Online Music Lessons Theory 5

Question 1

What is a 'passing tone' in melodic writing?

Accepted Answer

A non-chord tone that moves stepwise between two chord tones

Answer

A passing tone is an unaccented non-chord tone that fills in the step between two different chord tones.

Question 2

Which chord quality is built using a root, minor third, and diminished fifth?

Accepted Answer

Diminished

Answer

A diminished chord consists of a root, minor third (3 semitones), and diminished fifth (6 semitones).

Question 3

What does '8va' written above a staff indicate?

Accepted Answer

Play an octave higher than written

Answer

The marking '8va' (ottava) tells the performer to play the passage one octave higher than notated.

Question 4

In a 12-bar blues progression, which chord appears in bars 9 and 10 respectively?

Accepted Answer

V then IV

Answer

In the standard 12-bar blues, bar 9 is the V chord and bar 10 is the IV chord before returning to the I chord.

Question 5

What is the term for a scale that uses all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale with equal importance?

Accepted Answer

12-tone (dodecaphonic)

Answer

12-tone or dodecaphonic music, developed by Schoenberg, uses all 12 chromatic pitches in a row (tone row) without privileging any as a tonal center.

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