Music for Sight Singing

NANCY ROGERS is an Associate Professor of Music Theory at Florida State University.  With research interests including music cognition and its pedagogical implications, Dr. Rogers has presented papers at national and international conferences, including meetings of the Society for Music Theory, the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, and the Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology. She was a keynote speaker at the 2009 Musical Ear conference held at Indiana University. Several recent publications may be found in Music Theory Online, the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, and Em Pauta.

Professor Rogers received her Ph.D. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music; she is a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities.  She has served as President of Music Theory Southeast, Secretary of the Society for Music Theory, and Treasurer of Music Theory Midwest.  Before coming to Florida State University, she served on the faculties of Northwestern University, the University of Iowa, and Lawrence University.

MUSIC FOR SIGHT SINGING CONTENTS

PREFACE xiii

IN MEMORIAM xvii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xix

PART I

MELODY: DIATONIC INTERVALS

RHYTHM: DIVISION OF THE BEAT

1 RHYTHM: Simple Meters; the Beat and Its Division into Two Parts 1

RHYTHMIC READING 1

Section 1 (R). The quarter note as the beat unit. Beat-note values and

larger only, 3

Section 2 (R). The quarter note as the beat unit and its division. Dotted

notes and tied notes, 4

Section 3 (R). Two-part drills, 5

Section 4 (R). Note values other than the quarter note as beat values, 7

Section 5 (R). Two-part drills, 9

2 MELODY: Stepwise Melodies, Major Keys

RHYTHM: Simple Meters;The Beat and Its Division into Two Parts 12

SIGHT SINGING, 12

Section 1. Major keys, treble clef, the quarter note as the beat

unit. Key signatures with no more than three sharps

or three flats, 13

Section 2. Bass clef, 16

Section 3. Other meter signatures, 19

Section 4. Duets, 20

Section 5. Structured improvisation, 22

3 MELODY: Intervals from the Tonic Triad, Major Keys

RHYTHM: Simple Meters 24

Section 1. Major keys, treble clef, intervals of the third, fourth, fifth,

and octave from the tonic triad. The quarter note as the

beat unit, 26

Section 2. Bass clef, 31

Section 3. Interval of the sixth; minor sixth, ˆ3 up to ˆ1, and major

sixth, ˆ5 up to ˆ3, or descending, 33

Section 4. The half note and the eighth note as beat units, 35

Section 5. Duets, 37

Section 6. Key signatures with five, six, and seven sharps or flats, 40

Section 7. Structured improvisation, 44

4 MELODY: Intervals from the Tonic Triad, Major Keys

RHYTHM: Compound Meters;The Beat and Its Division intoThree Parts 45

Section 1 (R). Rhythmic reading: The dotted quarter note as the beat

unit. Single lines and two-part drills, 46

Section 2. Sight singing: major keys, treble clef; the dotted quarter

note as the beat unit, 50

Section 3. Sight singing: Bass clef, 53

Section 4 (R). Rhythmic reading: The dotted half note and the dotted

eighth note as beat units, including two-part drills, 57

Section 5. Sight singing: The dotted half note and dotted eighth

note as beat units, 59

Section 6. Duets, 61

Section 7. Structured improvisation, 63

5 MELODY: Minor Keys; Intervals from the Tonic Triad

RHYTHM: Simple and Compound Meters 65

Section 1. Simple meters, 67

Section 2. Compound meters, 72

 Section 3. Duets, 74

Section 4. Structured improvisation, 77

6 MELODY: Intervals from the Dominant (V) Triad; Major

and Minor Keys

RHYTHM: Simple and Compound Meters 78

Section 1. Intervals of the third from the V triad; major keys; simple

meters, 80

Section 2. Intervals of the third from the V triad; minor keys; simple

meters, 82

Section 3. Intervals of the fourth and fifth from the V triad; major

and minor keys; simple meters, 84

Section 4. Interval of the sixth from the V triad; simple

meters, 89

Section 5. Compound meters; various intervals from

the V triad, 90

Section 6. Numerator of 3, compound meters, 92

Section 7. Duets, 93

Section 8. Structured improvisation, 97

7 THE C CLEFS: Alto and Tenor Clefs 98

Section 1. The alto clef, 99

Section 2. The tenor clef, 104

Section 3. Additional practice in the C clefs, 107

Section 4. Structured improvisation, 108

8 MELODY: Further Use of Diatonic Intervals

RHYTHM: Simple and Compound Meters 110

Section 1. Single-line melodies, 111

Section 2. Bass lines, 112

Section 2. Duets, 124

Section 3. Structured improvisation, 125

9 MELODY: Intervals from the Dominant Seventh Chord (V7);

Other Diatonic Intervals of the Seventh

RHYTHM: Simple and Compound Meters 128

Section 1. The complete dominant seventh chord, 127

