This course will explore the music, culture, politics, technology, and other historical topics that influenced and were influenced by the music of the era. Historical topics will include WWII, the baby boom, sub-urban middle class, teenagers, radio, TV and others. Musical genres will include patriotic music, crooners, big bands, Latin music, swing jazz, country and western, and rock-n-roll. Students will also be able to identify by listening, the major musical genres, the artists and songwriters for those genres, their songs and the significance of those songs in American history.

Elective: 1.25 credits

Prerequisites: None

This course will explore the music, culture, politics, technology, and other historical topics that influenced and were influenced by the music of the era. Topics will include the Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement, the counterculture, cold war, gas crisis, and others. Musical genres will include the British Invasion and the expansion of rock-n-roll to include surf music, psychedelic rock, folk rock, protest music, hard rock and heavy metal, as well as, progression rock, pop rock and disco. Students will also be able to identify by listening, the major musical genres, the artists and songwriters for those genres, their songs and the significance of those songs in American history.

Elective: 1.25 credits

Prerequisites: None

This course will explore the music, culture, politics, technology, and other historical topics that influenced and were influenced by the music of the era. Topics will include the rise of the superpowers, the Berlin wall, the dawn of the personal computer, the internet and cell phones, as well as MTV, Napster and iTunes. Musical genres will include Pop Stars, Hair Bands, Punk Rock, Alternative and Grunge Music, as well as Rap, Hip-Hop, and Country. Students will also be able to identify by listening, the major musical genres, the artists and songwriters for those genres, their songs and the significance of those songs in American history.

Elective: 1.25 credits

Prerequisites: None

This course will expand upon the music theory they learned in the Intro course and dig deeper into diatonic harmonies and tonicization as well as learn about chromatic harmony and form. Topics will include voice leading and voice leading chords, phrase structure, motivic analysis, secondary dominant, sequencing, modulation, binary and ternary form, modal mixtures and chromatic mediants, chromatic harmony and neapolitan sixth and augmented sixth chords. Students will learn to analyze music in the new styles including fugues, baroque counterpoint, sonata, sonatina, concerto, rondo, sonata-rondo, jazz, blues and other twentieth century music. Students will continue to learn to sight-read and sight-sing using the solfege method and expand their knowledge to include complex meters and modal scales.

Elective: 5 credits

Prerequisites: Intro to Music Theory

theory behind the music they have performed. The major components of the course include melody, harmony, texture, rhythm, form, mu- sical analysis, elementary composition and to some extent music history and style. Musician- ship skills such as dictation and other listening skills, sight-singing, and keyboard harmony are also an important part of the music theory course. This course will not only prepare stu- dents for the AP Music Theory Exam, it will also give them the understanding of tonal music that will help them become better musicians, vocalists and musical thinkers. Familiarity with piano/keyboard is recommended but not re- quired.

Elective: 5 credits

Prerequisites: Sophomore – Senior; experience with piano or choir will help the student—if no experience, then the student will find the coursework more challenging

The concert band is open to all instruments of the modern wind ensemble, including woodwinds (flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, bass clarinet), saxophones (alto, tenor, baritone), brass (trumpet, French horn, trombone, baritone, euphonium, tuba), and percussion including timpani and mallet percussion.

Concert Band focuses on both the development of individual musicianship including rhythmic and melodic accuracy, pitch and tone quality, as well as development of the ensemble including blend, dynamics, harmony and intonation. Students will learn to value the principle that together we are more than the sum of our individual contributions.

Elective: 1.25

Prerequisite: 2 years of private lessons preferred and 1 year of ensemble experience. Exceptions can be made for students at the discretion of the Band Director.

This full-year course is open to all high school students. Concert Choir focuses on both the development of individual singing including rhythmic and melodic accuracy, pitch and tone quality, as well as development of the ensemble including blend, dynamics, harmony and intonation.

Students will learn to value the principle that together we are more than the sum of our individual voices. The Concert Choir performs several times throughout the school year including a Pops Concert, Christmas Concert, Spring Gala and the MICCA Festival. In odd years, the Concert Choir goes on tour over the Patriots Day weekend. Previous tours have been to Philadelphia, Washington DC and New York City. Advanced students will also have the opportunity to audition for the MMEA Central District Festival.

Elective: 1.25

Prerequisite: None

This one-semester course introduces students to a focused, musical approach to the fundamentals of music theory. Topics covered include pitch notation, simple and compound meters, beat subdivisions and syncopation, major and minor keys and scales, intervals, triads and seventh chords, melody harmonization and cadences. This course will also include an emphasis on real music from Bach to Broadway, Mozart to Katy Perry. This course will help any student musician become a better musician. Students planning to take AP Music Theory are required to take this course. However, this course is also accessible to all student musicians, not just those planning to take AP Music Theory or study music in college. It is preferred that students take Intro to Music Theory during their freshman or sophomore year so that they are eligible to take AP Music Theory, Music Composition II: Ensemble Writing during their junior and senior years.

Elective: 2.5 credits

Prerequisites: None

This course is designed to help students develop as instrumental musicians. The chief goal is to enable string students to foster their musical gifts for the purposes of praise to God and inspiration to His people. The classes will include full orchestra rehearsals, sectionals, and small ensemble rehearsals. Sectionals and small ensembles are coached by various members of the strings faculty. To enroll in this course, a string player must have completed appropriate string instruction; freshmen and sophomores must continue to study with an approved private teacher. Grading is based on class participation, mastery of assigned music, and mandatory attendance at concerts.

Elective: 1.25 credits

Prerequisite: Middle School Orchestra or permission from the instructor

This course offers students interested in live audio mixing the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of sound engineering and music production. Topics will include room acoustics and sound hierarchy, signal pathways, microphone types and application, speaker types and placement, EQ, compression, gate and other signal effects. Students will also learn the role of the sound engineer and their relationship to musicians, vocalists and other AVL technicians in order to provide high quality LIVE sound. This course will not cover topics of sound recording.

Students will be expected to employ the skills learned in class for events that occur in the Nehemiah Center for the Arts, including student Chapel services. After school and evening requirements will be limited to 4 per semester. Students who successfully complete the Sound Technology course will be qualified to join the AVL Team that works with student events in the Nehemiah Center for the Arts, Krull gymnasium, and other events around campus using portable AVL equipment.

It is recommended that students take this course in their freshman or sophomore years so that they can take advantage of the opportunity to join the WCS AVL Team during their remaining years at WCS.

Elective: 2.5 credits

Prerequisite: None