Music theory - Exam
  • 1. Music theory is the study of principles and concepts that govern the structure, harmony, and expression of music. It includes an exploration of elements such as melody, rhythm, harmony, form, and texture, as well as an analysis of how these components work together to create emotional and intellectual impact. Music theory provides a framework for understanding the language of music and helps musicians communicate with each other through notation, improvisation, and composition. By delving into music theory, musicians gain deeper insights into the mechanics behind music creation and performance, enabling them to interpret and express music more effectively.

    What is the term for the distance between two pitches?
A) Key
B) Interval
C) Scale
D) Chord
  • 2. What term describes a group of three notes played together?
A) Triad
B) Harmony
C) Octave
D) Interval
  • 3. What is the symbol that indicates to raise the pitch of a note by a semitone?
A) Flat
B) Double Sharp
C) Sharp
D) Natural
  • 4. What is the main purpose of a key signature in sheet music?
A) Specify time signature
B) Denote dynamics
C) Show tempo changes
D) Indicate key of the piece
  • 5. What is the first note of a major scale called?
A) Mediant
B) Tonic
C) Subdominant
D) Dominant
  • 6. What term refers to playing or singing in tune?
A) Syncopation
B) Intonation
C) Transposition
D) Orchestration
  • 7. What symbol is used to indicate a half step lower in pitch?
A) Natural
B) Double Flat
C) Sharp
D) Flat
  • 8. What is the term for the speed at which music is played?
A) Tempo
B) Pitch
C) Rhythm
D) Dynamics
  • 9. What is the term for a sudden increase in volume?
A) Diminuendo
B) Ritardando
C) Crescendo
D) Decrescendo
  • 10. Which three interrelated uses of 'music theory' are described by the Oxford Companion to Music?
A) Understanding music notation, studying scholars' views on music from antiquity to present, and defining processes in musicology.
B) Exploring electronic sound production, improvisation techniques, and orchestration methods.
C) Analyzing individual works, comparing musical performances, and studying historical instruments.
D) Examining tuning systems, composition methods, and practical aspects of performance.
  • 11. How does the musicological approach to theory differ from musical analysis?
A) It focuses on electronic sound production instead of traditional instruments.
B) It starts with fundamental materials rather than individual works or performances.
C) It studies only modern music, ignoring historical perspectives.
D) It emphasizes improvisation over composition methods.
  • 12. What does the development, preservation, and transmission of music theory encompass?
A) The study of electronic sound production exclusively.
B) Comparative analysis of different musical cultures.
C) Methods and concepts used by composers and musicians in creating and performing music.
D) Only written treatises about music notation.
  • 13. What is required to teach as a tenure-track music theorist in a US or Canadian university?
A) Only practical experience in performing music.
B) Experience with electronic sound production.
C) University study, typically to the MA or PhD level.
D) A degree in musical acoustics exclusively.
  • 14. Which methods are used for analysis in music theory?
A) Primarily improvisation techniques.
B) Exclusively comparative analysis.
C) Only descriptive and statistical methods.
D) Mathematics, graphic analysis, and western music notation.
  • 15. What is a music theorist?
A) A person who researches or teaches music theory.
B) Someone who only performs music.
C) A composer specializing in electronic sound production.
D) An individual focused solely on musical acoustics.
  • 16. Which ancient civilization's clay tablets include musical information such as lists of intervals and tunings?
A) Egypt
B) Mesopotamia
C) Rome
D) Greece
  • 17. What type of materials contain the earliest surviving Sumerian and Akkadian musical information?
A) Metal plates
B) Clay tablets
C) Stone carvings
D) Papyrus scrolls
  • 18. What is the approximate date of the earliest Mesopotamian texts about music?
A) Before 1000 BCE
B) Before 500 BCE
C) Before 1500 BCE
D) Before 200 CE
  • 19. Who reports on the earliest Mesopotamian texts about music?
A) Aristotle
B) Plato
C) Sam Mirelman
D) Herodotus
  • 20. What does the number five refer to in Chinese music theory?
A) The number of musical modes
B) The number of notes in a scale
C) The number of musical instruments
D) The Pentatonic Scale, which primarily uses a 5-note scale
  • 21. What did Ling Lun name the agreeable sound produced by blowing on bamboo?
