Test Guide

Responding

3.1 Perceive and Analyze Artistic Work

1. Which of the following changes to Bob Dylan's music angered fans in the mid-1960s because they perceived the change as a departure from the folk revival style?

1. the addition of electric instruments
2. the inclusion of free-association lyrics
3. the move away from political commentary
4. the use of microphones in live performance

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A. By 1965, Bob Dylan was widely known as a leading singer and songwriter of the American folk music revival. In 1965, he released the single, "Like Rolling Stone" which had a rock and roll sound. That same year, he performed his first concert with electric instruments at the Newport Folk Festival. Many audience members were displeased that Dylan had changed his sound by performing with electric instruments.

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3.1 Perceive and Analyze Artistic Work

2. Which of the following instrument pairs is most often featured in klezmer music to imitate a guttural vocal cry, evoking an emotive response in the listener?

1. accordion and trumpet
2. bass and saxophone
3. clarinet and violin
4. concertina and tuba

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C. Klezmer music is a musical genre that was initially created by the Ashkenazi Jews of central and eastern Europe. Typically, Klezmer music is instrumental and can express a wide range of emotions, including emotions of sadness and despair. Oftentimes, a clarinet or violin takes a central role in a song and can be quite emotive, sometimes imitating a guttural vocal cry.

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3.1 Perceive and Analyze Artistic Work

3. Which of the following questions best guides the process of music analysis?

1. Did the composer provide extramusical clues about the composition?
2. Who commissioned the composer to write the composition?
3. How did the composer develop the motif in the composition?
4. What motivated the composer to write the composition?

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Correct Response: C. Music analysis is the study of the structure of music and does not necessarily take into account historical context and extramusical elements. Motifs can be an important structural element in some works on music.

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3.2 Interpret Intent and Meaning in Artistic Work

4. The use of loose and visible brushstrokes in impressionist paintings can be most closely compared to an impressionist composer's use of:

1. blurred meter.
2. uniform phrasing.
3. traditional forms.
4. strict tempos.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A. The use of loose and visible brushstrokes in paintings by impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, can be compared to blurred meter used in compositions of impressionist composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Both features create a similar aesthetic.

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3.2 Interpret Intent and Meaning in Artistic Work

5. Use the score excerpt below from Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz to answer the question that follows.

A four-measure orchestral score excerpt for clarinet in A, trombone, violin, viola, and cello and bass. The non-transposing instruments have three sharps in the key signature. The score excerpt is in common time, all parts are marked pianissimo, and the strings parts are marked sostenuto. The clarinet in A part has four whole notes tied together on A4 and simultaneously, four whole notes tied together on C4. The trombone parts have simultaneous whole notes tied to dotted half notes on the following pitches: A3, F#3, and C#3. These notes are followed by a quarter rest and two whole rests. The first violin part has six half note tremolos on A3 followed by 2 half note tremolos on D#4. The second violin part has 8 half note tremolos on A3. The viola part has 4 half note tremolos on F#3 and C#3 followed by 4 half note tremolos on F#3. The cello and bass part has one whole rest followed by a whole note on F#2, a half note on D3, a half note on C#3, and a whole note on C3.

Which of the following elements of this music is most likely included by the composer to signify the supernatural?

1. low notes produced by the trombones
2. long tones held by the clarinets
3. chromatic movement in the cellos and basses
4. quiet tremolos in the violins and violas

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D. In this excerpt, Carl Maria von Weber indicates that the violins and violas play sostenuto (sustained) tremolos at a pianissimo dynamic. The use of tremolos to signify the supernatural dates back to Claudio Monteverdi and has been used as an expressive device throughout the history of Western classical music.

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3.2 Interpret Intent and Meaning in Artistic Work

6. Which of the following elements of ambient music contributes most to creating a passive listening experience?

1. a wide array of electronic sounds
2. a focus on sound patterns over melodic form
3. a texture that is multilayered
4. a tempo that is constantly changing

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B. Ambient music typically prioritizes sound patterns over melodic form. For many, this contributes to a passive listening experience, by removing a listener's active sense of expectation as to where the melody is going or how it might resolve.

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3.2 Interpret Intent and Meaning in Artistic Work

7. An oboist who performs a printed second oboe part has made the same performance error four consecutive times. It is most appropriate for the ensemble director to compare the oboist's part to which of the following musical sources?

1. another second oboe part
2. the conductor's score
3. a first oboe's sheet music
4. the second clarinet's music

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B. If the oboist makes the same performance error four times, it is possible that there is a mistake in the oboist's printed second oboe part. The ensemble director could most reliably verify if this is the case by comparing the oboist's part to the conductor's score, which contains all parts.

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3.3 Apply Criteria to Evaluate Artistic Work

8. Use the example below to answer the question that follows.

A three-measure melody on a five-line staff with a bass clef, G minor key signature, and three-four time signature. The concluding chord is a dotted half note on the third line with a sharp in the figured bass below it.

This example concludes with which of the following cadences?

1. deceptive
2. plagal
3. half
4. authentic

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C. The figured bass symbol underneath the last note of the example indicates that the chord is in root position with a raised third. This chord consists of the notes D, F-sharp, and A. In the key of G minor, this is the dominant (V) chord. A cadence that ends on the dominant is considered to be a half cadence.

