QCAA Music Extension flashcards
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32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Investigation question
- A focused, evidence-answerable question naming a musical element and a bounded scope of works or repertoire, which the response artefact must directly address.
- Statement of intent
- A short declaration naming the goals of a performance or composition project, the repertoire or forces involved, and the evidence that will demonstrate achievement.
- Roman numeral analysis
- A labelling system where uppercase numerals denote major and lowercase minor chords on scale degrees, with figured bass symbols showing inversion.
- Perfect authentic cadence
- A cadence where V resolves to I, both chords in root position, and the soprano voice arrives on the tonic scale degree.
- Deceptive cadence
- A cadence in which the expected tonic resolution is replaced by a submediant chord, so V moves to vi instead of V to I.
- Dominant seventh chord
- A four-note chord built from a major triad plus a minor seventh above the root, functioning typically as the dominant of a key.
- Half-diminished seventh
- A four-note chord combining a diminished triad with a minor seventh above the root, common as the ii chord in minor keys.
- Harmonic minor scale
- A minor scale with the seventh degree raised by a semitone, creating a leading tone and an augmented second between sixth and seventh degrees.
- Melodic minor scale
- A minor scale with the sixth and seventh degrees raised ascending, reverting to the natural minor form descending in common tonal practice.
- Terraced dynamics
- A Baroque performance practice in which volume changes abruptly between fixed levels rather than shifting gradually through a continuous crescendo.
- Basso continuo
- A Baroque accompaniment consisting of a bass line played by a low instrument with a keyboard or plucked chordal instrument realising the harmony.
- Ritornello form
- A Baroque structure in which a recurring orchestral passage alternates with contrasting solo or episodic sections, typical of the concerto grosso.
- Genre versus style
- Genre names a category of work such as symphony or Lied; style names a manner of writing that can appear across many genres.
- Research log
- A dated record of sources consulted, findings extracted, and how each finding altered the direction of an investigation, used as process evidence.
- Primary versus secondary source
- Primary sources are the score, recording, or composer's notes; secondary sources are analyses, reviews, and programme notes written about the work.
- Scope creep
- The failure mode in which an investigation question widens beyond what the available time or word count can support, weakening the argument.
- Score citation
- A reference giving composer, title, edition, and publisher for a score, because editions differ in articulation, dynamics, and editorial additions.
- Transposing instruments
- Instruments whose written pitch differs from sounding pitch, such as clarinet in B-flat or horn in F, requiring the score to reflect intended sound.
- Rehearsal journal
- A dated record naming a specific problem, the strategy applied to solve it, and the observable result, providing evidence of refinement over time.
- Compositional development techniques
- Procedures that transform a musical idea, including repetition with variation, inversion, retrograde, augmentation, diminution, and fragmentation.
- Notation stem direction
- Convention placing stems upward for notes on or above the middle line of the staff and downward for notes below it.
- Phrase structure terms
- Vocabulary describing how music groups: motive, phrase, period with antecedent and consequent, sentence with presentation and continuation, and sequence.
- Secondary dominant
- A chromatic chord functioning as the dominant of a scale degree other than the tonic, labelled V of the target chord.
- Neapolitan sixth chord
- A major triad built on the lowered second scale degree and used in first inversion, typically preparing the dominant in minor keys.
- Texture categories
- Monophony is a single line, homophony a melody with chordal accompaniment, polyphony independent simultaneous lines, heterophony simultaneous variants of one line.
- Interval reference anchors
- Remembered melodic openings used to identify intervals by ear, such as a familiar hymn opening for the ascending perfect fourth.
- Modulation by ear
- Detecting a key change through the arrival of a new leading tone and tonic, with a pivot chord shared by the old and new keys.
- Rhythm dictation method
- A procedure of notating the beat grid first, then placing onsets, then determining durations and ties across barlines.
- Baroque trill onset
- Performance practice in which a Baroque trill typically begins on the upper auxiliary note rather than the principal note.
- Romantic style markers
- Expanded chromaticism, wider dynamic and registral range, rubato, programme music, and enlarged orchestras including trombones and extra percussion.
- Chamber ensemble forces
- Standard groupings such as string quartet of two violins, viola and cello, or wind quintet of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon.
- Jazz style markers
- Swing subdivision, two-five-one progressions, extended chord voicings, and improvisation over a stated head melody.