MUSC 251 Music Theory III
This course deepens students' understanding of harmony, focusing on chromatic extensions beyond traditional major and minor scales. We also study techniques for analysis and composition of popular and classical song genres, studying how composers' and songwriters' expressive choices of harmony intersect with rhythm, form, and lyrics. Students will learn to think critically about many perspectives on what a theory of harmony is and should be, including classical theories of voice-leading, 20th-century theories of 12-tone music and pitch class sets, representations of emotions and atmospheres in cinematic harmony, and jazz theory practices of chord alteration and substitution. Each of these perspectives is studied in historical and social context. Students will continue developing their skills in the writing of scholarly analysis and engage in compositional projects. Includes both a lecture section, and a musicianship lab section focusing on more advanced tonal sight-singing, dictation, and listening.
Corequisite
MUSC 251A