This open set of music dictation assignments, practice assignments, and supplemental videos was created under a Round Ten ALG Textbook Transformation Grant.

Topics covered include:

Protonotation
Standard Notation
Dots and Ties
Simple and Compound Meter
Modes
Syncopations
Arpeggiations
Harmonic Dictations in Major and Minor Keys
Seventh Chords
Applied Chords
Augmented Chords
Modal Mixture

This open e-book is the result of a project funded by a University of Edinburgh Student Experience Grant, Open e-Textbooks for access to music education. The project was a collaboration between Open Educational Resources Service, and staff and student interns from the Reid School of Music. As a proof-of-concept endeavour, the project aimed to explore how effectively we could convert existing course content into convenient and reusable open formats suitable for use by staff and students both within and beyond the University. The resulting e-book presents open licensed educational materials that deal with the building blocks of musical stave (sometimes known as staff) notation, a language designed to communicate about musical ideas which is in use around the world. The resources in this e-book include video lectures and their transcripts, as well as supporting text explanations, examples and illustrations. The materials introduce topics such as the organisation of discrete pitches into scales and intervals, and temporal organisation of musical sounds as duration, in rhythm and metre. These rudiments are presented through an introduction to the elements of five-line stave notation, and through critical discussion of the advantages and limitations served by notational systems in the representation and analysis of musical sounds. This serves as the basis of further explanations, to illustrate musical concepts including key, time signature, harmonisation, cadence and modulation. We anticipate that subsequent versions of this e-book will update and develop the contents and presentation of the materials, following the success of this student-led collaboration.

Table of Contents
Preface
Topic 0 Music theory in critical and global context
Topic 1 Musical notes, scales, and the rudiments of notation
Topic 2 Tonal music language - concepts and theory
Topic 3 Musical Time and Rhythm
Topic 4 More on Chords
Topic 5 Music theory code-breaking reference guide
Topic 6 Chord functions in practice

This course is designed to introduce students to the materials, methods, and current trends in music teaching at the elementary level, AS WELL AS learn how to locate, assess, use, and cite Open Educational Resources appropriate for elementary music.  

This Music Appreciation textbook was created under an ALG Round Five Textbook Transformation Grant. The original copy was presented in five modules, which are provided as separate files.

Authors' Description:

"The author of this text has intentionally kept it general in nature in order to create a platform for those who want to expand content into more in depth studies of the mentioned concepts and traditions. I believe that appreciation of any subject comes from open-minded exposure to that topic. With the arts this generally must happen at a moment when the message and meaning of the work resonates naturally with the appreciator.

Each instructor of music appreciation brings a unique expertise in differing genres. I encourage you to utilize this text along with musical examples of your choice. The music appreciation specific goals (found in the syllabus) vary between individual classes as the instructors see fit. These goals will be achieved by those who have competently met all of the requirements of the course. For the course that this text accompanies the goals for each student are:

To gain basic exposure to the elements of music and their treatment in music
To learn historical and cultural signifiers in a diverse body of music • To approach listening to music actively/analytically and to reflect on the experience
To understand the factors that contribute to musical style in their own music and music presented in the course
To gain knowledge about differing musical aesthetics and trends
To become more knowledgeable and sensitive to varied human expression through music
If we endeavor together to reach these course goals the successful student will be able to:

Describe elements of music that s/he hears, employing correct musical terminology
Place music into an appropriate historical and cultural context
Listen critically and discuss a wide variety of musical styles
Analyze the stylistic features of a diverse group of musical styles
Identify nationalistic tendencies in musical expression
Identify musical diversity and aspects of our global society"
Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

This collection is the first of five dealing with the rudiments of music.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Pitch Notation in Music
2. Clef
3. Introduction to the Piano Keyboard
4. Pitch: Sharp, Flat, and Natural Notes
5. Chromatic and Diatonic Half Steps
6. Octave Designations in Music
7. Key Signatures
8. Major Keys and Scales
9. Scale Degrees of the Diatonic Scale
10. Enharmonic Spelling
11. The Circle of Fifths

This collection is the second of five dealing with the rudiments of music.

