Bachelor of Music Exam — Questions and Answers

Question 1: A student is transcribing a four-measure rhythm in 4/4 time. They notice that the rhythm of the first measure is identical to the rhythm of the third measure. Which of the following is the most effective strategy to ensure accuracy?

Notate the first measure carefully and then copy it to the third measure, using subsequent listenings to confirm. (Correct answer)
Focus all subsequent listenings only on measures 2 and 4.
Assume the entire melody is based on a one-measure rhythmic ostinato.
Erase the third measure and re-notate it from scratch to avoid bias.

Correct answer: Notate the first measure carefully and then copy it to the third measure, using subsequent listenings to confirm.

Recognizing patterns is a key skill in dictation. If a student confidently identifies a repeated rhythm, they should notate it and then use the remaining listenings to confirm their transcription and fill in the other measures. This is more efficient than ignoring the pattern or starting from scratch, which wastes valuable listening time. While it could be an ostinato, assuming that without confirmation is risky.

Question 2: What is the primary independent function of the conductor's left hand?

To independently express dynamics, phrasing, and cues (Correct answer)
To mark the tempo only when the baton hand rests
To mirror the right hand exactly at all times
To hold the score open during performance

Correct answer: To independently express dynamics, phrasing, and cues

The left hand functions independently from the baton hand to indicate dynamics, shape phrases, and cue individual sections of the ensemble.

Question 3: What formal term applies to music that unfolds continuously without literal repetition of large sections, as in many through-composed songs or tone poems?

Through-composed (durchkomponiert) (Correct answer)
Bar form
Strophic
Episodic

Correct answer: Through-composed (durchkomponiert)

Through-composed (German: durchkomponiert) music proceeds continuously with new material, avoiding the sectional repeats found in strophic or rounded forms.

Question 4: What characteristic interval defines all types of Augmented Sixth chords (Italian, French, and German)?

A perfect fifth resolving to a major sixth.
An augmented sixth resolving outward to an octave. (Correct answer)
A minor seventh resolving downward by step.
A diminished third resolving inward to a unison.

Correct answer: An augmented sixth resolving outward to an octave.

The defining characteristic of all augmented sixth chords is the interval of an augmented sixth, typically formed between the lowered sixth scale degree (le, ♭ˆ6) in the bass and the raised fourth scale degree (fi, ♯ˆ4) in an upper voice. This interval has a strong tendency to resolve outward by half step to an octave on the dominant (ˆ5).

Question 5: In 20th-century music analysis, what term describes a collection of pitch classes defined by their intervallic content, used in post-tonal analysis?

Row
Mode
Hexachord
Pitch-class set (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Pitch-class set

Pitch-class set theory, developed by Allen Forte, categorizes groups of pitches by their interval content, enabling systematic analysis of atonal music.

Question 6: A student is asked to identify an interval by singing it mentally before playing. They mentally sing up a major second and then up a minor third from a given pitch. What compound interval have they outlined?

Perfect fifth
Perfect fourth (Correct answer)
Major third
Augmented fourth

Correct answer: Perfect fourth

A major second (2 half steps) plus a minor third (3 half steps) equals a perfect fourth (5 half steps).

Question 7: In the context of US music education, what does 'National Core Arts Standards' provide for music teachers?

A list of required repertoire for each grade level
A mandatory national curriculum all schools must follow
Funding guidelines for school music programs
A framework of artistic processes and anchor standards to guide curriculum development (Correct answer)

Correct answer: A framework of artistic processes and anchor standards to guide curriculum development

The National Core Arts Standards provide a voluntary framework organized around artistic processes—creating, performing, responding, and connecting—to guide local curriculum decisions.

Question 8: In a Classical string quartet or symphony, which movement is traditionally in ternary form with a contrasting trio section?

First movement
Third movement (minuet or scherzo) (Correct answer)
Second movement
Fourth movement

Correct answer: Third movement (minuet or scherzo)

The third movement of a Classical multi-movement work is typically a minuet and trio (or scherzo and trio) in the formal pattern A (minuet) – B (trio) – A (minuet da capo).

Question 9: The 'bossa nova' style that emerged in late-1950s Brazil combined samba rhythms with influences from which other genre?

American cool jazz (Correct answer)
Cuban son
Argentine tango
Dixieland jazz

Correct answer: American cool jazz

Bossa nova blended the rhythms of samba with the harmonic sophistication and cool, understated style of American cool jazz.

