7, 65, 43, 2

Figured-bass Numbers for 7th chords
SATB and Piano
7, 65, 43. 2 Score Sample

Beginning music students are often more familiar with reading lead-sheets with pop symbols (melody-down harmonic shorthand) than figured-bass lines (bassline-up harmonic shorthand). This piece gives students a chance to practice and remember the common figured-bass symbols for seventh chords. The setting has a swing beat (a nice chance to compare and contrast baroque and jazz performance practice) and close, four-part harmonies. 7, 65, 43, 2 features mainly diatonic singing with triadic skips (good for solfége practice) with a modicum of chromaticism in the keyboard part.

Chromatic Tours

Chromatic Dominant Preparation: Neapolitan and Augmented Sixth Chords
SATB with Piano
Chromatic Tours Score Sample

If you know why we call the three common augmented-sixth chords French, German, and Italian you are one up on me, but, throw in the Neapolitan, and you have a terrific set-up for a musical bus tour of Europe. Chromatic Tours teaches students how to spell, resolve, and place in harmonic succession these nifty chromatic pre-dominants. And, since tourists are supposed to have fun, there are a few musical jokes along the way as well as wide stylistic variety—from arioso to Biergarten to Impressionism. With a commercial-jingle-like unison refrain and some good examples of enharmonic modulation at each “stop” on the tour, students will enjoy mastering these harmonies.

Flat Lands

Flat Order for Key Signatures
SATB

Just because a concept is fundamental doesn’t mean that students will know it well, particularly in a choir. Many good singers have little or no theoretical training. This “Peach” allows each of the four voice parts a chance to sing and learn the seven flats in Circle of Fifths order. Included in the text are a few humorous jabs at the pecking order of the average choir. The title is a reference to the vertically challenged topography of California’s central valley.

Relatives

Relative Major and Minor Pairs in Circle of Fifths Order
Unison with Piano
Relatives Score Sample

You can’t get enough of the circle of fifths, at least I can’t—pedagogically speaking of course. This “Peach” gives students an opportunity to memorize the circle of fifths and simultaneously memorize the relative major and minor pairs. The rhythmic style here is rock oriented, so the text contains a tongue and cheek rant about relatives which makes the song more fun than simply singing “C, a / G, e / etc.” This piece is also good practice for note-recognition, but is a bit chromatic and disjunct for beginning sight-singers. I use this one in my music fundamentals classes but I give them plenty of pitch support at the piano when they are practicing.

Sharp Shooter

Sharp Order for Key Signatures
SB with Piano

This “Peach” teaches the order of sharps in a key signature. The pitches in the vocal lines are easy. The rhythms are syncopated and swing. The keyboard part is basically “comping” chords in a jazz style. This one’s short, fun, and to the point.

Straight Tonic (No Gin)

Diatonic Harmonic Function
SATB with Piano
Straight Tonic (No Gin) Score Sample

This piece has nothing to do with damaging liver function and everything to do with diatonic harmonic function. Students practice the solfége syllables for the primary triads and also learn to sort the seven diatonic triads into three function categories (Tonic, Subdominant, and Dominant). Understanding these relationships helps them to choose better chords when creating their own progressions. The setting is in a quasi-12/8 50’s rock-and-roll style. You’ll dig the enharmonic modulation to the Neapolitan for the big finish.

Strictly Formal

Cadences, Periods, and Rounded Binary Form
SATB with Piano
Strictly Formal Score Sample

Sure, you can show them different cadences, periods and rounded binary form, but why not let them sing it with a self-descriptive text? I ask my students to sing this song with extreme mock seriousness, as it is a take-off on Classical-era homophony. The added drama keeps them engaged and learning takes place. As an added bonus there is a nice example of sequential modulation in the B section to analyze and talk about.

The Usual Suspects

Non-chord Tones
SATB (Piano for rehearsal only)
The Usual Suspects Score Sample

In order to make sense of non-chord tones, students need to know what the prevailing harmony is and also the variety of non-chord tone types—both by sight and by sound. This “Peach” lets students practice their non-chord tone (sorry, non-harmonic tone is too unwieldy a term for a lyric) vocabulary while singing examples of the words they are learning. The set-up for the students is that they are learning to “detect” non-chord tones in the musical texture, so the opening refrain quotes a well-known detective theme which some still use to teach the sound of the minor-third interval.