Health & Safety Commitments

Everyone’s health and safety is our paramount concern at SF State. We ask every member of our campus community to join a pledge to make and follow plans to keep fellow students, faculty, and staff safe and well. Feeling confident, safe and well will help you focus on your academic success. To participate in this class, all students are expected to: 

• stay informed on the most up-to-date information related to SF State’s COVID-19 response and Campus Comeback plan
• plan ahead for possible class disruptions due to COVID-19 or other unexpected events, such as unhealthy air quality caused by smoke
• take care of yourself and others by staying home when you aren’t feeling well or believe you have been exposed to COVID-19, and 
• follow all required health and safety guidelines, including verifying your proof of vaccination or exemption status before coming to class; and wearing a multilayered mask over your nose and mouth at all times when indoors on campus; and wash your hands as often as possible (i.e. soap and water, hand sanitizer). 

For more information about SF State’s response to COVID-19 and how you can keep yourself and others safe and well, visit the Campus Comeback Website. To plan for how you will maintain your academic success when unexpected events disrupt regular teaching and learning activities, follow the information on the course syllabus and consult the Keep Learning guide. COVID-19 Dashboard link.

Resilient Teaching & Learning Plan

Our campus community is often called to demonstrate compassionate resiliency by adapting and responding to a number of unexpected events, or disruptions, such as personal illness or injury, the COVID-19 pandemic, or unhealthy air quality and power outages due to wildfires. A disruption is a situation that will prevent you, me, or the entire class from participating in 'class as usual' for a reason we could not have predicted at the beginning of the semester.  Our goal as a learning community is to do our best to keep teaching and learning with as little interruption as possible.

If something along these lines happens, we should be able: to maintain communication and send assignments via email; use the web syllabus and iLearn to access assignments; possibly adjust the curriculum; use SFSU’s Zoom app to hold live meetings and/or view recorded lectures.

Most importantly, I am committed to supporting students when they are affected by uncontrollable circumstances in order to keep our in-person and virtual learning environments nurturing and inviting places.

Required Text

Recommended Books

Tonal Harmony – Textbook, 7th Edition (other editions are fine)

Kostka/Payne

McGraw Hill, ISBN 0-07-285260-7

A College-Level Music Dictionary:

Oxford, Harvard, etc.

A Music Notation Manual: Norton, Alfred, etc.

Course Objectives

The prerequisite for this course is MUS 232.

This course focuses on the chromatic aspects of harmony, voice leading and forms of music associated mainly with Western Europe, studying solo piano, chamber, orchestral, and melody-based textures.  The main source material is from the 18th and 19th centuries, but also included is jazz, rock, folk and pop. We examine how counterpoint and harmony are interrelated, and how they inform larger structural aspects of many music styles. By the end of this course, you should be able to compose and/or analyze a short chromatic piece in the above-mentioned styles, and have a command of all associated vocabulary. In parallel with the above curriculum, we will address notation, score formatting/presentation, and general terminology pertinent to many styles of music.

Your written work will consist of a mixture between homework, quizzes, and separate composition/analysis projects.

Grading:  All grades will be given as a percentage.  Only your final grade will be a letter grade.

Each assignment and exam will have its own grade. You can also look up your grades to date on iLearn, where information will be posted periodically in a spreadsheet. Grades are listed via an assigned alias to protect your privacy.

Attendance: 10%

Meaningful attendance (see class participation below) goes hand-in-hand with better learning and retention. Being in a classroom community on a regular basis can deepen one's experience with the material, where we can interact, ask questions, listen to music and each other, make connections, and support one and other. After the first week, I will pass around a sign-in sheet at the beginning of each class. Latecomers can check in with me at the end of class. You are allowed three unexcused absences before it starts counting against your grade. Three unexcused late arrivals will count as one unexcused absence. There are all kinds of good/reasonable excuses for missing class or being late, such as: religious holidays, being sick, caring for someone who is sick, a family emergency, occasional professional obligation, transportation problems, mental health concerns, etc. If you miss class or are late and have an excuse, I ask that you inform me as soon as possible (email is best). Out of respect for your privacy, if the excuse feels personal in nature, you do not have to be too specific. Similarly, I do not require doctor's notes and the like. We will rely on the honor system should you need to explain an absence or late arrival.

Class Participation/Communication: 5%

Participation means arriving/joining on time (unless it is beyond your control), being fully present and engaged, not behaving in a distracted or distracting manner, and very-importantly, treating others with respect. Please practice professional-level communication during class, and in written correspondence.

Keyboard Performance Demonstration: 5% (audio example)

This can be done in person, or via an emailed video (or link to a video)

Sonatina midterm composition assignment: 10%

Details will be announced.

