Music Theory IV: 12-Tone Quiz

3 major differences between tonal and 12-tone music?

1. tonal music has 7 notes, atonal has 12.

2. Tonal music follows a key area, atonal music doesn’t (all notes are equally important).

3. Order of notes in tonal music is not set, in 12-tone the order of pitches is preset

What is the meaning of “2nd Viennese School?”

It’s a school of thought, first school was during Classical period with Hayden, Mozart, & Beethoven; 2nd school has Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern

Define and compare pitch vs. pitch class?

1. 12 pitch classes, 88 pitches

2. Pitch = height component + chroma (color)

3. Pitch class = chroma (color) within the 12 different pitches

In 12-tone theory, what is “Modulus 12"?”

It is a math equation, used to turn any pitch into its pitch class. You pick a pitch, to switch to its pitch class you discard the height of the pitch. Only goes to 12—past 12, circle back to zero.

How to find interval class?

Take the interval (for example, 25 half steps), divide by 12, the remainder is the #. Can only go to 6, if more than six subtract the number from 12 to get true value.

4 basic transformations for 12-tone row?

Transposition, inversion, retrograde, retrograde inversion

What is a 12-tone matrix, what is its purpose?

A 12×12 grid that displays the 48 possible modifications for the series. Used to better visualize the relationships between the sequences.

Hexachord is what in 12-tone?

The first six notes of the series.