• Offered by School of Music
  • ANU College ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Course subject Music
  • Areas of interest Musicology, Music
  • Academic career UGRD
  • Course convener
    • Alexander Hunter
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Offered in Second Semester 2020
    See Future Offerings

The Music Theory & Aural Skills courses are a series of courses compulsory for all Bachelor of Music students that develop core skills underpinning analytical and practical engagement in a variety of musical idioms, including common practice, jazz, and popular styles. This course continues the skill development in Music Theory & Aural Skills 1 and introduces students to more complex rhythmic, pitch, and harmonic structures. The theory component is complemented with the sequential and aligned development of relevant aural skills, including an aural awareness of basic melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic structures.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. define and describe, through prose and notation, the fundamental elements of music, including pitch, harmony, tonality, rhythm, metre, form and structure;
  2. apply theoretical knowledge through analysis of music from common practice, jazz, and popular music repertoire using appropriate terminology and notation;
  3. demonstrate an ability to read and apply music notation, including inner hearing of more complex melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements through sight-singing, sight-reading, and performance activities; and
  4. aurally identify the fundamental elements of music with greater fluency, as demonstrated through notation and/or performance tasks.

Other Information

Hurdle requirement: A minimum mark of 50% cumulatively across all assessment items in the aural component, and a minimum mark of 50% cumulatively across all assessment items in the theory component, is required to pass the course, regardless of performance in other items.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Mid-Semester test (theory and aural), 1.5 hours, held during class in Week 6 (30) [LO 1,2,3,4]
  2. Final examination (theory and aural), 2 hours, held during the exam period (40) [LO 1,2,3,4]
  3. Portfolio assessment (30) [LO 1,2,3,4]

In response to COVID-19: Please note that Semester 2 Class Summary information (available under the classes tab) is as up to date as possible. Changes to Class Summaries not captured by this publication will be available to enrolled students via Wattle. 

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

130 hours of total student learning time made up from:
a) 48 hours of contact over 12 weeks of Theory & Aural workshops; and
b) 82 hours of independent study, including listening and written tasks, and practical exercises (e.g., sight-singing).

Inherent Requirements

NA

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must have completed MUSI1105 or have equivalent level of musical proficiency as demonstrated by a placement test, or with permission of the convenor. You are not able to enrol in this course if you have previously completed ANUC1136.

You will need to contact the School of Music to request a permission code to enrol in this course.

Prescribed Texts

NA

Preliminary Reading

Clendinning, J. P., & Marvin, E. W. (2014). The Musician’s Guide to Fundamentals (2nd ed). New York: W.W. Norton.
Root, Jena. (2014). Applied Music Fundamentals: Writing, Singing, and Listening. New York: Oxford University Press.
Snodgrass, J. S. (2016). Contemporary Musicianship: Analysis and the Artist. New York: Oxford University Press.
Denisch, Beth. (2017). Contemporary Counterpoint: Theory and Application. Boston: Berklee.

Minors

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Student Contribution Band:
1
Unit value:
6 units

If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.  Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2020 $3120
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2020 $4800
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Second Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
7637 27 Jul 2020 03 Aug 2020 31 Aug 2020 30 Oct 2020 In Person N/A

Responsible Officer: Registrar, Student Administration / Page Contact: Website Administrator / Frequently Asked Questions