MUS 110L, Aural Skills I	William Wieland
Northern State University — Every Fall Semester — Sections 1 & 2

Instructor: Dr. William Wieland Office: Spafford Hall Room 304 Phone: 626-2499	Office Hours: Please refer to my Class Schedule. E-mail Address: William.Wieland@northern.edu
Course Description: Students will be taught sight singing and dictation skills that will prepare them to “see with their ears and hear with their eyes.” Students will learn simple to advanced applications of writing down music from aural performance, and learn to quickly analyze melodies by singing them at sight.
Credit Hours: 1
Instructional Methods: Listening, lecture, discussion, analysis, singing, playing, composing, arranging, Internet tutorials, online drills, computer software, quizzes, and a comprehensive final exam.
Materials: Please acquire music notation software. Several are free online. Please bring a pencil, paper, scratch paper, and staff paper to every class. (Other sizes of free staff paper can be printed from my web site. Go to Theory Things and look under Staff Paper.) You will also receive handouts.
Free Online Materials:  Theory Things  musictheory.net  music theory & history online  teoría.com   Fundamentals, Function, and Form  Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom  Open Music Theory
Great Apps: musictheory.net
Objectives: (from the NASM Handbook 2021–22, Section VIII. B. Common Body of Knowledge and Skills) 1. c. Students must acquire the ability to read at sight with fluency. 2. a. Students must acquire an understanding of the common elements and organizational patterns of music and their interaction, the ability to employ this understanding in aural, verbal, and visual analyses, and the ability to take aural dictation. 2. b. Students must acquire sufficient understanding of and capability with musical forms, processes, and structures to use this knowledge and skill in compositional, performance, analytical, scholarly, and pedagogical applications according to the requisites of their specializations. 5. While synthesis is a lifetime process, by the end of undergraduate study students must be able to work on musical problems by combining, as appropriate to the issue, their capabilities in performance; aural, verbal, and visual analysis; composition/improvisation; and history and repertory.
Performance Standards / Grading Policies: I weigh MUS 110L grades as follows: 50% Performing — 2-handed Tapping I, Memorized Singing I, Reciting Rhythms and Conducting I & Sight Singing I 30% Listening Quizzes — 3 Notes, Simple Meter, Diatonic Fig., Compound Meter, Keyboard Harm., & Melodic Dict. 10% Comprehensive Final Exam — If you are unexcused from the final exam, you will receive a 0. 10% Sing and Play — Weekly Assignments, Midterm Evaluation, Final Evaluation A — 90% to 100% B — 80% to 90% C — 70% to 80% D — 60% to 70% F — Below 60%
To pass MUS 110L, you must earn at least a 60% semester grade average, sing a major scale in tune, ascending and descending, with Solfège from memory, perform 2-handed Tapping: Eighths with fewer than 4 minor errors, and pass the Final Exam, i.e. score 60% or higher. Exception: If your semester grade average is 70% or higher, but your final exam grade is in the 50s, you will receive a D rather than an F for the semester.
Score Your Quiz
Quizzes and Performing Evaluations: You may retake any quiz and/or performing evaluation during my office hours before 5:00 pm on the last day of class. However, you may only retake a particular quiz or performing evaluation once a day. I will record only the highest grades. Note: Even if you earn a good grade on the first attempt at a quiz, you may wish to take it again as a review. Most quiz material appears on the final exam.
What is an A? An A is going beyond what is usual. Students who simply meet minimum course requirements earn Bs or Cs. An A indicates extraordinary work and a B is a good grade.
Attendance: Regular daily attendance is strongly recommended and is required during class exercises, activities and quizzes. Of course, those with certified and serious reasons for missing class will be accomodated. Excessive absenteeism or tardiness usually results in lower grades. Students are responsible for information missed as a result of being absent or tardy.
Academic Honesty: Please refer to the South Dakota Board of Regents Student Code of Conduct.
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Caveat: This syllabus is subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances.