Musical parameters and analysis methodology: rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, timbre, dynamics and notation
What this domain tests
This first domain asks you to name a parameter precisely, locate it (with bar = compàs numbers) and connect it to style. Answers that stay at "it is fast and loud" earn nothing; answers such as "compassos 9-16, compàs 6/8 de subdivisió ternària, tempo allegro, matís f, textura de melodia acompanyada" earn full marks because each parameter is labelled with a term and a place.
Core rules
- Metre: name the number and the subdivision. 4/4 = quaternari de subdivisió binària; 6/8 = binari de subdivisió ternària (two dotted-crotchet beats, not six). 3/4 and 6/8 contain the same six quavers but group them differently, which changes accentuation and therefore character.
- Rhythm: anacrusi (upbeat), síncope (note attacked on a weak beat and sustained across the strong beat), contratemps (rest on the beat, note between beats), hemiolia (two against three), rubato, augmentació and disminució.
- Melody: perfil (ascending, descending, undulating), àmbit (range), graus conjunts versus salts, and non-chord notes (de pas, de brodadura, apogiatura, retard, anticipació).
- Texture: monodia, homofonia (chordal, voices moving in the same rhythm), contrapunt imitatiu, melodia acompanyada, baix d'Alberti, pedal.
- Timbre: instrument families, sordina, pizzicato, harmònics, tremolo.
- Dynamics and articulation: p, f, crescendo, diminuendo, sfz; picat (staccato), lligadura d'expressió (slur) versus lligadura de prolongació (tie).
- Notation: clau de sol on the second line, clau de fa on the fourth; armadura; alteracions (sostingut, bemoll, becaire); puntet (adds half the value); calderó.
Worked example
A passage is barred in 6/8, written as dotted crotchet plus three quavers, but the melody keeps accenting the fourth quaver of the bar. Reasoning: 6/8 has two beats, so an accent on the fourth quaver is simply the second beat - unremarkable. Because the melody insists on a three-quaver pulse while the metre insists on two, the result is hemiolia, heard as bars of 3/4. Model answer: "6/8 amb hemiolia (3/4 implícit) als compassos 5-12", not "compàs de 3/8".
Traps that cost marks
- Counting quavers instead of naming the grouping (4/4 versus 2/2 versus 8/8).
- Confusing síncope with contratemps.
- Calling four-part chordal writing "contrapunt" when all voices share the rhythm.
- Numbering the anacrusis bar as bar 1: it is normally unnumbered, and the final bar is correspondingly short.
- Describing parameters without bar numbers, so the examiner cannot verify your claim.