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WMU Music Graduate Entrance Exams
Overview, Instructions and Exam Format
Music History Review
Medieval
Renaissance
Baroque
Classic
Romantic
Modern
Music Theory Review
Harmony
20th-century Techniques
Musical Form
Underlined terms are hotlinked to an example
Traditional Modes
-The easiest way to remember these is to know the modes in order of their alphabetical starting pitch:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G
-To build one of these modes on a different starting pitch, just follow its exact whole-step, half-step model
Mode |
Structure |
Whole-step/half-step Model |
Aeolian (A) |
A B C D E F G A |
half steps are between 2-3 and 5-6, (just like "natural" minor) |
Locrian (B) |
B C D E F G A B |
half steps are between 1-2 and 4-5 |
Ionian (C) |
C D E F G A B C |
half steps are between 3-4 and 7-8, (just like a "major" scale) |
Dorian (D) |
D E F G A B C D |
half steps are between 2-3 and 6-7 |
Phrygian (E) |
E F G A B C D E |
half steps are between 1-2 and 5-6 |
Lydian (F) |
F G A B C D E F |
half steps are between 4-5 and 7-8 |
Mixolydian (G) |
G A B C D E F G |
half steps are between 3-4 and 6-7 |
Modern Modes and Scales
- To build one of these modes on a different starting pitch, just follow its exact whole-step, half-step model
Mode/Scale | Structure |
Whole-step/half-step Model |
Lydian Minor (F)--used in jazz |
F G A B C Db Eb F |
half steps are between 4-5 and 5-6 |
C D E F# G# A# B# (=C) |
All whole steps (only 7 notes in an octave) |
|
Octatonic Scale |
C D Eb F Gb Ab A B C |
The most common ones alternate whole-step/half-step or half-step/whole-step to create 9 notes in an octave |
C D E G A |
Selected pitches derived from a larger scale (omit certain notes from a larger scale, such as using only five pitches from a seven-note scale) |
Terms for Chords, "Sonorities", "Simultaneities", or Clusters
Term |
An Example |
Concept |
A B C D E F# pitch cluster |
a cluster of just 2nds |
|
G Bb D F A |
a cluster of just 3rds |
|
E A D G |
a cluster of just 4ths |
|
C# G# D# A# |
a cluster of just 5ths |
|
E F# G# A# B# |
a cluster of pitches related by whole-steps |
|
|
G Bb D F A C |
Two chords on top of each other (a combination of two distinct chordal sonorities) Not structured from one consistent interval |
C F# Bb E A D |
A "quartal" hexachord (has 6 notes built in combinations of Perfect 4ths, diminished 4, Augmented 4ths)--developed by the Russian composer Scriabin |
|
Stravinsky and Copland's "neo-Classic" styles |
Free use of diatonic scale resources "Pandiatonic planing" is the free harmonic use of all 7 diatonic notes in a "floating chord" style |
|
Tone Cluster (harmony) |
Use a 12-inch block of wood to press down black and white keys on a piano |
A dense block of PITCHES |
Sound Mass (texture) |
|
A dense block-like musical TEXTURE |
A melody and its variation played together |
Simultaneous variation in different layers/textures |
|
Montage |
|
Diverse musical elements assembled into a composite |
A clarinetist plays a note while humming a different note through the instrument |
Simultaneous multiple sounds/partials |
Modern Terms for Rhythm
Additive Rhythm |
A larger meter (such as 5/8) constructed by combining smaller irregular units (2 + 3 or 3 + 2) |
Transition from one meter or tempo to another through constant common-note values (Carter, etc.) |
|
A rhythm that is the same forward and backward (doesn't change when done in retrograde/backwards) |
|
Polyrhythm (polymeter) |
More than one meter performed simultaneously |
A rhythm that is controlled by numbers in the manner of a 12-tone-row (Webern, etc.) When a note/rest/dot (usually 16th-note value) is added to disrupt an otherwise "square" rhythm. A rhythmic/melodic figure that repeats over and over |
Other General 20th-century Techniques and Terms:
Aleatoric: ("alea" means "dice") Music in which some elements are left to chance.
Atonality: Absence of tonal center in a complex chromatic structure
Diminished (octatonic) scale: A linear structure comprised of alternating half and whole steps.
Doedecaphonic: 12-tone music ("dodeca" means "12")
Heterophony: simultaneous multiple sounds or partials (overtones), such as playing a note and humming a different note through the same instrument at the same time
Invariance: Hexachordal sets containing like pitch content (this happens when "6-note hexachords" from two different versions of the same 12-tone row contain exactly the same pitches, so those parts of those rows are interchangeable)
Pointillism: A musical texture with frequent rests, short melodic lines, with an emphasis on tone colors and dynamics (focuses on isolated "points" of sound separated by silence).
Klangfarbenmelodie: Notes or chords that are assigned different orchestral colors (a "multi-colored" melody achieved by distributing the pitches among different instruments as it unfolds)
Minimalism: a repetitious musical style based on limited musical material or elements
Musique concrete: the use of environmental sound resources in electronic music (using sounds found in the "every day" world and then electronically manipulating them such as Varese did in his "Poeme electronique")
Third Stream: 20th-century music employing some jazz techniques (such as in the works of Gunther Schuller)