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