Music Theory Academic Decathlon 26-27

What is the definition of music?

“Sound organized in time”

What is sound organized in time?

The definition of music

What is it called when composition and performance happen simultaneously?

Improvisation

What is Improvisation?

When composition and performance happen simultaneously

What are 2 things music has as a sound wave?

Frequency and amplitude

What does the amplitude affect? (in terms of a sound wave)

The decibel level → how loud or soft

What is the decibel level affected by? (in terms of a sound wave)

The amplitude

What does the frequency affect? (in terms of a sound wave)

The pitch

What is the pitch affected by? (in terms of a sound wave)

The frequency

What is the frequency of a sound wave that humans can hear?

20-20,000 Hz

What is Hz? (in terms of a sound wave)

Cycles per second

Which A is A-440?

A4/the A above middle C

What pitch do US orchestral musicians tune to?

A-440

What is a ethnomusicologist?

Scholars who study the music of other cultures

Who created the modern classifications of instruments? (i.e. Aerophones)

Curt Sachs & Erich Von Hornbostel

What are chordophones?

Sachs/Hornbostel classification → Instruments with plucked or bowed stringed (i.e. cello or guitar)

What is the Sachs/Hornsbostel classification of stringed instruments?

Chordophones

What are aerophones?

Sachs/Hornbostel classification → Instruments with vibrating column of air (i.e. flute or french horn)

What is the Sachs/Hornsbostel classification of wind instruments?

Aerophones

What are membraphones?

Sachs/Hornbostel classification → Instruments with skin or membrane stretched across a frame which vibrates (i.e. timpani or snare)

What is the Sachs/Hornsbostel classification of percussion instrumentsn with a skin/membrane?

Membraphones

What are Idiophones?

Sachs/Hornbostel classification → Instruments that vibrates when the item itself is struck (i.e. marimba or bell)

What is the Sachs/Hornsbostel classification of percussion instruments that vibrate when the body itself is struck?

Idiophones

What was the fifth Sachs/Hornsbostel classification added that depends on electricity?

Electrophones (i.e. Theremin)

What kind of instruments are in the strings family?

Instruments with strings that are bowed/plucked (i.e. cello or bass)

What kind of instruments are in the brass family?

Instruments that make sound due to buzzing lips vibrating column of air (i.e. french horn or tuba)

What kind of instruments are in the woodwind family?

Instruments that make sound by pure breath alone (i.e. saxophones, clarinets, or flutes)

What did the packet name as one of the best known electrophones?

Theremin

How does a performer use the theremin?

The performer regulates frequency in one hand and amplitude in the other

What is musique concrète?

A genre of music created by editing collages of sound together to make music (electric)

What was the term for the genre created by editing collages of sound together to make music?

Musique conrète

What are the 4 properties of a single musical sound?

Pitch, duration, volume, and timbre

What is pitch?

The highness or lowness of a sound (i.e. piccolo vs tuba)

What is the distance between any 2 notes called?

Interval

What is the interval between A4 and the next higher/lower A?

Octave

If you pluck half of the A string on the guitar (A-110), what do you hear?

The A one octave about A-110 (A-220, double the previous)

What is the interval between any two adjacent notes called?

Half-step or semitone

What is a semitone?

The smallest interval in western music, two adjacent notes

What is a whole step?

Interval between every other key

What intervals are the building blocks of a scale?

Whole steps and half steps

What are the white keys on a piano called?

Natural keys (♮)

What does a flat (♭) or sharp (♯) sign indicate?

That a natural note has been lowered or raised, respectively, by a half step. Way to show the black keys (i.e. B♮→ B♭)

How many lines does a musical staff have?

5

What is a musical staff used for?

Indicates pitches

What determines the assignment of pitches on a musical staff?

The clef symbol

What does the treble clef indicate?

“G-clef” → indicates the second to bottom line is the G4 note

What does the bass clef indicate?

“F-clef” → indicates the fourth to bottom line is the F3 note

What is C-clef indicate?

Indicates that the line in the middle of 𝄡 is the middle C

What is the C-clef called when 𝄡 is centered in the middle?

