Unit 3 – Musical chords and intervals

All Unit 3 materials are due at 7am Mountain Daylight Time on Monday, June 6.

Unit introduction

Is music really a “universal language”? This is a common claim from both musicians and music lovers — but is it true? In Units 3 and 4, we will begin to unpack which aspects of human musical practice are innate/evolved and which are learned. We will also explore small-scale cognitive functions like short-term and working memory, and their implications for human music.

Core concepts

In this unit, we will explore the following core concepts:

• musical notes
• musical chords
• musical intervals

Assignments

Read or watch the following:

• Isabel Peretz, “The Nature of music from a biological perspective,” from Cognition 100 (2006)
• Open Music Theory, “Introduction to musical functions”
• Video: “Musical tone & pitch”
• Video: “Triads”
• Video: “Guitar harmony”
• Video: “Analyzing triads” (optional)
• Open Music Theory, “Intervals” (optional)
• Open Music Theory, “Triads and seventh chords” (optional)

Then take Quiz 3 on D2L.

Keep in mind the collaborative nature of the D2L quizzes. See the Assignment guide for details.