NCEA Level 3 Making Music cheat sheet

Motif development options, roughly in order of strength: exact repetition, sequence, inversion, retrograde, augmentation, diminution, fragmentation, intervallic expansion, re-harmonisation.

Song form decision rule: strophic suits narrative folk and ballad lyrics; verse–chorus suits hook-driven pop; AABA (32-bar) suits jazz standards; through-composed suits continuous text or film cues.

In verse–chorus songs the chorus normally carries the highest tessitura, the title or hook lyric and the fullest texture, while the verse stays lower and thinner so the chorus lifts.

Functional harmony roles: tonic (I/i) = rest, subdominant (IV/ii) = departure, dominant (V/vii°) = tension requiring resolution; a phrase usually cadences on I, V or vi.

Modulation methods: pivot chord (diatonic in both keys), common-tone pivot, secondary dominant into the new key, or direct modulation at a section boundary.

Voice-leading rules for tonal writing: avoid parallel fifths and octaves between outer voices, resolve leading notes upward, resolve sevenths downward, and keep upper-part spacing narrower than the bass.

Text setting: place stressed syllables on strong beats and longer note values; syllabic setting favours clarity, melismatic setting emphasises key words; check that vowels are singable at high tessitura.

Score conventions: write transposing instruments at written pitch with the correct key signature (a Bb clarinet sounds a major 2nd lower), and keep bar numbers, tempo marks and dynamics consistent across all parts.

DAW production decisions: use MIDI for editable parts and audio for captured acoustic timbre; quantise only where a grid feel suits the style, and check the mix in mono and on small speakers for balance.

Practice hierarchy: isolate the hardest 2–4 bars, slow down until accuracy is complete, repeat correctly three to five times, then raise the metronome by small increments (about 4 bpm).

Memorisation is most secure when aural, visual (score or finger patterns) and kinaesthetic (muscle feel) memory are all built; working backwards from the final bars prevents a weak ending.

Conductor's beat patterns: 4/4 down–left–right–up; 3/4 down–right–up; 2/4 down–up; 6/8 down–left–left–right–right–up; the downward stroke is beat one.

Ensemble balance rule: the melody projects, the bass anchors, inner parts recede; a player doubling the melody should match the leader's tone and vibrato rather than dominate.

Tuning: wind and brass tune to a reference pitch (commonly A = 440 Hz) using air support and embouchure adjustment; strings tune adjacent strings in perfect fifths, then check stopped octaves.

Ornament performance practice: Baroque trills usually begin on the upper auxiliary note; grace notes are generally before the beat in Baroque and Classical repertoire and on the beat in much Romantic music.

Rubato borrows time in one direction and returns it; the underlying pulse and the total length of the phrase must still be clear to accompanists and ensemble members.

Preparation sequence for assessment: slow practice, sectional work, recorded run-throughs, then at least two simulated performances under real conditions (full programme, hall, listeners).

Sight-reading routine: check clef, key signature, time signature, tempo and the hardest bar before starting, then keep the pulse moving through errors instead of restarting.

Cadence identification: V–I with both chords in root position and the tonic in the top voice = perfect; V–I inverted or with the third or fifth on top = imperfect; V–vi = interrupted; IV–I = plagal; any phrase ending on V = half.

Roman numerals are case-sensitive: uppercase for major triads (I, IV, V), lowercase for minor (ii, iii, vi), ° for diminished (vii°), with figures 6, 6/4 and 7 showing inversion and sevenths.

Texture decision rule: a single unaccompanied line = monophonic; melody plus chordal support = homophonic; independent interweaving lines = polyphonic; the same melody varied simultaneously = heterophonic.

Sonata-form map: exposition (first theme in tonic, transition, second theme in dominant or relative major, closing) → development (fragmentation, sequence, modulation) → recapitulation (both themes in tonic) → coda.

Form labels: binary = AB; ternary = ABA; rondo = ABACA or ABACABA; theme and variations = A, A', A''; through-composed = no large repeats; strophic = same music with new text each verse.

Comparing performances: note tempo in BPM, forces and instrumentation, articulation, ornamentation, dynamic range, balance, tuning standard (for example A = 415 Hz versus 440 Hz) and the acoustic of the venue.

Style-period checkpoints: continuo and terraced dynamics suggest Baroque; clear homophonic phrasing and balanced phrases suggest Classical; dense chromaticism and expanded orchestra suggest Romantic; irregular metre, percussion emphasis and dissonance suggest 20th or 21st century.

Melodic description vocabulary: conjunct (stepwise) versus disjunct (leaping), range versus tessitura, sequence, ostinato, blue notes (lowered third, fifth and seventh) and pentatonic scales.

Twelve-bar blues frame: I–I–I–I–IV–IV–I–I–V–IV–I–V, with the optional quick change to IV in bar 2; lyrics usually follow AAB, three four-bar phrases.