Table of Contents
1. Duration: Note Lengths in Written Music
2. Duration: Rest Length
3. Dots, Ties, and Borrowed Divisions
4. Rhythm
5. Time Signature
6. Introduction to Subdivisions in Simple Meters
7. Simple and Compound Time Signatures
8. Meter in Music
9. Introduction to Subdivisions in Compound Meters
10. Pickup Notes and Measures
11. Tempo

Music Theory for the 21st–Century Classroom is an openly–licensed online four–semester college music theory textbook. This text differs from other music theory textbooks by focusing less on four–part (SATB) voiceleading and more on relating harmony to the phrase. Also, in traditional music theory textbooks, there is little emphasis on motivic analysis and analysis of melodic units smaller than the phrase. In my opinion, this led to students having difficulty with creating melodies, since the training they are given is typically to write a “melody” in quarter notes in the soprano voice of part writing exercises. When the assignments in those texts ask students to do more than this, the majority of the students struggle to create a melody with continuity and with appropriate placement of harmonies within a phrase because the text had not prepared them to do so.

Table of Contents:

1 Basic Concepts
2 Major Scales and Key Signatures
3 Minor Scales and Key Signatures
4 Basics of Rhythm
5 Intervals
6 Triads
7 Roman Numerals and Cadences
8 Seventh Chords
9 Harmonic Progression and Harmonic Function
10 Non-Chord Tones
11 Melodic Analysis
12 Form in Popular Music
13 Phrases in Combination
14 Accompanimental Textures
15 Creating Contrast Between Sections
16 Figured Bass
17 Secondary Dominant Chords
18 Secondary Diminished Chords
19 Mode Mixture
20 The Neapolitan Chord
21 Augmented Sixth Chords
22 Modulation
23 Enharmonic Modulation
24 Binary and Ternary Forms
25 Sonata and Rondo Forms
26 Voice Leading Triads
27 Voice Leading Seventh Chords
28 Voice Leading With Non-Chord Tones
29 Voice Leading Chromatic Harmonies
30 Introduction to Counterpoint
31 Introduction to Jazz Theory
32 Impressionism and Extended Tonality
33 Set Theory
34 Serialism
35 Minimalism

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the appendix entitled “GNU Free Documentation License.”

Above all, this course is meant to help students grow in their love for music in general. This book presents how music has evolved over time, technically and emotionally, and how it is a vital part of the human existence. Music has been a part of the existence of human beings for as far back as human history can confirm.

This text provides just a small sampling of some of the various musical styles and traditions that might be found, though the skills developed in this course can be applied to any type of music.

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
1. Fundamentals
2. Classifying Instruments

II. Place
3. Ozark Music
4. Eurovision Song Contest
5. Highlife

III. Identity and Politics
6. Hip Hop
7. Chimurenga

IV. Theatre
8. Jingju
9. Kabuki

V. Dance
10. Isicathamiya
11. Hula
12. Bhangra
13. Capoeira

VI. Religion and Spirituality
14. Sema
15. Bira

Music is a mobile art. When people move to faraway places, whether by choice or by force, they bring their music along. Music creates a meaningful point of contact for individuals and for groups; it can encourage curiosity and foster understanding; and it can preserve a sense of identity and comfort in an unfamiliar or hostile environment. As music crosses cultural, linguistic, and political boundaries, it continually changes. While human mobility and mediation have always shaped music-making, our current era of digital connectedness introduces new creative opportunities and inspiration even as it extends concerns about issues such as copyright infringement and cultural appropriation.

With its innovative multimodal approach, Music on the Move invites readers to listen and engage with many different types of music as they read. The text introduces a variety of concepts related to music's travels—with or without its makers—including colonialism, migration, diaspora, mediation, propaganda, copyright, and hybridity. The case studies represent a variety of musical genres and styles, Western and non-Western, concert music, traditional music, and popular music. Highly accessible, jargon-free, and media-rich, Music on the Move is suitable for students as well as general-interest readers.

