Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for MUS 212A Winter 2025


Course Number:
MUS 212A
Course Title:
Music Theory V
Credit Hours:
3
Lecture Hours:
30
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Continues the study of music components relevant to a variety of contemporary and historical styles such as jazz harmony and practices, polyrhythms and polymeter, and synthetic scales. Includes classical cadences, voice-leading practices, non-chord tones, and conservatory approaches to part-writing. Prerequisites: MUS 211A, MUC 210, or instructor permission. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon successful completion of the course students should be able to:

  1. Create examples where two or more meters are implied at the same time.

  2. Create short melodies using synthetic scales.

  3. Compose short chord progressions using jazz devices.

  4. Interpret and label chords from a figured bassline.

  5. Part-write classical common-practice examples using smooth voice-leading techniques.

Course Activities and Design

  • Perform different polyrhythms in groups

  • Improvise melodies using synthetic scales

Outcome Assessment Strategies

The instructor should make the criteria for assigning a course grade and for evaluating student progress clear at the beginning of the term. The individual instructor will determine the methods of assessment. Assessment methods may include:

Qualitative examinations
Quantitative examinations
Homework assignments
Music presentations
Class participation
Composition projects
Small group work/problem solving
Concert reports

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

  • Figures and figured bass using conservatory/academic approaches

  • Four-part writing using conservatory/academic methods

  • Other classical non-chord tones

  • Classical cadences

  • Synthetic scales

  • Jazz harmony, chord subs, backcycling 

  • Polymeter

  • Polyrhythms

  • Polytonality

  • Polychords and non-tertian harmony

  • Planing, parallelism