Introduction to Music Quiz 1

Identify the subdiscipline of physics devoted to the study of sound.

acoustics

Which of the following is the best definition of the word "melody"?

conscious arrangement of musical pitches and silences into a particular shape

Which term is properly matched to its definition?

disjunct: type of melodic motion by leaps rather than steps

A complete series of ____ musical pitches is known as a(n) ____.

eight/octave

Around the ninth century CE, the five-line staff became the common method of musical notation.

false

Match the scales to their descriptions.

major : eight pitches with half steps falling between the 3-4 and 7-8 minor : eight pitches with half steps falling between the 2-3 and 5-6 chromatic : twelve notes with half steps falling between each note pentatonic : divides the octave into 5 whole notes

Which of the following terms refers to the earliest type of musical notation in Western music?

neumes

Octaves are divided into twelve steps, each of which is defined as a ____.

semitone, or half-step

Western composers typically construct melodies around a prominently recurring pitch commonly known as the ____.

tonic, or the first note of the scale

A sharp (#) raises a pitch by one-half step, and a flat (b) lowers the pitch by one-half step.

true

Match the terms to their definitions.

unison : multiple musicians singing or playing the same notes cadence : a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of resolution phrase : a musical idea which ends with a musical punctuation called a cadence, similar to a sentence interval : distance between pitches