Musicianship for Actors (256-0-20)

Instructors

David Chavannes

Meeting Info

Wirtz Center BERGEN: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

In this practice-intensive course, students develop foundational aural, sight-reading, rhythm, and practice skills for success as a musical theatre practitioner. The goal is to improve your ability to learn and perform music theatre repertoire independently. Across three modules, you will:
(1) Learn to sing and identify scales and intervals using solfège (Module 1);
(2) Develop a strong internal sense of rhythm and acquire effective practice habits (Module 2);
(3) Develop confidence integrating your pitch and rhythm skills to sight-read and teach yourself songs from sheet music (Module 3).

The course culminates in a final demonstration of your ability to both sight-read and teach yourself new music.

Learning Objectives

Course-Level Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
(1) Sight-sing a musical passage of low difficulty with at least 90% pitch and rhythm accuracy while maintaining a consistent tempo.
(2) Independently learn a song of moderate difficulty from sheet music using a piano, demonstrating at least 90% pitch and rhythm accuracy.

Class Materials (Required)

(1) Carta No. 9 manuscript book (available from any online retailer, including the publisher Hal Leonard)
(2) Pencil: Music theory work often involves making corrections, so always use a pencil (never a pen) when notating rhythms and melodies.
(3) Smartphone, Laptop, or Tablet for accessing Canvas and ear-training software for practice exercises and homework.
(4) Headphones
(5) Digital metronome (e.g., Pro Metronome, or The Metronome by Soundbrenner)
(6) Access to a Piano or Digital Keyboard for practicing, homework, and learning music.

$1-25

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: This class is open to theatre students only until the end of pre-registration, after which time enrollment will be open to everyone who has taken the prerequisites