A) Phoenix tone
B) Huangzhong, the 'Yellow Bell'
C) Lülü
D) Shierlü
  • 22. Who authored the work 'Harmonic Elements'?
A) Nicomachus of Gerasa
B) Ptolemaios
C) Aristoxenus
D) Cleonides
  • 23. Who wrote 'Harmonics' in Greek?
A) Nicomachus of Gerasa
B) Aristoxenus
C) Ptolemaios (Πτολεμαίος), Claudius
D) Porphyrius
  • 24. In which century was 'Introduction to Harmonics' by Cleonides written?
A) 2nd century CE
B) 100–150 CE
C) 3rd or 4th century CE
D) 4th century CE or later
  • 25. Which work is associated with Gaudentius?
A) Είσαγωγή τέχνης μουσικής [Introduction to the Art of Music]
B) Άρμονική είσαγωγή [Harmonic Introduction]
C) Άρμονικά στοιχεία [Harmonic Elements]
D) Είσαγωγή άρμονική [Introduction to Harmonics]
  • 26. Who authored 'On Ptolemy's Harmonics'?
A) Porphyrius
B) Aristoxenus
C) Bacchius Geron
D) Nicomachus of Gerasa
  • 27. During which centuries did Alypius of Alexandria write 'Introduction to Music'?
A) 4th–5th century CE
B) 100–150 CE
C) 2nd century CE
D) 3rd or 4th century CE
  • 28. What is the time period during which Ptolemaios (Πτολεμαίος), Claudius lived?
A) 428–347 BCE
B) c. 232~233 – c. 305 CE
C) 127–148 CE
D) 100–150 CE
  • 29. Which Chinese instrument theory contributed to the development of 84 musical modes?
A) The dizi
B) The erhu
C) The pipa
D) The guzheng
  • 30. Who used the first twelve letters of the alphabet to describe the twelve frets on five strings of the oud?
A) Boethius
B) Safi al-Din al-Urmawi
C) Abū Yūsuf Ya'qūb al-Kindi
D) al-Fārābi
  • 31. What is the title of Bāqiyā Nāyinῑ's work?
A) Ta'rῑkh al-mῡsῑqᾱ al-arabiyya wa-usῡluha wa-tatawwurᾱtuha
B) Singing by Note
C) Zamzama e wahdat-i-mῡsῑqῑ
D) La musique arabe
  • 32. Which French musicologist wrote about Arabian music?
A) Bāqiyā Nāyinῑ
B) Baron Francois Rodolphe d'Erlanger
C) Reverend Thomas Symmes
D) None of the above
  • 33. What does Sacred Harp music focus on in its solfege system?
A) The solfege 'do, re, mi'
B) The solfege 'fa, sol, la'
C) The solfege 'ti, do, re'
D) None of the above
  • 34. Who developed the system for 'singing by note' in Sacred Harp music?
A) Reverend Thomas Symmes
B) Bāqiyā Nāyinῑ
C) Baron Francois Rodolphe d'Erlanger
D) None of the above
  • 35. In what year did Reverend Thomas Symmes develop his system for Sacred Harp music?
A) 1750
B) 1900
C) 1800
D) 1720
  • 36. Which period saw Western musical influence spread globally, leading to the adoption of Western theory?
A) The Baroque period
B) The 1800s
C) 1750–1900
D) The Renaissance
  • 37. Which culture's music is primarily oral with specific forms, genres, and performance practices?
A) Middle Eastern cultures
B) African cultures
C) Central Asian cultures
D) European cultures
  • 38. What is transformational theory primarily concerned with?
A) Relations between musical objects.
B) Schenkerian analysis techniques.
C) The makeup of musical objects.
D) Tonal spaces in music.
  • 39. Which mathematical concept can describe just intonation?
A) A finite field
B) A free abelian group
C) A vector space
D) A ring
  • 40. What term is used for the shortest articulation in music?
A) marcato
B) tenuto
C) legato
D) staccatissimo
  • 41. What is the average number of tenure-track positions advertised per year in music theory?
A) 10
B) 100
C) 50
D) Around 25
  • 42. Which symbol can indicate a change in timbre by suggesting a marked or accented note?
A) Marcato (^)
B) Decrescendo (>)
C) Staccato (.)
