Course ePortfolio

This is a portion of the book, Introduction to Music Theory, by Catherine Schmidt-Jones. This introduces the relationship between frequency, octaves, major, minor, and chromatic scales, and tonal music.

Although this is described as a course, it can also be used as a textbook. This course provides an introductory survey of the Western classical tradition, exploring music both as a phenomenon of sound and culture. The focus of this course is the development of aural skills that lead to an understanding and appreciation of music. Making use of live performances and streaming audio available on the Internet, we will listen to and explore some of the most important and influential repertoires and genres of music that emerged in the last four centuries: High Renaissance vocal music, the cantatas and oratorios of Bach and Handel, Mozart’s comic operas, the monumental orchestral works of the Romantic movement, and the major musical movements of twentieth-century Europe and America, revealing significant connections with contemporary pop and jazz styles. These styles have become an enduring part of the world of music in the twenty-first century, traveling out of the concert hall and conservatory into the larger world via movies, television, and the Internet. This course will begin by studying the fundamentals of music, developing a working definition of music. You will then learn listening skills and musical elements that will be useful as you survey samples of famous compositions throughout this course. Lastly, you will be grounded in the historical contexts for Western classical music. You will learn to make connections between the distinctive styles and the cultural, historical, and social factors that influenced them. By the end of this course, you will have a greater knowledge and appreciation of the history, aesthetics, techniques, forms, and genres of Western classical music.

Although designed as a course, this resource can be used as a textbook. It offers a new approach to music appreciation for adults, focusing on style-independent concepts. While the course concentrates primarily on Western classical and modern music, the concepts that are introduced apply to music of any style or era. The goal of “Sound Reasoning” is to equip you with questions that you may ask of any piece of music, thereby creating a richer and more comprehensive understanding of music both familiar and unfamiliar. Here are some additional features of the course. 1) ”Sound Reasoning” is completely listening based. No ability to read music is required. 2) The course assumes little or no musical background. A minimum of terminology is invoked. 3) Musical examples are interpolated directly into the text. 4) The course is interactive. A “listening gallery” with exercises follows each module, so that you may practice and refine your listening skills. 5) The modules may be studied in sequence or individually. 6)You may easily print a .pdf of any module.. “Sound Reasoning” is designed as both a stand-alone, self-paced course as well as a supplement to existing university classes. “Sound Reasoning” was created thanks to an Access to Artistic Excellence Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and an Innovation Grant from Rice’s Computer and Information Technology Institute.

I have divided the entire history into books, placing at the beginning of each book a general chapter defining the central idea and salient features of the step in development therein recounted. The student who will attentively peruse these chapters in succession will have in them a fairly complete account of the entire progress.

This course introduces the basic concepts and terms needed to discuss melody and harmony. It is intended for teens or adults with no background in music theory but some familiarity with reading common notation and playing an instrument (or singing). Concepts covered include interval, major and minor keys and scales, triads and chords.