attend to financial well-being.

Students take regular action to contribute to their personal financial well-being, understanding that personal financial security provides the peace of mind required to contribute more fully to their own career success.

CRLLKSP 3                Consider the environmental, social and economic impacts of decisions.

Students understand the interrelated nature of their actions and regularly make decisions that positively impact and/or mitigate negative impact on other people, organization, and the environment. They are aware of and utilize new technologies, understandings, procedures, materials, and regulations affecting the nature of their work as it relates to the impact on the social condition, the environment and the profitability of the organization.

CRLLKSP 4                Demonstrate creativity and innovation.

Students regularly think of ideas that solve problems in new and different ways, and they contribute those ideas in a useful and productive manner to improve their organization. They can consider unconventional ideas and suggestions as solutions to issues, tasks or problems, and they discern which ideas and suggestions will add greatest value. They seek new methods, practices, and ideas from a variety of sources and seek to apply those ideas to their own workplace. They take action on their ideas and understand how to bring innovation to an organization.

CRLLKSP 5                Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Students readily recognize problems in the workplace, understand the nature of the problem, and devise effective plans to solve the problem. They are aware of problems when they occur and take action quickly to address the problem; they thoughtfully investigate the root cause of the problem prior to introducing solutions. They carefully consider the options to solve the problem. Once a solution is agreed upon, they follow through to ensure the problem is solved, whether through their own actions or the actions of others.

CRLLKSP 6                Model integrity, ethical leadership and effective management.

Students consistently act in ways that align personal and community-held ideals and principles while employing strategies to positively influence others in the workplace. They have a clear understanding of integrity and act on this understanding in every decision. They use a variety of means to positively impact the directions and actions of a team or organization, and they apply insights into human behavior to change others’ action, attitudes and/or beliefs. They recognize the near-term and long-term effects that management’s actions and attitudes can have on productivity, morals and organizational culture.

 CRLLKSP 7                Plan education and career paths aligned to personal goals.

Students take personal ownership of their own education and career goals, and they regularly act on a plan to attain these goals. They understand their own career interests, preferences, goals, and requirements. They have perspective regarding the pathways available to them and the time, effort, experience and other requirements to pursue each, including a path of entrepreneurship. They recognize the value of each step in the education and experiential process, and they recognize that nearly all career paths require ongoing education and experience. They seek counselors, mentors, and other experts to assist in the planning and execution of career and personal goals.

CRLLKSP 8                Use technology to enhance productivity, increase collaboration and communicate effectively.

Students find and maximize the productive value of existing and new technology to accomplish workplace tasks and solve workplace problems. They are flexible and adaptive in acquiring new technology. They are proficient with ubiquitous technology applications. They understand the inherent risks-personal and organizational-of technology applications, and they take actions to prevent or mitigate these risks.

CRLLKSP 9                Work productively in teams while using cultural/global competence.

Students positively contribute to every team, whether formal or informal. They apply an awareness of cultural difference to avoid barriers to productive and positive interaction. They find ways to increase the engagement and contribution of all team members. They plan and facilitate effective team meetings.

III.         Proficiency Levels

This one-year Advanced Placement course is for serious music students in grade 11 and 12 who have taken at least two years of a music course in high school. Students may also be admitted by teacher recommendation.

IV.        Methods of Assessment

Student Assessment

• A variety of assessments will be provided including, but not limited to, the following items:

• Tests
• Quizzes
• Homework
• Classwork
• Class Participation
• Writing Assignments
• Oral Presentations
• Individual Projects, Presentations and Reports
• Group Projects, Presentations and Reports
• Technology Projects
• Journals
• Listening Skill Projects
• Sight Singing/Playing
• Music Composition
• Concert Attendance and Analysis
• Sample/Practice Standardized Tests

Curriculum/Teacher Assessment

The teacher will provide the subject area supervisor with suggestions for changes on an ongoing basis.

V.        Grouping

This Advanced Placement course is for grade 11 and 12 students who are serious music students with a background in band and/or choir. Students may also be admitted by teacher recommendation.

