quiltguru

My D is considering doing this self-study with tutoring. Has anyone had any experience with a class or taken the test? Is there a book you'd recommend or you have used?

GDWilner

I'll bump this.

rhs06

I would also like to know.

Shahein

I've taken it. The test is difficult since Aural training has always been a challenge for me.

The test is split into Compositional and Aural subsections. The composition sections involve partwriting, realizing figured base, writing a melody given the base, harmonizing SATB, etc. Multiple choice on essentially everything compositional is also present.

The aural subsection involves several songs/audio samples being played with questions about each. There also is dictation (melody is played and student writes it on paper), harmonizing (harmonic chords are played and these are written down), and sight-singing.

I received a 4 on the exam with a 5 Composition subscore and a 2 Aural subscore.

Sadly no review books seem to have been produced for the exam. However, I must recommend my textbook Tonal Harmony by Stefan Kotska and Dorothy Payne. I found it covered everything on the compositional subsection extremely thoroughly.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

Visirale

The class was easy enough but some aspects of the exam are pretty hard. Make sure if you get a tutor that they are familiar with the exam format. There are certain parts of the test that you will need to study all year to have a shot at all of scoring decently on. Definately some parts you don't want to walk in to the test not knowing about... There are some text books that you can get, but no real study guides.

I got a 4 with a 4 on non-aural and a 3 on aural. I was pretty confident, and I'm happy with the score. Music Theory is generally considered one of the harder AP tests.

conker

I recommend that you do a lot of ear training with intervals, scales, and chords. With an instructor, make sure that every lesson begins with 5-10 minutes of ear training (he or she plays something, you identify). The first 6-8 multiple choice questions are pure interval/scale/chord recognition, and you need to be able to ace this section. The ear training will also help you with the rest of the aural multiple choice, which is applied listening. They will play an excerpt, and you answer questions about it. For example, one question might be "What is the quality of the first chord of the excerpt? a) major, b) minor, c) diminished, d) augmented". There's a lot of similar questions, except with intervals and scales. If you've got ear training down pat, you should be very successful with what is considered to be the most difficult section of the exam.

I highly recommend books like Kostka's Tonal Harmony and Aldwell/Schacter's Harmony and Voice Leading for the theory. But you will still have to be able to do dictations and sight-sing. This is not something you can learn from a book; it takes practice. I recommend Berkowitz's New Approach to Sight Singing for sight-singing. For dictations, I suggest using a combination of online resources and past AP Music Theory free response questions.

Required materials: 1993, 1998, 2003 Released AP Music Theory exams! These will help get you a feel for the style of questions on the multiple choice section. You can get them from Collegeboard.

It won't be easy, but you can do it! I self-studied this exam, and scored a 5 overall with subscores of 5 and 5. And at the time I didn't have access to the great resources that I recommended to you above. (I just had the released exams, and a desire to learn!) Peruse the Internet; there's a wealth of music theory resources to be found.

Hecatonchires

DON'T take the exam. Many schools do not give music theory credit.

Shahein

Might as well take it for the potential of elective credit, though...

GDWilner

Will the aural and sight-singing portions be a breeze since I have perfect pitch, or does it still require knowledge of terminology and such? Also, I'm VERY well acquainted with jazz theory. How much does this overlap with the AP?

Shahein

...Darn you and your perfect pitch!

You will need practice with the sections at the bare-minimum. Aural/Sightsinging is pretty straightforward, with relatively little terminology.

However...There is a multiple choice subsection where music is played and questions are answered about the piece at hand... That will have some terminology.

justins1324

you can get a humanities credit for theory.

aznxboy1228

Aural is a joke with perfect pitch...it's like having the answers read out to you.

BassDad

At most schools, you will only get humanities credit for AP Music if you are not a music major. As a music major, you may be able to place out of a semester or even two of theory, but you will probably not get academic credit for having taken the course. It could, however, open up a slot in which you could take another elective course for credit.

pointegirl

For music majors, you do not need AP theory to place out theory classes. Most music schools administer their own theory placement exam. Some coordinate it with auditions, some during new student orientation, and some after the school starts. Some even give you the chance to retake the placement exam. AP Theory usually does not exempt you from the placement exam. If taking the AP exam will motivate you to study, then it's fine.

BassDad

Thanks for that clarification pointegirl. I did not mean to imply that the AP exam itself would replace the school's own placement exam, just that those who could do well on the AP exam are also likely to place out of at least one semester worth of music theory when they take the exam given by the school. I know several music majors who took AP music class when they were in high school, but did not bother with the corresponding AP exam because they would not gain anything by taking it.