Question 10: Classical composers used 'false recapitulation' in sonata form to:

Combine the development and recapitulation into one section
Present the main theme in a foreign key at the outset
End a movement without a full recapitulation
Briefly suggest the return of the main theme in the wrong key before the true recapitulation (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Briefly suggest the return of the main theme in the wrong key before the true recapitulation

A false recapitulation teases the listener with the main theme's return in a non-tonic key before the actual recapitulation arrives in the home key.

Question 11: When two measures of music are followed by the phrase "molto rallentando," it means that those two measures of music should be performed:

at a somewhat broader tempo.
at a somewhat moderate tempo.
with a very sudden quickening of the tempo.
with a very gradual slowing of the tempo. (Correct answer)

Correct answer: with a very gradual slowing of the tempo.

"Molto rallentando" is an Italian musical term. "Molto" means "very" or "much," and "rallentando" means "gradually slowing down." Therefore, the phrase instructs the performer to execute the music with a significant and gradual decrease in tempo, creating a sense of winding down or broadening.

Question 12: Which component of a fugue subject is the immediate, overlapping answer that enters in a different voice while the subject continues?

Episode
Countersubject
Stretto
Answer (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Answer

The answer is the second entry of the fugue subject, typically in the dominant, entering while the first voice continues with the countersubject.

Question 13: In double counterpoint at the octave, which interval in the original combination becomes a seventh when voices are inverted?

Third
Sixth
Fifth
Second (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Second

In octave inversion, each interval subtracts from 9: a second (2) becomes a seventh (9-2=7), fundamentally changing its consonant/dissonant quality.

Question 14: The term 'musica ficta' refers to which practice in medieval and Renaissance music?

The addition of unnotated accidentals by performers (Correct answer)
Music performed from memory
Instrumental music without text
A form of theatrical sacred music

Correct answer: The addition of unnotated accidentals by performers

Musica ficta involved performers adding chromatic alterations not written in the score, guided by rules avoiding tritones and creating leading tones.

Question 15: Which cadence consists of a dominant seventh chord resolving to the tonic but in an unexpected voicing, with the third in the bass?

Half cadence
Plagal cadence
Deceptive cadence
Imperfect authentic cadence (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Imperfect authentic cadence

An imperfect authentic cadence moves from V to I but lacks the root in the soprano or bass of the tonic chord, or uses V7 instead of V, making it less conclusive.

Question 16: In 12-tone serial composition, the retrograde-inversion (RI) form of a row is obtained by:

Reading the original row backwards
Transposing the row up a tritone
Inverting all intervals then reading the result backwards (Correct answer)
Rotating the row so the last note becomes first

Correct answer: Inverting all intervals then reading the result backwards

The retrograde-inversion is created by first inverting all intervals of the prime row, then reading that inversion in reverse order.

Question 17: In a rondo form labeled ABACABA, what letter designates the recurring main theme?

The letters alternate
A (Correct answer)
C
B

Correct answer: A

In rondo form, the 'A' section is the recurring refrain that alternates with contrasting episodes labeled B, C, etc.

Question 18: What does 'subito piano' (sp) require of a conductor?

A signal for only the string section to reduce their volume
A simultaneous change in tempo alongside the dynamic change
A sudden, immediate drop in dynamics without any transitional gesture (Correct answer)
A gradual decrease in dynamics spread over several measures

Correct answer: A sudden, immediate drop in dynamics without any transitional gesture

'Subito' means sudden, so subito piano requires the conductor to indicate an abrupt drop in volume with a sharp, decisive gesture rather than a gradual fade.

Question 19: In a concerto of the Classical era, the term 'double exposition' refers to:

Two separate development sections within one movement
Both the orchestra and soloist presenting the exposition themes, each in succession (Correct answer)
The repetition of both first and second themes in the recapitulation
The soloist repeating the orchestra's opening material a step higher

Correct answer: Both the orchestra and soloist presenting the exposition themes, each in succession

Classical concerto form features a double exposition: the orchestra presents themes first (often in the tonic), then the soloist presents them with harmonic contrast.

Question 20: A Common-Tone Diminished Seventh chord (CT°7) is a non-functional chromatic chord that serves what primary purpose?

