Musicianship through applied music theory : an undergraduate course with guitar integrating ear training, improvisation, and theory

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Date
2017-11-17
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Indiana University
Abstract
The purpose of this semester course is to guide students in developing musicianship, an amalgam of aural skills and basic theoretical fluency that create a musician capable of sight-singing, transcribing, playing by ear, and improvising. In essence this is a course designed to teach rudimentary guitar, theory, and aural skills with the belief that directly training students in the nuts and bolts of how to fluently auralize and visualize musical patterns will create musicians with higher ability and love for the art. In order to accomplish these goals this course will provide students with straightforward written work, guided classroom work, little demand on technique or the learning of pieces, and loads of playing, singing, listening, and repetition. Guitar instruction consists of technique and fretboard knowledge necessary for performing intervals, scales, chords, arpeggios, and progressions, with the ultimate goal being the practice of melodic fragments with the guitar and voice in order to combine ears, mind, and instrument into a cohesive unit. Nearly all written materials necessary to teach this course are included. These materials are comprised of written listening drills, teaching handouts, guitar charts, melodic patterns, modal song examples, assignment worksheets, and two written exams. Nine pieces from The Real Easy Book: Tunes for Beginning Improvisers by the Stanford Jazz Workshop have been chosen as the main source of song material for their simple, repetitive, and riff –based natures, which lend themselves readily to the goals of this course. Singing and listening drills are based largely on and are used in conjunction with the David Burge Relative Pitch Ear Training Supercourse. Numerous additions have been made to work with and expand upon Burge’s materials. Ear training software such as Auralia or EarMaster is required for students to test their ear training progress in mastering basic intervals throughout the semester. Students will also be required to record and upload videos of themselves singin g and performing on the guitar for exams.
Description
Thesis (DM) - Indiana University, Music, 2017
Keywords
guitar, ear training, aural, sight sing, sightsing, CAGED, teach, David Lucas Burge, musicianship, undergraduate, music, improv, applied theory, applied music, hands on, guitar scale, guitar chord, riff, lick
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D. Mus.