VI.        Articulation/Scope & Sequence/Time Frame

Course length is one year.

VII.        Resources

Texts/Supplemental Reading/References

• Texts

• Tonal Harmony, 7th Edition. McGraw Hill, 2013.

• Supplemental Readings/Materials

• Supplemental readings and/or materials must be relevant and appropriate and related to the course content.  Any supplemental readings/materials will be used with teacher discretion and/or supervisor/administrator approval.
• The College Board provides a complete list of materials, texts, and sample examinations as needed.
• CDs
• DVDs
• Internet Resources

• Technology

• Use of technology will conform to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.
• Smart Music
• Music First

Mandates

Classroom instruction and activities will include, where appropriate, activities on climate change. The New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) are designed to prepare students to understand how and why climate change happens, the impact it has on our local and global communities and to act in informed and sustainable ways. Where possible, activities are infused to foster an interdisciplinary approach to climate change education that is evidence-based, action-oriented and inclusive.

Classroom instruction and activities will include, where appropriate, activities on Asian American and Pacific Islander Education. As per, P.L.2021, c.416, the instruction will include inclusive materials that portray the cultural diversity of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Classroom instruction and activities will include, where appropriate, curricula on diversity and inclusion. As per 18A:35-4.36a (2021), the instruction shall:

• apply to grades Kindergarten through 12
• highlight and promote diversity
• examine the impact that unconscious bias and economic disparities have
• encourage safe, welcoming, and inclusive environments for all students

The following websites may also be used to infuse activities into diversity and inclusion into lessons. They are current as of the publication/approval of this document.

Diversity and Inclusion

• https://newsela.com/
• https://www.learningforjustice.org/
• https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/multiculturalism-and-diversity/
• https://diversebooks.org
• https://newsela.com/
• https://www.glsen.org/educator-resources
• https://youth.gov/youth-topics/lgbtq-youth/school-experiences
• https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/lgbt-rights-and-history/5BHAnX8dNsdAEfGU 

Individuals with with Disabilities

• https://newsela.com/
• https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/index.html
• https://americanhistory.si.edu/disabilityrights/welcome.html
• https://getintoit.specialolympics.org/educators/

The Bergen County Curriculum Consortium has curated resources designed to work in tandem with existing curricula. These tools highlight the contributions of diverse groups and align to New Jersey Student Learning Standards. This resource was approved by the Rutherford Board of Education on August 23, 2021.

• https://sites.google.com/wwrsd.org/njsa1835-435to436/k-12-curriculum-toolkits 

Additionally, middle school and high school instruction and activities will include, where appropriate, curricula on the history of disabled and LGBT persons.  As per 18A:35-4.35 (2021), the instruction shall include instruction on the political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, in an appropriate place in the curriculum of middle school and high school students as part of the district’s implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.

Interdisciplinary Connections Mandated by the NJDOE

This will apply where applicable to literary selections and informational texts in this curriculum document as referenced in the pacing guides below.

VIII.        Suggested Activities

• Taking practice tests
• Attending outside school concerts
• Interviewing local professional musicians
• Preparing performance presentations to demonstrate achievements and accomplishments
• Composing music

IX.        Methodologies

Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills Mission:  Career readiness, life literacies, and key skills education provides students with the necessary skills to make informed career and financial decisions, engage as responsible community members in a digital society, and successfully meet challenges and opportunities in an interconnected global economy.

Vision: An education in career readiness, life literacies and key skills fosters a population that:

• Continually self-reflects and seeks to improve the essential life and career practices that lead to success
• Uses effective communication and collaboration skills and resources to interact with a global society
• Possesses financial literacy and responsibility at home and in the broader community
• Plans, executes, and alters career goals in response to changing societal and economic conditions
• Seeks to attain skill and content mastery to achieve success in a chosen career path

Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills are intended to:

• Promote the development of curricula and learning experiences that reflect the vision and mission of Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills
• Foster greater coherence and appropriate progressions across grade bands
• Establish meaning connections among the major areas of study
• Prioritize the important ideas and core processes that are central and have lasting value beyond the classroom
• Reflect the habits of mind central to Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key skills that lead to post-secondary success

A wide variety of methodologies in this course will be used.  The following are suggestions, not limitations, as to how the program may be implemented and facilitated while paying special attention to the skills.  Codes refer to the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards – Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills.

