Untitled Document

Web URL's for SBO's Magazine's' February 2011 Music Technology

Enhanced AP Music Theory With Technology!

by John Kuzmich, Jr.

December 28, 2011

www.kuzmich.com/SBO042011.html

Many music educators in this time of budget and enrollment uncertainties are concerned about their positions remaining as being full-time. Electives in music can be viewed as optional to administrators even with sufficient enrollment. An elective AP Music Theory or Advanced Placement Music Theory class can be viewed differently because they are part of the Advanced Placement Program sponsored by the College Board to high school students who wish to earn credit for a college level music theory course. Such a class offering can also be a spring board for incorporating technology in ones curriculum. Instructional materials covered in the course involves advanced sight reading, in-depth terminology, musical phrasing and composition, music history, chord structure and cadences, and other areas of music theory. This course is recommended for students with particularly strong abilities in music and college music majors. This nationally administered exam can bring credibility to the music program when your students earn college credit with a 3 or 4 grade score. In the 2007 administration 13,194 students took the exam from 2,265 schools. The mean score was a 2.97 which means nearly two-thirds of testers did not earn college credit after a full-year of study which makes it a formable curriculum to teach and administrate with or without technology.

The AP Music Theory grade distribution for 2007 was:

AP Score	Percent Achieved
5	16.8%
4	17.2%
3	25.8%
2	26.7%
1	13.7%

Martha Reed at the Tucson Magnet High School in Tucson, Arizona, has a unique background for teaching this course. She has been teaching piano for 20 years in her private studio. About 7 years ago she became certified and began her current position at a Fine and Performing Arts Magnet High School teaching piano and AP Music Theory. Although a veteran music teacher of many years, she used technology in her teaching since the early ‘80s. "I think I understand it and use it more creatively than some of my students."

She tell us, " I have a Sympodium with projector, so I don’t need an interactive whiteboard. I prefer the Sympodium. I have good studio monitors and we are in a Clavinova lab. I also have a laptop cart."

She knows Sibelius and also uses Noteflight, Musictheory.net, Emusictheory.com and Teoria. YouTube is used daily in piano classes, and fairly frequently in AP Theory class. "Noteflight.com is the best" Martha says. I "can work with students whenever it is convenient, especially now that we are deep into part-writing. I also love www.indabamusic.com for those students who are interested in composition. The published textbook I use is Benward & Saker Music in Theory and Practice.

Martha feels, " Technology is not an end in itself. It is nothing without good teaching. It is great for some things, but I use it more for communication, differentiating instruction, things like that."

Super-Tech AP Music Theory Resources

There are some specialized technology materials that are organized to make a difference on how you teach in the AP Music Theory curriculum. Have you been on the AP course homepage?

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/2261.html
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/music/samp.html?musictheory is excellent with current tests to peruse and teach from:

Sample Questions & Scoring Guidelines

The AP Examination in Music Theory tests the student's understanding of musical structure and compositional procedures through recorded and notated examples. Strong emphasis is given to listening skills, particularly those involving recognition and comprehension of melodic and rhythmic patterns, harmonic functions, small forms, and compositional techniques. Most of the musical examples are taken from standard repertoire, although some examples of contemporary, jazz, or vernacular music, or music beyond the Western tradition are included for testing basic concepts. The examination assumes fluency in reading musical notation and a strong grounding in music fundamentals, terminology, and analysis.
You can find additional free-response questions and scoring guidelines on AP Central, along with grade distributions and examples of actual students' responses and commentary that explains why the responses received the scores they did.

Multiple-Choice Questions

For sample multiple-choice questions, refer to the Course Description.
AP Music Theory Course Description (.pdf/2.7M)
Requires Adobe Reader (latest version recommended).

Free-Response Questions

Scoring Guidelines

Diana Gable says that “There is a lot of info available for developing your class and choosing resources. There are the course descriptions, sample syllabi and reviews of texts and software. There is also an electronic discussion board there as well. Once you sign up for the required audit, you also have access to a sample test. “

Music theory software companies, such as both Auralia and Musition 4 have complete support for AP Music Theory ??it includes a complete curriculum with all of the levels, tests, etc. preset to correlate with the AP Theory requirements. Musica Practica by Ars Nova has an extensive amount of AP testing materials incorporated in their software. AP* Prep Course - Excellent preparation for the AP music theory exam. Includes a complete series of activities based on actual AP theory exams.

Yes - Auralia and Musition both have excellent AP Music Theory content.... They have specially customized syllabuses, lessons and courses to guide students. There are also sample AP tests included to save the teacher time.
Breezin' Thru Theory is a newly launched interactive online music theory and composition curriculum resource which supports the learning of AP1. It sets students up nicely to then pursue their study of AP2.
It is based on a 5-step system for learning:

One Concept at a Time to support scaffolded learning
See It Hear It Lesson pages for better comprehension
Mad Dash Drills and Games to engage students and build rapid response
Composers Corner for application of learned material
Summative Tests to evaluate student progress

This resource turns a subject that can be dry and uninteresting into something that is enjoyable and engaging all while students are building their understanding of important musical concepts and strengthening their musical literacy.
Breezin' Thru Theory resources can be used as printables or as templates that open in notation software (Finale 2008 and up, Finale Notepad or Sibelius 5 and up). All components, including the downloadable exercise templates and games are accessed from our website. http://breezinthrutheory.com/ Teachers are loving the flexible nature of the product because students can access it at home and the drills can alternatively be printed and done on paper.

