Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 15 of 16 (Week 15) · two sessions per week
Objectives: SLO 8 · SLO 4 · SLO 5

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Week 15 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 15 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Unit 15: Charts, Keys, and the Real World

Welcome back. I hope the break held actual rest, actual food, and at least one song sung with people you love — that counts as homework in this course, and I'm not entirely joking, because singing the same song wherever the room started it is literally this unit's topic. You've been transposing by ear your whole musical life. This week the arithmetic catches up.

This is the last content unit, and it's the one the other fourteen were for. Nothing here is new machinery — it's your intervals, your keys, your chord symbols, and your Roman numerals walking into a soundcheck and getting jobs. The singer says the song's too high: you move the whole chart down — the right direction, by the right interval, checked against her actual voice. A trumpet player asks what key she's in: you answer her answer, not yours. The bandleader scribbles 1 · 5 · 6m · 4 on a napkin: you're already playing, because those are unit 11's Roman numerals in street clothes.

And your term project lands. The Chart — chosen in unit 10, drafted in 11, put on paper in 13 — comes due this week, finished: lead sheet, analysis, a transposition for a real named human (or horn), liner notes to a bandmate, and a short recording of you playing from your own page.

One scheduling note, said plainly: this unit closes a day early — not the usual day — so the weekend before the final stays completely clear. And the final's whole review family (study guide, prep tutorial, practice exam) has been open since week 14. Nothing about finals week should be a surprise; that's by design.

The unit's big question

"The singer says it's too high. The horn player asks for her key. The napkin says 1–5–6m–4. Fifteen weeks in — can you handle all three before the downbeat?"

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.

• [ ] Transpose a melody and its chords by any interval, in the right direction — and move a too-high song down, with the peak-note test as your evidence.
• [ ] Write correct parts and keys for B♭, E♭, and F instruments: they sound lower than written (M2 / M6 / P5), so you write higher (concert + M2 / + M6 / + P5).
• [ ] Read a lead sheet and realize its symbols into a part that fits your role — including honoring every slash chord's bass note.
• [ ] Write and read a Nashville number chart, and explain why the numbers don't move when the key does.
• [ ] Follow a chart's roadmap cold: repeats, first and second endings, D.C. vs. D.S., Fine, Coda.

What to do this unit, in order

The table below lists the unit's items in working order, with points and due dates. Note the day: everything closes a day early this week.

#	Do this	Type	Points	Due
1	Read the Week 15 chapter — transposition with a direction, the three instrument families, numbers, and the roadmap	Chapter (ungraded prep)	—	Before the first session if you can
2	Browse the Readings & Resources links that interest you — the two-key Nashville example is worth thirty seconds on its own	Prep (ungraded)	—	Alongside class
3	Tutorial 15 — Charts, Keys, and the Real World (AI tutor + audit) — your chatbot teaches, you learn, then you audit it on your own knowledge; this week's tutor errors are directional, and you're exactly the person who catches those now	Tutorial · graded	10	before Week 15's second session — before the studio, which transposes at full speed
4	Studio 15 — "The singer says it's too high" — in class, session 2: learn a chart, move it down a minor third live, write the napkin version, and hand your chart to a band that plays it cold. The term's highest-energy session, on purpose.	Studio · graded in session	20	In session, Week 15's second session (async make-up at full credit by the end of Week 15)
5	Practice 15 (AI coach) — six quick reps before the quiz	Practice · graded (completion)	5	the end of Week 15
6	Quiz 15 — Charts, Keys, and the Real World — 10 questions, 15-minute timer, one attempt, closed to AI	Quiz · graded	10	the end of Week 15
7	Discussion 15 — "Why Not Just Use the Capo?" — the honest end-of-course question, argued with your AI; post the summary + share link (that post is the whole submission)	Discussion · graded	10	the end of Week 15
8	The Chart — final deliverable — lead sheet + analysis with cadences + a transposition for a named target + 300–400 words to a bandmate + a short demo recording, plus the final polish session's share link	Assignment · graded by Professor Hemsworth	100	the end of Week 15

The late-work policy is in the syllabus.