To create a strong dominant-to-tonic resolution.
To modulate to a new key.
To substitute for a diatonic subdominant chord.
To embellish and prolong a single diatonic chord. (Correct answer)

Correct answer: To embellish and prolong a single diatonic chord.

The Common-Tone Diminished Seventh chord (CT°7) is a non-functional harmony, meaning it does not have a typical root movement function like a dominant or subdominant. Instead, it acts as an embellishing chord, prolonging a diatonic chord (most often I or V) with which it shares a common tone. The other notes of the CT°7 typically move as chromatic neighbors to the members of the chord being prolonged.

Question 21: In West African drumming traditions that underpin much dance music, which concept describes the interlocking rhythmic parts that create a composite texture?

Polyrhythm (Correct answer)
Heterophony
Cantus firmus
Homophony

Correct answer: Polyrhythm

Polyrhythm—multiple independent rhythmic layers sounding simultaneously—is foundational to West African music and its diaspora dance traditions.

Question 22: Which of the following aspects of students' compositions will be most severely impacted if they apply sound effects like reverb and phaser?

form
harmony
tempo
timbre (Correct answer)

Correct answer: timbre

Reverb and phaser are sound effects that directly alter the perceived quality or character of a sound. Timbre refers to the unique tonal quality of a sound, distinguishing different instruments or voices even at the same pitch and loudness. Applying these effects fundamentally changes the sound's texture and color, thus most severely impacting its timbre.

Question 23: In a melodic dictation exercise, a student is presented with a melody in D minor. The final two notes they hear leading to the tonic D are C# followed by D. Which melodic principle does this C# best exemplify?

An anticipation non-harmonic tone.
A suspension from the subdominant chord.
The raised leading tone of the harmonic minor scale. (Correct answer)
The use of the lowered supertonic.

Correct answer: The raised leading tone of the harmonic minor scale.

In minor keys, the seventh scale degree is often raised by a half step to create a leading tone that resolves strongly to the tonic. This raised seventh is characteristic of the harmonic and melodic minor scales. In D minor, the diatonic seventh is C-natural; raising it creates C#, the leading tone, which has a strong pull towards the tonic D.

Question 24: The concept of 'musica mundana' (music of the spheres) was introduced by which ancient philosopher?

Pythagoras (Correct answer)
Plato
Aristotle
Boethius

Correct answer: Pythagoras

Pythagoras first proposed that the cosmos produces harmonious sounds through the mathematical relationships of planetary motion.

Question 25: Which Renaissance theorist codified the system of church modes in his treatise 'Dodecachordon' (1547)?

Pietro Aron
Franchino Gaffurio
Gioseffo Zarlino
Heinrich Glarean (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Heinrich Glarean

Glarean's 'Dodecachordon' expanded the traditional eight modes to twelve by adding the Aeolian and Ionian modes.

Question 26: The 'wolf tone' problem is most commonly associated with which instrument?

Cello (Correct answer)
Oboe
Flute
Trumpet

Correct answer: Cello

The cello is particularly susceptible to wolf tones—unwanted resonances that cause notes to warble—due to its body size and string tension.

Question 27: Which instrument family does the saxophone belong to?

Percussion
String
Brass
Woodwind (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Woodwind

Despite being made of brass, the saxophone is classified as a woodwind because it uses a reed to produce sound.

Question 28: Which term describes the systematic classification of musical instruments by their sound-producing mechanism?

Lutherie
Taxonomy
Acoustics
Organology (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Organology

Organology is the scholarly study and classification of musical instruments, including the Hornbostel-Sachs system.

Question 29: You are listening to a piece of instrumental music from the early 18th century. The most prominent feature is the use of a harpsichord and a cello playing a continuous bass line, over which a solo violin plays an ornate, highly embellished melody. The overall piece maintains a single, driving emotional state, and the dynamics shift abruptly between loud and soft sections. These characteristics are hallmarks of which period?

Romantic
Baroque (Correct answer)
Medieval
Classical

Correct answer: Baroque

The Baroque period (c. 1600–1750) is characterized by the use of basso continuo (a continuous bass line played by a chordal instrument and a bass instrument like the cello). Other key features described are elaborate ornamentation, the doctrine of affections (maintaining a single mood or 'affect' throughout a piece), and terraced dynamics (abrupt shifts in volume rather than gradual changes).

Question 30: What term describes the telescoping of recapitulation and development sections, common in some Classical and Romantic works?

