AP Music Theory- super hard class?

[Anonymous]

My sophomore did well in it. He came in with a strong piano background. He said the pianists did well but kids who only had a strong choral background struggled. FWIW he found it a pretty boring class by the end. His teacher was good but the second semester was a slog and it became very repetitive.

[Anonymous]

NYSSMA alum here! I think your daughter would be fine taking the class next year. I do like the idea about asking around about the teacher, though.

[Anonymous]

I have been looking for online AP info and noticed you can pay to register for the class online. It would be inexpensive to preview it without registering for credit.

https://www.ucscout.org/courses/apmusic?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19935682005&gbraid=0AAAAACv-ijGwWnu0HVu9i0PRGHWNDJUTy&gclid=CjwKCAjwmNLHBhA4EiwA3ts3mbw6_R_Bj0GSGT27c2UzrwWltjiXtq5I9nP126q8m1DVXJLBiOdt2BoCBlwQAvD_BwE#collapseTwo

[Anonymous]

My sophomore is taking it and loving it, it’s his favorite class. He is also a strong instrumentalist (all state) with a good ear. He keeps chattering to me about it and is enjoying learning “how the sausage gets made”! If your sophomore is enthusiastic about the material, go for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sophomore did well in it. He came in with a strong piano background. He said the pianists did well but kids who only had a strong choral background struggled. FWIW he found it a pretty boring class by the end. His teacher was good but the second semester was a slog and it became very repetitive.

+1 The piano kids have the easiest time with this class, from what my DS told me. It's a good class, not super easy but also important for musicians if they are going to continue with music past high school.

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone for your helpful comments. Sounds like we are thinking about this the right way. We'll look into the teacher as well. Have a great day.

[Anonymous]

I'll chime in, though my DC is currently taking as a senior and it's early in the class. For context, she has about 12 years experience in piano with RCM level 5 in 8th or 9th grade (can't recall exactly). She is also all-state in a wind instrument with about 7 years experience in that. Thus far, she is finding it is covering no new ground, but was told by some classmates that had it last year as juniors with similar musical experience that it gets more interesting which prompted her to take it. Though they didn't consider it difficult. One classmate took it with AP Chem, Physics C (both sections), Calc BC, and Lang, I believe, so they did it on top of a rigorous course load.

Based on the description of your DC, it sounds like it would not be a heavy lift. As mentioned above, piano background likely helps quite a bit as they tend to learn a fair amount of theory along the way.

[Anonymous]

I used to teach AP Music Theory. I would say it's difficult for a variety of reasons - and in different ways for different kids.

Dont listen to anyone who says "oh its just music so that should be easy" or "but you love it, so you should do great"

If its being taught in a way that's actually preparing you for the AP test, it requires ear training, singing from written music at sight, and being able to write music and thoroughly understand music reading in all clefs/keys.

The biggest things kids struggle with are having to learn clefs that dont occur for their usual instruments, working hard at the ear training, and more than anything - keeping up with the units. If you are someone who needs remedial help in anything fundamental, its becomes very difficult to catch up if you fall behind. If you're just learning to read, the course has to move forward into harder concepts while you are still struggling with fundamental things

That said, for kids who are working hard and keeping up, its a great course. Hard test.

[Anonymous]

Heh. My kid thinks it's super easy. He's also a cellist playing at RCM grade 10/ARCT levels and has perfect pitch. Everyone's mileage will vary, but from what I've seen, kids who already know how to read music and who have a very good sense of pitch do fine in the class.

[Anonymous]

Thats good. It can be easy for the right kid. They already have tools that make it easy for them. Most dont have that. Most of my classes were around 3 or 4 kids who had that kind of background and found it easy, 6 to 8 who did well but had to work hard at it, and 6 to 8 who did not have a solid background to start from

[Anonymous]

My kid took it at 9 grade, just for fun and experience. He said it was hard (he mention something that he wish he has a perfect pitch … he got 4 and happy with it.

[Anonymous]

Here's a video of Adam Neely, working jazz musician and YouTube music educator, taking an AP Music Theory practice exam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxaFQOac6kM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heh. My kid thinks it's super easy. He's also a cellist playing at RCM grade 10/ARCT levels and has perfect pitch. Everyone's mileage will vary, but from what I've seen, kids who already know how to read music and who have a very good sense of pitch do fine in the class.

Maybe your kid only found the exam easy because he has perfect pitch. Mine also has perfect pitch and got a 5 on the aural part of the exam. The other kid she knows who got a 5 on aural also had perfect pitch. Makes me wonder how many kids can get 5 aural if they DON’T have perfect pitch. The other kids she knows who are very good musicians got 3’s and 4’s on the aural. I don’t think you can say it’s easy just because you have perfect pitch because that’s almost like having a built in cheat that lets you bypass a lot of the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a video of Adam Neely, working jazz musician and YouTube music educator, taking an AP Music Theory practice exam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxaFQOac6kM

What is the tldr version? Did he pass?

[Anonymous]

Yes, he passed.

He said the transcription part of the course is very helpful in general for any musician.

But the rest of the course focuses on a tiny sliver of music theory -- 18th-century European conventions and notation. As a jazz musician he hasn't touched that kind of stuff in 15 years or so, and that's what that part of the course and exam focus on. So part of the fun is trying to see how much of it he remembers.