Below you will find this semester's syllabus in a week-by-week format. Please feel free to download and/or print this page for your own use.
Fall 2000
Overview: In this course the students will gain a better understanding of how computers and music are integrated with MIDI, as well as how computers and computer software aid in the creation of music. As a result, students will be able to create and edit music with a MIDI Sequencer. Students will also learn how the Internet has extended MIDI capabilities for the future.
WEEK 1: Students will get to know the rest of the class, and the class will have an introduction to the software, input devices, and some of the terminology used during lessons. Students will also be introduced to the class format.
WEEK 2: Introduction to Musical Basics I: Rhythm. Students will learn about MIDI percussion, step recording, and rhythmic quantization. Students will lay down short percussion tracks individually. Elementary Ear Training skills will be applied.
WEEK 3: Introduction to Musical Basics II: Melody. Students will work individually to "sketch" out an eight measure period using the MIDI patch of their choice. Elementary Solfege and Music Theory skills will be applied.
WEEK 4: Project 1: Adding Up The Basics Students will work individually to create a simple song by using elements learned from Week 2 and Week 4. The goal will be to create melody and rhythm tracks that work together musically.
WEEK 5: Continuation of activities outlined in Week 4.
WEEK 6: Week 4-5 Evaluation. Students will listen to each other's projects and evaluate based on the goal outlined in Week 4.
WEEK 7: Advanced Concepts I: Accompaniment Tracks. Students will work in pairs to explore keyboard polyphony and elements of style, while learning basic accompaniment techniques.
WEEK 8: Project 2: Students will be given a familiar melody and will work in pairs to create a suitable accompaniment. Music Theory and Piano skills will be used during this project. The goal will be to create an accompaniment that supports the melody rhythmically and harmonically, without taking precedence over it.
WEEK 9: Continuation of activities outlined in Week 8.
WEEK 10: Week 8-9 Evaluation. Students will listen to each group's projects and evaluate based on the goal outlined in Week 8. Groups will hand in their projects at the end of class to the teacher.
WEEK 11: Advanced Concepts II: MIDI and the Internet. Students will learn how to download a MIDI file from the Internet and edit it using their MIDI sequencer.
WEEK 12: Final Project: Students will work as a class to record the chorale theme from the fourth movement of Ludwig Von Beethoven's 9th Symphony ("Ode to Joy"). The goal is for the class is to work together in combining melody, accompaniment, and rhythm tracks in order to to produce an excellent rendition of this classic theme.
WEEK 13: Continuation of activities outlined in Week 12.
WEEK 14: The class will complete its final project and hand it in to the teacher. If time permits, there will be a listening and self-evaluation by the class.
