High School Musical Knowledge Courses

This course is for all high school students. No musical experience is necessary. This course combines the study of ear training, sight-reading, musical notation, and the beginning of rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic writing/composition. Acceptable for Regents Diploma Graduation Requirement and Required for the 3- & 5-Unit Sequence in Music Education.

This course is a continuation of Music Theory I on a more advanced level. This course encompasses the techniques and procedures offered in Music Theory I and develops the following areas of study: music writing/composition, sight-reading, ear training, keyboard harmony, analysis, Twentieth Century compositional techniques and popular music writing/composition. The course builds on the use of music computer technology learned in Theory. Acceptable for Regents Diploma Graduation Requirement and Required for the 3- & 5-Unit Sequence in Music Education.

AP Music Theory is a high-level music course that studies not only the “what and how” of music structure, but also engages in the more ambitious questions of “why and what if.” Skills ranging from sight-singing and aural recognition to visual analysis and composition form the curriculum. Students in this course work to develop a “seeing ear” and a “hearing eye.” The course builds on the use of music computer technology learned in Theory. Students will utilize musicology, theory and terminology incorporated in the study of music history (Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, etc.). Students will compose music in the style of specific historical period (counterpoint, borrowed/altered chords, N6/Augmented 6, Quartal/Quintal Harmony, Canon, 12-Tone Row, etc.). Acceptable for Regents Diploma Graduation Requirement and Required for the 3- & 5-Unit Sequence in Music Education.