MTC 1

The fourth class that I took this past term was “Music Theory and Composition 1”. This was by far the most involved class in terms of workload, so much information was covered each week. If I wasn’t familiar with most of the material already I think I would have really struggled with this class.

That being said there was plenty of information that was either new to me or needed clarification: box notation, identifying motifs & phrases, figured bass, counterpoint, free organum, harmonic analysis, imaginary bar lines, stable & unstable tones, classical voice leading, chord function harmonization, reharmonization, modal interchange, voice leading 7th & extended chords, drum set notation, writing walking bass parts, chord scales, passing tones, neighbor tones, non-chord tones, tensions, tension substitutions, dynamic markings, hybrid chords and score layouts.

There was a lot covered each week and time management became a crucial factor in getting everything done. Once the coursework was completed I needed to write, record, edit and mix at least one new composition a week. At times I got lost in the details and needed to fall back on what I had learned about time management from corporate life. Creating a “Plan A” (best case scenario) and “Plan B” (worst case scenario) helped me to get refocused on what needed to be done, how to do it and how much time it would take. The great thing about this approach was that I often got Plan A results in the same amount of time Plan B would take. I really need to remember to revisit this process with future class assignments.