Dylan Keiser

Class: Theory Lesson Date: 10/26/2018

Objectives
 Students will criticize simple melodies using the composition rules RHCLT
 Students will be able to describe the melodic composition rules through RHCLT
 Students will begin composing simple melodies using the RHCLT rules

Materials
 Dry erase board and markers; Copy of Tonal Harmony; piano/keyboard

Students will be led in the following:

During the afternoon announcements, write the Acronym RHCLT on the board with plenty of
space between each letter  write Really, Happy, Chickens, Love, and Taffy under them for now
 After the afternoon announcements, have students turn in their books to page 78
 Everyone, look at the top of page 78 and follow along – read the first paragraph under
The Melodic Line to the students
 Stress that this applies to short, vocal melodies. We will be writing in a vocal
style of music for awhile
 R
 Really  Rhythm
 Ask the students to look in their books and for someone to raise their hand and tell
me what “Really” actually stands for
 Erase Really and replace with Rhythm
 Ask students for a volunteer to read #1. Rhythm
 As student reads be prepared to write down two things: simple with most
durations equal to or longer than the duration of the beat, and the final
note should occur on a strong beat
 Stress that students need to have out notebook and take notes
 I wrote down two things under this rule: let’s discuss them in detail – if we are in
4/4, what rhythm would the beat be? So what does this rule tell us most of the
rhythms must be if we are in 4/4, or any other meter with a “4” in the denominator
 What if the meter was 6/8, or 2/2?
 What does this rule tell us about how the melody should end? – what is a strong
beat?
 Discuss strong beats of different meters and genres – classical 4/4 is 1 and
3, contemporary music is 2 and 4, and ¾ is 1 and 3, and so forth
 H
 Happy  Harmony
 Dylan Keiser

 Ask the students to look in their books and for someone to raise their hand and tell
me what “Happy” actually stands for
 Erase Happy and replace with Harmony
 Ask students for a volunteer to read #2. Harmony
 As student reads be prepared to write down: every note should belong to
the chord harmonizing it
 Let’s unpack that – what does it mean? We have been analyzing and identifying
chords for a while now. We know that only certain pitches exist in each chord. If
there is a chord symbol in this key, we know which pitches belong to that chord.
Do some examples:
 In the key of F, what is the vi chord? In the key of D, what is IV?
 In a melody we can only choose from the pitches that exist within the
chord at the bottom
 C
 Chickens -> Contour
 Ask the students to look in their books and for someone to raise their hand and tell
me what “Chickens” actually stands for
 Erase Chickens and replace with Contour
 Ask students for a volunteer to read #3. Contour
 As student reads be prepared to write down two things: conjunct, and focal
point
 What does conjunct mean? Stepwise… What does that mean? Move mostly by
half or whole steps - what is the opposite of a step? (Leap) What is a leap? We
will talk more about leaps in a second.
 What is a focal point? – the book claims highest note in the melody – how many
should there be?
 Take a look at the three melody examples in the book on page 78
(examples 5-1)
 Play them and talk about faults or if they are good
 L
 Love -> Leaps
 Ask the students to look in their books and for someone to raise their hand and tell
me what “Love” actually stands for
 Erase Love and replace with Leap
 Ask students for a volunteer to read #4. Leap
 As student reads be prepared to write down three things:
Augmented/Diminished, larger than P4 approached and left in opposite
direction, and consecutive leaps in same direction must outline a triad
 There is a lot to unpack in this one!
 Dylan Keiser

 A) What is the list of no-no intervals? – augmented, 7ths, 8ths and larger
 Diminished is only allowed in this one case – stepwise motion
down immediately afterwards
 B) Re-read “b.” what must you do to write an interval greater than a P4?
 Write down an example or two – motion looks like a zig-zag.
 C) What does the word consecutive mean? In a row is an easy way to
think about it.
 What is “outlining a triad?” – write a few examples
 T
 Taffy -> Tendency Tones
 Ask the students to look in their books and for someone to raise their hand and tell
me what “Taffy” actually stands for
 Erase Taffy and replace with Tendency Tones
 Ask students for a volunteer to read #5. Tendency Tones
 As student reads be prepared to write down two things: 7 to 1 (unless 1-7-
6-5), and sometimes 4 – 3
 This is a very straight forward rule… But what is 7? Scale degree 7, the leading
tone: what is 7 in Bb? What is 7 in F#?
 4-3 is not necessary, unless specific chords and situations arise - vii◦, 4 goes to 3,
and in V7, 4 goes to 3. Otherwise, there is not a problem.
 Take a look at the melodies on page 79 – discuss through the problems with 5-2 b.
 Criticize a melody together at the end of class

Assessment
Informal and throughout – Make sure students are taking notes; there is a lot to take in!
Homework on Analysis will be collected Monday

Closure
RHCLT!