There is a trial binder and game on our website here: http://breezinthrutheory.com/try-it/ If you have any questions or would like to see more of this we can set you up with a temp password to see the whole binder. We will also be at the Ohio MEA/TI:ME conference this year as exhibitors and presenters.

To discuss this further you can contact me at 416-476-8014 or email me at jmcken@breezinthrutheory.com.

Best of luck with your quest!
Jean
Jean McKen
Hon Mus. Bach., B. Ed., MSMT (Master of Science in Music Technology)
Integrating Technology With Music Education
Scott Watson teaching materials also include the following:
It was good speaking with you today about my AP Music Theory course and the way technology plays a prominent role. The texts I use for the course are:

1) Benward, Bruce & Saker, Marilyn. Music: In Theory and Practice, 7th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003 (and accompanying workbook).
2) Ottman, Robert. Music for Sight Singing, 5th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001.
3) Buzin, Walter, Editor. 101 Chorales Harmonized by J.S. Bach. Minneapolis: Schmitt, Hall, & McCreary, 1952.

Much of what we do in the class is laid out at my wiki:

http://parklandmusic.wikispaces.com

Look around the Solfege link (http://parklandmusic.wikispaces.com/AP+SOLFEGE) and you’ll see the canons done with Noteflight. Look around the Dictation link (http://psdweb.parklandsd.org/watson/auraltheory1/auraltheory1.html) and you’ll see the sequence of dictations we do.

Examples of the sorts of technology-dependent creative projects we do throughout the course can be hear/viewed here:

http://parklandmusic.wikispaces.com/STUDENT+WORK

Finally, info about my forthcoming book, USING TECHNOLOGY TO UNLOCK MUSICAL CREATIVITY (Oxford University Press) can be found here:

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Music/MusicEducation/?view=usa&ci=9780199742776

I’ll be sending you some pictures of me and my students in the lab as soon as I can get our district public relations person to stop by.

Looking for an innovative way to incorporate technology with home use. Consider looking into Breezin' Thru Theory which is a newly launched interactive online music theory and composition curriculum resource offered on an annual subscription basis which supports the learning of AP1. It sets students up nicely to then pursue their study of AP2.
It is based on a 5-step system for learning:

One Concept at a Time to support scaffolded learning
See It Hear It Lesson pages for better comprehension
Mad Dash Drills and Games to engage students and build rapid response
Composers Corner for application of learned material
Summative Tests to evaluate student progress

Breezin' Thru Theory resources can be used as printables or as templates that open in notation software (Finale 2008 and up, Finale Notepad or Sibelius 5 and up). All components, including the downloadable exercise templates and games are accessed from our website. http://breezinthrutheory.com/ Teachers are loving the flexible nature of the product because students can access it at home and the drills can alternatively be printed and done on paper.

To discuss this further you can contact me at 416-476-8014 or email me at jmcken@breezinthrutheory.com.

1. Tim Thomas, Birmingham-Groves High School, Beverly Hills Michigan

Your Breezin' Thru Theory materials are top-notch! I have been using it in my AP Music Theory course. The worksheets are laid out cleanly, they are easy to grade, and easy for students to understand. I've used the speed drills both as is, and as homework for reinforcement of concepts and have had success with both modes. My students are currently enjoying the Sibelius Boot Camp.

2. Donna Dupuy, Appleby College, Oakville Ontario Canada (Donna did a Masters in Music Theory at U of North Texas)

As a laptop school, Appleby College fully supports integrating technology into all aspects of classroom and co-curricular learning. Part of the joy of using Breezin'’ is that it can be done in very small chunks. Teachers can introduce a concept and assign a worksheet after only a few minutes of class time. The [use] of Finale allows students to practice using notation software in a very simple setting - and they are practicing their theory without even knowing it! The composition assignments are especially enjoyable for students and teachers; they allow for the application of concepts in a creative way. My entire class average has gone up because, with Breezin' Thru Theory, fewer students get left behind.

What it is:

An online binder resource of interactive music theory and composition lessons and drill templates covering content in AP1
Based on scaffolded learning, one concept at a time
26 chapters start with basic staff and rhythm concepts to more intermediate scales, keys and intervals and then advancing to transposition, triads, dominant 7ths, 4-note chords and cadences.
Full table of contents are located in the demo binder on the website
The yearly subscription of $8.00 per student allows access from anywhere, including home. District wide pricing available.
Interactive See It Hear It and Composer's Corner lesson pages
Mad Dash Drills are downloadable templates to be used with Finale, Finale Notepad or Sibelius Notation Software
Works well on a SMART Board for lesson engagement
Engaging interactive games support Mad Dash Drill content

Informative Links & Demos: