REQUIREMENTS AND COURSE OFFERINGS
Requirements for Music Students
Note: All music students must participate in chorus every semester.
Instrumental Concentration
Private Lessons
Music Theory: Fundamentals of Music, Theory I, Theory II, Theory III (Music Theory I, II, and III include Ear Training and Solf`ège)
Music History (for 12th grade students only) Chamber Music Orchestra or Large Ensemble Choir
Performance Master Class (for 11th and 12th grade students)
Piano Concentration
Private Lessons
Music Theory: Fundamentals of Music, Theory I, Theory II, Theory III (Music Theory I, II, and III include Ear Training and Solfège)
Music History (for 12th grade students only) Chamber Music Piano Seminar Choir Performance
Master Class (for 11th and 12th grade students)
Composition Concentration
Composition Lessons
Music Theory: Fundamentals of Music, Theory I, Theory II, Theory III (Music Theory I, II, and III include Ear Training and Solfège)
Music History (for 12th grade students only) Piano Lessons Choir Composition Seminar Performance
Master Class (for 11th and 12th grade students)
Voice Concentration
Voice Lessons
Music Theory: Fundamentals of Music, Theory I, Theory II, Theory III (Music Theory I, II, and III include Ear Training and Solfège) Music History (for students in the 12th grade) Choir Youth Chorale (NEC) Vocal Coaching Piano Lessons Voice Master Class Diction Class Acting and Movement Class Performance Master Class (for 11th and 12th grade students)
Course Offerings in Music
Major Lessons
Private instruction in the student’s major concentration (instrumental, voice, or composition) is the core of the music curriculum. Each student receives a weekly lesson with his or her private teacher. Individual lessons are highly specialized; content and form are based on the needs of the student. All students are expected to demonstrate appropriate technical and musical growth over the course of the year. Required for all music students. Piano Lessons for Singers and Composers This course is for voice majors and composers and is designed to give students keyboard skills, which are an indispensable part of the training of all young composers and vocalists. In weekly private 50-minute lessons, students concentrate on the development of technique and musicianship through the study of scales, arpeggios, chords, simple harmonic progressions, and, most importantly, repertoire appropriate to the level of each student.
Required for all composers and singers.
Secondary Lessons
This course is for all Walnut Hill students who wish to take private music instruction in voice, composition, or other instruments in addition to their major concentration. Lessons are held once a week and are individually tailored to the technical and musical needs of each student. Instruction is available primarily in Voice, Piano, Strings, and Guitar; however, other instruments can be studied with permission of the Director of Music. An extra fee is charged for this course.
Open to all Walnut Hill students.
Performance Master Class
This two-hour course is a weekly forum for peer performance and evaluation. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Benjamin Zander, students play for one another and explore different aspects of musical interpretation as well as larger issues of life, thereby learning to become more expressive and articulate performers. Though participating students are of varying abilities and ages, a mature level of musicianship is assumed.
Required for 11th and 12th grade instrumentalists, singers, and composers; open to others by invitation.
Chamber Music
This is the small ensemble component of the applied music program and is required each semester for all instrumentalists. Performances of standard and contemporary chamber and piano duo repertoire are given each semester.
Required for all instrumentalists.
Orchestra/Large Ensemble
Yearly participation in an orchestra is the large ensemble component of the applied music program. Large ensembles meet once a week on Saturdays for three hours at New England Conservatory and give performances at Jordan Hall as well as other venues around Boston. Every two years after graduation in June, the Youth Philharmonic and Youth Symphony Orchestras tour in venues such as Asia, South America, Europe, and Israel; the Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble tours yearly. Participation in the large ensemble tours is required for all Walnut Hill students who participate in orchestra/large ensemble. There is an additional fee for tour expenses.
Required for all orchestral instrumentalists.
Voice Master Class
Voice Master Class meets once a week for one and a half hours each session. This class is an opportunity for voice students to sing for one another, to study elements of vocal technique and performance (including diction and preparation of text), and to develop focus and expressive capabilities in audition and performance. Students will also hear and compare professional singers in recordings and in live performances, and study a range of vocal repertoire outside their own vocal fach.
