Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 7 of 16 (Week 7) · two sessions per week
Objectives: SLO 3 · SLO 7

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Week 7 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Welcome Announcement that posts when the module opens. All timing is relative — "Week N" language throughout.

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(A) Week 7 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Unit 7: Intervals II

This is your home base for the unit. Read it first, then work the checklist below from top to bottom. Everything on it is linked inside this module.

Last unit built the interval machine — size from letters, quality from half steps. This unit the machine goes to work: intervals wider than an octave (they're old friends in an octave coat), the famous six-half-step itch with two names (A4 and d5 — one sound, two intervals, and the spelling tells you which way the music leans), the settled-versus-leaning sort your ear already runs, and the skill all of it buys: transcribing a melody by ear in minutes, by naming each leap as it lands. This is the last unit of Foundations. Everything after the midterm builds chords out of what you now spell without flinching.

⚑ The shape of this week and next — read this part twice

• Week 7's second session is a double-header: the transcription-race studio (≈45 min) plus the cumulative midterm review (≈30 min) in the same session.
• The midterm runs next week — in the room, proctored, closed to AI. Exam week has exactly one meeting, and it's the exam.
• The exam's whole support family has been open since two weeks ago in the Week 8 module: the study guide, the exam-prep tutorial, and the practice exam (unlimited attempts, worth zero, worth everything). If you haven't opened them yet, this weekend is the time — the in-class review block works best when you arrive with one real question.

The unit's big question

"One sound, two names — A4 or d5. If the piano can't tell the difference, what is the spelling actually for? (Answer: it tells you where the music is going — and it's how you'll transcribe a melody in minutes.)"

By the end of this unit, you can…

Use this as a checklist. If you can do all five out loud, the quiz will feel like confirmation.

• [ ] Name any compound interval by stripping the octave coat: simple size + 7, quality unchanged (M3 + octave = M10).
• [ ] Spell the tritone both ways above any pitch — as an A4 and as a d5 — and say which spelling contracts inward and which expands outward.
• [ ] Sort intervals into consonant and dissonant, and give the honest, context-dependent answer for the perfect fourth.
• [ ] Show with letters why F4→A♭4 and F4→G♯4 are different intervals (m3 vs. A2) despite being one sound — and name where the A2 honestly lives (harmonic minor, ^6 to ^7).
• [ ] Leap-map a melody: anchor one note, then name and spell every move from the note before it.

What to do this unit, in order

The table below lists the unit's items in working order, with points and due dates.

#	Do this	Type	Points	Due
1	Read the Week 7 chapter — compound intervals, the tritone, consonance/dissonance, enharmonic intervals, leap-mapping	Chapter (ungraded prep)	—	Before the first session if you can
2	Browse the Readings & Resources links that interest you — the interval ear-trainer is this week's sleeper hit	Prep (ungraded)	—	Alongside class
3	Tutorial 7 — Intervals II (AI tutor + audit) — your chatbot teaches, you learn, then you audit it on your own knowledge (no answer sheet — that's the point)	Tutorial · graded	10	before Week 7's second session — before the studio, whose race assumes it
4	Studio 7 — "Figure it out fast" — in class, session 2: the transcription race, then the tritone corner; the midterm review block follows immediately	Studio · graded in session	20	In session, Week 7's second session (async make-up at full credit by the end of Week 7)
5	Practice 7 (AI coach) — six quick reps before the quiz	Practice · graded (completion)	5	the end of Week 7
6	Quiz 7 — Intervals II — 10 questions, 15-minute timer, one attempt, closed to AI	Quiz · graded	10	the end of Week 7
7	Discussion 7 — "The Pull" — find the moment your song leans, and name what the lean is made of; post the summary + share link (that post is the whole submission)	Discussion · graded	10	the end of Week 7
8	Assignment 7 — "The Ten-Minute Transcription" — a melody dictated one interval at a time; you spell every landing note; the coach's report (score on line 1) + share link	Assignment · graded	100	the end of Week 7

And in the Week 8 module, already open: the midterm study guide, the exam-prep tutorial, and the practice exam. They're this weekend's best hour.

The late-work policy is in the syllabus.

How to succeed this unit

• Let your ear go first, every time. Sing every interval you spell this week — the tritone resolutions especially. The studio race and the midterm both reward ears that have already rehearsed the names.
• Memorize two facts cold: compound = simple + 7 (quality never changes), and the tritone is A4 or d5 — the letters decide. Those two settle half the unit.
• Letters first, always. Count letter names before you touch qualities. Every trap in this unit (A2 vs. m3, A4 vs. d5) is sprung by counting keys instead of letters.
• Treat your chatbot as a smart intern, not an oracle. This week it will confidently call C4→D♯4 "a minor third." Catching that is graded work — and for the second week, you audit on your own knowledge, no answer sheet. You're ready.
• Do the tutorial before the second session. The studio's race assumes its leap-mapping reps; the pre-studio deadline is the one mid-week deadline, same as every week.
• Start the practice exam this weekend. Unlimited attempts, zero points, and it tells you exactly which of the last seven units wants one more pass before session 1.

Nothing on the midterm is new. It's everything you've already named — certified. Come to the first session with your ears; they've been training for seven weeks.

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(B) Welcome Announcement — Week 7

Release: posts on the module's opening day (drip — not before). Ships workflow_state=active with side_comment discussion; see placement block.

Subject: One sound, two names — and the finish line is in sight

Hi everyone,

Play any note. Now play the note six half steps up. That restless, leaning, movie-villain sound? You've been hearing it your whole life — and this week you find out it has two names, and that which name you write tells another musician where the music is going. That's Unit 7: the tritone (A4 vs. d5 — one sound, two intervals), intervals bigger than an octave (old friends in an octave coat), the settled-vs-leaning sort your ear already runs, and the payoff skill of the whole Foundations arc — transcribing a melody by ear in minutes by naming each leap as it lands.

This unit — Intervals II — the interval machine goes to work. the studio is literally a race: real tunes, real clock, you against the version of you from week 1. (Week-1 you loses. Badly. Come see by how much.)

Three things not to miss:

1. The second session is a double-header. Studio race first, then the cumulative midterm review takes the last half hour — because the midterm is next week (exam week has exactly one meeting, and the exam gets it).
2. The midterm's support materials are already open — study guide, prep tutorial, practice exam, all in the Week 8 module, open since two weeks ago. The practice exam costs nothing and tells you everything. This weekend is its moment.
3. Tutorial 7 is due before the second session (before Week 7's second session) — the race assumes its reps, and this week's tutor audit runs on your knowledge, no answer sheet. That's not a missing page; that's a promotion.

Everything else — practice set, quiz, discussion, and the Ten-Minute Transcription assignment — closes the end of Week 7. The Start Here page in this module lays it all out in order with points.

Bring your ears to the first session. The itch resolves — and so does Foundations.

See you in this class,
Professor Hemsworth

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Canvas placement block

# (A) Overview page
canvas_object    = Page
title            = "Week 7 Overview — Start Here · Intervals II"
published        = true
module_position  = first item in the Week 7 module

# (B) Welcome announcement
canvas_object    = Announcement
title            = "One sound, two names — and the finish line is in sight"
workflow_state   = active
discussion_type  = side_comment
delayed_post_at  = module opening day (drip; offset 0 from module start)
# Announcements are NEVER module items — Canvas rejects them as module content.
# They live in the Announcements stream only; do not add this to the Week 7 module.

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