Unit Objectives

By the end of this unit, students will be able to: 

• Describe strategies for incorporating diatonic and chromatic embellishing tones in melodic improvisation, improvise melodies with passing tones, neighbor tones, and appoggiaturas, and transcribe a song selection that includes embellishing tones with stepwise motion.

• Sight read, improvise, and transcribe rhythms that incorporate subdivisions in compound time, including dotted-8th patterns, and syncopation at the subdivision level. 

• Transcribe song excerpts that incorporate chromatic embellishing tones, suspensions, and blues scales; and identify examples of "blue notes" in recordings. 

• Given a recording of a song, improvise a countermelody to accompany the music.