Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 8 of 16 (Week 8) · two sessions per week
Objectives: SLO 1 · SLO 2 · SLO 3 · SLO 7 — everything Foundations built, certified

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Week 8 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Welcome Announcement that posts when the module opens. All timing is relative — "Week N" language throughout. This unit has no second meeting and no tutorial deadline, so those tokens do not appear here — by design.

---

(A) Week 8 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Unit 8: The Midterm

This week is shaped differently from every other week of the term, so here is the shape, plainly:

Week 8 is exam week, and it has exactly one class meeting. That one meeting is the midterm. It runs in class, the full 75 minutes, proctored, closed to AI and closed to devices. There is nothing new to learn this week, and that is not an accident: the cumulative review already happened in last week's second session, and the midterm's whole support family — the study guide, the exam-prep tutorial, and the practice exam — has been open in this module since week 6. This week you polish; you don't cram.

And one more thing, before the checklist: this is where Foundations is certified — and you already speak the language. Seven units ago, a note was "the high one." Now it's F♯4, a whole step below A♭4's twin, sitting in a key you can name from its signature. The midterm doesn't ask you to become someone new by exam day. It asks you to be, on paper, the musician you've already been in the room every week. That's why we call it the literacy gate: you walk through it; it doesn't fall on you.

The unit's big question

"Seven units of names — addresses, rhythms, keys, intervals. Can you produce them cold, on paper, with nothing but a pencil? (Yes. on exam day you prove it.)"

By the end of this unit, you can…

• [ ] Walk into an exam room knowing exactly what's on the paper — because the blueprint is published in the study guide.
• [ ] Show, in 50 items, that you read and write pitch and rhythm, spell all thirty keys and their scales, and name intervals by letter-first arithmetic.
• [ ] Catch the classic traps on sight: the enharmonic collapse, the key-counting interval, the dot that "adds a beat," the 6/8 that pretends to be 3/4.
• [ ] Look back at your own exam honestly — what held, what wobbled — and set one concrete plan for the back half of the course.

What to do this unit, in order

The table below lists the unit's items in working order, with points and due dates. The first three items have been open since week 6 — if you worked them last week, the exam is already yours.

#	Do this	Type	Points	Due
1	Work the Midterm Study Guide — the exact blueprint (which units, how many items), unit-by-unit skill checklists, the trap list, and a review plan sized to this one-meeting week	Study guide (ungraded)	—	Before the exam; open since week 6
2	Take the Practice Midterm — 40 items mirroring the real blueprint, unlimited attempts, full answer key and feedback, zero gradebook points	Practice exam (ungraded)	0	Before the exam; open since week 6
3	Run the Exam-Prep Tutorial — your AI coach diagnoses all seven units, then drills exactly where you wobble. AI is allowed (required, even) here; it is banned in the exam room	Prep tutorial (optional, ungraded)	—	Before the exam; open since week 6
4	Re-skim the Cumulative Review outline and deck — the same materials from last the second session's in-class review, posted here for self-review	Review materials (ungraded)	—	Alongside your review
5	THE MIDTERM — Week 8's exam session, in class — 50 items, 2 points each, 75 minutes, proctored, closed to AI and devices	Exam · graded	100	Week 8's exam session, in the room
6	Debrief Discussion — "The Gate, Looked in the Eye" — after the exam: a dialogue with your AI about what held, what wobbled, and your one plan for the back half; post the summary + share link (that post is the whole submission)	Discussion · graded	10	the end of Week 8

The late-work policy is in the syllabus.

What to bring to the exam

• Two sharpened pencils and an eraser. The exam is on paper.
• Your typed-spelling habit. Notation questions are answered in the course convention you've used all term — F#4, Bb3, "dotted quarter," "1 la li" — no staff-drawing required.
• Nothing else. No notes, no devices, no AI. Phones silenced and away before the paper lands. Arrive a few minutes early; we start sharp and you get the full 75 minutes.

How to succeed this unit

• Take the practice exam first, not last. It's the fastest honest map of what still wobbles — unlimited attempts, zero points, full feedback. Let it tell you where the weekend goes.
• Review little and often. One-meeting weeks reward three short sessions over one long night. The study guide's review plan lays it out day by day.
• Drill the traps, not just the material. Every unit has one favorite wrong answer — the study guide names all seven. If you can explain why each trap is wrong, you're past it.
• Let your ear go first, even now. Sing the scale before you spell it; count the bar out loud before you answer it. Sound → name → notation has been the order for seven units, and it's still the order under exam conditions.
• Then close the books and sleep. You've been rehearsing this language twice a week since Week 1. the night before is for rest, not discovery.

After the exam: the debrief discussion is where the exam becomes information instead of just a grade. Honest reflection there — what held, what wobbled, one plan — is worth more to your back half than any single item on the paper.

---

(B) Welcome Announcement — Week 8

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

Subject: Midterm week — one meeting, one gate, and you already speak the language

Hi everyone,

Here's the week, plainly: week 8 is exam week, with exactly one class meeting — and that meeting is the midterm. In class, 75 minutes, proctored, on paper, closed to AI and devices. Bring two pencils, an eraser, and the vocabulary you've been speaking out loud every week since Week 1.

Three things to know:

1. Nothing on this exam is new. It covers Units 1–7 — the language you already use every studio session. The review happened in class last week; the study guide, prep tutorial, and practice exam have been open since week 6. This week is polish, not discovery.
2. The practice exam is your best hour. Unlimited attempts, zero points, full feedback, and it mirrors the real blueprint. Take it early, let it point at the wobble, then aim the prep tutorial there. (Your AI is welcome in the tutorial. On exam morning it stays home.)
3. After the exam, the debrief discussion closes the end of Week 8 — a short AI dialogue about what held and what wobbled, plus your one plan for the back half. It's the most useful ten points of the week.

Seven units ago you couldn't write down a note you heard. Now you spell keys most working musicians only wave at. The exam isn't a wall — it's the door Foundations built, and you have the key in your hand.

See you in the room. Bring your ears; they've done this before.

Professor Hemsworth

---

Canvas placement block

# (A) Overview page
canvas_object    = Page
title            = "Week 8 Overview — Start Here · The Midterm"
published        = true
module_position  = first item in the Week 8 module
# Note: the Week 8 module itself publishes early — its M/N/O items (study guide,
# prep tutorial, practice exam) release with week 6.
# This overview and the review outline/deck follow the normal week-8 drip.

# (B) Welcome announcement
canvas_object    = Announcement
title            = "Midterm week — one meeting, one gate, and you already speak the language"
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 8 module.

---