• Cooperative learning groups CRLLKSP1, CRLLKSP4, CRLLKSP5, CRLLKSP6, CRLLKSP8, CRLLKSP9
• Differentiated instruction methods CRLLKSP2, CRLLKSP6, CRLLKSP8
• Workshop approach CRLLKSP1, CRLLKSP4, CRLLKSP5, CRLLKSP6, CRLLKSP8, CRLLKSP9
• Individual assignments CRLLKSP2, CRLLKSP4
• Whole class instruction CRLLKSP2, CRLLKSP4
• Small group instruction CRLLKSP1, CRLLKSP4, CRLLKSP5, CRLLKSP6, CRLLKSP8, CRLLKSP9
• Technology-aided instruction CRLLKSP2, CRLLKSP4, CRLLKSP8
• Peer-to-peer instruction CRLLKSP1, CRLLKSP4, CRLLKSP9

X.        Interdisciplinary Connections

Interdisciplinary curriculum coordination will be done with other departments on a regular basis.

The nature of the music discipline demands varied access to any of the following areas: art, social studies/history, science, mathematics, business, and/or technology.

This music course may reinforce concepts taught in:

• Social Studies/History
• English Language Arts/Social Studies - Research of historically significant artists and review of critical analyses - RH.9-10.6. Compare the point of view of two or more authors in regards to how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts; RH.11-12.8. Evaluate an author’s claims, reasoning, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other sources.
• Humanities
• Mathematics
• Psychology
• Science
• Technology
• Appropriate and competent use of relevant websites and digital software and equipment
• Recording student performances/projects using appropriate audio, video, and /or photographic means to facilitate classroom critique of student growth and progress
• Presentation and exploration of related career possibilities
• Working in teams to create group based learning activities and projects
• Application of skills learned in class to project based activities

XI.         Differentiating Instruction for Students with Special Needs: Students with Disabilities, Students at Risk, Students with 504 Plans, English Language Learners, and Gifted & Talented Students

Differentiating instruction is a flexible process that includes the planning and design of instruction, how that instruction is delivered, and how student progress is measured. Teachers recognize that students can learn in multiple ways as they celebrate students’ prior knowledge. By providing appropriately challenging learning, teachers can maximize success for all students.

Differentiating in this course includes but is not limited to:

Differentiation for Support (ELL, Special Education, Students at Risk and Students with 504 Plans)

• Peer mentoring on problems
• Differentiated teacher feedback on assignments
• Visual aids as we project problems on whiteboard
• Study guides
• Tiered assignments
• Scaffolding of materials and assignments
• Re-teaching and review
• Guided note taking
• Exemplars of varied performance levels
• Multi-media approach to accommodating various learning styles
• Use of visual and multi-sensory formats
• Use of assisted technology
• Use of prompts
• Modification of content and student products
• Testing accommodations
• Authentic assessments
• Pre-teaching of vocabulary and concepts
• Visual learning, including graphic organizers
• Use of cognates to increase comprehension
• Teacher modeling
• Pairing students with beginning English language skills with students who have more advanced English language skills
• Scaffolding

• word walls
• sentence frames
• think-pair-share
• cooperative learning groups
• teacher think-alouds

• Supplemental reading material for independent study
• Flexible grouping
• Tiered assignments
• Topic selection by interest
• Enhanced expectations for independent study
• Elevated questioning techniques using Webb's Depth of Knowledge matrix
• Adjusting the pace of lessons
• Curriculum compacting
• Inquiry-based instruction
• Independent study
• Higher-order thinking skills
• Interest-based content
• Student-driven
• Real-world problems and scenarios

XII.        Professional Development

The teacher will continue to improve expertise through participation in a variety of professional development opportunities.

XIII.        Curriculum Map/Pacing Guide