Week 3 — Studio · "The 6/8 Room"

Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 3 of 16 (Week 3) · two sessions per week
Objectives: SLO 1 · SLO 7 (the spine: hear it → name it → count it → write it)
Studio 3 · 20 points · Studios group · In session, Week 3's second session · async make-up path below, full credit, submit by the end of Week 3
Format: the course's signature hands-on session — the room becomes a rhythm section: half on beats, half on divisions, everyone transcribing. Nothing to buy or download; studio sheets with blank staves are provided, and your own instrument is welcome.

Every content unit has a the second session studio. It's the week's payoff enacted: this week, the payoff is the inside of the beat — hear whether it rolls or marches, count it, and write it down so a drummer plays it back the way you meant it.

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Part 1 — The Big Picture

Session 1 named the system: two ways to split a beat, three compound signatures, "1 la li," the triplet. This morning's mini-teach added syncopation and the shuffle. Now the system goes into your hands and ears at performance speed. Every round runs in the ear-first direction — sound → feel the split → count it → write it — because that's the direction you'll use it on a gig: the band plays something, and you catch its groove on paper before it evaporates.

By the end of the session you'll have transcribed a shuffle and a 6/8 hymn rhythm from hearing alone — your first two real feel-transcriptions of the course.

Part 2 — The Task

The guiding question: When you hear a groove, how fast can you tell whether its beats split in twos or threes — and can you write what you heard precisely enough that another musician plays it back with the same feel?

No hypothesis to write today — your "prediction instrument" is your body, and Round 1 warms it up before any counting happens.

Part 3 — Procedure (the four rounds)

You'll work on the studio sheet (answer tables plus blank 6/8 and 12/8 staves). Groups of 2–3 at the tables work well; the rounds also run fine solo. If you brought your instrument, keep it out — Rounds 3 and 4 invite you to play back what you wrote as a check.

Round 1 — Ears only: twos or threes (≈10 min).
Professor Hemsworth plays six short grooves at the piano (or on the drum). For each one, on your sheet: circle "splits in 2" or "splits in 3" — you're judging the inside of the beat, not the number of beats — and jot one word for how it moves ("march," "roll," "sway," anything honest). No signatures, no counting yet. Ears first, on purpose.

Round 2 — The room splits (≈15 min).
The room becomes the meter. Half of you tap the beats; the other half clap the divisions; everyone speaks the count together — "1 la li 2 la li" against two swaying beats, then (on cue) the same six eighth notes regrouped as "1 & 2 & 3 &" against three stepping beats. Swap halves and do it again. You will physically feel 6/8 and 3/4 disagree about the same six notes. Then, on your sheet, write the two counting strings and answer the two Table 1 prompts about which layer you carried and where the beats fell.

Round 3 — Transcribe the shuffle (≈15 min).
Professor Hemsworth plays a two-bar shuffle groove, repeating it several times. Your job, in stages on the sheet: (1) tap the big beats and write down how many per bar; (2) decide how each beat splits; (3) write the counting string with the struck syllables circled; (4) notate the rhythm on the blank 12/8 staff (one repeated pitch is fine — B4 all the way works; feel free to check it on your own instrument, quietly). Compare with a neighbor between stages — disagreements are the useful part; resolve them by counting aloud together.

Round 4 — Transcribe the 6/8 hymn (≈15 min).
Two 6/8 rhythms from out-of-copyright tunes the room already knows, clapped and played, several repeats each: the opening figure of Silent Night, and a House of the Rising Sun-style pattern with a pickup note. Same stages as Round 3: beats per bar → split → counting string → notation on the blank 6/8 staff. The pickup in the second pattern is the round's summit — remember from unit 2 that a pickup borrows its time from the final bar.

Fallback (no piano hearing needed): if you can't hear the piano well from your seat, or you're doing the make-up path, every round works from the printed make-up patterns below — you produce each pattern yourself by speaking its counting string and clapping it, then transcribe your own performance.

Part 4 — The Scaffold (complete during the rounds)

Table 1 captures Rounds 1–2 — the ear calls and the split-room reflection.