Table of Contents

Part I: Migration
Chapter 1 Colonialism in Indonesia: Music Moving with an Occupying Force
Chapter 2 The Romani Diaspora in Europe: Mutual Influences
Chapter 3 The African Diaspora in the United States: Appropriation and Assimilation

Part 2: Mediation
Chapter 4 Sound Recording and the Mediation of Music
Chapter 5 Music and Media in the Service of the State

Part 3: Mashup
Chapter 6 Composing the Mediated Self
Chapter 7 Copyright, Surveillance, and the Ownership of Music
Chapter 8 Localizations: Mediated Selves Mixing Musics

Open Music Theory is an open-source, interactive, online “text”book for college-level music theory courses. OMT was built on resources authored by Kris Shaffer, Bryn Hughes, and Brian Moseley. It is edited by Kris Shaffer and Robin Wharton, and is published by Hybrid Pedagogy Publishing.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals
Basic notation.
Meter.
Protonotation.
Rhythmic values.
Beams and borrowed divisions.
Pitches.
Scales and scale degrees.
Key signatures.
Intervals.
Triads and seventh chords.
Types of motion.

Voice-leading and model composition
Introduction to strict voice-leading.

Strict two-voice composition (species counterpoint)
Composing a cantus firmus.
Composing a first-species counterpoint.
Composing a second-species counterpoint.
Composing a third-species counterpoint.
Composing a fourth-species counterpoint.

Strict four-voice composition
Introduction to thoroughbass.
A brief history of basso continuo.
Generating Roman numerals from a figured bass line.
Composing in basso-continuo style.
Style and tendency.
Tendency tones and functional harmonic dissonances.
Realizing a figured bass in strict basso continuo style (video).

Melodic keyboard style voice-leading.
Melodic keyboard-style voice-leading schemata.
Realizing a figured bass line in melodic keyboard style (video).
Realizing an unfigured bass line (video).

Embellishing tones.

Harmony
Introduction to musical functions.
Harmonic functions.
Harmonic syntax - the idealized phrase.
Harmonic syntax - prolongation.
Performing a harmonic analysis.

Classical cadence types.
Chromatically altered subdominant chords.
Applied chords.
Modal mixture.
Modulation.

Handouts and charts
Lead-sheet and figured-bass symbols.
Harmonies (Roman numerals and functional bass) by bass scale degree.

Form
Thematic Structure in the Classical Style
Classical theme types.
The sentence.
The period.
Hybrid themes.
Compound periods.
Compound sentences.
The small ternary.
The small binary.

Theme type reference.
Thematic function reference.

Techniques of Phrase Rhythm
External Expansions.
Internal Expansions.

Sonata Form
Introduction to Sonata Theory.

Sonata form: exposition types.
Structural Points of Arrival.
Thematic Modules.
Sonata form: the recapitulation.
Sonata form: the development.
Sonata form: framing modules (intro & coda).

Rondo Form
Introduction to Rondo form.
Thematic Function in Rondo Form.
Five-Part Rondo.
Sonata Rondo.

Other formal structures in the classical style
Minuet form.

Galant Schemata
Galant schemata – opens and closes.
Galant Schemata – continuation patterns.
Galant schemata – summary.
Improvising a sentence with galant schemata.

Post-tonal music
Basics
Pitch (class).
Interval (class).
Modular 12 arithmetic.

Organizing Forces
Collections and Scales.
Symmetry and Centricity.

Set Theory
Pitch-Class Sets.
Normal Order.
Tranposition.
Inversion.
Set Class and Prime Form (1).
Set Class and Prime Form (2).
Complements.
Common Tones under Transposition.
Common Tones under Inversion.
Tranpositional Symmetry.

Twelve-Tone Theory
Basics.
Operations.
Intervallic Structure.
Derivation.
Invariance.

General post-tonal resources
Analyzing a post-tonal piece from scratch.
Analyzing atonal music.
Analyzing 12-tone music.
Glossary of atonal musical terms.
Sheet of blank chromatic-scale clock faces.

