AP MUSIC THEORY

AP Music Theory is a course designed to instill mastery of the rudiments and terminology of music, including hearing and notating music. Basic concepts are established from standard Western music, as well as twentieth-century art music, jazz, popular music, and the music of non-Western cultures. As an AP course, students will engage in a learning experience similar to a first-year college course that introduces students to musicianship, theory, musical materials, and procedures, through the integration of melody, harmony, texture, rhythm, form, musical analysis, elementary composition, as well as music history and style. Students will also engage in activities building on their aural, sight-singing, written, compositional, and analytical skills. Throughout the course, students will listen to a variety of musical works, developing their musical memory and their ability to articulate educated responses to formal, stylistic, and aesthetic qualities of these works. Finally, students will engage in some performance respects, including singing, keyboard and/or a student’s primary media, creating a well-rounded learning process. The course requires the taking of the AP Music Theory exam, where terminology, notation, structures, sight-singing, and other learned aspects of the course are tested.