Ear Training for the Contemporary Musician

Question 1

Octaves are how far apart in frequency?

Answer 1

Half or double the frequency.

Question 2

What is the fundamental tone, the “home” note called?

Answer 2

Tonic

Question 3

The musical term for moving a melody to a new key

Answer 3

Transposing

Question 4

Identifying and writing down music

Answer 4

Transcribing

Question 5

The distance between any two notes is called the

Answer 5

interval

Question 6

What is a second?

Answer 6

an interval of 2 steps

Question 7

What is a third?

Answer 7

an interval of 3 steps

Question 8

What is meter?

Answer 8

A pattern of accented (strong) and unaccented (weak) beats in a repetitive pattern.

Question 9

What is the two-beat meter based on and what types of music use it?

Answer 9

Based on the left/right foot pattern of the march, common to folk music styles of European countries (polka, Irish/Scottish, Italian, etc) and their American descendants, including traditional country music and rockabilly.

Question 10

What is the more common name for the three-beat meter, where did it originate and what are its variations?

Answer 10

Waltz, a dance style originating in Europe. Variations include Viennese waltz, country waltz and jazz waltz.

Question 11

What type of music uses a four-beat meter?

Answer 11

Nearly every contemporary popular music style including rock, funk, R&B, hip-hop, blues and jazz.

Question 12

How is the meter of a piece indicated?

Answer 12

By the time signature. The upper number indicates how many beats are in the pattern and the lower number indicates what kind of note receives one beat.

Question 13

What is common time?

Answer 13

4/4 time

Question 14

What is the pattern called in popular music when the drummer defines the four-beat meter by hitting the snare drum on the second and fourth beats?

Answer 14

backbeat

Question 15

What is the normal designation for concert pitch?

Answer 15

A=440 cycles per second

Question 16

What are concert instruments?

Answer 16

Instruments designed around the same pitch, such as pianos, also called “C” instruments.

Question 17

What is an instrument called that is designed so that a player reading middle C will produce a different pitch from Concert C?

Answer 17

Transposing Instruments

Question 18

Are guitar and bass concert instruments?

Answer 18

No, when they read middle C they play an octave lower than a piano middle C. Therefore they are transposing instruments.

Question 19

What is sightsinging?

Answer 19

The skill of singing music directly from the printed page.

Question 20

What is sofeggio?

Answer 20

The “do-re-mi” system of singing musical pitches.

Question 21

What is the difference between an interval’s quality and quantity?

Answer 21

Both C to D and E to F are second intervals. However C to D is a major second because they are a whole step apart and E to F is a minor second because they are a half step apart. Although they are both seconds they do not sound the same.

Question 22

Any major interval lowered by half a step becomes

Answer 22

minor

Question 23

Any minor or perfect interval lowered by half a step becomes

Answer 23

diminished

Question 24

Any major or perfect interval raised by half a step becomes

Answer 24

augmented

Question 25

What qualities do thirds come in? What are their abbreviations? What is the distance?

Answer 25

Major (ma3) = two whole steps

minor (mi3) = one and a half steps

Question 26

What common tune can you use to “hear” a ma3?

Answer 26

Frere Jacques - between the third and fourth notes drops from the 3 to 1

Question 27

What common tune can you use to “hear” a mi3?

Answer 27

Brahms Lullaby (“Lullaby and goodnight”) - tonic, tonic, mi3, tonic, tonic, mi3

Question 28

What common tune can you use to hear mi3 & ma3?

Answer 28

The Star Spangled Banner starts with mi3 - ma3 in the first three notes. From the first to second note it goes down mi3 and then goes down ma3 for the third note.

Question 29

What are the fourth and fifth degrees of the major scale called? Why?

Answer 29

Perfect, as in “perfect fourth” and “perfect fifth.” The term was chosen to reflect the feelings of the intervals which unlike the happiness and sadness evoked by major and minor thirds, perfect intervals are considered emotionally neutral, like a blank white canvas.

Question 30

What are sixth interval qualities (not raised or lowered)? What tunes highlight these?

Answer 30

Major - first two notes of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”

Minor - Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer”

Question 31

What is a definition of harmony? What is its simplest form? What are the most common versions?

Answer 31

The sound of two or more notes occurring at the same time. The simplest form is the interval. Harmonic intervals have the same notes and names as melodic intervals but are played at the same time rather than separately/consecutively). The most common harmonic intervals are thirds, fourths, fifths and sixths.

Question 32

If two notes are played with the equal force, say on the piano, which will tend to sound more prominent?

Answer 32

The higher tone will sound louder, clearer and more prominent because the ear perceives higher pitches more clearly than lower pitches.

Question 33

What is a power chord?

Answer 33

Perfect fourths and fifths are combined to make power chords. They consist of a root, the note a perfect fifth above and often the octave which is a perfect fourth above that. The name reflects the strong, clear quality of these perfect intervals. It may be noted by the letter name followed by “5”, e.g. C5, E5, Bb5

Question 34

What is an inversion?

Answer 34

Any pair of intervals that combine to form an octave. For instance a major third followed by a minor sixth, e.g. C-E, followed by E-C (the C above the first). These pairs include
Major Third - Minor Sixth
Minor Third - Major Sixth
Perfect Fifth - Perfect Fourth

Question 35

What is a chord?

Answer 35

Two or more notes played simultaneously.

Question 36

What a triads?

Answer 36

Triads are chords that contain three different notes, or chord tones, played at once in intervals of a third:
Root - the fundamental note of the triad
Third - a major or minor third interval above the root
Fifth - a perfect, diminished or augmented fifth interval above the root

Question 37

What is a major triad?

Answer 37

Root, major third, perfect fifth. They may be arranged in various orders and repeated in different octaves but triads by definition must contain three different chord tones. Example: C-E-G. May be noted by C above the chord on the staff (for a C major triad)

Question 38

What is a minor triad?

Answer 38

Root, minor third, perfect fifth. Eg.C-Eflat-G. May be noted by Cmi above the chord on the staff.

Question 39

What is diatonic harmony?

Answer 39

Progression made up of major and minor triads built from the notes of a single major scale.

Question 40

What is the harmonized major C scale?

Answer 40

C - Dmi - Emi - F - G - Ami - B°- C

Question 41

How are chords numbered? What is the harmonized Major Scale numbered this way?

Answer 41

Chords are numbered with Roman Numerals.
I IImi IIImi IV V VImi VII° VIII=I
Other systems use upper case Roman numerals for major chords and lower case for minor
I ii iii IV V vi VII° VIII

Question 42

What is a diminished triad?

Answer 42

Root, minor third, diminished fifth. E.g. C - Eflat - Gflat

Question 43

What are consonance and dissonance?

Answer 43

Consonance and dissonance are subjective judgments. Consonant sounds may be considered restful, pleasant and stable and include major and minor triads as well as third, fourth, fifths, sixths and octaves. Dissonant sounds are the opposite and may be considered tense, unpleasant and unstable. These sounds include diminished triads and second and seventh harmonic intervals. In popular music dissonant sounds tend to gravitate or resolve toward consonant sounds but these rules are often broken.

Question 44

What kind of notation is used that does not indicate pitch?

Answer 44

Rhythmic or Slash Notation. Diamonds replace whole and half notes (diamond and diamond with a stem) and slashes with stems and flags replace quarter, eighth, etc. In a chord chart, slash notation will be used on a staff with the chord above it (e.g. C, Ami, etc).

Question 45

What are pickup notes?

Answer 45

Notes that precede the downbeat of a phrase.