Music 1010 Study Guide
When one phrase is low and the next phrase is high, or one phrase is long and the next phrase is short, they can be called
contrasting phrases
What is an important aspect of dance music in the Renaissance?
easy-to-follow phrases, almost always four to eight bars long
An octave spans how many notes?
eight
Any composer's style will have unique features as well as
features that reflect the style of his or her historical period.
A standardized pattern for organizing musical elements is called
form.
If a person sings a tune while playing chords on an instrument like a guitar or piano, what kind of texture does the music have?
homophonic
Dufay's "Ave maris stella" is an example of what kind of music?
homophonic setting of a Gregorian hymn
The twelve possible positions for the major- and minor-mode scales are called
keys.
A recurring pattern of strong beats and weak beats is called a
meter
The salient characteristic of Machaut's chansons is the use of
non-imitative polyphony.
What is the term for music that has no underlying pattern of strong and weak beats at all?
nonmetrical
Which of the following statements about musical form is the most accurate?
A form provides some fixed elements but allows composers possibilities within the details.
What is a motet?
A short piece of sacred choral music that is usually polyphonic and unaccompanied
Music based on the C-to-C pattern of whole and half steps is in the major mode; music based on the _____________ pattern is in the minor mode.
A to A
How do rhythm and meter relate to one another in music?
The meter serves as the regular background, while the rhythm can coincide with it, cut across it, or even contradict it.
What is a scale?
a limited number of fixed pitches used to make music
An organized series of pitches played in a certain rhythm, and usually having an emotional character, is called
a melody
What is the basic form of the sequence?
a series of short tunes that are repeated (AA'BB'CC')...)
The diatonic scale uses
a set of seven pitches within an octave (do re mi fa sol la ti do).
The chromatic scale uses
a set of twelve pitches within an octave (all the white and black piano keys).
Which of the following does not demonstrate a common quality of sacred music in the Renaissance?
abrupt changes of texture, mood, and dynamics occur throughout a piece
Which of the following indicates that the music should be played at a slow tempo?
adagio
After 1300, the newer, more sophisticated polyphony being created by composers was known as
ars nova.
When a person sings a song, the natural tendency is to breathe
at the ends of phrases
The form diagram that represents a tune followed by a contrasting tune followed by a repetition of the first tune is
A B A
The form diagram that represents a tune followed by a contrasting tune followed by a repetition of the first tune with significant changes is
A B A'
The consistent use of syncopation is the hallmark of
African American-derived popular music
What are points of imitation?
to mark the beginning of a second melody overlapping the first (usually at different pitch).
Benjamin Britten wrote The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra to teach listeners
to recognize the sounds of the various instruments of the orchestra.
What does it mean to perform a cappella?
to sing with no instruments accompanying the voices
What is modulation?
Changes in the tonic or home pitch
what is a chanson?
French songs that are secular.
The names of medieval modes—which are different from the major or minor modes—come from which language?
Greek
What is an example of nonmetrical music?
Gregorian chant
Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra uses a tune written by which English composer?
Henry Purcell
The conventional terms for tempo come from what language?
Italian
The first master of the High Renaissance style was
Josquin Desprez.
Who was the first master of High Renaissance style?
Josquin des Prez
What were medieval poet-composers called in Germany?
Minnesingers
What musical form do troubadour, hymn and folk songs set their stanzas to? Similarly, was Bernart's song, "La dousa votz," performed in a secular or religious manner?
Strophic form (A A A...) and La Dousa votz was secular
Why was accurate declamation important to composers of the Renaissance?
They wanted the words of their compositions to be clearly heard and understood.
The Requiem Mass is sung at what occasion?
a funeral
The first step in the development of organum was
adding a second melody that moved parallel to the original chant, note by note.
Which of the following indicates that the music should be played at a fast tempo?
allegro
What is the term for the distance, or difference in highness and lowness, between any two pitches?
an interval
What are the basic units of measurement for musical time?
beats
How are musical instruments categorized into families or groups?
by the method they use to produce sound
Machaut's "Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient" is an example of a
chanson
Standard groupings of simultaneous pitches that work well in combination are called
chords
The saxophone's closest musical relative is the
clarinet
The distinct high point of a tune is called the
climax.