Midterm Exam (in class): 10%

Details TBA

Final Exam (in class): 10%

Details TBA

Homework: 50%

Homework (on paper) is due on the day announced, by the end of class (via email by 11:59pm during remote instruction). It will consist of mainly small analysis and composition-style exercises. Advance notification requesting an extension is fine in most cases, but unnotified late assignments are not automatically accepted. Please staple multiple-page assignments so nothing gets lost. The lowest grade will be dropped. Homework collaboration option.

Redo Policy: Unless otherwise specified, I encourage you to redo any homework assignment that gets less than a 93%. The score of the redone version of the assignment will be averaged with the original score for a final assignment grade, with a maximum possible grade of 93%.  Redone assignments are due two class periods after the original assignment is returned (unless otherwise arranged). Redoing an assignment means that you either make clear corrections on the original assignment, or that you submit a copied-over, corrected version of the original assignment on a separate piece of paper. For the latter, please include the original assignment along with the redo; you don't have to copy over portions of the original assignment that were done correctly. This does not apply to exams, which cannot be redone.

**Please note: the above percentages are subject to redistribution**

Missed assignments, quizzes or exams: in the event of an unforeseen absence, make-up exams or assignment-extensions will be granted for extenuating circumstances on an individual basis. It is important that you notify me as soon as possible in cases like this.

Extra credit assignments (optional): may be assigned and will be announced in class.

Plagiarism: While some collaboration is expected and productive, the bulk of your assignments and definitely any compositions must be done individually unless otherwise specified.  Violations will be subject to the University's Code of Conduct as it relates to such matters.

Please note the following from the SFSU Bulletin: To receive credit toward completion of the degree requirements, a grade of C (a C- does NOT count) or better is required for all music courses in the Bachelor of Arts in Music major...To receive credit toward completion of the degree requirements, a grade of C or better is required for all music courses in the Bachelor of Music major.

Disability access

Students with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact the instructor.  The Disability Programs and Resource Center (DPRC) is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process. The DPRC is located in the Student Service Building and can be reached by telephone (voice/415-338-2472, video phone/415-335-7210) or by email (dprc@sfsu.edu).

Student disclosures of sexual violence

SF State fosters a campus free of sexual violence including sexual harassment, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and/or any form of sex or gender discrimination.  If you disclose a personal experience as an SF State student, the course instructor is required to notify the Title IX Coordinator by completing the report form available at http://titleix.sfsu.edu, emailing vpsaem@sfsu.edu or calling 338-2032.

To disclose any such violence confidentially, contact:

*The SAFE Place - (415) 338-2208; http://www.sfsu.edu/~safe_plc/

*Counseling and Psychological Services Center - (415) 338-2208; http://psyservs.sfsu.edu/

*For more information on your rights and available resources: http://titleix.sfsu.edu

Attendance and Remote Classroom Guidelines

Attendance is factored into your grade as stated above. It is your responsibility to get notes from any class you miss. Disruptive, distracting, or disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated and may result in you being asked to leave the classroom or a remote meeting (if the lecture is remote). 

Communication

There may be instances where we need to make individual, special arrangements.  In these cases, it is best that we do so with confirmation emails. In the event that we have made a special arrangement, please make sure we have at least done so in writing.  If you write to me, please communicate as clearly and professionally as possible.  While this is a music class, you are expected to practice college-level, professional communication standards in your written and oral communication. Make sure your SFSU email is set up to forward to your regular/personal email address.

Revisions to this Syllabus

The syllabus (including assignments, exam and grade distributions) and downloads are subject to revisions as the semester progresses.  Check the syllabus web page often, and your email, and listen for announcements in class.  Please do not download the lecture notes and/or assignments all at once in case revisions are made as the semester progresses.

Notation

In an ongoing effort to nurture your notation skills, all work handed in must be written in pencil, or via a tablet (i.e. by hand). Assignments using computer notation are not acceptable, unless arranged in advance. When using staff paper for any assignment, the paper should have no left- or right-side bar lines and have no clefs printed on it. Use this link to print staff paper. Notation is a factor in grading. Notation errors, cross-outs, sloppy notation or analyses may lower assignment grades and/or will be handled on a discretionary basis.

Printing Materials for Class

Please plan to print required materials/assignments for class on a regular basis. However, it is understandable that printing could be a hardship for some, in which case we will work out an alternative so that everyone can access what they need. You should also be able to photograph or scan assignments for email submission (only during remote instruction). All materials will be available through the web syllabus (and occasionally iLearn & emails) and will be PDF files.

MUS 233 – APPROXIMATE SCHEDULE OF CLASS TOPICS AND HOMEWORK

(Week No.)

