For years I've been teaching Music Theory in the college classroom. These classes I'm making for Slam Academy use the same syllabus I've used in my college classes for years, at a fraction of the cost. I believe anyone can learn Music Theory - and cost shouldn't be a barrier.
Recently I was named as a semi-finalist for the Grammy Foundation's Music Educator of the Year award because of my in-person university classes. Now I'm taking those classes to Udemy in an online format in order to reach more students and give them the joy of Music Theory.
My approach to music theory is to minimize the memorization. Most of these concepts you can learn by just understanding why chords behave in certain ways. Once you understand those concepts, you can find any scale, key, or chord that exists. Even invent your own.
This class is a Comprehensive class - it will have many parts, going through my entire annual curriculum.
This class is Part 6: SATB Composition, and it starts what would be the second semester of a college music theory class.
Throughout this class, I'll be providing you with many worksheets for you to practice the concepts on. If you get stuck, you can review the videos or post a question, and I'll back to it as fast as possible. Also in this class I have several complete analysis projects that we will complete together - just like in my college classes.
What will I learn in this Course?
- My approach to Music Theory
- Tools of Counterpoint
- Types of Motion in Counterpoint
- 18th Century Counterpoint
- Chordal Dissonance
- Cadences in Bass/Melody Accompaniment
- Cadences in 4-Voice Accompaniment
- Non-Chord Tones in 4-Voice Accompaniment
- Suspensions in 4-Voice Accompaniment
- Example Analysis Projects
- Writing 4-Voice (SATB) Lines
- SATB Notation
- SATB Ranges
- Voice Crossings
- Doubling
- T-D-T Phrasing
- Establishing Tonic Areas
- Establishing Dominant Areas
- Resolving Leading Tones (in 4-Voice Accompaniment)
- Harmonic Rhythm
- Texture (in Song)
- Worksheets and Music for Practice
- ...and much, much more!
REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE
Members – Claim your seat now!
(Non-members redirected to purchase membership)
Getting Started
Welcome to the class!
Another installment of the tools you will need for this class.
Some good old fashioned staff paper.
A little review before we dive in.
Here is the MuseScore file for this entire class.
Composing in 18th Century Style
This is a new type of dissonance that results from the techniques we’ve been working with.
We’ve talked about cadences before, but now we need to learn a little more about them.
A few new wrinkles to cadences that stem from cadences in Bass/Melody counterpoint.
A quick wrap up of all the rules.
Our first worksheet of this class. Don’t forget to check your work!
Melodic Embellishment (in Chorale Textures)
In this new style, we have a few new things to consider with non-chord tones.
More with suspensions!
Let’s do a short analysis to see these ideas in some actual music.
In this video, a short wrap-up of the rules for melodic embellishment.
Here is our second worksheet – don’t forget to check your work!
SATB Composition
We now need to think both vertically and horizontally when writing.
Fitting four lines onto 2 staves can be tricky, and we have some conventions for dealing with it.
When working with SATB, we want to think of each “voice” as having a certain range.
Remember in the original Ghost Busters when they crossed streams? Voice Crossing is kind of like that. Not good.
When you have 4 voices, but a 3-note chord, something has to double-up.
Let’s look at a song written in an SATB style.
Your third worksheet – don’t forget to check your work!
Phrasing in SATB Composition
When writing a piece of music, we have to think about phrasing, and this is a good rule of thumb.
The Tonic Area consists of more than just Tonic.
Similarly, the dominant area consists of more than just dominant.
Your fourth worksheet – don’t forget to check your work!
More with Cadences
Similarly, the Imperfect Authentic Cadence has some new issues as well.
Let’s keep going! Half Cadences have some new issues as well.
We haven’t spent too much time with Plagal Cadences yet.
This might be the first time you are hearing about Deceptive Cadences. For good reason – they are deceptive!
Your fifth worksheet – Don’t forget to check your work!
Voice-Leading on the Dominant
In 4 Voices, you really have to keep track of your leading tones.
In this video, we will talk about a few other things to consider with your voice leading.
Your sixth (and final!) worksheet. Don’t forget to check your work!
Harmonizing Melodies
When you set out to harmonize a melody, you need to think about harmonic rhythm.
Texture is what determines if something is frantic or serene, and everything in between.
Another song example – this time of the traditional tune, Danny Boy.
Wrap Up
You’ve come so far – and have so far yet to go.
That’s all for now! See you in the next class!