Alfred

 Essentials  of  Music  Theory  2.0  

 
1.  Citation  and  General  Information  
Title:   Alfred’s  Essentials  of  Music  Theory  2.0,  Levels  1-­3  
Author:   Andrew  Surmani,  Karen  Farnum  Surmani,  Morton  Manus  
Publisher:   Alfred  Publishing  Co.,  Inc.  
Date:   2003  
Content:   This  program  contains  drills  and  lessons  regarding  various  aspects  of    
  music  such  as  scales,  key  signatures,  rhythms,  intervals,  melodic  and    
  harmonic  dictation.        
Grade/Age:   This  program  covers  a  wide  variety  of  ability  levels.    The  program    
  contains  tutorials  that  lead  to  lessons  later.    I  could  see  high  school    
  students  using  this  program,  but  I  believe  it  would  have  its  greatest    
  uses  in  a    college  music  theory  class.  
Class:   This  program  would  be  well  suited  as  a  supplement  to  the  instruction  
  in  a  college  music  theory  or  ear-­‐training  course.  
Hardware:   This  program  can  be  used  on  either  the  Windows  or  Macintosh    
  platform.    If  you  try  to  install  the  program  on  a  new  Mac,  however,  
  you  have  to  visit  Alfred’s  website  and  download  a  software  patch  
  that  will  enable  the  program  to  run  on  the  most  recent  MAC  OS.  
 
2.  Instructional  Content  
Specific  Musical  Content:   This  program  contains  lessons  and  exercises  on  
intervals,  scales,  notation,  and  dictation.  
 Alfred  Essentials  of  Music  Theory  2.0  

Student  
Log-­‐In  Screen  

 
Operation:   The  student  creates  a  log-­‐in  that  they  will  use  to  complete  lessons  in  
  music  theory  and  complete  review  exercises  at  the  end  of  the  lessons.  
  Records  are  kept  of  student  completion  of  exercises.  
 
Educational  Objectives:    Knowledge,  Analysis  
 
Instructional  Mode:     Tutorial,  Drill  and  Practice  

 
Program  Structure:   Lessons  followed  by  a  review  that  is  scored  and  can    
    be  submitted  to  the  teacher  for  scoring.  
 
Sequence  of  Materials:   The  instruction  and  materials  are  sequenced  very    
    well.    Content  is  presented  in  a  very  logical,  
 Alfred  Essentials  of  Music  Theory  2.0  

    methodical  way  that  aids  the  learner.  

Pace  of  Instruction:   Excellent  
 
Quality  of  Interaction:   Acceptable.    There  is  limited  opportunity  for  student  
    creativity  when  using  this  program.  
 
3.    Record  Keeping  
 

Student  
Evaluation  
Screen  

 
Hall  of  Fame:     None  that  I  was  able  to  determine.      
 
Student  Records:   Yes  
 
The  instruction  on  this  program  is  definitely  computer  directed.    Students  are  able  
to  select  which  level  and  skills  they  want  to  learn,  but  all  the  instruction  is  directed  
by  the  program  with  very  little  opportunity  for  student  input.  

 
 Alfred  Essentials  of  Music  Theory  2.0  

4.    Overall  Evaluation  
 
I  feel  that  this  program  is  useful  for  its  intended  purpose.    This  is  not  a  program  that  
will  allow  students  to  create  music  or  express  any  creativity  really.    The  program  
provides  review  for  music  theory  skills  and  assessment  of  those  skills  within  the  
program.    The  graphic  on  this  particular  program  are  dated.    A  newer  version  of  the  
program  is  now  available  (Alfred  Essentials  of  Music  Theory  3.0),  and  I  would  
assume  that  the  early  2000s  graphics  have  been  modernized.    There  is  also  a  useful  
tutorial  at  the  beginning  which  is  helpful  as  this  particular  program  has  a  bit  of  a  
learning  curve  and  is  not  inherently  easy  to  navigate.  
   

 
 
This  is  one  of  the  options  of  exporting  scores  to  submit  to  your  instructor.    Scores  
can  be  exported  in  a  file  that  will  open  in  EMT  or  in  just  a  plain  text  format.