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The study of RCM Music Theory provides the opportunity to identify and explore elements already discovered through the practical musical experience and to establish the foundation for musical experiences to come. It also builds aural awereness, develops analytical thinking, encourages creativity, and helps us to understand the music that we hear and play on a deeper level. 

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The RCM Music History units provide an opportunity to broaden the musical experience through an introduction to the musical style of the Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Romantic and Modern eras. ​​​​​​

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Theory Syllabus

Celebrate Theory, Sampler

Music Theory, Level 5

All Theory & History classes are in-person only. Tuition does not include textbooks or exam. Students are responsible for purchasing their own textbooks and registering for exams.


In this class you will cover all concepts as outlined in the Theory Syllabus, 2016 Edition:

  • Major and minor keys up to four sharps or flats

  • Pitch and Notation - ledger lines, enharmonic equivalents, transposition, rewriting melodies

  • Rhythm and Meter – notes and rest values, beats, time signatures, whole and half steps, melodic and harmonic intervals

  • Scales – major and minor scales, relative major and minor keys, parallel major and minor keys, scale degree names

  • Chords and Harmony – tonic, subdominant, and dominant triads, dominant 7th chords (root position), functional chord symbols, root/quality chord symbols

  • Melody and Composition – composition, stable and unstable scale degrees

  • Form and Analysis – identify concepts, keys, question-answer phrase pairs, and melodic phrases

  • Official RCM Examination Certificate upon succesful completion of Examination

Textbooks are not included in tuition and must be purchased by students prior to the first class.

Pre-requisites: Completion of RCM Level 4 Theory. 

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Music Theory, Level 6

All Theory & History classes are in-person only. Tuition does not include textbooks or exam. Students are responsible for purchasing their own textbooks and registering for exams.

In this class you will cover all concepts as outlined in the Theory Syllabus, 2016 Edition:

  • All major and minor keys

  • Pitch and Notation - accidentals, double sharps and flats, transposition

  • Rhythm and Meter – thirty-second notes and rests, dotted sixteenth notes and rests, compound meters, application of time signatures, bar lines, notes, and rests

  • Intervals - all intervals including enharmonic equivalents

  • Scales – all major and minor scales, relative major and minor keys, parallel major and minor keys, scale degree names

  • Chords and Harmony – solid/blocked or broken triads, dominant 7th chords, identification of authentic and half cadences, application of functional chord symbols for implied harmonies of a melody

  • Melody and Composition – composition of a question-answer phrase pair

  • Form and Analysis – identification of concepts, identification of key (major or minor) of a given passage

  • Official RCM Examination Certificate upon succesful completion of Examination

Textbooks are not included in tuition and must be purchased by students prior to the first class.

Pre-requisites: Completion of RCM Level 5 Theory. 

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Music Theory, Level 7

All Theory & History classes are in-person only. Tuition does not include textbooks or exam. Students are responsible for purchasing their own textbooks and registering for exams.

In this class you will cover all concepts as outlined in the Theory Syllabus, 2016 Edition:

  • All major and minor keys

  • Pitch and Notation - transposition of melodies up or down by any interval or to any key

  • Rhythm and Meter – double dotted notes and rests, irregular groupings, application of time signatures, bar lines, notes, and rests Intervals; all intervals, and enharmonic equivalents

  • Intervals - all intervals above or below a given note within an octave, including enharmonic equivalents

  • Scales – chromatic, whole-tone, and octatonic scales; major and minor pentatonic scales; blues scales

  • Chords and Harmony – diminished and augmented triads; triads built on any degree of a major or minor (harmonic) scale; leading-tone diminished 7th chords in minor keys, root position only; dominant 7th chords and their inversions; identification and writing of authentic and half cadences on a grand staff

  • Melody and Composition – melodic passing and neighbor tones; composition of a contrasting period in a major key, given the antecedent phrase

  • Form and Analysis – identification of concepts; application of functional or root/quality chord symbols to a melody

  • Official RCM Examination Certificate upon succesful completion of Examination

Textbooks are not included in tuition and must be purchased by students prior to the first class.

Pre-requisites: Completion of RCM Level 6 Theory.

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Music Theory, Level 8

All Theory & History classes are in-person only. Tuition does not include textbooks or exam. Students are responsible for purchasing their own textbooks and registering for exams.

In this class you will cover all concepts as outlined in the Theory Syllabus, 2016 Edition:

  • All major and minor keys

  • Pitch and Notation - alto and tenor clefs; score types; transcription of melody to any other clef; transposition of melody to concert pitch for orchestral instruments (B flat and F)

  • Rhythm and Meter – hybrid meters; application of time signatures, bar lines, notes, and rests

  • Intervals - all simple and compound intervals up to a fifteenth above or below a given note

  • Scales – all major and minor (natural, harmonic, and melodic) in treble, bass, alto, and tenor; diatonic modes

  • Chords and Harmony – triads built on any degree of a major or minor (natural or harmonic) scale; dominant 7th chords and their inversions; leading-tone diminished 7th chords in minor keys; identification and writing of authentic, half, and plagal (IV–I or iv–i) cadences on a grand staff; identification of cluster chords, quartal chords, and polychords

  • Melody and Composition – melodic passing tones (unaccented) and neighbor tones (unaccented); composition of a contrasting period in a major or minor key, given the first two measures 

  • Form and Analysis – identification of concepts; application of functional or root/quality chord symbols to a melody; identification of types of motion: parallel, similar, contrary, oblique, and static

  • Official RCM Examination Certificate upon succesful completion of Examination

Textbooks are not included in tuition and must be purchased by students prior to the first class.

Pre-requisites: Completion of RCM Level 7 Theory. 

 

 

Music History, Level 9

  • the materials of music

  • the Baroque Era (Vivaldi, Bach, Handel)

  • the Classical Era (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven)

  • the Romantic Era (Schubert, Chopin, Berlioz, Bizet)

  • the Modern Era (Debussy, Stravinsky, Bernstein, Louie, Adams)

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RCM Music Theory Lessons & Games

Celebrate Theory, Sampler

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