BM or BMus Bachelor of Music Aural Skills and Sight-Singing 4 ā Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student is asked to sight-sing a melody using scale degree numbers. The melody begins on scale degree 5 and moves stepwise down to scale degree 1. In C major, what pitches would be sung?
- GāFāEāDāC (Correct answer)
- AāGāFāEāD
- GāFāÆāEāDāC
- FāEāDāCāB
Correct answer: GāFāEāDāC
In C major, scale degree 5 is G, and stepwise descent through 4ā3ā2ā1 gives GāFāEāDāC.
Question 2: A student hears a four-voice chorale and must identify the bass motion between two chords. The bass moves from C up to G. What type of bass motion is this?
- Descending fifth
- Ascending fourth
- Ascending fifth (Correct answer)
- Descending fourth
Correct answer: Ascending fifth
Moving from C up to G is an ascending perfect fifth, which is also equivalent to a descending fourth in the opposite direction.
Question 3: In compound meter, the beat is divided into three equal parts. If a student hears a dotted half note as one beat, what is the meter?
- 3/4
- 6/4 (Correct answer)
- 9/8
- 12/8
Correct answer: 6/4
In 6/4 meter, the dotted half note serves as the beat unit, with each beat dividing into three quarter notes.
Question 4: A student must identify a secondary dominant chord by ear. They hear a major chord that doesn't belong to the key and resolves up a fourth (or down a fifth). This chord functions as what?
- A Neapolitan chord
- A secondary dominant (V/x) (Correct answer)
- A borrowed chord
- An augmented sixth chord
Correct answer: A secondary dominant (V/x)
A secondary dominant is a major or dominant seventh chord that temporarily tonicizes a scale degree other than tonic by resolving up a fourth or down a fifth.
Question 5: When dictating a four-bar melody, a student hears the tonic pitch establish at the beginning. Which strategy is most effective for retaining the melody before notating?
- Write down every note immediately as heard
- Identify the contour, cadence, and key motives first, then notate (Correct answer)
- Count beats aloud without listening to pitches
- Focus only on the rhythm, ignoring pitch until the melody repeats
Correct answer: Identify the contour, cadence, and key motives first, then notate
Experienced musicians first identify the overall shape, cadence points, and recurring motives before notating, improving accuracy and retention.
Question 6: A student is sight-singing and encounters a tie across the barline. How should this be performed?
- Re-articulate the pitch at the barline
- Sustain the note through the barline without re-attacking (Correct answer)
- Silence the note at the barline and attack the next beat
- Treat it as a slur and slightly swell the sound
Correct answer: Sustain the note through the barline without re-attacking
A tie connects two notes of the same pitch, requiring the performer to sustain the sound through the barline without re-attacking.
Question 7: 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?
- 1 and 2
- 1 and 3
- 2 and 4
- 3 and 5 (Correct answer)
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.
BM or BMus Bachelor of Music Aural Skills and Sight-Singing 4
A student is asked to sight-sing a melody using scale degree numbers.
The melody begins on scale degree 5 and moves stepwise down to scale degree 1.
In C major, what pitches would be sung?