This course taught by Mr. William Liberatore (Choir Director) can be taken for AP credit if enrolled for the full year and all additional AP course work has been completed. Basic music theory, i.e., names of lines and spaces of the grand staff, clef signs, key and time signatures, note and rest values, and scales, both major and minor, will serve as an introduction to the course. Ear training and dictation, sight-reading and sight-singing, form and analysis, and elementary orchestration will be part of the course. The harmony portion of the course will include the study of: chord structures, positions and inversions, harmonization of bass and soprano lines, use of the figured bass, and analysis of compositions for piano, chorus, and orchestra. As a result of this study, students will be able to compose an original work and notate it correctly. This original composition will be performed in June and is required.
This course is open to all Gunn High School students in Grades 11-12 who are interested to study the course. If a student is uncertain if their musical background is sufficient, they can take a pretest to determine their level of experience with musical notation. This is a UC approved course.