MUSC 393: Keyboard Harmony

Class meetings: AED 320

010: MW, 12:20-1:10 PM
Spring 2017 Syllabus

Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Shafer

Email: shafer@udel.edu (please allow 24 hours for response)
Office Hours: Monday, 3-4:30 PM, Thursday, 2:00-3:30 PM, or by appointment; AED 310

Course description
The course catalog description for this course is as follows: Practical course for the development of facility in
applying knowledge of harmony to the keyboard. Emphasis on figured bass, score reading and improvisation.

In this course we will work on learning idiomatic progressions and sequences, harmonizing melodies and
creating accompaniments, score reading with transposing instruments and various clefs, and improvisation
exercises which tie in elements from other components [PLG 1]. In order to achieve these outcomes, you will
also be developing coordination of three important partners in keyboard skills: your mind (knowledge of
harmony), your body (development of facility), and your ear (always a key element of your work as a
musician). The synthesis of these partners will represent a synthesis and culmination of your keyboard and
harmony work thus far, and the skills that you learn in this class will serve you well in any career that you
pursue in a music-related field (composer, conductor, teacher, accompanist)

(For more information about the UD Department of Musics Programmatic Learning Goals (PLGs), please
visit the assessment page.)

Course outcomes
Students will exemplify familiarity with each of the required skills in the course through regular in-
class assessment of assigned exercises and activities.
Students will experiment with improvisation (in the form of standards-based grading, with 8
creative/improvisation-based outcomes) through specified class activities and bi-weekly 15-minute
improvisation recordings, to be accompanied by reflection journals.
Students will demonstrate understanding of application of score-reading and transposition skills to
real life settings (beyond the limitations of this class). Students will demonstrate this understanding
by devising a final project relevant to their individual discipline which focuses on one or both of
these elements.
Students will set goals, map out manageable sub-goals, and assess their own progress towards the
stated goal of their final project. Students will show development of these skills by constructing a
plan to complete their individual final project, self-evaluating their progress towards this goal, and
self-assessing necessary adjustments and improvements to their plan in order to reach their intended
goal.
 Required texts and materials
1. A 3-ring binder to store and organize handouts and exercises.
2. You must have your own hard copy of any exercise to be played in class, as well as (at least) the
following three class periods. This will allow us to effectively use class time for assessment, practice,
and discussion, and will allow you to make notes on the music to assist you as you practice. You have
two options for procuring these hard copies; regardless of which option you take, you must always
have a hard copy available.
1. Purchase the books from which most the exercises will be drawn (also linked on Canvas):
a) Morris, Reginald Owen. Figured harmony at the keyboard. Vol. 1. Oxford University
Press, 1932. (ISBN: 978-0193214712)
b) Brings, et al. A new approach to keyboard harmony. Norton, 1979. (ISBN: 978-
0393950014)
c) Melcher, Robert A., and Willard F. Warch. Music for Score reading. Prentice-Hall, 1971.
(ISBN: 978-0136075073)
2. Use the handouts posted on Canvas.

Prerequisites
MUSC276 and MUSC295 with grades of C- or better.

Course Schedule

A course schedule and detailed list of assignments (both of which are tentative and therefore subject to
changes) are linked through the Canvas homepage.

Assessments will happen on a daily basis in class, and students will also be assessed outside of class time as
needed/desired (see below). Individual assessment appointments will take place outside of class during the
following weeks:

March 20th 24th

May 17th 25th (excluding reading days)