False recapitulation (Correct answer)
Continuous development
Sonata without development
Monothematic exposition

Correct answer: False recapitulation

A false recapitulation is a premature, deceptive return of the first theme in the wrong key during the development, creating a structural ambiguity.

Question 31: What do you call a group of notes?

coda
scherzo
bar
scale (Correct answer)

Correct answer: scale

A scale is an ordered series of musical notes, typically spanning an octave, that forms the basic melodic and harmonic material for a piece of music. These notes are arranged according to specific intervals, creating a distinct character. Scales provide the framework for melodies and chords within a particular key.

Question 32: In tonal analysis, what Roman numeral designation indicates a chord built on the lowered seventh scale degree in a major key?

vii°
♭VII (Correct answer)
VII
♭vii

Correct answer: ♭VII

The ♭VII chord (flatted-seventh) is built on the lowered seventh scale degree, borrowed from the parallel minor or Mixolydian mode.

Question 33: What kind of instrument is this?

Flute (Correct answer)
Bassoon
Oboe
Trumpet

Correct answer: Flute

A flute is a woodwind instrument, typically made of metal, played by blowing air across an embouchure hole to produce sound. It is characterized by its bright, clear tone and its long, cylindrical body with numerous keys. The image would clearly show its side-blown design and keywork.

Question 34: Heinrich Schenker's analytical method centers on which concept?

Ursatz (fundamental structure) (Correct answer)
Set theory
Harmonic rhythm
Mode mixture

Correct answer: Ursatz (fundamental structure)

Schenker proposed that tonal masterworks reduce to an Ursatz—a fundamental melodic and harmonic background structure.

Question 35: Which Romantic composer pioneered the 'leitmotif' technique, associating recurring musical themes with specific characters or ideas?

Franz Liszt
Richard Wagner (Correct answer)
Giuseppe Verdi
Hector Berlioz

Correct answer: Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner systematically used leitmotifs in his music dramas, assigning recurring musical ideas to characters, objects, and concepts.

Question 36: What kind of instrument is this?

Bass Drum (Correct answer)
Timpani
Tambourine
Snare drum

Correct answer: Bass Drum

A bass drum is a large percussion instrument that produces a deep, low-pitched sound when struck, typically with a soft mallet. It serves as the rhythmic foundation in many musical ensembles, providing a strong beat. The image would clearly show its large, cylindrical shell and wide drumheads.

Question 37: What is the concertmaster's primary role in relation to the conductor?

The concertmaster sets the tempo independently from the conductor
The concertmaster conducts all rehearsals whenever the main conductor is away
The concertmaster manages the orchestra's rehearsal scheduling and logistics
The concertmaster serves as principal first violinist and liaison between orchestra and conductor (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The concertmaster serves as principal first violinist and liaison between orchestra and conductor

The concertmaster is the principal first violinist who leads tuning, bows the string parts, and serves as the communication bridge between conductor and players.

Question 38: In music written for ballet, what term describes a passage specifically composed to accompany a solo dancer's technical display?

Coda
Divertissement
Variation (Correct answer)
Entrée

Correct answer: Variation

A 'variation' in classical ballet scores is a solo section for a principal dancer showcasing technical virtuosity.

Question 39: The Baroque concerto grosso contrasts which two forces?

Solo violin and solo cello
Two equal choirs in antiphony
Male and female voices
A small group of soloists (concertino) and the full ensemble (ripieno) (Correct answer)

Correct answer: A small group of soloists (concertino) and the full ensemble (ripieno)

The concerto grosso alternates between the concertino (a small group of soloists) and the ripieno or tutti (the full orchestra), exploiting contrast of texture and volume.

Question 40: In Indian classical Bharatanatyam dance, the music and rhythmic structure are organized around a framework called:

Alap
Raga
Tala (Correct answer)
Bandish

Correct answer: Tala

Tala is the rhythmic cycle in Indian classical music that governs the timing and structure of Bharatanatyam and other classical dance forms.

Question 41: A composer writes two melodic lines that are musically coherent. The composer then reuses these lines later in the piece, but with the lower line transposed up an octave so it is now above the original upper line. This technique, where the lines can be vertically reordered, is known as:

Retrograde canon
Invertible counterpoint (Correct answer)
Melodic sequencing
Augmentation

Correct answer: Invertible counterpoint

Invertible counterpoint (or double counterpoint when involving two voices) is the technique of writing counterpoint so that the vertical position of the melodic lines can be exchanged. The resulting combination must still adhere to the rules of harmony and counterpoint.

