Well, our first class was very nice. It was a pleasure meeting four new and interesting people and I think we are off to a good start.
We had an introduction to three different areas that we will be focusing on in the coming weeks:
Note-Reading, Treble Clef
For homework I would like you to read Handout #1: Reading the Staves, practice levels 1-3 in Level-Up (Anthology for Note-Reading Practice). Also, please fill out Worksheet #1: Treble-Clef.
Rhythmic Reading
You have Handout #2: Rhythmic Basics, Part I which reviews a lot of the stuff we talked about in class. It would be great if you could read though that and practice rhythms 1-4 from our Rhythmic Anthology.
Sight-Singing with Solfège
Please read Handout #3: The Solfège Syllables. We took a peek at our Melodies for Sight-Singing anthology, but I don't think we need to worry about it yet for homework.
Also, here as some programs and apps that I recommend for extra practice...
Mac / PC
I really like Robert Whelan's free quizzers at emusictheory.com, which work on any computer with a java-enabled browser and acccess to the internet. He's got a nice Treble Clef unit. Try adjusting the settings at first to give you fewer pitches and then build from there.He's also got a rhythm driller which is a little more awkward but would still be appropriate for us beginners.
iPhone / iPad
If you are willing to spend a few bucks ($4) I'd recommend Tenuto, which has a clef quizzer and a dozen other useful things. There is also Music Tutor which is a decent free app that only quizzes clefs.Also Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer ($3) seems good, though the interface takes a few minutes to figure out.
Android
There are a lot of Android clef-reading apps that are, shall we say, kinda crummy? But I did like Sight Read Music. It can supposedly listen to you play your answers on a guitar or ukelele, but it also has a more typical input mode with buttons to push.Note Trainer requires you to play your answers on a little piano keyboard, which may not be for everyone, but otherwise it's pretty neat. We'll get into piano skills soon enough anyway so perhaps you should give it a shot.