Course policies
Attendance: Attendance is crucial to your success in this course, and attendance records will be
taken daily. I realize that sometimes circumstances occur beyond our control, so I will allow two
unexcused absences for the semester. Beyond that, each unexcused absence will lower your grade by
1/3 of a letter grade (i.e., A- to B+). If you have six or more unexcused absences, you will fail the
course. In order to have an absence excused (such as for religious observance or an official music
department obligation), you must inform me in advance and provide official written documentation.
Two instances of unexcused tardiness will equal one absence.
Absences, missed work, course website: Assessments will take place on a daily basis in class, so if
you have to miss class, you should plan to make up the assessment outside of class timethis is best
accomplished if you email me in advance and schedule a time to meet. A missed assessment earns a 0
until it is made up, even if the absence is excused. If you miss class, you are responsible for the
material from that class; make arrangements in advance to consult with a classmate, and study the
assignments for the upcoming classes beforehand so that you can ask me questions as needed. All
students are also responsible for keeping up with information and assignments as posted on the
Canvas course site; consider adjusting your notifications settings to assist you.
Participation: No eating or drinking during class, with the exception of bottled waterwhich must
be kept on the floor. In order to benefit as much as you can from this class, I ask that you be fully
 present in class, including participation in class discussion and activities. To this end, cellphones must
be silenced and put away during class. Use of your phone or any other electronic device for purposes
not directly related to the course (texting/tweeting/Instagram/email) suggests that you are not
mentally present in the class, and as a result you will incur an absence for that class period.

Outside Practice
Students should plan for at least two high-quality hours outside of class every week. If practice time
and quality are diminished due to interruptions, more than two hours may be required. It is
recommended that work for the following meeting is begun as early as possible, and that practice is
divided between multiple sessions. Experience consistently proves that students who cram for this
course week after week do not build the foundation on which progress is possible.
On the other hand, please do not go overboard with the materials for this course, all of which are
challenging, and all of which will take years for you to feel completely comfortable with. No student
is expected to practice excessively for this course, or to play the assignments perfectly every single
class.
Students who would like practice strategies or who would like to maximize their productivity should
contact the instructor and/or set up an appointment.

Outcomes Based Grading (Subject to Change)

We will use a modified "Outcomes-Based Grading" system this semester. It is different from the 0-100%
scale, but it has some significant advantages designed to increase your learning in the course. Specifically, it
will hopefully address the following problems with traditional grading systems:
Students cram for an exam but sometimes don't retain the information.
Students can sometimes be more focused on points/percentages than learning.
Percentage grades dont give detailed feedback: a percentage grade on an assignment does not clearly
acknowledge what the student has done well, nor does it point to areas that they need to focus on.
Averaging grades together can mask weaknesses and strengths.
If a student doesn't "get it" at the time of homework being due or the exam, they lose the points and
their grade is affected, even if they clearly learn it by the end of the course.
From a teachers perspective, knowing a class average on a particular assignment (e.g. 85%) doesnt
let you know what topics the class is nailing or struggling with. A series of grades according to outcomes (or
goals or competencies) on the other hand does this quite well.

One of the advantages to this system is that you can also come up with your own ways to assess your learning
and demonstrating that learning. For each performance outcome, students may be assessed multiple times but
in some cases you may only be assessed once. For 16 of these outcomes, you will receive a score using a
scale from 04 according to a rubric for that activity (only 3 or 4 is passing). For 18 of these outcomes, you
will receive either N (not pass), P (pass), or a 4, which is both passing and boosts your final average. The
outcomes document provides a rubric describing each of these scores. Your final average in the course will be
determined based on your final score for each outcome; there are ample opportunities for student-
initiated re-assessment, as described in detail below.

The list of outcomes for this course can be found linked on the Canvas homepage, along with detailed
rubrics.
Final Grade Determination:
Your final grade will be determined as follows:
A: you have a final average of at least 3.55, and no more than 2 Ns
A-: you have a final average of at least 3.45, and no more than 3 Ns
B+: you have a final average of at least 3.35, and no more than 4 Ns
B: you have a final average of at least 3.25, and no more than 5 Ns
B-: you have a final average of at least 3.15, and no more than 5 Ns
C+: you have a final average of at least 3.05, and no more than 6 Ns
C: you have a final average of at least 2.95, and no more than 7 Ns
C-: you have a final average of at least 2.85, and no more than 8 Ns
D+: you have a final average of at least 2.65, and no more than 9 Ns
D: you have a final average of at least 2.35, and no more than 11 Ns
D-: you have a final average of at least 2.05, and no more than 13 Ns
F: you have a final average of at least 1.75, or more than 13 Ns
NOTE: These numbers will NOT be rounded, i.e. a final grade of 3.54 will still be an A-, not an A.

