Week 15 — Assignment · "The Chart" (final deliverable)

Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 15 of 16 (Week 15) · two sessions per week
Objectives assessed: SLO 8 (transpose, read and realize a lead sheet, communicate harmony in standard terms) · SLO 4 · SLO 5 · SLO 7 (the spine, cashed in: what you hear, named, notated, and handed to somebody)
Assignment 15 · 100 points · Adaptive assignments group · Due: the end of Week 15 — a day early this week, so the days before the final stay clear
Format: the term project lands. You've been building this since unit 10 — this week you finish it, polish it with your AI coach (who reviews your reasoning, never does your transcription), and hand it in. This is the one assignment of the term that Professor Hemsworth grades directly — a rubric this size deserves human ears, and unlike every other week, no coach prints your score. The final polish session's share link is part of your submission.

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Part 1 — What "The Chart" is (read this first)

Fifteen weeks ago this course made you a promise: you already hear this; we're going to name what you already know. The Chart is that promise, cashed. You take a song you already play by ear — the one you chose in unit 10, drafted in numbers in unit 11, and put on staff paper in unit 13 — and you finish it into the complete package a working musician would hand a band.

The song must be transcribed by ear from a recording you legitimately have — your own copy or a streaming service you use. The course never supplies a copyrighted chart, and you must never download or copy one; your by-ear transcription of a song you have lawful access to is your own work product, and making it is the entire point. (Do not attach the original recording to your submission, and do not reproduce anyone's printed sheet music — your handwriting or your own notation-software file only.)

The five deliverables

1. The lead sheet (in your own hand). Melody + chord symbols for at least a full verse and chorus (or the song's equivalent main sections), transcribed by ear. Key signature, meter, barlines, readable spelling — unit 1's addresses through unit 10's symbols, all working. Handwritten and photographed, or exported from notation software you drove yourself. Include the roadmap marks if your song needs them (repeats, endings, D.C./D.S., Coda).
2. The Roman-numeral analysis, with cadences labeled. Under (or beside) your chord symbols: the key named, Roman numerals for every chord, and every section-ending cadence labeled by name (PAC, IAC, HC, deceptive, plagal) with one clause of evidence each. This is your unit 11–12 vocabulary applied to your song.
3. The transposition, for a named target. Choose a real target: a named singer's range ("my sister — her ceiling is B♭4") or a named transposing instrument (a friend's B♭ trumpet, an alto sax). State the target and why the interval you chose serves them (peak-note test for a singer; written-above-sounding arithmetic for an instrument). Then produce the moved chart: new key, melody and chord symbols transposed — for an instrument, the written part in the correct written key.
4. The liner notes: 300–400 words to a bandmate. Plain words, addressed to a real (or realistic) bandmate: what the progression does — where home is, which chords lean and which land, what the cadences do at the section joints, why the song works. Function vocabulary used honestly; no filler. Word count printed at the bottom.
5. The demonstration recording. A short phone recording (about a minute is plenty — audio or video) of you playing or singing from your own chart — either version, original key or transposition. It doesn't need to be pretty; it needs to be yours and from the page you made. Say the song title and the key on the recording before you play.

Milestone recap — how you got here

The table below shows the whole road; the first three rows are already behind you.

Milestone	Where it happened	What exists because of it
1 — Song chosen	Unit 10's assignment	A song you love, confirmed singable/hummable, with legitimate access to a recording
2 — Progression drafted	Unit 11's assignment	Your song's chords in Roman numerals, hear-checked by your own ear
3 — Lead sheet drafted	Unit 13's assignment	Melody + symbols on paper, by ear
4 — The Chart, complete	This assignment	All five deliverables, polished and submitted

If a milestone is missing or fell behind, don't skip ahead silently — email Professor Hemsworth now. The remaining road is very walkable this week; it just shouldn't be walked alone.

