Advanced Placement (AP) Music Theory (also known as AP Music or AP Theory) is a course and examination offered in the United States by the

College Board The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...

as part of the

Advanced Placement Program Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewh ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

students who wish to earn credit for a college-level

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

course.

Course

Some of the material covered in the course involves

sight reading In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' ( Italian meaning, "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to des ...

, in-depth terminology,

musical phrasing Musical phrasing is the method by which a musician shapes a sequence of notes in a passage of music to allow expression, much like when speaking English a phrase may be written identically but may be spoken differently, and is named for the in ...

and

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...

music history Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...

, chord structure,

cadence In Classical music, Western musical theory, a cadence () is the end of a Phrase (music), phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution (music), resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don ...

musical texture In music, texture is how the tempo and the melodic and harmonic materials are combined in a musical composition, determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece. The texture is often described in regard to the density, or thickness, and ...

, and other areas of music theory. In addition, part-writing is an integral part of the course, as it takes up half of the 8 units covered. This course is recommended for students with particularly strong abilities in music, or students planning to pursue college music majors.

Exam

The exam itself is divided into two broad sections: Section I, the multiple-choice section, and Section II, the free-response section. In turn, each section is divided into parts.

Section I – multiple choice

Section I of the exam consists of four-option multiple choice questions; the total number varies each year. The first half of the section is listening-based; the proctor will begin playing a provided CD, and the exam will begin. Each question or group of questions is based on a musical selection or an auditory stimulus. The selection or stimulus is played, and the student must answer as many of the questions as possible. Each musical selection or auditory stimulus is usually played two to four times for each question or group of questions, though the exact number differs from question to question.

Section II – free response

Section II of the exam consists of three parts, all of which require student-produced responses. One part of the section is listening-based, one part is part-writing, and one part is sight-singing. The listening-based part of the section contains two types of questions. The first is melodic dictation, in which a one-part

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

is played two or three times while a starting pitch,

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

, and key are given on the answer sheet, and the student must accurately record both the pitch and value of the played notes. The student must record two melodies; generally, one melody is in a

major key In music theory, the key of a piece is the group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a musical composition in Western classical music, jazz music, art music, and pop music. A particular key features a '' tonic (main) note'' and i ...

and in a compound meter, while the other melody is in a

minor key In music theory, the key of a piece is the group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a musical composition in Western classical music, jazz music, art music, and pop music. A particular key features a '' tonic (main) note'' and it ...

and in a

simple meter In music, metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling) refers to regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bars and beats. Unlike rhythm, metric onsets are not necessarily sounded, but are nevertheless implied by the performer ( ...

. One melody is written in the

treble clef A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical staff. Placing a clef on a staff assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines or four spaces, whi ...

and the other is in the

bass clef A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical staff. Placing a clef on a staff assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines or four spaces, whi ...

. The reason for this is to test AP Music Theory students in their ability to distinguish between simple and compound time signatures, as well as being able to read bass clef and treble clef. The second type of listening-based question is harmonic dictation. A four-part texture, utilizing

SATB In music, SATB is a scoring of compositions for choirs or consorts of instruments consisting of four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Choral music Four-part harmony using soprano, alto, tenor and bass is a common scoring in classic ...

, is played four times. The key, starting pitch for each part, and

are given on the answer sheet. The student must accurately notate only the bass and soprano lines, though the

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

, and

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

parts are all played in the recording. The student must also provide a

Roman numeral analysis In music theory, Roman numeral analysis is a type of Harmony, harmonic analysis in which chord (music), chords are represented by Roman numerals, which encode the chord's Degree (music), degree and Function_(music), harmonic function within a given ...

of the

chords Chord or chords may refer to: Art and music * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord, a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * The Chords (British band), 1970s British mod ...

in the progression with correct chord inversions. The part-writing part of section II requires that the student—using knowledge of "eighteenth century composition guidelines" (as indicated on CollegeBoard's latest rubric and on the released 2003-2006 exams on AP Central), standard circle-of-fifths

chord progressions In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chord (music), chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tr ...

s, voicing, and part ranges—write a short two-part or four-part texture given starting pitch, key, time signature, and more information that varies with each question. Students may be given such frameworks as

figured bass Figured bass is musical notation in which numerals and symbols appear above or below (or next to) a bass note. The numerals and symbols (often accidental (music), accidentals) indicate interval (music), intervals, chord (music), chords, and non- ...

notation, a completed bass part,

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

, or a completed soprano line. For questions with supplied

notation and completed

line, the student must write the

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

notation of each chord and fill in the remaining tenor, alto, and soprano lines. For the question with the supplied Roman numeral notation, the student must write all four (

) parts of the texture. For the question with the supplied soprano line, the student must develop a

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

based on the given soprano line and write only an accompanying bass part. The

sight-singing In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian language, Italian meaning, "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singi ...

part of the exam requires the student to analyze a given

melodic line A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term ca ...

and perform the line as accurately as possible. Students perform two melodies, one at a time. The written starting pitch will be played, and the student will have 75 seconds to practice aloud any parts that he or she desires. Once the 75 seconds have elapsed, the student will have 60 seconds to perform the piece. Transposition of the key is allowed for voice comfort as stated on each year's directions. As with the melodic dictation part of the exam, one piece will generally be compound in meter and major in key, while the other will be simple in meter and minor in key. Students may sing the melody using

solfège In music, solfège (British English or American English , ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a mnemonic used in teaching aural skills, Pitch (music), pitch and sight-reading of Western classical music, W ...

syllables, numbers, or any other neutral syllable (la, ta, na, etc.).

Grade distribution

The grade distributions for the AP Music Theory exam since 2010 are:

References

External links

AP Music Theory at CollegeBoard.com
{{College Board Music education Advanced Placement