Music Appreciation Flashcards (Midterm)

A cadential point brings the musical phrase to a resting point, which may or may not be followed by a pause. Which of the following excerpts ends with a cadential point that brings the phrase to a resting point?

Unity alone sustains interest and appeals to our need and enjoyment of the new, different, and unexpected.

A music ensemble is:

Handel uses different combinations of dynamics and timbre to achieve unity and variety in See Here the Conqu'ring Hero Comes. Which of the following two excerpts combines more instruments and louder dynamics?

Two of the most obvious musical elements that composers use to achieve variety are dynamics and timbre.

Dynamic variety refers to the use of different sound sources.

Which of the following excerpts from See Here the Conqu'ring Hero Comes uses loud dynamics?

Listen to the following excerpts of Idea A from G. F. Handel's See Here the Conqu'ring Hero Comes. Which one is played by a solo instrument?

A musical movement is:

The short excerpt below ends with a cadence.

Interpretation is one of the composer's most important tasks.

Deep River is a great example of a jazz piece.

The performer acts as a bridge between the composer and the listener.

The following excerpt features a musical ensemble.

Great performers possess outstanding technique but may not have deep musical understanding.

The following excerpt features a solo performer.

The performer's messages, emotions, images, memories, and/or thoughts are contained in the music score.

According to Booker T. Washington, plantation songs have nothing to do with religious fervor.

This excerpt features which of the following?

The following excerpt features a solo performer.

The Étude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor by Frédéric Chopin is an example of three-part form.

Structure is not a crucial aspect of music.

Which of the following is an example of a cadential point?

Listen to this excerpt from Section A of Chopin's Étude in C minor. What is the function of the left hand in the following excerpt?

Listen to these two excerpts. Which excerpt comes from Section A of Chopin's Étude Op.10 No. 12 in C minor?

The term étude refers to pieces that are used to teach a particular technical skill to performers.

An understanding of form enhances and improves one's appreciation of music.

In the Étude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor by Frédéric Chopin, the chords played by the right hand represent the accompaniment.

Form is a way of defining the organization of a piece of music.

The Étude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor by Frédéric Chopin is nicknamed Revolutionary because it started a major upheaval in Paris in 1820.

Select the culture whose mythology is filled with references to the healing power of music:

Music only affects our feelings and thoughts.

Music's main power is its ability to symbolize an era of society or culture.

Leonard B. Meyer refers to the connection between music and its function as a musical:

Musical associations remained fixed in time.

Musical connotation is reinforced by the use of certain instruments.

Music was clinically approved as a medical treatment in 1924.

Absolutists derive pleasure from listening for the way that the different elements of music relate to each other, independently of any extra-musical connotations.

Musical connotation happens when music is associated with extra-musical events or experiences.

Evidence of the healing power of music has only been collected recently.

The perceptive listener combines the characteristics of all types of listeners.

Music that is not associated with a particular story, image, object, or event is called _________ music.

A referential listener is a person that is mainly concerned with judging the quality of the performance of a piece of music.

This is a short excerpt from J.S. Bach's Air from the Suite No. 3 in D major. Listening to that excerpt, a casual listener would be more inclined to do which of the following?

Perceptive listeners are mainly concerned with extra-musical connections or associations.

The critical listener combines the characteristics of all types of listeners.

Referential listeners are the most common type of listeners.

Music that follows an explicit story is often called program music.

Musical themes cannot represent real or fictional characters.

The casual listener regards music mainly as a mood enhancer or as a pleasant part of the environment.

Which of the following excerpts is an example of jazz?

A piece of folk music typically remains unchanged throughout the years

According to the text, the folk song Dark Eyes reflects the Romanian national character.

The excerpt you just heard belongs to a type of music that is:

In jazz, performers have wide, creative freedom, even when they are playing from a score.

Listen to the piano playing in this excerpt. What are the short segments played by the piano alone?

Which of the following excerpts is an example of folk music?

Jazz incorporates elements of folk music.

It is common to think of art music as superior to other kinds of music.

In the Western music tradition, sound is represented in written form through musical __________.

In the Western music tradition, a note symbol (i.e., its shape) indicates both duration and pitch.

Music notation can be thought of as a:

A notes duration is indicated by

A rest symbol indicates

In the Western music tradition, understanding regarding the duration of sounds has been transmitted via oral means.

Music notation is:

The text states that __________ is the essential element in music.

Just as there are quarter notes, there are quarter rests.

In the Western music tradition, a note symbol (i.e., its shape) indicates pitch.

The precise pitch of a sound is determined by how many _______ happen every second.

The frequency of the lowest sound that the normal human ear can perceive ranges between 16 and 20 Hertz.

Vibration may be represented in terms of frequency. The basic unit of frequency is called the Hertz. What does one Hertz represent?

The pitch of a sound is a person's absolute perception of how high or low that sound is.

It is very important to recognize that pitch is a relative concept.

The following excerpt from Pictures at an Exhibition features low pitches.

A long string, if plucked really hard, will vibrate faster and thereby produce a higher pitch than a shorter string.

The basic unit of frequency is the:

Which of the following excerpts suggests increasing tension in the music?

The audible frequency spectrum in humans ranges between:

The letter name for white keys on the keyboard can change depending on the musical context of a given composition.

The pitch letter names correspond to:

The key indicated by the arrow above is correctly labeled. (F flat or G sharp)

If you take any pitch on the keyboard, the next occurrence of the same letter name going towards the left (down) will vibrate:

The "sandwich" key on the piano keyboard is always D.

The black key to the right of the A on this keyboard can be called A sharp or B ____.

The black key to the right of the F on this keyboard can be called F sharp or G

The name of the white key in between the group of two black keys on the keyboard is:

If the frequency of the C in the middle is 256 Hz, the corresponding frequencies on either side of that C are:

We refer to specific pitches or tones with letter names using the letters A through G.

The system of parallel lines and spaces used to write music is called notation.

Each line and space on the staff represents a different what?

In musical notation, pitch is indicated exclusively by:

Certain noteheads can only be place on staff lines

Staff notation was so perfectly conceived from the beginning, that the standard in most Western music traditions has always been staff notation.

Noteheads are placed on either lines or spaces on the staff to represent different pitches.

Successive lines and spaces from top to bottom of the staff represent successively lower pitches.

The staff is a system of:

A note at the bottom of the staff has a higher pitch than a note at the top of the staff.

In the Western music tradition, a note symbol (i.e., its shape) indicates duration.

Descending intervals are calculated differently from ascending ones.

The descending interval between A and F is a:

When calculating intervals, both the start and end notes should be included in the count

The distance between D and A (above that D) is a:

The two notes of an octave sound exactly the same due to the simple relationship of their frequencies.

The interval between D and the next above that D, is called a:

The two tones of an octave vibrate at the same frequency rate

Ascending and descending intervals are calculated:

The distance between two pitches id called a/an

Which of the following is a true statement

Which of the following two excerpts uses soft dynamics?

The volume of this excerpt is an example of crescendo

Composers started marking their scores with instructions about dynamics:

A pianist's skill in manipulating volume is usually referred to as the performer's

Composers started marking their scores with volume indications as soon as music notation was invented.

Aside from Carmina Burana (1937), Carl Orff is widely known for:

The volume of this excerpt is loud

This musical excerpt is an example of forte

As a musical concept, dynamics covers only the overall loudness or softness of a piece of music.

This musical excerpt is an example of piano volume

The instrument in this example is a/an

If someone said that instruments that produce sounds via vibrating columns of air are called aerophones, would that be a true or false statement?

The instrument featured in this example can be classified as:

The acoustic can be classified as a:

When a piece has been composed one instrument, but is actually played using another, the resulting work is called:

What instrument category does the horn belong to?

Would it be true of false if someone said that the following excerpt is played by chordophones?

Listen to this excerpt from Midsummer Night's Dream. Which instrument classification is represented?

Timbre is often referred to as _____ color.

The electric guitar can be considered as both a chordophone and a/an:

Listen to the following excerpt: Which vocal range does it represent?

The soprano register lies between the alto and tenor vocal ranges.

The aria Lucevan le Stelle is from the opera Gianni Schicci by Giacomo Puccini.

The song Dark Eyes is sung by a choir without instrumental accompaniment. This type of vocal group is called:

In this section of the song Dark Eyes the a cappella choir accompanies a:

The aria Lucevan le Stelle is composed for a/an:

The baritone range lies between the bass and tenor

The Entry Chorus from Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi is sung by a chamber choir.

The following excerpt is sung by a baritone.

According to the text, traditional symphony orchestra musicians are permitted to improvise their parts

Which of the following is not a decision about interpretation that a conductor makes?

