Score Conventions: Which Errors Are Substantive?
A student submits an AS91276 analysis of a four-bar excerpt for Bb clarinet, horn in F, viola, and cello. The excerpt is in 6/8. The clarinet part is written with two sharps; the viola is in alto clef with no sharps or flats; the cello is in bass clef with no sharps or flats and has a figured bass marked 6/4 then 5/3; the horn has no key signature and a written C5. The clarinet has a mordent on the first beat. The student writes: 'The concert key is D major. The clarinet sounds a major 2nd higher than written. The horn sounds a major 6th lower. The 6/4 means root position. The mordent means play the upper note before the main note.' The teacher must decide which errors are substantive for the standard, which are slips, and how to give feedback that improves the student's score-reading.
1. Identify the two most significant errors in the student's analysis and explain why each matters to a performer reading the same excerpt.
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The two most significant errors are the transposition direction and the figured-bass inversion. The clarinet is in Bb, so it sounds a major 2nd lower than written, not higher. With a written key of two sharps (D major), the concert key is C major, not D major. A performer who follows the student's analysis would play or transpose in the wrong key. The horn in F sounds a perfect 5th lower than written, not a major 6th; a written C5 sounds F4. That is also a substantive pitch error, but the clarinet error is more damaging because the student uses it to derive the concert key. The figured bass 6/4 is second inversion, not root position; 5/3 is root position. A continuo player or analyst who mislabels the inversion will misread the bass's harmonic function. The mordent is usually a quick main-note–upper-auxiliary–main-note ornament, not simply 'upper note before main note'; that is a performance detail, but it is less central than the transposition and inversion errors. The teacher should treat the transposition direction and inversion label as conceptual errors and the missing return of the mordent as a detail to correct.
2. How should the teacher distinguish a 'slip' from a 'conceptual error' in this standard, and what remediation would you set?
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A slip is a one-off inconsistency - the student says 'major 6th' for the horn but correctly identifies a perfect 5th for a trumpet in Bb elsewhere. A conceptual error is systematic: reversing every transposing instrument's direction, or treating every figured-bass number as root position. The teacher should use a short diagnostic: two transposing instruments (Bb and F) and two figured-bass figures (6 and 6/4), asking the student to explain the reasoning aloud. Remediation should target the misconception, not reteach the whole topic. For transposition, have the student write concert pitch above the written line and play the interval at the keyboard. For figured bass, realise 5/3, 6/3, and 6/4 chords at a keyboard and label the bass note. For the mordent, compare two recorded performances and notate the realisation. The teacher should also collect a second, shorter score excerpt to check whether the errors persist. One error does not automatically fail AS91276, because the standard samples a range of scores, but a pattern of reversed transposition would be a significant gap.