Music Theory class

This upcoming school year, I'll be taking music theory...people say it's the toughest course offered at our school . . .I signed up in the hopes that it'd help with my composing . . .if anyone here has taken music theory (I'd guess a lot of you :P) can you tell me what exactly you learn?

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You learn a lot of things. Scales, intervals, chords, form.... that type of stuff. I don't know how hard it'll be for you. That really depends on how much knowledge of theory you have. If you don't even know what the notes in a C scale are then the speed might be hard for you. A lot of people enjoy the class though.

IF it's just a beginning theory class, it will depend on your knowledge of theory. If you play any instrument, you should be extremely bored for a large part of that class, because you more than likely know your scales, in every key, and you know intervals, and you know key signatures and time signatures. You might learn some new unique stuff that makes things even easier, like Chord analysis in major and minor keys, mode names and functions, etc.

Thank god I took band and handbells in middle school . . .

EDIT: Oh it's an AP class so I'm sure It'll move at a fast pace

Oh, you're in high school, then. Yeah, AP Music Theory is not your typical blow-off high school music theory class. It's governed by the AP curriculum, not your school's. As long as you can read music fluently by the time you walk in the door to that class, you'll be set to learn. It'll prepare you for college music theory. (No, I've never had the class.)

I'm so jealous. :D

My school doesn't offer AP Music Theory and the regular music theory class is always canceled because there aren't enough people that sign up for the class to make it work.

If your school is not mainly a school for music, then there probably wont be too many people in the class, which will make for a more intimate teaching/learning atmosphere. I took AP music theory in my junior year of high school and there were only four of us in the class. If there are a lot of people in the class then it might be harder for you to have access to your teacher's brain for picking. If you know how to read music already then you should be fine. The amount of practice that you'll get from studying theory an hour a day 5 days a week will get your mind going and will make the class a lot easier. Good luck and if you have any questions or problems, then im sure the musicians on this website would be willing and probably eager to help you.

The AP Music Theory course is presented really terribly, and as others have said, if you don't have much experience with basics like notes on all clefs, key signatures, time signatures, and scales than you will be in for a bit of a tough time at first.

Unfortunately, the AP cirriculum leaves a lot to be desired and usually leaves the class with an incomplete knowledge of tonal harmony because it attempts to move at such a rapid pace that students often get lost and lose the minor details (which are often skimmed over).

Sounds like AP classes and tests have the same problems no matter what subject they are...

There's also the relatively massive issue of teaching music theory without an ear training counterpart.

We had sightsinging and I think some aural training as well in my AP class.

I think the Music Theory AP class is meant to give you an overview. If you continue in music then you will probably recognize stuff at least through your first year. If you dont' then you have a better understanding of what goes into music.

AP Music Theory isn't a very good course, wait until you're in college to take a real class and just study theory independently

Learn Piano, helps a lot!

I don't think AP is really that hard. The hardest part is when you begin to analyze music for the first time, like chord progressions and non-chord tones and what not. Just a personal opinion.