Advanced Harmony, Counterpoint and Ethnic Music Writing

Course Code:

MUS 1201

Course Credit Units:

4

Semester:

Semester 2

Year of Study:

Year 1

Undergraduate or Graduate Level:

Undergraduate Level

Academic Programs:

Bachelor Of Arts (Music)

College:

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

School:

School of Liberal and Performing Arts

Department:

Music Dance Drama

Course Discipline:

Music

Course Description & Objectives:

The pre-requisite course is MUS 1106. This course offers music writing skills in advanced tonal harmony and orchestration to enable students compose music, both in western tonal musical and ethnic music styles. In this course, theory acquisition is the access to the practical skill; theory and practice work closely together. Objectives:

To equip students with skills of advanced tonal harmony, so as to write and arrange music in Western art musical style
To equip students with skills to write poems on given ethnic topics and to set ethnic music to these poems.
To equip students with skills to compose music informed by African contemporary art musical style
To equip students with skills to compose music style based on the indigenous musical styles of the Ugandan people

Learning Outcomes:

Ability to competently use non-harmonic tones, six-four chords, seventh chords, secondary dominant and secondary dominant seventh chords, chromatic sixth chords in the composition
Ability to arrange a given chorale/hymn for winds
Ability to transcribe ethnic children’s play songs and set them to music with the accompaniment of ethnic strings, winds, drums, and voice
Ability to write poems on a given topic using at least one ethnic language