Collage of piano and musical score

Theory, History, and Composition

The Conservatory is privileged to have several composers among its faculty members and offers individual lessons in 30, 45, and 60-minute lengths, depending on student need and teacher recommendation.

Youth Theory Schedule

August 29, 2022 – June 5, 2023
Annual Tuition+: $720/$216*

Adult Theory Schedule

January 3 – March 21, 2023
Tuition: $144

  • Intermediate Music Theory

    Tuesdays
    1:00 pm

    Dr. Kathryn Eames

+Material fees not included
*Discount for students concurrently enrolled in individual lessons
**Virtual classes only

About Zoom and PCM Tech Support
Zoom is an easy-to-use video conferencing platform that allows “face-to-face” meetings and classes from the comfort of your home. At PCM, we have dedicated staff members that can help you get set up for the class via phone or email. If you’d like tech support please call the front office at 626.683.3355 or music@pasadenaconservatory.org.

Class Descriptions

Youth Theory

Students enrolling in Theory classes will be required to take a placement exam unless enrolling in Music Theory Prep.

Music Theory Prep is for young students who are just starting lessons and not yet proficient at reading music. Topics include: treble and bass clefs, time signatures, rhythm, notation, and an introduction to famous composers.

Age 9+.

June 14 – August 16 (10 Weeks)
Tuesdays: 6:00 – 6:30 pm
Instructor: Renee Gilormini
Tuition: $200

This course is designed for students who have taken theory at PCM. It reviews concepts learned in previous classes to prepare students for the fall.

This class is for students who have completed Theory Prep through Level 2. Please contact the PCM office at music@pasadenaconservatory.org or 626.683.3355 for enrollment information.

Building on the skills learned in Prep 1, students will learn about accidentals and enharmonics, measures and simple time signatures, whole tones and semitones. Introduces major scales and key signatures. Course includes reading about and listening to works by great composers.

In this course, students expand their knowledge of key signatures to include relative, as well as the concept of harmonic minor.  They continue learning the constructs of good melody writing, and begin to study the great composers.  This level introduces tonic chord symbols.

Students expand their knowledge of key signatures to two sharps and flats and are introduced to melodic minor.  They play these scales on the piano and on their own instruments.  They learn about major and perfect intervals and begin octave transposition.  This level adds dominant triads and chord symbols to their repertoire.

In this level, students study key signatures and scales up to three sharps and flats.  They learn how to transpose a melodic line into another clef, and are introduced to minor intervals.  This course adds subdominant triads to the mix, and students now progress to writing four-measure melodies outlining specific harmonies.

Students continue the foundations established at the Elementary levels and further develop understanding of notational conventions, analysis, melody and composition, and music history.

Intermediate level examinations require cumulative knowledge of concepts from all previous levels.

Students learn about double sharps and flats, as well as augmented and diminished intervals. They learn how to transpose a melody up by any interval, and are introduced to half and authentic cadences. Students go more in depth into the characteristics of the Baroque and Classical eras.

Adult Theory

Using Royal Conservatory curriculum, students refresh their knowledge and expand their horizons through sequenced instruction in music theory. This course is for beginners through intermediate singers and players. The Royal Conservatory Prep book is required ($19.95).

*Discount for students concurrently enrolled in private lessons
Materials can be purchased at the front office or online.

Using Royal Conservatory curriculum, students continue to expand their horizons through sequenced instruction in music theory. This course is for intermediate singers and players who have completed Intro to Music Theory. The Royal Conservatory Level 2* book is required ($19.95).

Spring Adult History Courses

March 20 – June 5, 2023
Mondays: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Instructor: Dr. Nicole Baker
Tuition: $320

Serialism. Primitivism. Impressionism. Expressionism. Minimalism. Neo-Romanticism. Populism. Polystylism. Eclecticism. These are just some of the many musical trends and styles of the 20th and 21st century that mark “Modern Music.” This class will sort it all out, and demonstrate that truly, there’s something for everyone in the music of the last 120 years. It’s so much more than cacophony!

March 21 – May 30, 2023
Tuesdays: 9:00 – 11:00 am
Instructor: Dr. Sarkis Baltaian
Tuition: $320

This class examines and explores the development of the piano concert etude from the late Classical period through 20th century. Representative works include etudes by Hummel, Czerny, Cramer, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Messiaen, Scriabin, Busoni, Rachmaninoff, Moszkowski, Godowsky, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Bartok, Szymanowski, Dohnányi, Wild, Ligetti, Bolcom, and Kapustin.

The Piano Etude is a reprise of a course previously offered in 2017.

March 23 – June 1, 2023
Thursdays: 9:30 – 11:30 am
Instructor: Brian Lauritzen
Tuition: $320

This class about concertos examines our desire to be dazzled by performances of seemingly impossible musical feats. Along the way, students explore some of the favorite concertos in classical music and a few off-the-beaten-path surprises as well.

March 24 – June 2, 2023
Fridays: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Instructor: Dr. Ray Briggs
Tuition: $320

Homogeneously categorized as Rhythm & Blues since the late 1940s, Black popular music continued to evolve and reflect the tenor of the times in post-WWII America. By the late 1950s, a new variant of R&B emerged, one strongly rooted in music of the Black Church. Known as Soul Music, this substyle became the soundtrack of the Civil Rights era and its influence touched Black social, political, and artistic spheres, including the Jazz world. This course traces the ways in which Soul merged with Jazz as evident in the works of artists like Ramsey Lewis, Wes Montgomery, Cannonball Adderley, Lee Morgan, Jimmy Smith, and many others to produce what some appropriately called Soul Jazz.

About Zoom and PCM Tech Support
Zoom is an easy-to-use video conferencing platform that allows “face-to-face” meetings and classes from the comfort of your home. At PCM, we have dedicated staff members that can help you get set up for the class via phone or email. If you’d like tech support please call the front office at 626.683.3355 or music@pasadenaconservatory.org.