Which of the following techniques began to be used in the fifteenth century?
composed homophony
What is word painting?
composing music to match the meaning of the words being sung
When the main beats of a duple meter are subdivided into threes, what is the resulting meter called?
compound duple meter
A chord that sounds stable and that offers a feeling of resolution can be described as
consonant.
Which term means "growing" or "getting louder"?
crescendo
A chord that sounds unstable or tense can be described as
dissonant
What is the term for a meter in which the main beats are grouped in twos or fours?
duple meter
What is the musical term for the level of sound, that is, its loudness or softness?
dynamics
In Renaissance music, the term paraphrase refers to what procedure?
embellishing chants with extra notes, creating graceful rhythms, and smoothing out awkward passages
What is an accent?
emphasis on a certain beat to make it sound stronger than the surrounding beats
Which term refers to the shape, arrangement, relationship, or organization of the various elements of a piece of music?
form
Which term means "loud"?
forte
Which of the following is a form?
fugue
What is the term for a category or type of music, such as symphony, concerto, or opera?
genre
The repetitions and contrasts that determine the musical form of a piece of music
have an emotional effect on the listener.
Music that has one main melody accompanied by other, less prominent sounds is
homophonic
When melodies sounding together are the same or fairly similar, with one starting shortly after another, the result is
imitative polyphony.
The structural technique of repeating long rhythmic patterns over and over at different pitch levels each time is called
isorhythm.
What did the Counter-Reformation seek to reform about the music of the church?
it recommended that extravagant musical elements be removed from church services
What produces low sounds?
long vibrating elements
An important new vocal genre based on a one-stanza poem and developed in Italy after around 1530 was called the
madrigal.
Which of these percussion instruments is capable of playing scales and melodies?
marimba
Each occurrence of the strong beat/weak beat pattern is called a
measure
Groups of notes sung on a single syllable are called:
melisma
Groups of notes sung on a single syllable are called
melismas
The element of music that seems to evoke human sentiment most directly is
melody
What were medieval poet-composers called in Germany?
minnesingers
Music that consists of a single melody without any accompanying sounds is
monophonic.
Which type of piece—based on a fragment of chant—often presented more than one set of lyrics simultaneously?
motet
The conventional system of signs that indicate relative durations of long and short sounds is called
musical notation
A combination of distinctive rhythms, harmonies, and tone colors contributes to a composer's
musical style.
Because plainchant does not have a clear beat or meter, it is said to be
nonmetrical.
Melodies and tunes tend to fall naturally into smaller sections, called
phrases.
The member of the flute family that is the smallest and plays in the highest range is the
piccolo
What is the musical term for the "highness" or "lowness" of a sound?
pitch
What are the two main subcategories of percussion instruments?
pitched and unpitched
The official music of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages was a great repertory of melodies designated for the liturgy, which were known as
plainchant.
Which term refers to a brief passage of imitative polyphony that usually uses a single melodic motive?
point of imitation
Music that has two or more melodies that are played simultaneously and that are of approximately equal interest is
polyphonic
Contrapuntal is a term that is often used to describe
polyphony.
Who were the jongleurs?
popular musicians of the Middle Ages
In Gregorian recitation, the pitch on which the text is sung is called the
reciting tone
What skill is essential for a listener's ability to discern musical form?
remembering musical themes and recognizing them when they return
Elements of music such as rhythm, melody, and harmony are organized into musical form by means of
repetition and contrast
"Sumer Is Icumen In" is an example of a
round or canon
Italian and English madrigals are both
secular genres
The plainchant genre that consists of a series of short tunes each sung twice, with some variation, is called
sequence
When the same phrase occurs at two or more different pitch levels successively, it is called a
sequence.
The form of Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is a
set of variations on a theme.
Why is Hildegard of Bingen so notable?
she composed plainchant melodies in her own style
What produces high sounds?
short vibrating elements
In Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, the use of variation form is meant to
show off a catalogue of instrumental sounds and endlessly varied moods
What is the difference between simple and compound meter?
simple are divided into 2 notes & compound can be divided into 3
Which of the following is a genre?
string quartet
Violin, viola, cello, bass, and harp are all members of what group?
strings
A typical large orchestra today includes which sections?
strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion
When all the stanzas of a poem are set to the same melody, the song's form is called melismatic.
strophic.
