Music Theory, Notation and Terminology
The grammar of the subject
Theory questions test precise, usable knowledge. You need staff notation fluency: clefs (treble, bass, alto, tenor), key signatures in all major and minor keys, accidentals and their bar scope, note and rest values, dotted values, ties and slurs, and beaming according to the metre.
Concepts to command
- Scales and modes: major, natural/harmonic/melodic minor, chromatic, whole tone, pentatonic, blues, and the church modes.
- Intervals: quality and number, compound intervals, inversion rules (number complements to 9, quality flips).
- Chords and harmony: triads and seventh chords, inversions and figured bass, Roman numerals, cadences, secondary dominants, modulation to closely related keys.
- Rhythm and metre: simple, compound and irregular metre; anacrusis; syncopation; tuplets.
- Transposition: for transposing instruments (Bb, Eb, F, and octave transposers).
- Terminology: Italian tempo and expression terms (allegro, andante, adagio, ritardando, rubato, legato, staccato, sforzando, dolce), plus score directions such as da capo, dal segno, coda, ossia.
Traps
- Writing a key signature and then contradicting it with unnecessary accidentals.
- Confusing harmonic and melodic minor, especially ascending versus descending forms.
- Transposing in the wrong direction for a transposing instrument.
- Misreading compound metre beaming, or missing an anacrusis when counting bars.
- Guessing at a foreign term instead of reading its musical function in context.
Rule of thumb
Transposition check: a Bb instrument sounds a major 2nd lower than written, so to sound at concert pitch it must be written a major 2nd higher. State the direction before you compute.
Worked example
A clarinettist in Bb reads a written C; the sounding pitch is Bb. To have the clarinet sound a concert Eb, write a perfect fifth higher: written Bb. Always name the interval of transposition and its direction first, then apply it to the pitch.