How to spend your week

• Early in the week: finish deliverables 1–2; run the transposition arithmetic for 3 (direction first — this week's classwork is literally this skill).
• Right after the studio: you'll have just transposed a chart live; ride that momentum straight into deliverable 3.
• Late in the week: draft the liner notes, run the final polish session (Part 2 below), fix what it catches, record the demo, submit. Everything is due at the end of Week 15 — a day early.

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Part 2 — The Final Polish Session (AI coach — required, and it will not do the work)

What this is. Before you submit, you run your nearly-finished Chart past your AI coach for a structured quality pass. The coach checks your reasoning — key logic, numeral consistency, cadence evidence, transposition arithmetic, liner-note honesty. It cannot hear your song, and it is forbidden from guessing your melody or chords. Think of it as the bandmate who proofreads the chart, not the one who writes it.

How to run it (30–45 minutes): open your chatbot, paste everything in the box as one message, and have your draft in front of you. Submit the session's share link with your Chart.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

You are my final polish coach for "The Chart," the term project of MUS 156 Music Theory I at Kenosis College. I have transcribed a song BY EAR — lead sheet (melody + chord symbols), Roman-numeral analysis with cadences, a transposition for a named singer or transposing instrument, and 300–400 words of liner notes to a bandmate. Your job is to pressure-test my REASONING before I submit. You do NOT grade me and you do NOT print a score — my instructor grades this project directly.

THE ONE ABSOLUTE RULE: you cannot hear my song, so you must never transcribe for me. Never supply melody notes, never guess or propose chords for my song, never "fix" my transcription, never suggest what chord "probably" comes next in a song like mine. If I ask you to, refuse warmly and remind me: the by-ear transcription IS the project. My ear did the hearing; you check whether my reasoning is internally consistent.

PINNED NOTATION CONVENTION (obey in every message): pitches are scientific (middle C = C4, typed F#4, Bb3). Roman numerals: case shows quality (I, ii, V7, vi); inversion figures use slashes typed as plain digits (V65, I64) — never hyphens. Chord symbols: C, Cm, C7, Cmaj7, G/B (letter after the slash = bass note). Nashville numbers count the song's key, minors marked m. Transposition directions are facts: too high → DOWN; B♭ instruments sound a M2 lower than written (write a M2 above concert), E♭ a M6 lower (write a M6 above), F a P5 lower (write a P5 above). Never substitute enharmonic spellings; if a transposition lands in an unusable key, say "respell the KEY for readability — same sound, different spelling" and keep both names visible.

THE FIVE CHECKS — run them in order, ONE question at a time, waiting for my answer each time:

CHECK 1 — Key and signature sanity. Ask me: the song's key, its signature, and how I know it's the key (where the song lands, what my ear calls home — unit 5 skills). If my stated signature doesn't match my stated key, make ME find the mismatch; don't fix it silently.

CHECK 2 — Numeral consistency. Have me read you my chord symbols in order, section by section, WITH my Roman numerals. Check each pair against the key I named: in G major, a C chord must be IV; an Em must be vi; a D7 must be V7. Flag every pair that can't both be true, and make me resolve it (either the symbol, the numeral, or my key is off — I decide which, by ear, away from the chat if needed). If a chord is genuinely outside the key, don't rename it — have me mark it honestly as outside-the-key color and move on; deep chromatic analysis is a later course, and one honest flag beats a fake explanation.

CHECK 3 — Cadence evidence. For each section ending, I state the cadence label AND the evidence (the last two chords, what the melody lands on). Hold me to the course's two-condition PAC test where I claim a PAC. A label with no evidence gets one response from you: "evidence?"

CHECK 4 — The transposition audit. First, my target and rationale: WHO is it for, and why THIS interval (peak-note test for a singer: peak vs. ceiling; written-above-sounding for an instrument: which family, which interval, which direction). Then run the TWO-BAR SPOT CHECK: I pick any two bars and read you the original notes and my transposed notes; you verify every note moved by the SAME interval in the SAME direction and the new key signature matches. TEACHING EXAMPLE YOU MAY USE (and this example only — it is pre-verified and it is not my song): a song in C major, singer needs it down a minor third → new key A major (three sharps); C→A, Am→F#m, F→D, G→E; a melody note C5 becomes A4. If it's a B♭ trumpet target instead: the written part sits a M2 above concert, so a song in C major means a trumpet part written in D major. Walk my numbers the same way you'd walk those.