How to succeed this unit

• Direction before arithmetic, every time. Too high → down. Say the direction out loud, then measure the interval with the peak-note test. Every tool this week gets that backwards sometimes; you don't get to.
• Memorize one sentence for the horns: they sound lower than written, so you write higher than you want to hear — M2 for B♭, M6 for E♭, P5 for F. That sentence is three of the quiz's ten questions and half the studio.
• Front-load The Chart. Deliverables 1–2 early in the week, transposition right after the studio (you'll have just done one live), polish session and demo late in the week. The last hour before the deadline is a terrible time to discover a key-signature mismatch.
• Use the polish coach for what it's for. It checks your reasoning and your consistency; it will not (and must not) transcribe a note for you. Its share link is part of your submission.
• Treat your chatbot as a smart intern, not an oracle. This week it will confidently tell a too-high singer to go up, or write a trumpet part a M2 below concert. Catching that is graded work — and after fifteen weeks, you catch it fast.
• Open the final review family tonight if you haven't — it's been live since week 14, and this unit closes a day early precisely so those materials get your weekend.

Come to the first session with your ears. They've been changing keys without permission slips your whole life — this week the paperwork finally keeps up.

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(B) Welcome Announcement — Week 15

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

Subject: Welcome back — the payoff unit starts now

Hi everyone — welcome back!

I hope the mid-term break was full and slow and musical. No guilt if the theory notebook stayed closed all week; it was supposed to. Here's the good news about momentum: this unit doesn't need a running start, because you've been rehearsing it for fifteen weeks without knowing it. Unit 15 is the payoff unit — charts, keys, and the real world — where the singer says "it's too high," and you fix it; where the trumpet kid asks what key she's in, and you know her answer isn't yours; where the bandleader's napkin says 1 5 6m 4 and you recognize unit 11's Roman numerals wearing work clothes.

Two things to know about this week's shape:

1. Everything closes a day early this week — on purpose, so the weekend before the final stays completely clear. Plan the week accordingly (The Chart especially — don't leave the demo recording for the last hour).
2. The final's review family has been open since week 14 — study guide, prep tutorial, practice exam. If you haven't opened it, tonight's the night.

Three things not to miss:

1. Tutorial 15 is due before the second session (before Week 15's second session) — the studio transposes at full speed and assumes its reps. This week's tutor audit hunts directions — the errors AI tools make with total confidence and you now catch on reflex.
2. The second session is the loudest, fastest, best studio of the term. A live soundcheck scenario: the singer says it's too high, your table moves the whole chart down a minor third on the spot, writes the napkin version in numbers, and hands it to another band who plays it cold. Bring your instrument. Bring your voice. It's twenty points and it's also the whole course in seventy-five minutes.
3. The Chart lands at this week's early close. Lead sheet, analysis with cadences, a transposition for a real named singer or horn, 300–400 words to a bandmate, and a minute of you playing from your own page — plus the final polish session with your coach (it checks your reasoning; it never touches your transcription). This is the one assignment all term that I grade with my own ears, start to finish. I have been looking forward to this stack of songs since Week 1.

Everything else — practice set, quiz, discussion — closes the end of Week 15 too. The Start Here page in this module lays it all out in order with points.

Fifteen weeks ago: "every note has an address." This week: you move whole neighborhoods on demand. See you at the next session — bring your ears, one last content unit.

Professor Hemsworth

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Canvas placement block

# (A) Overview page
canvas_object    = Page
title            = "Week 15 Overview — Start Here · Charts, Keys, and the Real World"
published        = true
module_position  = first item in the Week 15 module

# (B) Welcome announcement
canvas_object    = Announcement
title            = "Welcome back — the payoff unit starts now"
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 15 module.

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