Section 2. The interval of the minor seventh: ˆ5 up to ˆ4 or

reverse, 128

Section 3. The interval of the tritone, 132

Section 4. Other uses of diatonic intervals of the seventh, 136

Section 5. Structured improvisation, 138

PART II

MELODY: DIATONIC INTERVALS

RHYTHM: SUBDIVISION OF THE BEAT

10 RHYTHM: The Subdivision of the Beat:The Simple Beat into Four Parts,

The Compound Beat into Six Parts 139

RHYTHMIC READING, SIMPLE METERS, 139

Section 1 (R). Preliminary exercises, simple meters, 139

Section 2 (R). Rhythmic reading exercises in simple meters, 140

Section 3 (R). Two-part drills, simple meters, 143

RHYTHMIC READING, COMPOUND METERS, 144

Section 4 (R). Preliminary exercises, compound meters, 145

Section 5 (R). Rhythmic reading exercises in compound meters, 146

Section 6 (R). Two-part drills, compound meters, 149

11 MELODY: Intervals from the Tonic and Dominant Triads

RHYTHM: Subdivision in Simple and Compound Meters 152

Section 1. Major keys, 152

Section 2. Minor keys, 157

Section 3. Structured improvisation, 160

12 MELODY: Further Use of Diatonic Intervals

RHYTHM: Subdivision in Simple and Compound Meters 162

Section 1. Diatonic intervals except the seventh and

the tritone, 162

Section 2. The dominant seventh (V7) chord; intervals of

the seventh and the tritone, 174

Section 3. Other uses of the interval of the seventh, 179

Section 4. Structured improvisation, 180

PART III

MELODY: CHROMATICISM

RHYTHM: FURTHER RHYTHMIC PRACTICES

13 MELODY: Chromaticism (I): Chromatic Nonharmonic Tones;

The Dominant of the Dominant (V/V) Harmony;

Modulation to the Key of the Dominant 182

Section 1. Chromatic nonharmonic tones. Augmented and

diminished intervals created by their use, 182

 Section 2. The secondary dominant chord, V/V or V7/V.

Modulation from a major key to its dominant key, 187

Section 3. Duets, 209

Section 4. Structured improvisation, 213

14 MELODY: Chromaticism (II): Modulation to Closely Related Keys;

Additional Secondary Dominant Harmonies 215

Section 1. Single-line melodies, 216

Section 2. Duets, 233

Section 3. Structured improvisation, 241

15 RHYTHM and Syncopation 243

 MELODY:

RHYTHMIC READING, 244

Section 1 (R). Divided beat patterns in simple meters, 244

Section 2 (R). Divided beat patterns in compound meters, 245

Section 3 (R). Two-part drills, 246

Section 4 (R). Subdivided beat patterns in simple meters, 248

Section 5 (R). Subdivided beat patterns in compound meters, 249

Section 6 (R). Two-part drills, 250

SIGHT SINGING, 251

Section 7. Divided beat patterns in simple meters, 251

Section 8. Divided beat patterns in compound meters, 260

Section 9. Duets, 263

Section 10. Subdivided beat patterns in simple and compound

meters, 268

Section 11. Structured improvisation, 274

16 RHYTHM and Triplet Division of Undotted Note Values;

MELODY: Duplet Division of Dotted Note Values 275

RHYTHMIC READING, 276

Section 1 (R). Triplet division of undotted note values, 276

Section 2 (R). Duplet division of dotted note values, 279

Section 3 (R). Two-part drills, 280

SIGHT SINGING, 282

Section 4. Triplet division of undotted note values, 282

Section 5. Duplet division of dotted note values, 291

Section 6. Duets, 295

Section 7. Structured improvisation, 300

17 RHYTHM and Changing Meter Signatures;The Hemiola;

MELODY: Less Common Meter Signatures 302

 RHYTHMIC READING, 302

Section 1 (R). Definitions and rhythmic reading exercises, 302

SIGHT SINGING, 306

Section 2. Changing meter signatures, 306

Section 3. The hemiola, 309

Section 4. Meters of 5 and 7, and other meters, 314

Section 5. Structured improvisation, 321

18 RHYTHM and Further Subdivision of the Beat;

MELODY: Notation in Slow Tempi 322

Section 1 (R). Rhythmic reading, 323

Section 2. Sight singing, 325

Section 3. Structured improvisation, 333

19 MELODY: Chromaticism (III): Additional Uses of Chromatic Tones;

Remote Modulation 334

Section 1. Chromatic tones in less common intervals, 334

Section 2. The Neapolitan sixth, 339

Section 3. Remote modulation, 344

Section 4. Structured improvisation, 353

PART IV

THE DIATONIC MODES AND

TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSIC

20 MELODY: The Diatonic Modes 354

Section 1. Folk music, 355

Section 2. Composed music, 363

Section 3. Structured improvisation, 371

21 RHYTHM and The Twentieth Century 372

MELODY:

Section 1 (R). Meter and rhythm. Rhythmic reading, 372

Section 2. Extensions of the traditional tonal system, 375

Section 3. Symmetrical collections; the whole-tone and octatonic

scales, 389

Section 4. Freely post-tonal melodies; twelve-tone melodies, 395

Section 5. Duets, 399

Section 6. Structured improvisation, 406

APPENDIX A: RHYTHM SOLMIZATION 409

APPENDIX B: PITCH SOLMIZATION 412

APPENDIX C: MUSICAL TERMS 415