Question 42: An orchestrator is arranging a passage for a standard symphony orchestra and needs to place the instrument families in the correct score order from top to bottom. Which of the following represents the conventional layout?

Woodwinds, Percussion, Brass, Strings
Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion
Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, Percussion
Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, Strings (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, Strings

The standard convention for orchestral score order, established to provide clarity for the conductor, places the instrument families in a consistent vertical arrangement. Woodwinds are at the top, followed by the brass section, then the percussion, and finally the string section at the bottom of the page. Within each family, instruments are typically ordered from highest pitch to lowest.

Question 43: A melodic dictation passage uses the pitches C-E-G-B. Assuming C is the tonic, these pitches outline which chord quality?

Dominant seventh
Major seventh (Correct answer)
Minor seventh
Half-diminished seventh

Correct answer: Major seventh

C-E-G-B forms a major triad with a major seventh, creating a major seventh chord (Cmaj7).

Question 44: Distinguish the given note.

G#
F#
C#
E# (Correct answer)

Correct answer: E#

Assuming the note is shown on a musical staff, the note shown is E. The sharp symbol (#) immediately preceding it indicates that the pitch of E is raised by a semitone. Although enharmonically equivalent to F natural, the correct notation based on the staff position and accidental is E sharp (E#).

Question 45: When performing a Baroque piece on modern instruments, the practice of adding ornaments such as trills and mordents based on the style period is an example of:

Col legno bowing technique
Aleatoric performance
Extended technique
Historically informed performance practice (HIP) (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Historically informed performance practice (HIP)

Historically informed performance practice (HIP) applies period-appropriate techniques, ornamentation, and stylistic conventions to the performance of early music.

Question 46: Which measure is accurately notated?

measure 1
measure 3
measure 4
measure 2 (Correct answer)

Correct answer: measure 2

Assuming the question refers to a visual representation of musical notation, measure 2 is the one that correctly represents the rhythmic values and rests according to the established time signature. It contains the precise duration of notes and rests required to complete the measure without any errors in notation or rhythmic count.

Question 47: Which American choreographer is best known for creating 'Revelations' (1960), a landmark modern dance work set to African American spirituals?

Jerome Robbins
Alvin Ailey (Correct answer)
Agnes de Mille
Twyla Tharp

Correct answer: Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey created 'Revelations' for his company Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, drawing on African American cultural and spiritual heritage.

Question 48: When conducting a melody in 3/4 time while sight-singing, which beat pattern should the conductor use?

Down, left, right, up
Down, up
Down, right, up (Correct answer)
Down, left, up, right

Correct answer: Down, right, up

The standard conducting pattern for triple meter (3/4) is a triangular pattern: down, right (or out), up.

Question 49: In analyzing voice leading between two outer voices, 'contrary motion cadences' are preferred over similar motion cadences because:

They mandate a suspension in the penultimate measure
They always produce a perfect authentic cadence
They require the inner voices to sustain pedal tones
They avoid the risk of hidden octaves or fifths at the final interval (Correct answer)

Correct answer: They avoid the risk of hidden octaves or fifths at the final interval

Contrary motion at cadences eliminates the possibility of hidden (direct) parallels since the voices approach the final interval from opposite directions.

Question 50: What is the enharmonic equivalent of G-sharp?

A-flat (Correct answer)
A-sharp
G-flat
F-double sharp

Correct answer: A-flat

G-sharp and A-flat are enharmonic equivalents, meaning they sound the same pitch but are spelled differently.

Question 51: In rhythm dictation, a passage is notated with a time signature of 5/4. The most common way to feel this meter is:

As alternating 6/8 and 2/4 bars
As one group of five equal beats
As 2+3 or 3+2 quarter-note groupings (Correct answer)
As five triplets per measure

Correct answer: As 2+3 or 3+2 quarter-note groupings

5/4 is typically felt as either 2+3 or 3+2 pulse groupings, which performers use to maintain rhythmic stability.

Question 52: A Neapolitan chord (N or bII) in C major consists of which pitches?

Bb-D-F
Db-F-Ab (Correct answer)
D-F-A
Ab-C-Eb

Correct answer: Db-F-Ab

The Neapolitan is a major triad built on the lowered second scale degree; in C major that is Db–F–Ab.

