Aural Skills cannot be learned from a textbook—it takes patient and consistent practice with a teacher or computer. Some of the software programs we recommend are MacGamut and Auralia.

There are numerous online resources that may be very useful to students preparing to take these exams. Both Musictheory and Teoria are free sites that are quite comprehensive in terms of their coverage of basic music-theoretical concepts. Both of these programs also offer online practice with skills materials.  A list of sites found to be useful for the development of aural skills is given below:

Aural Skills Resources Online

(a few of many available; all of the below are free)

http://www.musictheory.net/

As discussed, this is a great site for ear training drills involving intervals, chords, key signatures, scales and more (there’s even an application for use with the iphone).

http://www.teoria.com/

Note that teoria.com has sections on scales ear training, rhythmic dictation, note dictation, interval ear training, melodic dictation, triad ear training, triad and seventh chord ear training, seventh chord ear training, all of which are very useful to us in MUS 111.

http://pitchimprover.com/

This is a very user-friendly site that allows for practice in chord type recognition, harmonic dictation, absolute pitch training, interval recognition, and melodic dictation.

http://mimicopy.com/

This site allows you to practice a plethora of melodic and rhythmic dictations.  Answers are provided, so you can check your work.  You should know that the rhythmic dictations are played by a snare drum sound, and rests are not included (i.e., only attack points are given).  For practice of rhythmic dictations which incorporate rests, you can certainly use the melodic dictations as rhythmic dictations.  There are “first step,” Beginner, and Beginner+, Beginner++ and Intermediate levels.  MUS 111 students should start with the “first step” examples and move on from there only when ready.

http://www.musicalmind.org/

Very intuitive, user friendly site with modules on solfège ear training (one-note, three-note), one-note piano ear trainer, melodic and harmonic interval ear training, and more.  Great for beginning levels, but also includes an atonal trichord trainer which is great for practice of material covered in MUS 314.

http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/courses/aural/m162/

This a site created by David Loberg Code at Western Michigan University.  There are a limited number of melodies and rhythms, but the level is appropriate to MUS 111 and answers are given.

http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/intactus/intactus.html - InTactus is [a downloadable] “rhythmic training program for measuring performance of one- and two-part rhythms.”

http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/diktus/diktus.html

“Diktus is a [downloadable] program for practicing one- or two-part rhythmic dictation and sight reading.”

http://www.good-ear.com/

Drills in intervals, chords, scales, and more.  Easy to use.

MUSIC THEORY CURRICULUM - content coverage

An outline of the content of Tonal Harmony, 6th ed. by Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne is given below.  Please note the following information showing the material each course in our curriculum covers:

Pre-Theory (MUS 101) covers the material found in Part I (“Fundamentals”).

Aural Skills I (MUS 101) and Music Theory I (MUS 121) cover the material found in Parts II and III (“Diatonic Triads and Diatonic Seventh Chords”)

Aural Skills II (MUS 212) and Music Theory II (MUS 222) cover the material in Part IV (“Chromaticism I”).

Aural Skills III (MUS 213) and Music Theory III (MUS 223) cover the material in Part V (“Chromaticism II”). 

MUS 314 (Twentieth-Century Music Theory and Aural Skills) covers the material in Part VI (“Late Romanticism and the Twentieth-Century”).

TONAL HARMONY by Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne

Preface
To the Student
Part I: Fundamentals
Chapter 1: Elements of Pitch
The Keyboard and Octave Registers
Notation of the Staff
The Major Scale
The Major Key Signatures
Minor Scale
Minor Key Signatures
Scale Degree Names
Intervals
Perfect, Major, and Minor Intervals
Augmented and Diminished Intervals
Inversion of Intervals
Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
Summary
Chapter 2: Elements of Rhythm
Rhythm
Durational Symbols
Beat and Tempo
Meter
Division of the Beat
Simple Time Signatures
Compound Time Signatures
Time Signatures Summarized
More on Durational Symbols
Summary
Chapter 3: Introduction to Triads and Seventh Chords
Introduction
Triads
Seventh Chords
Inversions of Chords
Inversion Symbols and Figured Bass
Lead Sheet Symbols
Recognizing Chords in Various Textures
Summary
Chapter 4: Diatonic Chords in Major and Minor Keys
Introduction
The Minor Scale
Diatonic Triads in Major
Diatonic Triads in Minor
Diatonic Seventh Chords in Major
Diatonic Seventh Chords in Minor
Summary