Pop/rock music
Rhythm
Syncopation in pop/rock music.

Harmony
Harmony in pop/rock music.
The “50s doo-wop” progression.
The “Singer/Songwriter” progression.
The “Puff” progression.
The blues progression.
The lament progression.
The circle-of-fifths progression (in minor)
Plagal progressions.

Form
Form in pop/rock music – overview.
Terminology and basic concepts.
Formal containers and module structures.
Formal functions.
Analytical notation.

Text and music
Analyzing poetry.

Table of Contents:

I. Fundamentals
II. Counterpoint
III. Strict Four-Voice Composition, Partimenti, and Schemata
IV. Form
V. Diatonic Harmony, Tonicization, and Modulation
VI. Chromaticism
VII. Jazz
VIII. Popular Music
IX. Post-tonal music
X. Twelve-Tone Music
XI. Orchestration
Alternate Chapters
Anthology

Welcome to Resonances: Engaging Music in Its Cultural Context! Although this book is intended primarily for use in the college music appreciation classroom, it was designed with consideration for independent learners, advanced high school students, and experienced musicians. That is to say, it includes enough detail that expert guidance is not required and is written using broadly-accessible language. At the same time, it addresses advanced topics and positions music as a serious object of study.

Table of Contents
Unit 1 - Music as a Field of Practice and Study

Chapter 1: Music in Human Life
Chapter 2: The Elements of Music
Unit 2 - Music for Storytelling

Chapter 3: Music and Characterization
Chapter 4: Sung and Danced Drama
Chapter 5: Song
Chapter 6: Stories without Words
Unit 3 - Music for Entertainment

Chapter 7: Listening at Public Concerts
Chapter 8: Listening at Home and at Court
Unit 4 - Music for Political Expression

Chapter 9: National Identity
Chapter 10: Support and Protest
Unit 5 - Functional Music

Chapter 11: Music for Spiritual Expression
Chapter 12: Music for Moving
Unit 6 - Evaluating Music

Chapter 13: What is Good Music?

Sight-Reading for Guitar: The Keep Going Method Book and Video Series teaches guitar players from all musical backgrounds to understand, read and play modern staff notation in real time. The Keep Going Method is designed to impart the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for sight-reading with efficiency, fun and encouragement.

The team behind the series has decided to launch it early. We want to equip guitarists, who may be adjusting to new methods of teaching and learning, with a quality open resource.

Table of Contents:
1. Open Strings, Basic Rhythms & the 4/4 Time Signature
2. More Open Strings, Rhythms & Time Signatures
3. Notes on the First String & Tempo
4. Notes on the Second String, Articulations & Voicings
5. Notes on the Third String & Dotted Rhythms
6. Notes on the Fourth String, Ornaments & the Tie
7. Notes on the Fifth String, More Navigation & Ornaments
8. Notes on the Sixth String & Dynamics
9. Simple vs. Compound Meter
10. More Notes, Accidentals & the Eighth-Note Triplet
11. More Notes, Color & Navigation
12. More Notes, Repetition & Fingerings
13. More Notes, Sixteenth Note Rhythms & Dotted Eighth Note Rhythms
14. More Notes, Expression & Tuplets
15. More Notes & Meter
16. More Notes, Key Signatures & Cut Time Meter
17. More Notes & Extended Techniques
18. More Notes, Thirty-Second Rhythms & Swing
19. Playing in Positions
20. Intervals, Chords & Strums
21. More Enharmonics
22. Refining Your Practice

“Sound Reasoning” is a web-based, introductory music appreciation course.

