MUS 110L, Aural Skills I
1 credit
Every Fall Semester
Tues & Thurs — 10:00 to 10:50 am
Keyboard Lab (JFAC 175) 		Instructor: William Wieland
Office: Spafford Hall Room 304
Phone: 626-2499
Office Hours: Please refer to my Class Schedule.
E-mail Address: William.Wieland@northern.edu
(I usually respond within 24 hours except weekends and holidays.)
Course Description: Students will be taught sight singing and dictation skills that will prepare them to “see with their ears and hear with their eyes.” Students will learn simple to advanced applications of writing down music from aural performance, and learn to quickly analyze melodies by singing them at sight.
Instructional Methods: Listening, lecture, discussion, analysis, singing, playing, Internet tutorials, online drills, quizzes, and a comprehensive final exam.
Materials: Please bring a pencil, paper, scratch paper, and staff paper to every class. (Other sizes of free staff paper can be printed from my web site. Go to Theory Things and look under Staff Paper.) You will also receive handouts.
Great Apps: musictheory.net
Objectives: (from the NASM Handbook 2023–24, Section VIII. B. Common Body of Knowledge and Skills)
1. c. Students must acquire the ability to read at sight with fluency.
2. a. Students must acquire an understanding of the common elements and organizational patterns of music and their interaction, the ability to employ this understanding in aural, verbal, and visual analyses, and the ability to take aural dictation.
2. b. Students must acquire sufficient understanding of and capability with musical forms, processes, and structures to use this knowledge and skill in compositional, performance, analytical, scholarly, and pedagogical applications according to the requisites of their specializations.
5. While synthesis is a lifetime process, by the end of undergraduate study students must be able to work on musical problems by combining, as appropriate to the issue, their capabilities in performance; aural, verbal, and visual analysis; composition/improvisation; and history and repertory.
Performance Standards / Grading Policies: I weigh MUS 110L grades as follows:
A — 90% to 100%
B — 80% to 90%
C — 70% to 80%
D — 60% to 70%
F — Below 60%
To pass MUS 110L, you must
  • earn at least a 60% semester grade average,
  • sing a major scale in tune, ascending and descending, with Solfège from memory,
  • perform 2-handed Tapping: Eighths with fewer than 4 minor errors, and
  • pass the Final Exam, i.e. score 60% or higher.
  • 2 Exceptions:
    1. If your semester grade average is 70% or higher, but your final exam grade is in the 50s, you will receive a D rather than an F for the semester.
    2. If your final exam grade is 70% or higher, but your semester grade average is in the 50s, you will receive a D rather than an F for the semester.
Quizzes and Performing Evaluations: You may retake any quiz and/or performing evaluation during my office hours before 5:00 pm on the last day of class. However, you may only retake a particular quiz or performing evaluation once a day. I will record only the highest grades. Note: Even if you earn a good grade on the first attempt at a quiz, you may wish to take it again as a review. Most quiz material appears on the final exam.
What is an A? An A is going beyond what is usual. Students who simply meet minimum course requirements earn Bs or Cs. An A indicates extraordinary work and a B is a good grade.
Attendance: Regular daily attendance is strongly recommended and is required during class exercises, activities and quizzes. Of course, those with certified and serious reasons for missing class will be accomodated. Excessive absenteeism or tardiness usually results in lower grades. Students are responsible for information missed as a result of being absent or tardy.
Northern State University Policy Statements   Technology in the Classroom
Caveat: This syllabus is subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances.