Music Appreciation Midterm Exam

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

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

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

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

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

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

Musical connotation is reinforced by the use of certain instruments.

Music was clinically approved as a medical treatment in 1924.

Music only affects our feelings and thoughts.

Musical associations remained fixed in time.

Deep River is a great example of a jazz piece.

A music score contains:

Which of the following is true of the casual listener?

Referential listeners are the most common type of listeners.

Musical themes cannot represent real or fictional characters.

The critical listener combines the characteristics of all types of listeners

According to the text, it is a simple task to define the category of folk music

A piece of folk music typically remains unchanged throughout the years

What instrument category does the horn belong to?

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

A contralto has the lowest range of the male voices.

All string instruments are traditionally played using all of the available performance techniques such as plucking, strumming, bowing, and rubbing.

Jean-Phillippe Rameau was a towering figure in the development of:

Woodwind instruments can be classified as:

Night on the Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky earned him wide recognition during his lifetime.

The kettledrum is the most important percussion instrument of the symphony orchestra

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

According to the text, keyboards make up the fifth family of instruments and occasionally appear with the orchestra.

Musicians have always made their own choices regarding volume to fine tune their playing to specific performance spaces.

Despite being a great composer, Richard Wagner did not succeed in creating great operas.

Composers started marking their scores with instructions about dynamics:

The proper musical term for "increasing the tempo" is __________.

Rhythm is defined as:

Meter in music can best be described as:

Our ears can perceive the entire range of possible sound

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

The letter name for each white key on the keyboard is fixed regardless of the musical context of a composition.

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

The following are examples of notation systems

Certain noteheads can only be placed on staff lines

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

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

Descending intervals are calculated differently from ascending ones.q

A(n)________ is the interval from any note to its nearest neighbor.

A musical phrase does not necessarily need to have a sense of completion in and of itself.

Which statement is correct?

The relationship between consonance and dissonance has remained constant throughout history and consistent from culture to culture

The smallest harmonic unit is made up of three pitches called a chord.

Consonant harmonies usually provide a feeling of tension.

Which of the following terms does not refer to a basic musical texture?

Bach was known as a master of presenting a singular musical texture throughout his vocal music to help communicate the text.

Which of the following statements is correct? -Texture in music refers to the feeling created by the combination of melody and harmony. -Texture in music refers to the ways in which monophony, polyphony, and homophony combine to create harmony. -Texture in music refers to the ways in which the horizontal strands of melody and the vertical strands of harmony relate to one another. -None of these statements

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

The constant use of variety is enough to sustain a listener's interest and make a music piece pleasing and memorable.

Structure is important because it helps our minds begin to develop expectations about what will happen next in a piece of music.

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

Usually, folk tunes, songs, spirituals, and hymns are not good examples of strophic form.

Which of the following forms is not based on the principle of repetition? Select one: Rondo form Strophic form Theme and variations Binary form

The great European churches and cathedrals of the Medieval period were important to the development of Western music

Who is credited with the creation of plainsong? Select one: Guido d'Arezzo Pope Gregory I Bernart de Ventadorn Anicius Boethius

Which of the following is a salient characteristic of secular music from the Medieval period? Select one: Slow tempos with unmeasured rhythms and monophonic texture Features mainly unaccompanied vocal solos Smooth melodies sung a cappella moving at a very lively pace Strong, dance-like rhythms performed by a combination of instruments and voices

The two most important French composers of organum and discant during the Medieval period were: Select one: Léonin and Marcabru de Gascony Léonin and Pérotin Pérotin and Bertrand de Born Marcabru of Gascony and Pérotin

The Renaissance period saw inventions and developments that: Select one: Were of utmost importance in their day, but mainly as regards the Catholic Church. Were of minor significance, historically speaking. Were very important, but not enough to have major repercussions in later historical periods. Changed the physical and intellectual landscape of Europe.

According to the text, the Renaissance period was known as: Select one: The Golden Age of Sacred Music The Golden Age of Homophonic Music The Golden Age of Choral Music The Golden Age of Instrumental Music

Renaissance composers didn't really care very much if their work appealed to the public at large; they were more concerned about glorifying God and the "purity" of their music.

The Baroque concerto is... Select one: -Any piece intended to be performed in a public concert rather than in a church -A piece that contrasts a soloist or group of soloists against an orchestra -A piece for solo instrument with basso continuo as accompaniment -The instrumental introduction to an opera