In-class Assessment
Assessments will happen on a daily basis in class. For most class sessions, I will not be able to assess
every student on every assignment. I will randomly select which assignments I ask you to play on any
given day, which means that you need to come prepared to play all assignments each day. Keep in
mind that you are practicing and learning for the sake of the course content, not for the grade itself.
A student that does not have their own hard copy of the material being assessed will receive a 0 on
the assessment at that time (it can be re-assessed as described below). This policy is to encourage you
to maximize your productivity in preparation and practice by having materials that you can make
notes on about practice strategies or other guidelines.
Since class time will be regularly used for individual assessments, you should plan to use the time
wisely by having practice materials for this class with you every day. Your flexibility with the in-class
assessment time is necessary to the structure of the course and greatly appreciated by the instructor.
If it should happen that I am unable to assess all students during class time, you can have the
outcome assessed by either scheduling an office hour meeting, or waiting until the individual
assessment week. I recommend that you schedule an office hour time, as the topics in this course
build from one another relatively quicklymaking feedback on your progress important to your
success. In some cases, I may extend assessment into the following class meeting; you will still have
the option to schedule an office hour even if this is the case.
There will be at least two weeks slated for individual appointments (noted on the course schedule
above), where I will schedule time outside of class with each student. This time can be used to make
up any outcomes which have not been assessed yet, or to re-assess outcomes.

Re-assessment: I understand that it can take time to learn and master these skills, and that individual students
may need more time or attempts to achieve mastery. I am also confident that you are each capable of
mastering these skills, and that you will strive to excel in these areas. Therefore, you will be allowed to re-
assess any outcome until you pass it under the following conditions:
After the initial assessment, you may re-assess any outcome (subject to the students and instructors
schedules) up to two weeks past the assignments original due date. After the first re-assessment, you
may be asked to earn an additional re-assessment by completing specified activities and/or
reflections to work on the outcome.
 After the two-week mark, students will need to schedule a meeting with the instructor prior to re-
assessing the outcome. Additionally, the instructor may provide different materials for re-assessment
after the two-week mark has passed.
After April 21st, you may re-assess any outcome no more than once per week. Due to the number of
students that I teach, you should not expect to meet for more than 20 minutes per week during this
time period. This policy is intended to encourage you to pass outcomes as early as possible in the
semester, which will serve you better for continuing to develop your skills in this class. This also
helps to avoid the difficulty of waiting until the last week to make up a large number of outcomes, a
strategy that typically does not serve students well.
If you do not pass an outcome, you should attempt to re-assess the outcome at least once
every two weeks until it is passed (you are encouraged to do so once a week). Doing so will ensure
that you do not fall behind. Additionally, many of the outcomes in this course are cumulative,
building on one anotherso it is important that you work steadily on both past and present
outcomes.

Academic misconduct
All students must be honest and forthright in their academic studies. To falsify the results of ones research,
to steal the words or ideas of another, to cheat on an assignment, or to allow or assist another to commit
these acts corrupts the educational process. Students are expected to do their own work and neither give nor
receive unauthorized assistance.

When a student includes their name on a group assignment, that student is verifying the authenticity of the
entire work. Therefore, it is important to know how others in the group obtained the material they
contributed. If a violation of the Academic Honesty Policy is determined, all members of the group will share
responsibility, unless the identity of individuals involved in the dishonesty can be determined. In cases where
a student claims no knowledge of or involvement with dishonesty in group work, it will be the responsibility
of that student to demonstrate this lack of knowledge and involvement.