Question 53: In tonal harmony, which Roman numeral represents the leading-tone seventh chord in a major key?

vii7
VIIo7
viio7 (Correct answer)
VII7

Correct answer: viio7

The fully diminished seventh chord built on the leading tone in a major key is labeled viio7.

Question 54: A melodic dictation begins on scale degree 3 and ends on scale degree 1. Which contour describes this phrase?

Arch shape returning to midpoint
Descending with final resolution to tonic (Correct answer)
Ascending with final leap to tonic
Static with no change in register

Correct answer: Descending with final resolution to tonic

Starting above the tonic (scale degree 3) and concluding on scale degree 1 represents a descending contour that resolves to the tonic.

Question 55: John Cage's composition '4'33"' (1952) is significant in music history primarily because it:

Demonstrated that silence could be used as an expressive element within traditional forms
Introduced the concept of graphic notation to Western art music
Challenged the definition of music by framing ambient and audience sounds as the composition (Correct answer)
Was the first work composed entirely using chance operations and the I Ching

Correct answer: Challenged the definition of music by framing ambient and audience sounds as the composition

'4'33"' consists of a performer not playing their instrument for its duration, directing attention to environmental sounds as the musical content.

Question 56: What is the primary function of an episode within the structure of a fugue?

To introduce entirely new thematic material unrelated to the subject.
To halt the contrapuntal motion with a homophonic, chorale-like texture.
To provide transitional and modulatory material between statements of the subject. (Correct answer)
To present a complete statement of the subject in the tonic key for the final time.

Correct answer: To provide transitional and modulatory material between statements of the subject.

Episodes are sections in a fugue where a complete entry of the subject is not present. They serve as transitions, often utilizing motives or fragments from the subject or countersubject, and are frequently used to modulate from the key of one subject entry to the next.

Question 57: Which famous conductor was renowned for conducting without a baton?

Herbert von Karajan
Leonard Bernstein
Leopold Stokowski (Correct answer)
Georg Solti

Correct answer: Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Stokowski was famous for abandoning the baton entirely and conducting with his bare hands, using expressive finger and arm gestures to shape the orchestral sound.

Question 58: During melodic dictation, you hear a chromatic passing tone between two diatonic pitches. The chromatic pitch appears:

On a strong beat as the main melody note
As a leap of a tritone
On a weak beat, filling a half-step gap (Correct answer)
At the start of a phrase

Correct answer: On a weak beat, filling a half-step gap

Chromatic passing tones occur on weak beats, moving by half step between two diatonic pitches a whole step apart.

Question 59: In an ear-training exam, a student hears an ascending leap followed by a stepwise descent in a minor key. The leap spans from scale degree 1 up to scale degree 6. In A minor, what pitches are heard?

A up to F♯
A up to E
A up to G
A up to F (Correct answer)

Correct answer: A up to F

In A natural minor, scale degree 6 is F natural, so the leap from A (scale degree 1) up to scale degree 6 is A to F.

Question 60: Which of the following sorts of musical textures is present in rounds like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"?

monophonic
polyphonic (Correct answer)
homophonic
chordal

Correct answer: polyphonic

A round, such as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," is a form of polyphonic texture. In a round, multiple independent melodic lines are performed simultaneously, each starting at a different time but singing the same melody. This creates a rich, interwoven sound where each voice is distinct yet harmonically related.

Question 61: In two-part sight-singing, a student and partner hold their respective lines while maintaining harmonic awareness. At a cadence point, they land on a major third apart. Which two scale degrees are they most likely singing?

3 and 5 (Correct answer)
2 and 4
1 and 2
1 and 3

Correct answer: 3 and 5

Scale degrees 3 and 5 form a major or minor third (depending on key) and are a common two-voice cadential arrival over the tonic.

Question 62: In 5/4 meter, a rhythmic dictation phrase typically subdivides into which two common groupings?

3+3 minus one beat
5 equal beats with no subdivision
3+2 or 2+3 (Correct answer)
4+1 or 1+4

Correct answer: 3+2 or 2+3

5/4 is most naturally grouped as either 3+2 or 2+3, felt as a long group plus a short group of beats.

Bachelor of Music Exam

The Bachelor of Music Exam exam validates essential knowledge and skills required for certification or licensure in this field.

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