D) Crescendo (<)
  • 43. What term describes the interweaving of melodic lines?
A) Counterpoint
B) Harmony
C) Melody
D) Polyphony
  • 44. What is a chord called when it includes additional notes beyond the basic triad?
A) A primary chord
B) A basic chord
C) An extended chord
D) A simple chord
  • 45. Which society was founded in 1999?
A) Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie
B) Société d'Analyse musicale
C) Vereniging voor Muziektheorie
D) Society for Music Theory
  • 46. What does 'mf' stand for in music dynamics?
A) sforzando
B) piano followed by forte
C) mezzo forte, meaning moderately loud
D) forte followed by piano
  • 47. What is the term for playing simultaneous rhythms in more than one time signature?
A) Syncopation
B) Homophony
C) Polyrhythm
D) Monophony
  • 48. Which Italian term is used to indicate a moderately soft dynamic?
A) sforzando (sfz)
B) piano (p)
C) forte (f)
D) mezzo piano (mp)
  • 49. What is a common way of representing chords in Western music other than staff notation?
A) Melodic lines
B) Rhythmic patterns
C) Roman numerals
D) Harmonic progressions
  • 50. Which of the following is a harmonic set of three or more notes?
A) A scale
B) A melody
C) A rhythm
D) A chord
  • 51. Which dynamic marking indicates the loudest possible volume?
A) mezzo piano (mp)
B) sforzando (sfz)
C) pianissimo (pp)
D) fortississimo (ffff)
  • 52. Who is credited with establishing musical analysis as a pursuit in its own right?
A) Adolf Bernhard Marx
B) David Lewin
C) Heinrich Schenker
D) Ian Bent
  • 53. What is the role of nature in the relationship between music and mathematics?
A) Nature itself is amazingly mathematical
B) Nature has no connection to mathematics
C) Nature's influence on music is purely aesthetic
D) Nature only influences biology, not music
  • 54. Which theorist first elaborated many notions of musical set theory in connection with tonal music?
A) Allen Forte
B) Arnold Schoenberg
C) Milton Babbitt
D) Howard Hanson
  • 55. Which writer on music semiology is known for work on topic and gesture?
A) Kofi Agawu
B) Jean-Jacques Nattiez
C) Raymond Monelle
D) Robert Hatten
  • 56. In harmony, what term refers to the 'vertical' aspect of music?
A) Melody
B) Polyphony
C) Counterpoint
D) Harmony
  • 57. What is the relationship of separate independent voices called?
A) Homophony
B) Monophony
C) Counterpoint
D) Polyphony
  • 58. What is the term used to describe serial music that extends beyond twelve-tone technique?
A) Twelve-tone technique
B) General serialism
C) Post-tonal thinking
D) Integral serialism
  • 59. What does 'ABD' stand for in the context of hiring for academic positions?
A) Associate Board Director
B) Academic Board Delegate
C) Advanced Bachelor's Degree
D) All But Dissertation
  • 60. Which type of music often augments chords with tensions?
A) Classical common practice period
B) Baroque music
C) Jazz harmony
D) All of the above
  • 61. What is the most fundamental concept of Schenker's theory?
A) Tonal space.
B) Musical intervals.
C) Chord progressions.
D) Dominant operation.
  • 62. Who developed transformational theory?
A) Heinrich Schenker
B) Adolf Bernhard Marx
C) David Lewin
D) Ian Bent
  • 63. Which writer on music semiology focused on narrativity?
A) Jean-Jacques Nattiez
B) Eero Tarasti
C) Heinrich Schenker
D) Anthony Newcomb
  • 64. Which term indicates a non-specific, but commonly understood soft and 'sweet' timbre?
A) Sul tasto
B) Marcato
C) Dolce
D) Cuivre
  • 65. Which dynamic marking indicates a nearly inaudible volume?
A) pianissississimo (pppp)
B) sforzando (sfz)
C) mezzo forte (mf)
D) forte (f)
  • 66. Which semiotician wrote about music in 'Image Music Text'?
A) Roland Barthes
B) Philip Tagg
C) Raymond Monelle
D) Kofi Agawu
  • 67. Which articulation involves the bow bouncing off the string on bowed instruments?
A) staccato
B) spiccato
C) tenuto
D) legato
  • 68. Which dynamic marking is used for a soft volume?
