!st Year Music (listening&literaacy)

shellyleon

Hi,
I failed listening&literacy looking for notes for repeat exam also grinds. Willing to pay for any help. I'm really worried as I dont get this module & will be out if I dont pass.The exam is 6th of August so time is running out.

Léan

What areas are you looking for help in? What did you find the most difficult?

shellyleon

I find the whole module difficult but am weakest at music theory. Thanks

Léan

What did you study this year? Bach chorales i'm presuming?

Once you can get a handle on basic harmony you should be fine i.e. able to recognise what key it's in and what keys it modulates to, be able to name what kind of chords there are, for example chord I, IV, V etc...

Don't worry about being able to recognise suspensions and that, as far as I remember they are only for extra credit anyway?

Harmony is all about practice, the more you look at music the easier and quicker you'l get at figuring out keys, chords etc... Look for the obvious things first then work from there. Try and look at as much music as you can.

For example, the majority of pieces are going to start and end in the home key (chord I ), modulation is mostly going to be to the dominant (V) or subdominant (IV). Then stuff like cadences, imperfect, perfect, plagal...

This is very general info. I can't really be more specific without knowing what you studied.

shellyleon

Léan wrote: »

What did you study this year? Bach chorales i'm presuming?

Once you can get a handle on basic harmony you should be fine i.e. able to recognise what key it's in and what keys it modulates to, be able to name what kind of chords there are, for example chord I, IV, V etc...

Don't worry about being able to recognise suspensions and that, as far as I remember they are only for extra credit anyway?

Harmony is all about practice, the more you look at music the easier and quicker you'l get at figuring out keys, chords etc... Look for the obvious things first then work from there. Try and look at as much music as you can.

This is very general info. I can't really be more specific without knowing what you studied.

Thank you for replying. You definately seem to know what stuff I've been doing. Could you maybe help me with sonata form. It confuses me greatly aand any help you could offer would be amazing!

Léan

Sorry for taking so long to reply, I forgot all about this thread!

My best advice for Sonata form is to look at it very carefully. Keep your eyes peeled for areas where it changes key this should help in identifying the different themes/sections. The same goes for repetition, look very carefully for reoccurring ideas.

For a rough and general example, lets say everything is in the key of C major.

So..

Exposition
The exposition always be in the home key, in this case C major (chord I/tonic).
Within the exposition we have;
-Subject I; based in the tonic.
-Transition; here the composer will modulate, so in the case of C major he/she is most likely going to modulate to the dominant (progression of I-V). To identify the transition you’ll most likely see some scale like passages and in this case the introduction of an F#.
-Subject II; based in the dominant (G major)
-Codetta; the exposition may (but not always) end in a codetta. This acts as rounding off and finishing the section, ending in a perfect cadence (V-I).

Development
So here obviously the composer is going to develop the music and his ideas. He will most likely pick off where he left off in the same key as Subject II in the expos; in this case G major.
- the composer will explore many keys
- Ideas from the exposition will reoccur e.g. the composer might repeat certain scale passages/themes etc... But in a different key.
- at the end of the development the composer will return to the tonic to prepare for the recap.
*The development shouldn't be too hard to spot, basically look out for when things begin to get a bit more hectic, lots of key changing, some repetition but also new ideas etc...

Recapitulation
This is where the composer is winding things up. The recap is basically the exposition again but slightly varied.
-Subject I (returns); this is usually the same as in the expos. Same key also, so we're in the tonic again here.
-Transition; Here the transition will probably be a bit more varied, it will give a chance for the musicians to show off their skill.
-Subject II; so we're back to SII again except this time it is unlikely the piece will be in a different key as things are beginning to wind down, so it will remain in the tonic. Sometimes here there is the progression from major - minor. I can't remember if that's covered in Listening and literacy but be aware of it anyway in case you spot some minor chords .
-Codetta; again this is to round off the piece, very similar to the exposition, this puts an end to the piece it'l probably end with a big perfect cadence (V-I).


Hope that helps, it's all pretty general.

Good luck!