Item	Your answer
Groove 1: splits in 2 / splits in 3 · one word	______
Groove 2: splits in 2 / splits in 3 · one word	______
Groove 3: splits in 2 / splits in 3 · one word	______
Groove 4: splits in 2 / splits in 3 · one word	______
Groove 5: splits in 2 / splits in 3 · one word	______
Groove 6: splits in 2 / splits in 3 · one word	______
Round 2 — counting string, six eighths grouped in two beats	______
Round 2 — counting string, six eighths grouped in three beats	______
Round 2 — which grouping rolled, and which stepped?	______

Table 2 captures Rounds 3–4 — the transcriptions.

Prompt	Beats per bar	Counting string (circle struck syllables)	Notation done?
Shuffle groove	______	______	☐
Silent Night figure	______	______	☐
Pickup pattern	______	______	☐

Part 5 — Analysis Questions (short answers on the sheet, ≈5 min)

1. In Round 1 your body voted before your brain counted. Which groove was hardest to call, and what finally tipped it?
2. A bandmate looks at your Round 4 Silent Night transcription and asks, "Why 6/8? Couldn't you write it in 3/4 since it's six eighths anyway?" Two or three sentences: set them straight.
3. In your shuffle transcription, exactly which counting syllable does the short note land on — and what would the groove turn into if you struck all three syllables of every beat?
4. Name one moment today when your ear knew the answer before your pencil did. What did that feel like?
5. If you had to hand your shuffle transcription to a drummer who's never heard the tune, what one word or marking would you add to the page so they'd play the feel right — and where would you put it?

Part 6 — AI-Critique Moment (≈4 min, phones out — or on the projector if the room prefers)

Type three facts from today into your chatbot and ask it to check them — for example: "Check these: (1) 6/8 has two beats and the dotted quarter gets the beat; (2) a 6/8 bar of six eighths is counted 1 la li 2 la li; (3) an eighth-note triplet takes the same total time as two ordinary eighths." Then judge its reply against your sheet. The classic failures to hunt: it gives 6/8 six beats with the eighth note "getting the beat," or it calls 6/8 and 3/4 the same meter. Write 2–3 sentences on your sheet: what it got right, and at least one thing you corrected or verified. The habit all term: the tool drafts, you judge.

Part 7 — What to Submit

Hand in before you leave: the studio sheet (Tables 1–2 + the notated staves + analysis answers + AI-critique sentences). 20 points, graded on the rubric below.

Async make-up path — full credit, submit by the end of Week 3. Life happens; missing the studio costs you nothing but the room. Do the same tasks alone: (1) for Round 1, speak and clap each printed make-up groove below and make the twos-or-threes call by feel; (2) for Round 2, record yourself tapping two beats while speaking "1 la li 2 la li," then three beats while speaking "1 & 2 & 3 &"; (3) for Rounds 3–4, clap each printed pattern from its counting string several times, then transcribe it onto the staves as if you'd heard it cold, and answer all analysis questions. Submit: phone photos of your completed sheet and staves, plus a short recording (a minute is plenty — voice memo or video) of you clapping the shuffle pattern and the Silent Night figure while speaking the counting aloud. Same rubric, same 20 points, no penalty.

Make-up pattern list (so no hearing partner is needed): Round 1 grooves — (1) even eighths in 4/4; (2) a lilting 6/8 at lullaby speed; (3) a shuffle; (4) a waltz with even eighth notes; (5) a slow 12/8 ballad pattern; (6) a 2/4 march. Round 3 — the two-bar shuffle: quarter–eighth four times per bar in 12/8. Round 4 — Silent Night's opening figure (dotted eighth, sixteenth, eighth, dotted quarter — twice) and the pickup pattern (eighth pickup, then quarter–eighth quarter–eighth, ending dotted quarter + quarter).

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Instructor key — REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS

Round 1 grooves (play each ~20 seconds; repeat once on request):

#	Groove	Key: splits in	Note
1	4/4 march, even eighths	2	obvious opener; "march/walk" words expected
2	6/8 lullaby lilt (q e q e pattern)	3	the title groove — "roll/sway"
3	12/8 shuffle (q e per beat)	3	same threes, different attitude — pairs with Round 3
4	3/4 waltz with even eighth division	2	the trap — triple METER, duple DIVISION; expect wrong calls, praise the debate; the lesson is that this round asks about the inside of the beat
5	12/8 slow ballad (arpeggiated eighths)	3	"sway"
6	2/4 march	2	palate cleanser to close

Round 2 keys: two-beat grouping = "1 la li 2 la li" (rolled); three-beat grouping = "1 & 2 & 3 &" (stepped). Watch for students speaking "1 2 3 4 5 6" — legal at crawl speed, but ask them where the beats live in that count (no answer = the point made).

