AP Music Theory
Ms. Friedrichs
Course Overview
AP Music Theory is designed for the
music student who has an understanding
of the fundamentals of music and basic
keyboard skills. The student will gain
advanced knowledge of music theory,
increased sight-singing ability, ear
training and composition. The course
will provide a solid foundation in interval
identification, scale structures, rhythmic
patterns, and terminology. This course
will serve to prepare the student for the
Advanced Placement Music Theory exam
and college entrance exams.
AP Music Theory Goals:
To develop the student’s ability to recognize,
understand, and describe the basic materials and
processes of music that are heard or presented in a
score. The achievement of this goal may be best
promoted by integrated approaches to the student’s
development of:
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Aural skills through listening exercises
Sight-singing skills through performance
exercises
Written skills through written exercises
Compositional skills through creative exercises
Analytical skills through analytical exercises.
The course will first seek to instill mastery of the
rudiments and terminology of music, including
hearing and notating:
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Pitches
Intervals
Scales and keys
Chords
Meter
Rhythm
Building on this foundation, the course should
progress to include more sophisticated and creative
tasks, such as:
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Melodic and harmonic dictation
Composition of a bass line for a given melody,
implying appropriate harmony
Realization of a figured bass
Realization of a Roman numeral progression
Analysis of repertoire, including melody,
harmony, rhythm, texture, and form
Sight-singing
Fundamentals of Music
Notation
 Scales, Tonality, Key

ex. F# Harmonic Minor Scale

Modes
ex. Phrygian, Mixolydian, Ionian

Intervals
P1

M2
M3
P4
P5
Chords
•Major
•Minor
•Augmented
•Half-diminished
•Fully-diminished
•7th and extended chords
M6
M7
P8
The Structural Elements of Music
Cadences and Non harmonic Tones
 Melodic Organization
 Texture and Textural Reduction
 Species Counterpoint
 Voice leading in Four-Part Chorale Writing
 Harmonic Progression and Harmonic
Rhythm
 Modulation
 Form

Figured Bass
Figured bass as it
appears originally:
6
6
6
4
Same figured bass
harmonized in four-part
harmony:
6
6
6
4
Roman Numeral Analysis
Crüger: “Herr, ich habe missgehandelt” (“Lord, I
have transgressed”), mm. 1-9.
i
V
i6
V
i
iv
V7
i
Summary
AP Music Theory is an
interactive class in which
students can apply their
knowledge to different
styles of music, whether
choral, instrumental, 14th
century through present
day, classical, popular or
jazz.