<p>I am going to be a sophomore this oncoming school year, and I want to take AP music theory, but my school doesn't offer it. As I see my future now, I want to become a professional cellist, and own businesses on the side (my whole family owns various restaurants, etc.). I'm taking all of the music classes I can, but I need to have a course of music theory to pull it all together. I was wondering to people who have taken the class and test, or even done it on their own, if this is possible?
I haven't done any AP tests or classes in the past, but I'm doing AP world class, and AP bio self study.</p>
<p>Also, which book should I use if I do decide to do it?</p>
<p>Considering that I self-taught myself music theory out of necessity (I compose music but have never taken a formal theory class), it can be done. I learned through trial and error (and Google searches). However, my friend gave me his book, The Practice of Harmony by Peter Spencer. It is a wonderful resource that contains everything you’ll need for the class and more. It serves as a workbook; it is spiral-bound, and pretty much the entire book consists of staves with written exercises. They use that book for AP Music Theory at my school, and my friend got a 5 easily.</p>
<p>You’ll also need to get some kind of book to practice aural theory. Find one.</p>
<p>I thought Music Theory was a really hard class, and I had a teacher. However, you will have the whole year, whereas I only had a semester to study for the test.
My teacher used the textbook Tonal Harmony, which I found very helpful.
The thing that will be the hardest for you to practice (if you can’t already do this) is hearing chord qualities and note intervals and being able to write them down. The only reason I say this is because you will have to search out music to listen for the differences.
Hope this helps! If you have any more questions, PM me.</p>
<p>I agree with clarinette52 on building up your aural theory. If it helps, try picking through random songs you’re listening to. Take anything on the radio and try to identify chord qualities and intervals and whatnot. When you do dictation on the exam, you’ll be given a starting note. If you know intervals like the back of your hand, you’ll have no problem.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, you also need to be able to sing a simple song (think hymn or nursery song) without a starting note. I’ve found that what helped me was getting the pitches of the four violin strings (since they’re in my range) in my head and going down by half steps to the starting pitch, then using solfege to sing the rest of the piece.</p>
<p>I had a really rough time with the AP Music Theory test. My school only offered the class for one semester, and I probably should have studied harder on the off-semester, but still, it was nothing like I expected. 7+ years of piano playing and 6 years of band did little to help, and what we learned in class barely scratched the surface of what was on the test. If you’re determined to do this, Tonal Harmony should teach you everything you need to know, but really, the aural component of the test is huge, so just studying a book isn’t going to cut it. You’ll need to practice singing, but most of all, listening. You’ll need to be able to do dictation, and, as others have already pointed out, be able to identify chords and intervals.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>