Alto clef

What is the C-clef called when 𝄡 is centered around the 4th from bottom?

Tenor clef

What is it called when two bracketed staves are used?

Grand staff → Lower typically bass, and higher typically treble

Is it common for pitches to consist of only one single, pure frequency?

No → one frequency dominates, but colored with others faintly (called partials or overtones)

In the context of overtones, what is the dominating and lowest note called?

Fundamental frequency

In western tradition, how many pitches is an octave divided into?

12 equal parts

What are the 12 pitches of an octave called?

Chromatic scale

What is the distance between every consecutive note in a chromatic scale?

Half step

What is are enharmonic pitches?

Two different labels for the same piano key (i.e. E♭and D♯)

What is a double sharp? (𝄪)

Indicates a pitch is raised 2 half steps

What is a double flat? (𝄫)

Indicates a pitch is lowered 2 half steps

How many pitches are used as the basis for a piece of music? (or the diatonic scale)

7 pitches

What are the 7 pitches used for the basis of a piece of music called?

Diatonic scale

What is the seventh scale degree called in a diatonic scale?

Leading tone → named because of instability “begging” to resolve at the tonic (first scale degree)

What is the first scale degree called in a diatonic scale?

Tonic pitch → anchor point, signaling rest and completion

What is the fifth scale degree called in a diatonic scale?

Dominant pitch → almost as important, appears more than the tonic, but song still resolves at the tonic

What scale degree is the leading tone?

7th

What scale degree is the tonic pitch?

1st

What scale degree is the dominant pitch?

5th

What is an interval of 3 half steps called?

Minor third (C-E♭)

What is an interval of 4 half steps called?

Major third (C-E)

What is an interval of 5 half steps called?

Perfect fourth (C-F)

What is an interval of 6 half steps called?

Augmented fourth (C-F♯ > C-F): Overshooting a perfect fourth by adding a sharp

Diminished fifth (C-G♭ > C-G): Just shy of a perfect fifth by adding a flat

Tritone: General name for aforementioned interval names

What is an interval of 7 half steps called?

Perfect fifth (C-G)

What is an interval of 8 half steps called?

Minor sixth (C-A♭)

What is an interval of 9 half steps called?

Major sixth (C-A)

What is an interval of 10 half steps called?

Minor seventh (C-B♭)

What is an interval of 11 half steps called?

Major seventh (C-B)

What is an interval of 12 half steps called?

Octave (C3-C4)

What is a major scale’s sequence of intervals?

Whole step–whole step–half step–whole step–whole step–whole step–half step

What are the 3 kinds of minor scales?

Natural (or pure), harmonic, and melodic minor

Which scale degrees are lowered in a natural minor scale?

3rd, 6th, and 7th scale degrees are lowered

Which scale degrees are lowered in a Harmonic minor scale?

3rd and 6th scale degree

Which scale degrees are lowered in a melodic minor scale?

On the way up, only lower 3rd degree. On the way down, lower 3rd, 6th, and 7th.

Why do harmonic minors raise the 7th degree?

To create a leading tone pull back to the tonic pitch

What is a relative major and minor?

Two scales that use the same pitches, but different tonics (i.e. C major and A natural minor)

What is a parallel major and minor?

Two scales that begin on the same tonic, but use different pitches (or key signatures)

What is the sequence of intervals for a natural minor?

Whole step–half step–whole step–whole step–half step–whole step–whole step

What is the sequence of intervals for a Harmonic minor?

Whole step–half step–whole step–whole step–half step–aug. second–half step

What is the sequence of intervals for a melodic minor?

Up: Whole step–half step–whole step–whole step–whole step–whole step–half step

Down: Whole step (8→7) –whole step–half step–whole step–whole step–half step–whole step

What happens in a blues scale?

3 and 7 can be lowered, rarely 5th is lowered, and use between pitches using falls

What is a melody?

Series of successive pitches strung together to form a coherent whole.

Can you have two pitches occur at once in a pure melody?

No. For that to happen, their must be harmony/counterpoint

What odes it mean to transpose a melody?

Changing the intervals and scale degrees by beginning on a different tonic and key signature.

What are the two forms of contour?

Conjunct and dis