Part II: Diatonic Triads
Chapter 5: Principles of Voice Leading
Introduction
The Melodic Line
Notating Chords
Voicing a Singe Triad
Parallel Motion
Summary
Chapter 6: Root Position Part Writing
Introduction
Root Position Part Writing with Repeated Roots
Root Position Part Writing with Roots a 4th (5th) Apart
Root Position Part Writing with Roots a 3rd (6th) Apart
Root Position Part Writing with Roots a 3rd(7th) Apart
Instrumental Ranges and Transpositions
Summary
Chapter 7: Harmonic Progression
Introduction
Sequences and the Circle of Fifths
The I and V Chords
The II Chord
The VI Chord
The III Chord
The VII Chord
The IV Chord
Common Exceptions
Differences in the Minor Mode
Progressions Involving Seventh Chords
Harmonizing a Simple Melody
Conclusion
Summary
Chapter 8: Triads in First Inversion
Introduction
Bass Arpeggiation
Substituted First Inversion Triads
Parallel Sixth Chords
Part Writing First Inversion Triads
Soprano-Bass Counterpoint
Summary
Chapter 9: Triads in Second Inversion
Introduction
Bass Arpeggiation and the Melodic Bass
The Cadential Six-Four
The Passing Six-Four
The Pedal Six-Four
Part Writing for Second Inversion Triads
Summary
Chapter 10: Cadences, Phrases, and Periods
Musical Form
Cadences
Cadences and Harmonic Rhythm
Motives and Phrases
Mozart: “An die Freude”
Period Forms
Summary
Chapter 11: Non Chord Tones 1
Introduction
Classification of Non-Chord Tones
Passing Tones
Neighboring Tones
Suspensions and Retardations
Figured Bass and Lead Sheet Symbols
Embellishing a Simple Texture
Summary
Chapter 12: Non-Chord Tones 2
Appoggiaturas
Escape Tones
The Neighbor Group
Anticipations
The Pedal Point
Special Problems in the Analysis of Non-Chord Tones
Summary

Part III: Diatonic Seventh Chords
Chapter 13: The V7 Chord
Introduction
General Voice-Leading Considerations
The V7 in Root Position
The V7 in Three Parts
Other Resolutions of the V7
The Inverted V7 Chord
The V6/5 Chord
The V4/3 Chord
The V4/2 Chord
The Approach to the Seventh
Summary
Chapter 14: The II7 and VII7 Chords
Introduction
The II7 Chord
The VII7 Chord in Major
The VII7 Chord in Minor
Summary
Chapter 15: Other Diatonic Seventh Chords
The IV7 Chord
The VI7 Chord
The I7 Chord
The III7 Chord
Seventh Chords and the Circle-of -Fifths Progression
Summary

Part IV: Chromaticism 1
Chapter 16: Secondary Functions 1
Chromaticism and Altered Chords
Secondary Functions
Secondary Dominant Chords
Spelling Secondary Dominants
Recognizing Secondary Dominants
Secondary Dominants in Context
Summary
Chapter 17: Secondary Functions 2
Secondary Leading-Tone Chords
Spelling Secondary Leading-Tone Chords
Recognizing Secondary Leading-Tone Chords
Secondary Leading-Tone Chords in Context
Sequences Involving Secondary Functions
Deceptive Resolutions of Secondary Functions
Other Secondary Functions
Summary
Chapter 18: Modulations Using Diatonic Common Chords
Modulation and Change of Key
Modulation and Tonicization
Key Relationships Common-Chord Modulation Analyzing Common-Chord Modulation
Summary
Chapter 19: Some Other Modulatory Techniques
Altered Chords as Common Chords
Sequential Modulation
Modulation by Common Tone
Monophonic Modulation
Direct Modulation
Summary
Chapter 20: Binary and Ternary Forms
Formal Terminology
Binary Forms
Ternary Forms
Rounded Binary Forms
12-Bar Blues
Other Formal Designs

Summary
Part V: Chromaticism 2
Chapter 21: Mode Mixture
Introduction
Borrowed Chords in Minor
The Use of B-Flat 6 in Major
Other Borrowed Chords in Major
Modulations Involving Mode Mixture
Summary
Chapter 22: The Neapolitan Chord
Introduction
Conventional Use of the Neapolitan
Other Uses of the Neapolitan
Summary
Chapter 23: Augmented Sixth Chords 1
The Interval of the Augmented Sixth
The Italian Augmented Sixth Chord
The French Augmented Sixth Chord
The German Augmented Sixth Chord
Other Uses of the Conventional Augmented Sixth Chords
Summary
Chapter 24: Augmented Sixth Chords 2
Introduction
Other Bass Positions
Resolutions to Tonic
Resolutions to Other Scale Degrees
Resolutions to Other Chord Members
Other Types of Augmented Sixth Chords
Summary
Chapter 25: Enharmonic Spellings and Enharmonic Modulations
Enharmonic Spellings
Enharmonic Interpretation
Enharmonic Modulations Using the Major-Minor Seventh Sonority
Enharmonic Modulations Using the Diminished Seventh Chord
Other Examples of Enharmonicism
Summary
Chapter 26: Further Elements of the Harmonic Vocabulary
Introduction
The Dominant with a Substituted 5th
The Dominant with a Raised 5th
Ninth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Chords
The Common-Tone Diminished Seventh Chord
Simultaneities
Coloristic Chord Progressions
Summary

Part VI: Late Romanticism and the Twentieth Century
Chapter 27: Tonal Harmony in the Late Nineteenth Century
Introduction
Counterpoint
Treatment of Dominant Harmony
Sequence
Expanded Tonality
Summary
Chapter 28: An Introduction to Twentieth-Century Practices
Introduction
Impressionism
Scales
Chord Structure
Parallelism
Pandiatonicism
Rhythm and Meter
Set Theory
The Twelve-Tone Technique
Tonal Serialization
Aleatory of Chance Music
Texture and Expanded Instrumental Resources
Electronic Music
Summary and Forward Look
Appendix A: Instrumental Ranges and Transpositions
Appendix B: Answers to Self-Tests
Appendix C: Index of Music Examples
Name Index
Subject Index