Hi,

I'm 19 years old and I am a music major. I was studying at San Francisco State, then DeAnza College, and now I'm at Mission College. I've transferred twice for reasons I won't discuss, and so far I've taken two Music Fundamentals courses and passed (SF State: A, DeAnza: B).

I'm now at Mission College, and I need to refresh what I've learned in my Music Fundamentals classes. I'm about to begin private piano lessons soon, and I want my teacher to give undivided attention to my playing; not teaching me theory I should already know.

Here's the problem: If I want to transfer to U.C Berkeley, I can't have more than 80 transferable units, meaning I can't afford to take another Music Fundamentals class to refresh.

How can I be self-sufficient and sharpen my rusty theory skills?

This question makes no sense. You say you got an A and B in music fundamental, yet want to sharpen your rusty theory skills? Shouldn't you already know the theory by now if you got those good grades?

Sounds like you enjoy playing "musical chairs" with schools, that's alot of transfers.

What kind of music are you playing and what kind of theory do you need, I mean, do you know the difference between a major and minor scale?

Man, college students these days!!

If your teacher finds that lack of theoritical knowledge is getting in the way of your learning, you BET they will teach you also that, regardless of what you THINK you need best!

(BTW, I'm talking about an academic student here, not anyone wanting to learn music, so spare me the "self taught", "play anything by ear" stuff, ok?)

There are mutliple ways to find information about theory in music. There's tons of stuff online, free of charge and theory is not really something you can't take up on your own. You don't exactly need a teacher and if you have any questions you can always ask here. It's not so difficult (I think at least). So either find free resources from the net (google music theory) or alternatively just get to your unis' library and borrow a few books on the matter. Read them, practice a little and you're done!

If the above don't work, then just get a tutor for theory (should be rather cheap and since you're an adult and already know this stuff, supposedely, you should fly through them pretty fast).

Won't the college you transfer to have a large say in which courses you will and won't need to take/repeat? And I agree - if you've passed two of these courses before how rusty can you be? You haven't lived long enough to grow rust!! Follow the good guidance of teachers you trust and spend your effort working hard on the lessons they assign.

Your real problem is that theory and practice don't separate so easily. Why don't you do some keyboard harmonization or Jazz impro work?

I agree that there are many online resources out there to help you,
but any self respecting teacher will give you a balance of what you need. It's all one package, and nothing that you'll read can replace the benefits of one on one tutelage.

Most professors are amenable to having motivated students sit in on a class, especially if it's a traditional lecture style class where an extra warm body in the audience isn't a problem. So I would suggest finding a relevant class at Mission that you could audit. That way you would hear the material again in a structured fashion (and do the readings) but not take the class for credit, with the added benefit of not having to pay for it.

I edited this because when I first read your post I only saw the community colleges without noticing that you started at SF State, and now I realize you may have taken a lot of units there before you left, but this may still help if that's not the case . . .



UC schools don't allow you to transfer more than 70 semester units from community colleges, so you might be fine taking it again, depending on how the units you've taken break down by the type of college you've taken them at.

I transferred to UCLA having taken 80ish semester units at community colleges as well as 8 quarter units at UCSD. If all of those units had been at a four-year school, my unit total would have been a problem, but because they cap transfer of community college units at 70, it wasn't.

I'm with kbk on this one. Perhaps find a group piano textbook and do the harmonization and transposition exercises.

If you really think your theory is weak, I'd recommend some serious self-study, or hire a private tutor. My honest opinion is that Theory I and Theory II are pretty easy compared to other undergraduate GE classes. If unit transfer is an issue, UC Berkeley might offer placement tests for theory, so you may actually be able to test out of the theory classes altogether. Upper-division analysis classes do require a solid foundation in theory (and, to my surprise, lots of WRITING!!).

Best of luck to you!