Making a weak beat unexpectedly strong by displacing an accent is called
syncopation
Which of the following is an unpitched percussion instrument?
tam-tam
What are three aspects of a piece of music that can determine its genre?
text, function, and performing forces
Melody exists in the horizontal dimension from left to right, while __________ exists in the vertical dimension.
texture
Music in the Middle Ages in Europe was cultivated and supported by
the Christian church.
Master Léonin and his follower Pérotin are known as part of what school of organum?
the Notre Dame School
The hymn "Ave maris stella" was addressed to which figure?
the Virgin Mary
Generally, the term "rhythm" refers to the time aspect of music, but more specifically, "a rhythm" refers to
the actual arrangement of long and short notes in a particular melody or passage.
"The Middle Ages" refers to what period of European history?
the fifth to the fifteenth century
To what does the term tone color (or timbre) refer?
the general quality of a sound, which depends on the amount and mixture of overtones produced
What is the smallest interval in regular use in Western music?
the half step
What is an octave?
the interval between two pitches that seem to "duplicate" one another
If music is said to be "in the key of G major," it means that
the major mode is positioned on G
What is a defining feature of the diatonic scale?
the mixing of half and whole steps
What is especially notable about Josquin's chanson, "Mille regrets?"
the mood of the music carefully matches the meaning of the words
In the nineteenth century, what became the most important solo instrument?
the piano
What is tonality?
the sense of focusing around a single "home" pitch that feels more important than all the other pitches of a scale
Renaissance composers using paraphrase emphasized what aspect of the chant?
the sonorous aspect
What is harmony?
the sounding at the same time of different pitches, in groupings called chords
What does the term tempo refer to?
the speed of music
Which of the following was an important development in Renaissance music?
the standardization of the Mass into a five-section form
Melodies nearly always give a sense of focusing around a single "home" pitch that feels more important than the other pitches of the scale. This home pitch is known as
the tonic.
What is the difference between troubadours and trouvères?
the troubadours were from southern France and the trouvères were from northern France
Non-imitative polyphony occurs when
the various melodies sounding together are different from one another.
What is musical texture?
the way different melodic lines and sounds interact or blend with one another
In the most general sense, what does the term rhythm refer to?
the way music unfolds in time
The most general term for the basic subject matter of longer pieces of music is
theme.
Which of the following statements is not true about estampies?
they had complex musical arrangements that were meticulously notated
What is the main difference between C major and C minor?
three of the scale degrees are lower in the minor scale
Which of these is a central function of musical form?
to extend music over a definite time span and hold the listener's interest
What is the main purpose of the Prelude chapters, which provide historical context for each time period covered in this book?
to suggest, where possible, correlations between musical style and culture
What is the term for a meter in which the main beats are grouped in threes?
triple meter
Which of the following brass instruments has the highest range?
trumpet
The whole step or whole tone is the equivalent of
two half steps
Which of the choices below lists the members of the violin family in order from the highest range to the lowest range?
violin, viola, cello
The best sixteenth-century composers concentrated primarily on
vocal music.
To what instrument family does the English horn belong?
woodwind
Flute, clarinet, oboe, and bassoon are all members of what group?
woodwinds
What is a metronome?
a device that can tick out beats at any desired tempo
What is a motive?
a distinctive, easily recognizable fragment of a melody that is used repeatedly in a long composition
What are two common Renaissance dances?
Pavan and Galliard
Which of the following statements about plainchant is false?
Plainchant is based on the major/minor system.
A good indication of the renaissance mind-set, in the early fifteenth century, was a new way of treating plainchant in __________ compositions
Polyphonic
Whose taste and interests likely helped the madrigal become an important genre in England?
Queen Elizabeth I
Why was the motet a popular genre among composers of the sixteenth century?
Unlike the Mass, which always used the same text, motets could be written for a variety of texts, giving church composers new means of expression.
Which of the following late Renaissance masters lived and worked in England?
William Byrd
From what kind of piece did Josquin derive melodic material for his Pange lingua Mass?
a Gregorian hymn
A stopping or pausing place is called
a cadence
What was the chief characteristic of the High Renaissance style, which emerged around 1500?
a careful blend of imitative counterpoint and homophony
What is a modulation?
a change of key within a piece of music
What modern instruments developed from the shawm and sackbut?
oboe and trombone
The pavan and the galliard were dances that were usually
paired together.
When two phrases have the same notes but different words, or the same rhythm but different notes, they can be called
parallel phrases.