Embedded Files
Objectives
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Aurally identify the mode of an example as major or minor.
Sight-read and transcribe melodies featuring diatonic steps and leaps within the minor tonic triad in Western notation.
Sight read and aurally recognize rhythms in compound time incorporating dotted quarter and half notes, and 8th note divisions.
Preparation for Class
Preparation for Class
Read:
Read:
If you'd like a review of minor scales, see the overview in the Fundamentals text here for Minor. Complete practice, as needed. (See the practice sections on these pages).
Compound Meter (Foundations of Aural Skills)
Distinguishing Compound from Triple (Foundations of Aural Skills)
Additional Dictation Advice (Foundations of Aural Skills)
Explore
Explore
Do-Me-Sol ID: Practice identifying Do, Me, and Sol, given Do. Here's the drill. Try to get as many correct in a row as you can without hitting the reference note between notes. Keep at it until it gets easy and you don't need the reference note anymore.
You can customize the drill here to make it easier or harder.
Tuning Do-Me-Sol: Practice skipping between Do, Me, and Sol in different keys against a sounding drone pitch. Sing slowly and focus on intonation.
Study Aids
Study Aids
Scale degree, solfege, and functional names for notes in the minor scale
In-Class Activities
In-Class Activities
Discussion
Discussion
Intervallic Relationships: Discuss the intervallic relationships between scale degrees 1, b3, and 5 in the minor scale. Explore the different intervals formed between these scale degrees, including minor thirds, major thirds, and perfect fourths. Discuss how these intervals contribute to the unique character and emotional qualities of the minor mode.
Expressive Nuances: Discuss the expressive nuances that can be conveyed through the performance of skips between scale degrees 1, b3, and 5 in minor. Explore how dynamics, articulation, phrasing, and ornamentation can enhance the emotional impact of the melodic skips.
Major vs. Minor: A lot of songs in popular music start in one mode, then shift into another (e.g. the verse may be in major, while the chorus is in minor). Check out the mode page in your anthology for a list of songs that use both modes. Try to identify which mode you're hearing at each indicated section, then discuss why you think the artist chose to change the mode where they did and what the effect is.
Activities
Activities
Improvising with 1, b3, and 5.
Point & Sing: Open the minor solfege ladder. Practice stepping and skipping between Do, Me, and Sol as a classmate or instructor points to each syllable. Have students come up to improvise melodies by pointing to syllables on the ladder that only skip or step between Do, Me, and Sol.
Improvised Melodies: Looking at the solfège ladder as a visual guide, make up a 3–5 note melody that steps or skips between Do, Me, and Sol. Have your partner pick up on the melody by starting with the last note of your segment (e.g. Do-Me-Fa-Sol, Sol-Le-Sol-Do, Do-Ti-Do, etc.)
Multiple Choice Pattern Dictation: A group member or your instructor selects patterns to play (or to string together into melodies) from this selection of Minor Key Patterns. Notate the pattern number that you heard in the order you heard it. Sing each one back using solfège syllables.
Melodic Dictation: Transcribe short melodies that contain skips and leaps between scale degrees 1, b3, and 5 in minor. Discuss strategies for rhythmic and melodic dictation as you work. See the link to the melody section for this unit in the anthology below.
Repertoire for Practice
Repertoire for Practice
Sight Reading & Dictation:
Rhythm: Compound meters with 8th note divisions.
Melody: Skips between 1, b3, and 5 in the minor mode.
Major vs. Minor Mode ID
Examples from popular music the include shifts from major to minor (or vice versa) for mode ID practice.
Additional Optional Practice
Additional Optional Practice
Musition:
Rhythm Tapping: Level 2a
Auralia:
Rhythm Element Dictation: Level 1a
Rhythm Dictation: Levels 3a
Two-Part Rhythmic Dictation: Levels 4a, 4b
Auralia:
Tonality: Level 1
Solfege ID: Levels 2a, 3a
Pitch Dictation: Levels 4–6
Melodic Dictation: Level 2c, 2d
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