Required for all voice students.
Acting and Movement for Singers
This course meets once a week for one and a half hours each session and introduces stage techniques, movement, acting, and opera scenes study. Singers study and perform opera scenes appropriate to their vocal level in which they can learn about creating and projecting a character. Learning about the opera, the composer, and the librettist and discussing the historical and social context of the opera are part of the preparation for the yearly opera scenes performance.
Required for all voice students.
Diction
Through the study of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), students in this course learn correct pronunciation in the four major languages commonly used by singers—Italian, German, French, and English. More importantly, students gain a greater awareness of the expressive uses of diction. The language studied rotates through the four languages based on the needs and abilities of the students.
Required for all voice students.
Vocal Coachings
Vocal coachings consist of a weekly half-hour, private session with a pianist who coaches the singer in diction, language, text, and stylistic and musical interpretation. Also includes work in audition and recital preparation.
Required for all voice students.
Concert Choir
Concert Choir performs music of all periods, from Renaissance to contemporary, with an emphasis on learning to express and respond to different musical styles, and on developing sensitivity to the relationships between inner lines of music.
Required for all music majors; open to all students and faculty by audition.
Composition Seminar
This course meets weekly for one period. Through the listening and analysis of scores within a historical and compositional context, students are exposed to some of the major influences in contemporary music. Class exercises, performances of student works, and frequent visits by professional composers are designed to sharpen compositional appetite and skills.
Required for composition students; strongly encouraged for all other music majors with an interest in composition or contemporary music.
Music Theory
Fundamentals of Music
This course focuses on musical notation using reading exercises in sight-singing and at the keyboard, writing exercises in dictation, and simple composition. It covers rudimentary theory (keys, scales, intervals, triads) and provides an introduction to the history of Western music since AD 1600.
Open to all. Other arts majors must obtain permission of their Arts Director and the Academic Dean.
Music Theory I
This course covers rudimentary theory (key signatures, scales, intervals, triads), first species counterpoint in two voices, and an introduction to four-part harmony and analysis of secondary dominants and all diatonic chords. Taken with Ear Training and Solfège. Prerequisite: Permission of the department.
ESL Music Theory
Admission to this course is based on TOEFL scores and English language skills. The material covered is the same as for Music Theory I, with less emphasis on solfège and ear training, and more on vocabulary and written theory. This course prepares students for Music Theory II. Taken with Ear Training and Solfège.
Music Theory II
The work of Music Theory II covers the study of first, second, third, and fourth species counterpoint in two voices, four-part diatonic harmony, melodic and rhythmic figuration, harmonic analysis of all chromatic chords, and form in tonal music. Taken with Ear Training and Solfège.
Prerequisite: A grade of C or better in Theory I, or through the placement process.
Music Theory III
This course covers dissonance and chromaticism in four-part harmony, advanced keyboard harmony, analysis of tonal music, and a special topic (model composition, advanced analysis, or jazz). Taken with Ear Training and Solfège.
Prerequisite: A grade of C or better in Theory II.
Ear Training
This course meets once weekly and is taught in small student-led groups under the close supervision of the Head of Theory and Composition. Class work consists of study and practice in melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic dictation; rhythmic drills; singing and identifying intervals and chords; keyboard harmony; and score reading in clefs. Advanced levels focus on chromatic and atonal music and the identification of chord clusters. Taken in conjunction with all levels of Theory except Fundamentals of Music.
Solfège
Classes in sight-singing meet once a week and are required for all students enrolled in Music Theory courses. Placement into one of five levels is determined by a placement test given at the beginning of each year.
Music History
Music History is a survey of stylistic developments in Western music from AD 500 to the present. The course also includes the study of non-Western styles. This course is designed as an overview to provide a foundation for conservatory and college-level history courses. Required for all seniors. Students may be excused from this course with the permission of the Director of the Music Department.