Round 3 — the shuffle, vetted:

• Play: two bars of 12/8, quarter–eighth on every beat.
• Beats per bar: 4. Split: threes. Counting: "1 (la) li 2 (la) li 3 (la) li 4 (la) li" — struck syllables are each beat number and each li; la stays silent inside the long note.
• Notation key (one repeated pitch; both bars identical):

METER: 12/8    CLEF: treble
| B4/q B4/e B4/q B4/e B4/q B4/e B4/q B4/e | B4/q B4/e B4/q B4/e B4/q B4/e B4/q B4/e |

Two bars of quarter–eighth pairs, four to a bar — the long–short shuffle limp, short note on the last third of each beat.

• Accept a straight-eighths notation plus the word "Shuffle" as fully correct if the student explains the shorthand (that's Analysis Q5 arriving early — praise it loudly).

Round 4 — the hymn rhythms, vetted:

Silent Night opening figure (two identical bars):

METER: 6/8    CLEF: treble
| B4/e. B4/s B4/e B4/q. | B4/e. B4/s B4/e B4/q. |

Dotted eighth, sixteenth, eighth, then a dotted quarter — twice. Beats per bar: 2. The first beat's interior is decorated (the dotted-eighth–sixteenth pair subdivides it; in "1 ta la ta li ta" terms the sixteenth lands on the second "ta," after "la"); the eighth lands on li; the dotted quarter owns beat 2. Full subdivision counting is NOT required for credit — "beat 1 decorated, lands on li, beat 2 held" plus correct notation earns full marks.

Pickup pattern (House of the Rising Sun-style, rhythm only):

METER: 6/8    CLEF: treble
| B4/e | B4/q B4/e B4/q B4/e | B4/q. B4/q |

An eighth-note pickup, then a full bar of quarter–eighth quarter–eighth (the 6/8 lilt — struck syllables "1 … li 2 … li"), closing with a dotted quarter plus a quarter — a final bar two and a half beats' worth, one eighth short, balancing the pickup exactly as unit 2 promised.

• Beats per bar: 2. Watch for the pickup written as a full bar (the classic miss); send disputants to add up the final bar.

AI-critique full credit: names a specific claim checked, with either a caught error (most common: "6/8 has six beats") or a real verification ("it agreed, and I checked its beat count against the ÷3 rule"). "The AI said it was all correct" with no checking shown earns the partial band.

Where students collect their own responses (Round 1 one-word feels, the "hardest call" answer), grade the method — honest calls, counting strings formatted with beat numbers — never agreement with one "right" adjective.

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Grading rubric — 20 points

The rubric below maps the studio's parts to points; bands are full / partial / none. The async make-up path uses the identical rubric.

Criterion	Full	Partial	None
Round 1 — ear calls completed honestly, all six grooves marked with a feel word (4)	4	2–3	0–1
Round 2 — the split room: both counting strings correct, rolled/stepped call made (4)	4	2–3 (one string off or reflection missing)	0–1
Round 3 — shuffle transcription: beats-per-bar, counting with struck syllables, notation matching the key (or straight-eighths + "Shuffle" explained) (5)	5	3–4 (feel right, details off; or counting right, notation shaky)	0–2
Round 4 — hymn transcriptions: both patterns notated, pickup handled, counting strings present (5)	5	3–4 (one pattern solid, one incomplete)	0–2
AI-critique: 2–3 sentences with a specific catch or a real verification (2)	2	1	0

Quality gate (self-checked): every Round 2–4 key entry re-verified against the course theory reference (6/8 = compound duple, 2 beats, dotted-quarter beat unit; 12/8 = 4 beats; counting strings match the locked syllable tables; every notated bar sums to its meter, with the pickup's short first bar balanced by the short final bar); rubric sums 4+4+5+5+2 = 20; no purchased or downloaded materials; both transcription tunes are out-of-copyright (Gruber 1818; trad. American). ✓

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 3 Studio — The 6/8 Room"
assignment_group = "Studios"
points_possible  = 20
grading_type     = points
submission_types = [on_paper]        # in session; async make-up: online_upload (photos + short recording)
due              = in session, Week 3's second session; make-up by the end of Week 3
published        = true

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