AP Music Theory

**Pyroshock** · 06-1-2008, 10:38 PM

Anyone here have experience with this course? I'm now signed up for it next spring.

KlingPosnot · 06-1-2008, 10:52 PM

Yep...I took this a year earlier than people are supposed to at my school as a recommendation from my music teachers...It is a very good course to take if you are at all looking into any sort of a composition based career as you learn more about why things are arranged the way they are in most situations (some of the stuff is specific to the time period you learn about in the course, but it can be applied indirectly to modern music)...It was definitely my favorite course this year ^.^ (it is a very hard final...I am top of my class and I barely managed to get over an 80% on the practices...I really hope I did as good on the actual final ^.^)

**sleeplessdragn** · 06-2-2008, 12:33 AM

You're So Lucky!

lord_carbo · 06-5-2008, 10:51 PM

AP music theory ****ing rules.

Two suggestions:

1) Practice singing right now. Go to a keyboard or something, match pitch, and sing some scales, arpeggios, and intervals. If you're not comfortable singing, you'll bomb the singing part of the AP theory exam. As my theory teacher says, if you say "well I'm not a signer," then you're retarded. He equates it to asking a guitarist to clap a rhythm, only to have the guitarist say, "well I'm not a clapper." And for good reason; being able to sing is an important part of musicianship.

2) Go here and practice the "interval ear trainer." Do a lot of these over a long period of time. It helps melodic dictation for the AP exam.

--

I can't speak for how the course is normally run; my teacher ran it oddly. To get an idea of how my kooky teacher ran the course, he divided the class up into two parts to do a homework that would count as a quiz. When we were given the assignment, he said that one group would get an A and the other would get an F no matter what.

Our final project is to compose a piece for at least five voices (instruments). I'm obsessed with it; I've been composing almost nonstop since I got home from school 9 hours ago.

Wonderful course. You'd be ****ing crazy to regret taking it.

kaiylan_vs_veirmalth · 06-11-2008, 01:15 AM

Woo! Yay AP theory, I loved this class, as tedious as the homework was. I took this class last year meaning 07-08, and I have to say it opened my ears, literally. Although I didn't do as well on the AP test as I hoped it's still worth the experience.

Everything lord carbo says is true, you need to start training your ear, because that's basically what we did in class besides the actually theory part. Intervals, chord qualities, and chord inversions are all things that you'll learn to recognize both visually and aurally. The visually recognition is more of a quick review tho, since you should already know it.

Uh, as for the class, we would start out with ear training then go on to a lesson which would include topics like chord progression and cadences. Then we would get our homework assignment, haha. As for our final project, AP test aside, we had to compose a piece at least three minutes in length with at least three voices.

But really, this is probably the only AP class that someone could possibly enjoy, haha! It's a really great class to take if you're pursuing a music career, actually it's just a really awesome class!

MilkChan · 06-11-2008, 01:57 AM

I took it this year. I can't testify how hard the dictation exercises are since I have perfect pitch [/ego], but expect to do a lot of part writing and figured bass.

Our final two projects for the last quarter were an oral presentation on a composer (10-15 mins in length) and a composition at least 32 measures with 4 voices.

06-1-2008, 10:38 PM	#1
Pyroshock ε=-dΦ/dt Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: College Station, TX Age: 32 Posts: 1,170	AP Music Theory Anyone here have experience with this course? I'm now signed up for it next spring. __________________ http://pyroshock.bandcamp.com http://soundcloud.com/pyroshock

06-2-2008, 12:33 AM	#3
sleeplessdragn ~Bang that beat Harder~ Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 2,321	Re: AP Music Theory You're So Lucky! __________________

06-5-2008, 10:51 PM	#4
lord_carbo FFR Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: fighting villains from afar, NJ Age: 32 Posts: 6,222	Re: AP Music Theory AP music theory ***ing rules. Two suggestions: 1) Practice singing right now. Go to a keyboard or something, match pitch, and sing some scales, arpeggios, and intervals. If you're not comfortable singing, you'll bomb the singing part of the AP theory exam. As my theory teacher says, if you say "well I'm not a signer," then you're retarded. He equates it to asking a guitarist to clap a rhythm, only to have the guitarist say, "well I'm not a clapper." And for good reason; being able to sing is an important part of musicianship. 2) Go here and practice the "interval ear trainer." Do a lot of these over a long period of time. It helps melodic dictation for the AP exam. -- I can't speak for how the course is normally run; my teacher ran it oddly. To get an idea of how my kooky teacher ran the course, he divided the class up into two parts to do a homework that would count as a quiz. When we were given the assignment, he said that one group would get an A and the other would get an F no matter what. Our final project is to compose a piece for at least five voices (instruments). I'm obsessed with it; I've been composing almost nonstop since I got home from school 9 hours ago. Wonderful course. You'd be *ing crazy to regret taking it. __________________ last.fm** Last edited by lord_carbo; 06-5-2008 at 10:59 PM..

06-11-2008, 01:15 AM	#5
kaiylan_vs_veirmalth FFR Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 12	Re: AP Music Theory Woo! Yay AP theory, I loved this class, as tedious as the homework was. I took this class last year meaning 07-08, and I have to say it opened my ears, literally. Although I didn't do as well on the AP test as I hoped it's still worth the experience. Everything lord carbo says is true, you need to start training your ear, because that's basically what we did in class besides the actually theory part. Intervals, chord qualities, and chord inversions are all things that you'll learn to recognize both visually and aurally. The visually recognition is more of a quick review tho, since you should already know it. Uh, as for the class, we would start out with ear training then go on to a lesson which would include topics like chord progression and cadences. Then we would get our homework assignment, haha. As for our final project, AP test aside, we had to compose a piece at least three minutes in length with at least three voices. But really, this is probably the only AP class that someone could possibly enjoy, haha! It's a really great class to take if you're pursuing a music career, actually it's just a really awesome class! __________________ Music is Life, the Rest is just Details.

06-11-2008, 01:57 AM	#6
MilkChan Banned Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV Age: 32 Posts: 432	Re: AP Music Theory I took it this year. I can't testify how hard the dictation exercises are since I have perfect pitch [/ego], but expect to do a lot of part writing and figured bass. Our final two projects for the last quarter were an oral presentation on a composer (10-15 mins in length) and a composition at least 32 measures with 4 voices. Last edited by MilkChan; 06-11-2008 at 01:59 AM..

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