CHECK 5 — Liner notes and demo readiness. Have me paste my liner notes. Check: 300–400 words (count them and tell me the count); addressed to a bandmate in plain words; says what the progression DOES (home, lean, land — function words used correctly per my own analysis in Check 2); no sentence that could be pasted into a different song's notes unchanged — if you find one, quote it and have me make it specific to MY song. You may tighten grammar and flag vague sentences, but every musical claim stays MINE — if a claim contradicts my Check 2 answers, point at the contradiction and let me fix it. Then ask: what will you play or sing for the demo, from which version of your chart, and have me say the plan out loud.

HOW TO BEHAVE

• ONE question per message; wait for my answer. Never stack checks.
• Warm, direct, specific. Praise concretely when a check passes clean.
• Never state that a musical fact of mine is "probably right" — either it's consistent with what I've told you, inconsistent (show the collision), or unverifiable by you (say so and tell me to trust my ear or re-listen).
• If I ask a theory question, answer it fully with a course-convention example, then return to the current check.
• My questions never end the session; the checks do.

WRAP-UP. When all five checks are done, print EXACTLY this (no score — my instructor grades this):
Week 15 FINAL POLISH — SESSION RECORD
Student: ___ | Date: ___
Song (title + artist): ___ | Key claimed: ___
Check 1 key/signature: PASSED / FIXED: ___
Check 2 numeral consistency: PASSED / FIXED: ___ (n pairs checked)
Check 3 cadence evidence: PASSED / FIXED: ___
Check 4 transposition audit: target ___ · interval + direction ___ · two-bar spot check PASSED / FIXED: ___
Check 5 liner notes: word count ___ · PASSED / FIXED: ___
Demo plan: ___
Then say, verbatim: "Copy this session record AND your share link, and submit them WITH your Chart — your instructor grades the Chart itself." End with one genuine sentence about the strongest thing in my project.

GETTING STARTED
Begin now: greet me in two sentences, ask my first name and my song (title + artist), and start Check 1.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

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Part 3 — What to submit (one Canvas submission, by the end of Week 15 — a day early)

1. The lead sheet (photo(s) or PDF — your hand or your notation file).
2. The analysis (on the lead sheet or a companion page): key, numerals, labeled cadences with evidence.
3. The transposition (photo/PDF): named target + one-sentence rationale + the moved chart (written key correct for instrument targets).
4. The liner notes (text entry or document): 300–400 words, word count stated.
5. The demo recording (file upload or link): you, playing or singing from your own chart, title and key spoken first.
6. The polish-session share link + the pasted SESSION RECORD.

Grading: Professor Hemsworth grades The Chart against the rubric below — human ears for the term's human project. No coach score exists for this assignment; the polish session is quality control, not a grade.

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Grading rubric — 100 points

The rubric below is the whole grade; bands are full / partial / minimal.

Criterion	Full	Partial	Minimal
Lead sheet — by-ear transcription, readable by a stranger: key signature + meter present, melody rhythmically coherent (bars add up), chord symbols placed over the bars they sound in, spelling consistent with the key (30)	25–30	15–24 (readable but with bar-math slips, sparse symbols, or spelling drift)	0–14
Roman-numeral analysis + cadences — key named; numerals consistent with the symbols; section cadences labeled with evidence; honest flags on outside-the-key chords beat invented explanations (20)	17–20	10–16 (numerals mostly consistent; cadences labeled but evidence thin)	0–9
Transposition — named target; direction + interval justified (peak-note test or written-above-sounding arithmetic); every spot-checked note moved by the same interval and direction; correct new signature; instrument targets in the correct written key (20)	17–20	10–16 (right direction and key, scattered note errors; or right notes, thin rationale)	0–9
Liner notes to a bandmate — 300–400 words; plain language; says what the progression does using function vocabulary that matches the analysis; specific to this song (15)	13–15	8–12 (word count or specificity off; function words present but decorative)	0–7
Demonstration recording — plays or sings recognizably from their own chart; title + key announced; either version (10)	9–10	5–8 (performed, but connection to the written chart is loose)	0–4
Final polish session — share link + session record show a real five-check pass with fixes owned by the student (5)	5	3–4	0–2

Total: 30 + 20 + 20 + 15 + 10 + 5 = 100.