A) sforzando (sfz)
B) forte (f)
C) piano (p)
D) mezzo forte (mf)
  • 69. What is polyphonic texture?
A) Chords accompanying a melody.
B) A single melodic voice with rhythmic accompaniment.
C) Multiple independent melodies played simultaneously.
D) Two voices, one playing a drone note and the other a melody.
  • 70. Who adopted the idea of musical semiosis being introversive or extroversive?
A) Philip Tagg
B) Roland Barthes
C) Raymond Monelle
D) Kofi Agawu
  • 71. What is integral serialism also known as?
A) Twelve-tone technique
B) Multiple serialism
C) General serialism
D) Total serialism
  • 72. How many pitches does the Western chromatic scale divide an octave into?
A) Twelve
B) Eight
C) Fifteen
D) Seven
  • 73. Which subset describes major chords in musical set theory?
A) {1 4 8}
B) {2 5 9}
C) {0 3 7}
D) {0 4 7}
  • 74. Which frequency was historically assigned to concert A in France in 1859?
A) 440 Hz
B) 450 Hz
C) 432 Hz
D) 435 Hz
  • 75. Which term describes an articulation that is between tenuto and staccato?
A) marcato
B) staccatissimo
C) portato
D) legato
  • 76. Which articulation is described as 'separated' or 'detached'?
A) tenuto
B) marcato
C) legato
D) staccato
  • 77. What does 'crescendo' indicate in music dynamics?
A) a moderately loud dynamic
B) a loud attack with a sudden decrease
C) progressively increasing volume
D) a sudden decrease to a soft level
  • 78. Which of the following is NOT a fundamental pattern of notes mentioned for improving musical technique?
A) Minor triads
B) Natural scales
C) Rhythm
D) Arpeggios
  • 79. Which musical operation is not typically associated with pitch-class set theory?
A) Complementation
B) Rhythm analysis
C) Inversion
D) Transposition
  • 80. What does rhythmic notation in Schenkerian analysis represent?
A) Actual rhythm of the music.
B) Hierarchical relationships between pitch-events.
C) Musical intervals.
D) Chord progressions.
  • 81. Which composer's concept of 'emancipated' dissonance became more widely accepted in the early 20th century?
A) Arnold Schoenberg
B) Ludwig van Beethoven
C) Claude Debussy
D) Johann Sebastian Bach
  • 82. What term describes chords that consist of three distinct notes?
A) Inversions
B) Sequences
C) Triads
D) Progressions
  • 83. What type of algebra is used to expand on the methods of musical set theory?
A) Abstract algebra
B) Differential algebra
C) Boolean algebra
D) Linear algebra
  • 84. What is the most basic interval in music?
A) Unison
B) Fifth
C) Octave
D) Third
  • 85. What is another term commonly used for 'timbre'?
A) Volume
B) Pitch
C) Color
D) Rhythm
  • 86. Who provided a systematic analysis of the relation between musical structures and connotations in popular music?
A) Anthony Newcomb
B) Leonard B. Meyer
C) Philip Tagg
D) Kofi Agawu
  • 87. Which element of music refers to the 'horizontal' aspect?
A) Harmony
B) Chords
C) Texture
D) Melody
  • 88. What secondary characteristic can differentiate between genres according to Allan F. Moore?
A) Tempo
B) Musical form
C) Subject matter
D) Instrumentation
  • 89. What is a semitone also known as in music theory?
A) A minor third
B) A whole tone
C) An octave
D) A half step
  • 90. What is timbre often described in terms of?
A) Bright, dull, shrill, etc.
B) High, low, sharp, flat
C) Major, minor, major seventh
D) Fast, slow, loud, soft
  • 91. What is the primary characteristic of musical technique according to Heinrich Schenker?
A) Harmony
B) Repetition
C) Rhythm
D) Improvisation
  • 92. Which aspect can affect apparent dissonance and consonance in music?
A) Instrumentation
B) Tempo
C) Volume
D) Context
  • 93. What is a series of chords called?
A) A scale pattern
B) A chord progression
C) An arpeggio sequence
D) A melody line
  • 94. What term describes accenting unexpected parts of the beat?
A) Syncopation
B) Homophony
C) Monophony
D) Polyrhythm
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