Table of Contents
1. Sound Reasoning: A New Way to Listen
2. How Music Makes Sense
3. Listening Gallery: How Music Makes Sense
4. Musical Emphasis
5. Listening Gallery: Musical Emphasis
6. Musical Form
7. Listening Gallery: Musical Form
8. Expository and Developmental
9. Listening Gallery: Expository and Developmental
10. Overall Destiny
11. Listening Gallery: Overall Destiny
12. Time's Effect on the Material
13. Listening Gallery: Time's Effect
14. Summary: A Quick Guide for Listening
15. Making Music Modern
16. Listening Gallery: Making Music Modern
17. Conclusion: What is Music Trying to Express?
18. Part II: Hearing Harmony
19. Part III: The Language of Transformation

Table of Contents

Brass History
The Overtone Series
General Intonation Tendencies
Embouchure
Embouchure Problems
General intonation Tendencies
Instruments, Mouthpieces, and Equipment
Low Brass Literature
Basic Instrument Maintenance
Vibrato
Low Brass in the Marching Band
Baritone vs. Euphonium-What's the difference by David Werden
Appendix I - Trombone/Euphonium Etudes
Appendix II - Tuba Etudes
Appendix III - Warm-ups
Appendix IV - Trombone Slide Positions / Euphonium FIngerings
Appendix V - Tuba Fingerings
Appendix VI - Major Scales

About the Book

The purpose of this textbook is to provide resources about teaching low brass instruments to music educators and future music educators. The book was developed by the author as part of the open/alternative textbook initiative at Kansas State University. It Is the textbook used for the Kansas State University course Music 239-Low Brass Techniques and Materials.

The textbook focuses on two areas: basic information including pedagogical material for teaching low brass students and low brass etudes. The information is divided into several categories including brass history, the overtone series, general intonation tendencies, embouchure, instruments and equipment, literature, maintenance, vibrato, and low brass in the marching band. Pedagogical material is interspersed throughout each of the chapters.

Etudes are incorporated in the appendix of the textbook. These etudes are intended to be used in a laboratory setting with future music educators learning each low brass instrument for the first time. Instrument fingerings, slide positions, and simple warm-up material is also available in the appendix.

Although it is significantly expanded from "Introduction to Music Theory", this book still covers only the bare essentials of music theory. Music is a very large subject, and the advanced theory that students will want to pursue after mastering the basics will vary greatly. A trumpet player interested in jazz, a vocalist interested in early music, a pianist interested in classical composition, and a guitarist interested in world music, will all want to delve into very different facets of music theory; although, interestingly, if they all become very well-versed in their chosen fields, they will still end up very capable of understanding each other and cooperating in musical endeavors. The final section does include a few challenges that are generally not considered "beginner level" musicianship, but are very useful in just about every field and genre of music.

Table of Contents
1 Notation

1.1 Pitch
1.2 Time
1.3 Style
2 Definitions

2.1 Rhythm
2.2 Timbre
2.3 Melody
2.4 Texture
2.5 Harmony
2.6 Counterpoint
2.7 Range
2.8 Classifying Music
3 The Physical Basis

3.1 Acoustics for Music Theory
3.2 Standing Waves and Musical Instruments
3.3 Harmonic Series I: Timbre and Octaves Solutions
4 Notes and Scales

4.1 Octaves and the Major-Minor Tonal System
4.2 Half Steps and Whole Steps
4.3 Major Keys and Scales
4.4 Minor Keys and Scales
4.5 Interval
4.6 Harmonic Series II: Harmonics, Intervals, and Instruments
4.7 The Circle of Fifths
4.8 Scales that aren't Major or Minor
5 Harmony and Form

5.1 Triads
5.2 Naming Triads
5.3 Consonance and Dissonance
5.4 Beyond Triads: Naming Other Chords
5.5 Beginning Harmonic Analysis
5.6 Cadence
5.7 Form
6 Challenges

6.1 Ear Training
6.2 Tuning Systems
6.3 Modes and Ragas
6.4 Transposition: Changing Keys

Revised and Corrected Edition by Jonathan Kulp, 2017. Understanding Music is a CC-licensed Music Appreciation Textbook from GALILEO Open Learning Materials. I decided to make my own edition of this book because I was very much interested in adopting a free, Creative-Commons-licensed Music Appreciation textbook, but the only format in which it is available from Galileo is PDF, which is inappropriate for small devices and does not meet basic accessibility requirements such as the ability to change the font size. If you would like to download the original PDF, please visit their page: http://oer.galileo.usg.edu/arts-textbooks/1/