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MUS20640

Academic Year 2024/2025

Music Theory 3 (MUS20640)

Subject:
Music
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Music
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Conor Power
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module extends the skills learned in Music Theory 2, expanding students’ harmonic vocabulary, and enhancing theoretical and analytical skills in larger formal types. It also explores repertoire beyond classical music, including popular and experimental music, as well as jazz and global traditions. The module introduces advanced harmonic analysis, focusing on chromatic harmonies including secondary dominants and secondary sevenths, diminished sevenths, the Neapolitan sixth, augmented sixths, and diminished thirds. Building on the principles of syntactic analysis first introduced in Music Theory 2, this module considers more complex syntactic types and analysis of larger forms (ternary and sonata forms). This module incorporates small-group tutorials aimed at supporting the module content through harmonic and formal exercises, and practical skills are enhanced through Practical Musicianship classes.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:
- demonstrate a knowledge of advanced harmonic language.
- critically engage with music syntax, form, and genre by focusing on further in-depth analysis of periods and sentences as well as more complex hybrid and compound types.
analyse and engage critically with a broader range of forms such as ternary and sonata forms.
- define and discuss the technical, theoretical and formal aspects of music of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century by bringing together the harmonic and formal concepts introduced through Music Theory 1, Music Theory 2 and Music Theory 3.

Indicative Module Content:

Parts 3, 4 and 5 of Burstein & Straus, Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony (New York & London: W.W. Norton, 2020).

Parts 5 and 6 of Aldwell, Schachter & Cadwallader, Harmony and Voice Leading (Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2019).

Parts 2, 3, and 4 of Caplin, Classical Form: A theory of formal functions for the instrumental music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Dissonance and chromaticism
Diatonic and chromatic modulation
Modal mixture
Chromatic pre-dominant harmony
Analysis and composition of musical form
Advanced aural skills
Harmonic progressions, melodic harmonisation, and cadential formulae at the keyboard

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Tutorial

12
Practical

6
Specified Learning Activities

24
Autonomous Student Learning

34
Total

100

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
In-person lectures.
Face-to-face tutorials.
Face-to-face practicals.
Individual listening and practice.
Task-based learning.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Recommendations:

Students attempting this module must have completed MUS10190 Music Theory 1 and MUS20650 Music Theory 2, or equivalent.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Take-Home Exercise 2 Week 9 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
20
 No
Practical Skills Assessment: Keyboard Assessment (with tutor) Week 10, Week 11 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
10
 No
Exam (In-person): Final Exam (on music theory concepts and analysis) End of trimester
Duration:
2 hr(s)
 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
50
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Take-Home Exercise Week 5 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
20
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Burstein & Straus, Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony (New York & London: W.W. Norton, 2020).

Aldwell, Schachter & Cadwallader, Harmony and Voice Leading (Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2019).

Caplin, Classical Form: A theory of formal functions for the instrumental music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Name Role
Ms Maddie Kavanagh Clarke Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 09:00 - 10:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 7 Week(s) - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 11:00 - 11:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 9 Week(s) - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 12:00 - 12:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 12 Week(s) - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 15:00 - 15:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 13 Week(s) - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 16:00 - 16:50
Spring Laboratory Offering 1 Week(s) - 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 12:00 - 12:30
Spring Laboratory Offering 2 Week(s) - 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 13:00 - 13:30
Spring Laboratory Offering 4 Week(s) - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33 Wed 10:00 - 10:30
Spring Laboratory Offering 4 Week(s) - 30 Wed 10:00 - 10:30
Spring Laboratory Offering 5 Week(s) - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 11:00 - 11:30
Spring Laboratory Offering 7 Week(s) - 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 11:00 - 11:30
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