Music 124 - Beginning Theory Skills
Jim Scully, Instructor

Jim Scully
Office: MUS 107
Phone: 654.2511
Cell: 330.9304
Email: jscully@csub.edu

Important Links
Keyboard Assignments
Solfegé Syllables

Days and Times: T and TR from 11:20 to 12:10 PM in Music Building, room 118.

CSU Employee Furloughs – Impact on Classes: This year across this campus and around the CSU system some class days will be cancelled because of furloughs. A furlough is mandatory un-paid time off; faculty and staff on each CSU campus are being “furloughed” two days per month. These cancelled class days are October 15 and November 10. It is important to recognize that these days off are not holidays. Instead, they are concrete examples of how massive state budget cuts have consequences for you as students and for me as a faculty member.

Office Hours: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM. I am also available for appointments outside of these times if need be. Contact me by phone or email to request an appointment.

Required Books:

Music for Sight Singing, 7th Edition by Robert W. Ottman

Studying Rhythm by Anne Carothers Hall

Recommended Books:

Melodia: A Course in Sight Singing Solfeggio by Samuel W. Cole and Leo R. Lewis

Rhythmic Training by Robert Starer

The Grammar of Conducting - A Comprehensive Guide to Baton Technique and Interpretation by Max Rudolf

The required textbooks should be available in the Runner Bookstore. The recommended textbooks are simply other books that are likely to show up again in your studies at CSUB and could be helpful to you in your studies in the Theory Skills cycle of courses this year. I encourage you to shop around when purchasing these books...they can be very expensive.

Other Required Materials: Electronic Metronome, Manuscript Paper (quite a lot of it!), pencils, and headphones with a 1/8 inch audio adapter. Please have these items by the 2nd week of classes.

Attendance: Daily attendance is REQUIRED. 

Assignments: There are WEEKLY assignments in some or all of the following disciplines: sight singing, interval recognition, rhythmic training, keyboard skills and dictation.  You will be tested on these assignments EVERY WEEK.  The tests are administered in many ways - here is the breakdown:

One-on-one testing with the instructor:  The sight singing, rhythmic training and keyboard aspects will be tested individually OUTSIDE of class time. Students will sign-up for an appropriate time block when they will be tested on the specific assignment for that week. 

The tests will be held on Friday mornings between 8 AM and 12 noon - most likely in an empty practice room.  There will be three (3) of these one-on-one exams throughout the quarter, with each one being worth roughly 100 points.

In-Class Dictation Exams: There will be four (4) in-class dictation exams.  Students will be tested on melody, rhythm, intervals and chord progressions during class time on certain Thursdays. These dictation exams are worth between 50 and 75 points each, depending on the length of the excerpts that need to be notated.

Final Exam: There will be a final exam that consists of 50 intervals (covering the whole octave) and a series of short melodic and rhythmic dictations. This will be held at the assigned Final Exam time for MUS 124 - Tuesday Nov. 24 from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm.

Syllabus Subject to Change