Any violation of this standard must be reported to the Office of Student Conduct. The faculty member, in
consultation with a representative from the Office of Student Conduct, will decide under which option the
incident is best filed and what specific academic penalty should be applied (see
http://www1.udel.edu/stuguide/16-17/code.html).

Harassment
It is unacceptable and a violation of university policy to harass, discriminate against or abuse any person
because of a person's race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age or any
other characteristic protected by applicable law. Such behavior threatens to destroy the environment of
tolerance and mutual respect that must prevail for this university to fulfill its educational mission. Contact the
Office of Equity and Inclusion http://sites.udel.edu/sexualmisconduct/how-to-report/ if you believe a
violation has occurred.

Faculty Statement on Disclosures of Instances of Sexual Misconduct

If, at any time during this course, I happen to be made aware that a student may have been the victim of
sexual misconduct (including sexual harassment, sexual violence, domestic/dating violence, or stalking), I am
obligated by federal law to inform the universitys Title IX Coordinator. The university needs to know
information about such incidents to, not only offer resources, but to ensure a safe campus environment. The
Title IX Coordinator will decide if the incident should be examined further. If such a situation is disclosed to
me in class, in a paper assignment, or in office hours, I promise to protect your privacy--I will not disclose the
incident to anyone but the Title IX Coordinator.
In the event that you, or someone you know, has experienced sexual misconduct that you would like to
discuss with a trained individual in a confidential setting, please go to the website of the Universitys Office of
Equity and Inclusion. Here, you will find resources to help you. You are not alone, and this is not your fault.
There are members of the University community that you can speak to confidentially, including licensed
counselors and members of the clergy. These individuals can be found at the Center for Counseling &
Student Development, as well as certain licensed counselors in Student Wellness & Promotion and within
pastoral care. UD provides 24-hour crisis assistance and victim advocacy and counseling. Contact 302-831-
2226, Student Health Services, to get in touch with a sexual offense support advocate.

For information on various places you can turn for help, click here. For more information on Sexual
Misconduct policies, where to get help, and reporting information please refer to
www.udel.edu/sexualmisconduct.

Inclusion of Diverse Learning Needs

This course is open to all students who meet the academic requirements for participation. Any student who
has documented a need for accommodation should contact Disability Support Services and the instructor
privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible. Disability Support Services can be reached at
302-831-4643, or dssoffice@udel.edu . DSS staff will coordinate accommodations for students.

Please note: The University of Delaware is committed to all students learning and welcomes students with
disabilities. If you have a documented disability and need for an accommodation in this course, please contact
the Office of Disability Support Services located at dssoffice@udel.edu or call 302-831-4643 to coordinate
accommodations.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

The University of Delaware is committed to social justice. I concur with that commitment and expect to
maintain a positive learning environment based upon open communication, mutual respect, and
nondiscrimination. Our University does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, age, disability, veterans
status, religion, sexual orientation, color, or national origin. Any suggestions as to how to further such a
positive and open environment in this class will be appreciated and given serious consideration.

Department Consent Clause

"I understand that the Department of Music - Music Technology Systems employees or their designees,
routinely record student ensemble rehearsals, concerts and student degree recitals for deposit in the
University of Delaware, Department of Music Archives. Often, department faculty and students also record
rehearsals and performances for other educational purposes. Often department personnel or their designees
will photograph these rehearsals or events. By being a participant or being registered for this course and
section, I hereby give my permission to the University of Delaware to use any audio or video recordings
and/or any still photographs taken of my student performances for any purposes. I understand that the
decision to consider these recordings for any use will be left to the discretion of University of Delaware
performance or ensemble faculty members, Music Technology Systems, employees or other department
personnel. The effective dates for the recordings, videotaping or photography sessions are the academic year
covered by this syllabus. There is no exclusion date on the use of the materials. This agreement covers all of
the participating events and rehearsals I am involved with."