What is NOT the role of the conductor in a traditional symphony orchestra?

Listen to the following excerpt from Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. In this 20-second excerpt, the brass family plays throughout.

Listen to the following excerpt from Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. In this excerpt, the percussion family plays throughout

Listen to the following excerpt from Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Which orchestral family performs the main theme in this selection?

Listen to the following excerpt from Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Which brass instruments are featured prominently in this selection?

The sole function of the conductor is to beat time

A traditional symphony orchestra can sometime have more than 100 players

The violins are played pizzicato in this nine-second example.

Which string instrument is featured in this excerpt from Paganini's 2 Caprices?

The sound of string instruments is produced by a ______ stretched between two points.

In the following 10-second excerpt, the strings use:

Listen to this excerpt from Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Which string instrument is featured in the excerpt?

How does a violinist control dynamics?

In the traditional symphony orchestra, the violins usually play as one undivided group.

The violins are played pizzicato in this 12-second example.

The harp may be a part-time fifth member of the orchestral strings

Which of the following is NOT a way to produce sound in string instruments?

Listen to the following excerpt: What woodwind instrument plays along with the orchestra?

Identify the woodwind instrument in this excerpt by the contemporary composer Aulis Sallinen.

In wind instruments, sound is produced by setting a column of air in motion inside the body of the instrument.

The energy with which a player produces the air stream determines __________.

The French technical term for "mouthpiece" is la bouche.

The name of this instrument is ________.

The four main orchestral woodwind instruments are:

The name of this instrument is ____.

What instrument plays the melody in this excerpt from Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf?

This instrument is called a

This instrument is called a

The trumpet and the French horn use valves to change pitch

Which brass instrument plays the melody in this example?

Listen to the following excerpt from Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6. There is a dialogue between a high-sounding part and a low one. Which brass instrument plays the low part

Which of the following is a member of the brass family?

This instrument is called a

The following excerpt from Modest Mussorgsky's symphonic poem Night on the Bald Mountain features two instruments playing in:

This example comes from a concerto for __________ and orchestra.

This example comes from a concerto for ______ and orchestra.

Identify the solo percussion instrument in this excerpt.

This instrument is called:

Listen to this excerpt from Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. Which percussion instrument plays in this excerpt?

Castanets are traditionally played by shaking them

Percussion instruments where two similar objects are clapped together to produce a sound can be further classified under the _____.

The following example is played by the:

Percussion instruments are an essential part of marches. Which instrument do you hear in this excerpt?

Timpani are capable of producing an actual pitch.

Which percussion instrument is featured in the example?

Kettledrum is another name for timpani.

Keyboard instruments are sometimes part o the orchestra.

The type of music event where a soloist plays by her/himself is called a __________.

What instrument plays this example?

Chopin's First Piano Concerto was inspired by a young singer named Constantia Gladkowska.

The term controller refers to:

Handel continued to play organ concertos even after he had lost his sight.

What instrument plays this example?

What instrument plays this example?

The term concerto refers to a performer playing by her/himself.

Handel's Eight Suites for Keyboard remained largely unknown in the 18th century, except among his friends.

Upon its invention, the fortepiano eclipsed the popularity of the harpsichord:

All harpsichords use one string per key to produce sound.

The first known instance of a harpsichord dates from:

Please select the word pair that best completes the following sentence. When a harpsichordist depresses a key, a simple mechanism causes a __________ to __________ a string.

The harpsichord was used as an accompanying instrument in opera only in the 16th century.

The one-piece cast-iron frame, a crucial development in the history of the piano, was invented by:

The one-piece cast-iron frame, a crucial development in the history of the piano, was invented by:

The pedals are a crucial component of the piano. The function of the soft pedal is to reduce the amount and quality of the sound. On an upright piano, the soft pedal:

The upright piano was first developed in:

When performing, pianists are in direct contact with the source of the sound.

The first organ used water to control wind pressure.

Please select the word pair that best completes the following sentence. The organ is a ____________instrument, whose tone is produced by wind flowing through ____________.

The function of the organ's stops is to:

In the organ, pipe length determines:

In the organ, volume is determined by:

Identify the false statement:

The sound source of the synthesizer is an oscillator.

The synthesizer has virtually no standard repertoire.

Since the synthesizer is an electronic instrument, oscillation is not a factor in sound generation.

What is the function of the amplifier?