AP Music Theory
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About the Course
Learn to recognize, understand, and describe the basic materials and processes of music. You’ll develop skills by listening to, reading, writing, and performing a wide variety of music.
Skills You'll Learn
Identifying features of pitch, interval, scales and keys, chords, meter, rhythm, and other musical concepts in performed and notated music
Singing a notated melody on sight
Notating music that you hear
Completing music based on cues, following common-practice style
Equivalency and Prerequisites
College Course Equivalent
A one- or two-semester college introductory music theory course
Recommended Prerequisites
Ability to read and write musical notation and basic voice or instrument performance skills
Exam Date
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Fri, May 12, 2023,
8 AM LocalAP Music Theory Exam
This is the regularly scheduled date for the AP Music Theory Exam.
About the Units
The course content outlined below is organized into commonly taught units of study that provide one possible sequence for the course. Your teacher may choose to organize the course content differently based on local priorities and preferences.
Course Content
Unit 1: Music Fundamentals I: Pitch, Major Scales and Key Signatures, Rhythm, Meter, and Expressive Elements
You’ll learn how pitch and rhythm work together to become melody and meter and build musical compositions.
Topics may include:
- Pitch and pitch notation
- Notes and rests
- Major scales
- Major keys
- Beat division and meter type
- Tempo
- Dynamics
Unit 2: Music Fundamentals II: Minor Scales and Key Signatures, Melody, Timbre, and Texture
You’ll build on what you learned in Unit 1 about pitch patterns and relationships in major scales, and apply that knowledge to minor scales.
Topics may include:
- Natural, harmonic, and melodic forms of the minor scale
- Key relationships
- Intervals
- Melodic features such as contour, register, and range
- Texture types such as monophony, homophony, and heterophony
- Rhythmic devices such as syncopation and cross-rhythm
Unit 3: Music Fundamentals III: Triads and Seventh Chords
You’ll build on your understanding of pitch relationships and begin learning the fundamentals of harmony.
Topics may include:
- Diatonic chords
- Chord inversions
- The qualities of 7th chords
Unit 4: Harmony and Voice Leading I: Chord Function, Cadence, and Phrase
You’ll expand your knowledge of harmonic materials and processes and explore the procedures of 18th-century style voice leading.
Topics may include:
- Soprano–bass counterpoint
- 4-part (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) voice leading
- The conventions of 18th-century chord spelling, doubling, voicing, and spacing
- Harmonic progression, functional harmony, and cadences
- Voice leading with 7th chords
Unit 5: Harmony and Voice Leading II: Chord Progressions and Predominant Function
You’ll learn to describe, analyze, and create more complex harmonic progressions in the form of four-part (SATB: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) voice leading.
Topics may include:
- The use of predominant chords in a harmonic progression
- Specific predominant chords and their uses
- Cadences and predominant function
Unit 6: Harmony and Voice Leading III: Embellishments, Motives, and Melodic Devices
You’ll continue to explore the skills and concepts of harmony and voice leading.
Topics may include:
- Types of embellishing tones and their use in a chordal framework
- Motives and motivic transformation
- Melodic sequence
- Harmonic sequence
Unit 7: Harmony and Voice Leading IV: Secondary Function
You’ll build on what you’ve learned about harmonic relationships and procedures and deepen your understanding of keys, scale degrees, and chords.
Topics may include:
- Tonicization and the ways to achieve it
- Part writing secondary dominant chords
- Part writing secondary leading-tone chords
Unit 8: Modes and Form
You’ll study the use of conventions that affect the character of music such as modes, phrase relationships, and forms.
Topics may include:
- The seven types of modes
- Melodic relationships between phrases
- Commonly used sections of music such as introduction, interlude, bridge, verse, refrain, chorus, coda, and codetta
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Course Resources
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AP Classroom Resources
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AP Music Theory Course and Exam Description
This is the core document for the course. It clearly lays out the course content and describes the exam and AP Program in general.
See Where AP Can Take You
AP Music Theory can lead to a wide range of careers and college majors
Career Areas
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Majors
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