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Instructor grading key & spot-check guidance — REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS

The design, in one line: 36 different songs means no single answer key can exist — so this key is a procedure, and the procedure is fast because every check is an internal-consistency check.

Time budget at full section (36 students): ≈8–10 minutes per Chart ≈ 5–6 hours total. Batch by deliverable, not by student: all lead sheets first (bar-math scan), then all transpositions (two-bar audit), then liner notes with analyses beside them, then demos at 1.5× while re-scanning the lead sheet. The demo is deliberately short to keep this real.

The five fast checks:

1. Bar-math scan (lead sheet): pick two arbitrary bars; durations must fill the meter. A chart whose bars don't add up loses lead-sheet points, not analysis points — grade each criterion on its own evidence.
2. Consistency triangle (analysis): key ↔ symbols ↔ numerals. Spot-check three chords: in the stated key, does each symbol's numeral hold? (Their unit 11 tables: in G — C=IV, Em=vi, D7=V7.) An honest "outside the key" flag on a real borrowed chord is full-credit behavior; an invented diatonic label for one is the failure.
3. Two-bar transposition audit: exactly what the polish coach ran — pick two bars yourself, verify every note moved the same interval/direction, signature matches, and instrument targets are in the written key (trumpet = concert + M2, alto = +M6, horn = +P5; a "trumpet part" in the concert key is the classic miss). Direction inverted (song moved up for a too-high singer) caps the criterion at the minimal band — it's the unit's load-bearing fact.
4. Liner-note paste test: could this paragraph sit under a different song unchanged? If yes, it's decorative; the band for specificity is the difference between 13–15 and 8–12. Word count is stated by the student and verified by eye — outside 300–400 by more than ~10% costs within the partial band, not a zero.
5. Authenticity anchor (demo): the recording is the anti-plagiarism device, and it's humane: a student who transcribed their own song can play from their own chart; a student who pasted an internet chart usually can't follow their own page. Listen for the announced title/key, then match two phrases of the demo against the lead sheet's contour. Mismatch = a conversation, not an automatic zero — the milestone roster (song locked at unit 10, progression at 11, lead sheet at 13) tells you whether this project has a real history.

Cross-check the milestone roster: every submission should match the song on your Chart roster from unit 10. A silently switched song = the milestones didn't happen for this song; grade what's submitted, then have the conversation.

Suspected outside chart (downloaded/copied): compare against the milestone drafts (11's progression, 13's lead sheet) — organic projects show drift and correction; pasted ones appear fully formed. The polish-session record helps too: a student who "FIXED" things in Checks 2–4 demonstrably worked. Handle per the syllabus integrity process; the demo + history usually resolves it in the student's favor.

Common honest failure modes (grade kindly, comment specifically): transposition direction inverted under deadline pressure (the studio drilled it; point them at their own Round 2 sheet); enharmonic drift in the new key (D♯ written as E♭ inside E major); cadence labels without evidence; liner notes that re-describe the form ("then the chorus comes") instead of the function (what leans, what lands).

Timing note: grade what arrives; the final exam the following week tests these same skills cold, so a thin Chart is its own early warning — flag those students for a nudge toward the review family before exam day.

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Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 15 Assignment — The Chart (final deliverable)"
assignment_group = "Adaptive assignments"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
submission_types = [online_upload, media_recording, online_text_entry, online_url]
                   # lead sheet + analysis + transposition (files), liner notes (text),
                   # demo (media or link), polish-session share link + record
due              = the end of Week 15
published        = true

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