Music

About this course

Eleventh grade is the most advanced music course in the curriculum, and it is written at roughly the level of a first-year college theory class. The theory unit covers modulation to distant keys, chromatic mediant relationships, an introduction to Neo-Riemannian transformations, post-tonal pitch-class set theory with normal form, prime form, Forte names, and interval-class vectors, jazz harmony through seventh chords, extensions, and the ii-V-I, the blues scale and twelve-bar blues, and writing a four-part chorale in Bach's style. It closes with a lesson explicitly aimed at the AP Music Theory exam, naming what is tested -- figured bass realization, Roman numeral analysis including Neapolitan and augmented sixth chords, formal and cadence identification, sight-singing, and melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic dictation -- and telling your student to work released exams under timed conditions.

The melody unit takes on Schoenberg and the twelve-tone technique, Baroque and Celtic ornamentation, the overtone series and natural harmonics, jazz improvisation over chord changes using guide tones and target notes, the development section of sonata form, advanced melodic dictation, and composing a two-voice invention in Bach's manner. Rhythm goes into polyrhythm built layer by layer the way Ewe drummers teach it, metric displacement in funk and hip-hop, three against four, samba and bossa nova, transcribing grooves from recordings, composing in odd meters, and conducting asymmetric meters with practical cueing and count-off techniques. The voice unit prepares a student who may audition: appoggio breath management, dramatic expression, leading a choir section, sight-singing chromatic passages, selecting solo repertoire for a voice type, audition preparation, recording a vocal performance, writing original lyrics, and leading congregational worship.

History covers Debussy and Impressionism, neoclassicism, expressionism and minimalism, the Christian roots of jazz in spirituals and blues, Thomas Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson, global worship styles, and music as missions, plus one unusually direct lesson that names major contemporary worship publishers, hands your student four criteria -- theological content, musical craft, balance across praise and lament, and observed fruit -- and asks for a written evaluation of three current worship songs. The course runs 72 lessons in eight units of nine, about 40 minutes each, with units 7 and 8 returning to rhythm and melody from a fresh practical angle rather than repeating earlier material. Each lesson is a dense reading ending with an exercise or project, followed by a ten-question quiz that grades itself. There is no audio and no scored examples to play, which is a real limitation at this level -- the dictation, improvisation, and ear-training work needs sound, so a keyboard and a willingness to find recordings are close to necessary if your student intends to sit the AP exam. Ninth and tenth grade music, or equivalent theory background, is genuinely assumed here.

What the course covers

• Distant modulation, chromatic mediants, and Neo-Riemannian transformations
• Post-tonal set theory: normal form, prime form, and interval-class vectors
• Jazz harmony, extensions, the ii-V-I, and the twelve-bar blues
• Four-part chorale writing and two-voice invention in Bach's style
• Twelve-tone technique, atonal analysis, ornamentation, and natural harmonics
• Advanced polyrhythm, metric displacement, and odd-meter composition
• Conducting asymmetric meters and transcribing grooves by ear
• Appoggio breathing, audition preparation, and leading a choir section
• Impressionism, minimalism, jazz origins, gospel evolution, and music as missions
• Evaluating contemporary worship music theologically, and AP exam preparation

What your student will be able to do

• Write a four-part chorale and realize a figured bass with correct voice leading
• Analyze tonal and post-tonal music using Roman numerals or pitch-class sets
• Improvise over a ii-V-I or twelve-bar blues using guide tones
• Compose and conduct music in asymmetric and displaced meters
• Take melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic dictation at an advanced level
• Evaluate a worship song for doctrinal accuracy, singability, and balance

Scope and sequence

All 8 units of Music for Grade 11, in the order they are taught.

Every lesson, by title

All 72 lesson titles are listed here — nothing is withheld until you download. Open a unit to read its contents.

One whole lesson, exactly as it comes

This is a real lesson taken from the middle of the course — the teaching text, the practice, the homework, and the first three quiz questions with their answers. It is not a marketing excerpt.

What you will need

Drawn from the materials named across all 72 lessons of this course. Most families already own most of it.