Some last minute tips heading into tomorrow’s midterm:
The material will primarily come from chapters 2 – 6 (partial) of the Kostka. This includes scale formations, chords, melodic characteristics, harmony/voice leading/pitch-centric tonality, along with some rhythm and meter. In particular, study:
- Pitch class integer notation.
- Scales. Be able to write any of the modes (starting on a given pitch), pentatonic, whole tone, or octatonic scales. Be able to identify them in musical examples.
- Chords. Be able to identify chord types in musical examples. The context of the musical example will help in determining chord types. Remember, added note chords will usually only have a single added chord tone, while tall tertian chords will usually have several tones beyond the triad. Also, tall tertian chords usually will omit some notes from the triad. Polychords will usually employ voice leading that highlights the individual triadic entities.
- Voice Leading. Things like planing, non-traditional harmonic movements, etc., come into play.
- Melody. Be able to identify what aspects of a melody are consistent with 20th-century techniques. Page 92 of the Kostka has a good, concise list.
- Pitch Centric music. Be able to identify the tonal center, or centers of an excerpt, including if the excerpt is polytonal or pandiatonic. Be able to provide justification for your answer based on characteristics/techniques from chapter 5.
- Rhythm and meter. We studied additive rhythm, ametric, polymetric, added note value, and constantly changing meters.
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