Week of

Class Topics ,Downloadable Notes and Links

Assignments, and items to print (or just download)

for that week with specific due day

(1)

Aug 22

Class organization, introduction to chromaticism

Overview and review

(F) Print/Download:

review page

Note stacking tutorial

Chromaticism in Figured Bass

(2)

Aug 29

Overview and review continued

(3)

Sept 5

No Class, Labor Day (M)

Review continued

(W) Submit: review assignment, part I

Mozart K. 377 excerpt (audio)

(4)

Sept 12

Ch. 16: Tonicization I: secondary dominants

Secondary dominants examples

Ch. 16 Reading Sheet (same sheet for ch. 17 & 18)

(M) Submit: review assignment, part II

(5)

Sept 19

Ch. 16 continued

Beethoven worksheet

Audio of Beethoven excerpt (MIDI version)

Audio of Beethoven (actual excerpt)

(6)

Sept 26

Secondary dominants in a jazz context

Ch. 17: Tonicization II: other secondary functions

Ch. 17 Reading Sheet (same sheet for ch. 16 & 18)

Summary of secondary functions

(M) Submit: Ch. 16 assignment

Print/Download: Schubert, An die Musik (D547) [audio link]

(7)

Oct 3

Ch. 18: Modulation I: Diatonic common chords

Ch. 18 Reading Sheet (same sheet for ch. 16 & 17)

(M) Print/Download: Modulation Practice

(W) Submit: Ch. 17 Assignment

(8)

Oct 10

Ch. 19: Modulation II Further modulation techniques (same lecture notes as Modulation I)

Monophonic modulation: Handel Gavotte (score) (audio)

Ch. 19 Reading Sheet (same for ch. 20)

Common Tone Modulation & Chromatic Mediant Relationships Examples   (audio)

(W) Submit: Ch. 18 Assignment  (uns ist ein kindlein heut – audio)

(9)

Oct 17

Ch. 20, part 1: Form: binary & ternary

Ch. 20 Reading Sheet (same for ch. 19)

Form II: Sonatina/Sonata Form

Clementi Sonatina Op. 36, No. 1, i

Clementi Sonatina No. 1 Audio

Clementi Sonatina Op. 36, No. 2, i

Download (don’t print): J.S. Bach G Major Cello Suite Mvts. (binary form examples)

(W) Submit: Ch. 19 Assignment

LISTEN TO THE EXAMPLES

Beethoven sonata excerpt

Mozart aria excerpt

Miles Davis: Tune Up

(10)

Oct 24

Sonatina continued

Sonata (Sonata Allegro) Form

Beethoven: Op. 49, No. 1, i   (audio)

(W) Midterm Exam (in class, open-note)

Exam Preparation Guide

(11)

Oct 31

Sonata Form continued

Form III: other forms

Rondo form: Beethoven, Op. 13, ii * (audio)

(W) Submit: Ch. 20 Assignment (Small Forms)

LISTEN TO THE EXAMPLES

Mozart: Eine kleine nacht music, III

Bach: French Suite V, Allemande

Mozart: KV 15mm

Ellington/Strayhorn: Take The A Train

(12)

Nov 7

Discuss Sonatina Assignment

Ch. 21, part I: Mode mixture

Ch. 21, I Reading Sheet (same for ch. 22)

Chopin Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 2 (Eb Maj) Excerpt

(see m. 10)  (full audio and score)

(F) NO CLASS - VETERANS DAY

(M) Extra credit on modulation - optional     (audio)

(W) Keyboard Harmony Demonstration, in person or via video   (audio example)

(13)

Nov 14

Mode Mixture continued

Ch. 21, part II: Neapolitan harmony

Ch. 21, II Reading Sheet (same for ch. 21)

Chopin fm nocturne example (Op. 55, No. 1)   (audio)

Discuss Final Project (audio)

(F) Submit: Sonatina Assignment

Example by JK     (Audio)

Clementi Sonatina Op. 36, No. 1, i  (Audio)

MIDI score file                  

Sonatina score page

November 22-26: Fall Recess, No Classes

(14)

Nov 28

Neapolitan harmony continued

Ch. 22: Augmented 6th chords

Ch. 22 Reading Sheet

Print/Download: Mozart K.284 Example

(W) Submit: Ch. 21 Assignment  (Audio)

(15)

Dec 5

Ch. 23: Enharmonicism & Reinterpretation

Ch. 23 Reading Sheet

Wrap up

(F) LAST DAY OF CLASSES

(M) Submit: Ch. 22 Assignment (Audio)

(F) Submit: Final Project Draft (optional)

(16)

Dec 12

Final Composition Drafts returned (M)

(W, Dec 14, 8:00 – 10:00a): Final Exam (in class, open-note)

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT

Due by Friday, December 16, 10:30a

Bach C Major Prelude Score