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3.3 Apply Criteria to Evaluate Artistic Work

9. Which of the following technologies is most likely to be applied to a vocal line on a new pop album?

1. digital copying
2. looping
3. pitch correction
4. distortion

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C. Since the late 1990's, pitch correction technology, such as Auto-Tune, has been applied to vocal lines on pop albums with regularity. This technology increases the pitch accuracy of a singer's recorded performance.

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3.3 Apply Criteria to Evaluate Artistic Work

10. Use the excerpt below from Les Sirènes by Lili Boulanger to answer the question that follows.

A five-measure excerpt for piano. The excerpt is in three-four time, there are five sharps in the key signature, the tempo indicated is lent (lento), and the dynamic levels indicated are pianissimo for the first two measures and piano for the following three measures. The right hand begins with two measures of rest and is followed by the beginning of a passage marked très chanté (very songlike, with feeling and emphasis). The passage includes chromatic movement and doublings. The left hand of the piano has five identical measures. Each measure has a pedal tone on a dotted half note F#1 while the following slurred figure appears: eighth note C#2, quarter note C#2, quarter note C#3, eighth note C#4.

In this excerpt, the composer portrays mesmerizing sirens primarily through:

1. chromatic movement and doublings in the right hand of the piano.
2. the combination of soft dynamics and a slow tempo.
3. repetitive ascending C-sharp octaves over a pedal tone on F-sharp.
4. the quick transition from pianissimo to piano.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C. The repetitive ascending C-sharp octaves over a pedal tone on F-sharp in the left hand of the piano portray the mesmerizing sirens that Lili Boulanger has based this work on. Both the ascending and repetitive nature of the octaves and the constant pedal tone evoke the enchanting and mesmerizing song of sirens.

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Connecting

4.1 Synthesize and Relate Knowledge and Personal Experiences to Make Art, and Relate Artistic Ideas and Works with Societal, Cultural, and Historical Context to Deepen Understanding

11. Use the score below to answer the question that follows.

A sixteen-bar melody for voice with one incomplete pick-up measure at the beginning of the melody. The melody has lyrics in Spanish written underneath the staff. The excerpt is in common-time and has one flat in the key signature. A common-time meter is indicated by a "C" on the staff at the beginning of the excerpt. The melody contains the following expression marks written above the staff and italicized: sencillo, intimo, and con dolor (simple, intimate, and with pain). Dynamic markings of piano, as well as crescendos and decrescendos are marked underneath the staff. The pick-up measure contains one beat, and the final measure contains four beats.

A musician plans to engrave this song using notation software. In which of the following ways should the musical parameters be altered?

1. The expression marks should be bold instead of italics.
2. The meter should be indicated with Arabic numbers.
3. The dynamic markings should be dragged above the staff.
4. The final measure should only contain three beats.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D. The melody is in common time, which means that each measure should contain four beats with the quarter note getting one beat. The pick-up measure contains one beat, which means that the final measure should contain only three beats, not four as printed. This could be accomplished by changing the final note from a half note to a quarter note.

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4.1 Synthesize and Relate Knowledge and Personal Experiences to Make Art, and Relate Artistic Ideas and Works with Societal, Cultural, and Historical Context to Deepen Understanding

12. Ensemble performances of traditional Middle Eastern music most typically feature which of the following elements?

1. melodies in unison or octaves without harmonic accompaniment
2. asymmetrical and nonmetric rhythms
3. drone harmonies with moderate or loud dynamic levels
4. improvised melodies based on a pentatonic scale

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A. Traditional music of many cultures from the Middle East is essentially melodic. In ensemble performance, the melodies are performed in unison or in octaves with each performer ornamenting the melody to create a heterophonic texture.

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4.1 Synthesize and Relate Knowledge and Personal Experiences to Make Art, and Relate Artistic Ideas and Works with Societal, Cultural, and Historical Context to Deepen Understanding

13. Singers Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald are best known for their performances of which of the following genres of music?

1. folk
2. soul
3. jazz
4. gospel

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C. Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald were jazz vocalists who performed both live and on recordings. Both were noted for their scat singing (vocal improvisations using vocables).

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4.1 Synthesize and Relate Knowledge and Personal Experiences to Make Art, and Relate Artistic Ideas and Works with Societal, Cultural, and Historical Context to Deepen Understanding

14. The historical development of form in Western music is most closely associated with the historical development of form in which of the following types of art?

1. drama
2. literature
3. dance
4. sculpture

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C. The history of Western music and the history of dance are closely linked. During the Baroque period, composers began writing suites consisting of a series of stylized dance pieces. During the Classical era, composers incorporated the minuet, a dance form, as a movement of symphonies and piano sonatas. Romantic composers such as Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky wrote music to be performed to accompany ballet and modern dance respectively. Also, during the twentieth century, the development of jazz music was closely linked with dance.

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4.1 Synthesize and Relate Knowledge and Personal Experiences to Make Art, and Relate Artistic Ideas and Works with Societal, Cultural, and Historical Context to Deepen Understanding

15. A vocalist with an interest in teaching voice as a profession also needs to be a competent pianist in order to:

1. participate in state choral music festivals.
2. accompany vocalists with whom they are working.
3. audition to become a member of a performance ensemble.
4. conduct vocal groups during concerts.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B. Professional voice teachers typically work one-on-one with individual vocalists. Rather than hiring an accompanist for students, the voice teacher typically accompanies them on piano during lessons.

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