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New Zealand Scholarship Music Assessment study materials
New Zealand Scholarship Music Assessment study resources

New Zealand Scholarship Music Assessment practice questions

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Question 1Music

A New Zealand Scholarship Music candidate is asked to identify the cadence that closes a phrase with the progression V–vi in a major key. Which cadence is this?

  1. Deceptive cadence Correct answer.
  2. Half cadence
  3. Plagal cadence
  4. Perfect cadence

Explanation

A deceptive (or interrupted) cadence moves from the dominant chord to the submediant instead of resolving to the tonic, so V–vi in a major key is the standard example. The effect is a thwarted resolution that leaves the phrase open.

Question 2Music

In a Baroque trio sonata for two violins and continuo, which instrument typically realises the figured bass?

  1. A solo flute
  2. A muted trumpet
  3. A keyboard instrument with a bass line instrument Correct answer.
  4. A second viola

Explanation

The continuo group consists of a harmony instrument such as harpsichord or organ plus a bass instrument such as cello or bassoon, reading the figured bass. The two upper melodic parts are separate from this bass foundation.

Question 3Music

A candidate analyses a passage built on the whole-tone scale. Which harmonic resource is most characteristically unavailable in that scale?

  1. Whole-tone clusters
  2. A perfect fifth between scale members Correct answer.
  3. Augmented triads
  4. Augmented sixth intervals

Explanation

The whole-tone scale divides the octave into six equal steps, so every interval is a whole tone or its compound. Perfect fifths (seven semitones) cannot be formed between its members, which is why its harmony sounds rootless.

Question 4Music

Which texture describes a single melodic line performed by many voices in unison or octaves, with no independent harmony?

  1. Monophony Correct answer.
  2. Polyphony
  3. Heterophony
  4. Homophony

Explanation

Monophony is a single melodic strand with no harmonic accompaniment or independent counter-line. Unison plainchant and many folk songs are standard examples.

Question 5Music

A New Zealand composer notates a work using a repeated rhythmic cell whose duration is fixed but whose pitch content is left free. Which twentieth-century technique does this most directly resemble?

  1. Serialism
  2. Musique concrète
  3. Minimalism
  4. Aleatoricism Correct answer.

Explanation

Aleatoric (chance) notation leaves specified parameters such as pitch open to the performer while fixing others. Fixing rhythm but freeing pitch is a classic controlled-chance procedure.

Question 6Music

Which interval is a tritone?

  1. C to F
  2. C to E
  3. C to G
  4. C to F sharp Correct answer.

Explanation

A tritone spans three whole tones, six semitones, as from C up to F sharp (or G flat). It is the interval that divides the octave exactly in half.

Question 7Music

In sonata form, which section typically presents the primary and secondary subject groups in contrasting keys?

  1. The exposition Correct answer.
  2. The coda
  3. The development
  4. The recapitulation

Explanation

The exposition states the main thematic groups, with the secondary group normally in the dominant or relative key. The development then works on this material and the recapitulation restates it in the tonic.

Question 8Music

A candidate hears a chord built from the notes C, E flat, G flat and B double flat. Which seventh chord is this?

  1. C dominant seventh
  2. C major seventh
  3. C diminished seventh Correct answer.
  4. C half-diminished seventh

Explanation

A diminished seventh chord stacks three minor thirds, giving root, minor third, diminished fifth and diminished seventh. From C that produces C, E flat, G flat and B double flat.

Question 9Music

A passage moves from a C major triad to an A minor triad. Which Roman numeral relationship in C major does this describe?

  1. I to V
  2. I to IV
  3. I to vi Correct answer.
  4. I to ii

Explanation

In C major, the tonic triad is I and the submediant triad is vi (A minor). The motion I–vi is a common deceptive colour shift within the key.

Question 10Music

Which description best fits a fugue subject that is answered by a tonal answer?

  1. The answer is accompanied by a new countersubject only
  2. The answer is played in augmentation
  3. The answer alters intervals so the answer stays within the tonic key Correct answer.
  4. The answer transposes the subject by an exact interval throughout

Explanation

A tonal answer adjusts the subject's intervals, usually so that a leap to the dominant in the subject is answered by a step, keeping the answer anchored in the tonic key area. A real answer instead transposes the subject exactly.

Question 11Music

A candidate must transpose a melody written for B flat clarinet so that it sounds at concert pitch. Which transposition applies?

  1. Written pitch sounds a major second lower Correct answer.
  2. Written pitch sounds a perfect fifth lower
  3. Written pitch sounds a minor seventh higher
  4. Written pitch sounds a minor third lower

Explanation

A B flat clarinet sounds a major second below the written note, so written C sounds as concert B flat. To notate concert pitch for the player, the part is written a major second higher than it sounds.

Question 12Music

Which feature most clearly distinguishes a Classical string quartet from a Baroque trio sonata?

  1. Four independent, equally weighted string parts Correct answer.
  2. Use of a continuo keyboard to fill the harmony
  3. Exclusive use of dance movements
  4. Reliance on a figured bass line

Explanation

The Classical string quartet gives two violins, viola and cello independent and balanced roles, with no continuo. The Baroque trio sonata typically relies on two upper parts plus a figured-bass continuo.

Question 13Music

A candidate writes a chord progression using the notes D, F, A and C in a jazz context. Which chord symbol is correct?

  1. Ddim7
  2. Dm7 Correct answer.
  3. D7
  4. Dmaj7

Explanation

D, F, A, C forms a minor triad (D–F–A) with a minor seventh (C above D), which is notated Dm7. The minor third F and minor seventh C are the defining tones.

Question 14Music

A passage alternates a solo line with full orchestra statements of the same theme. Which term describes this procedure?

  1. Leitmotif
  2. Pedal point
  3. Ritornello Correct answer.
  4. Ostinato

Explanation

The ritornello principle, central to the Baroque concerto, returns the full ensemble's refrain between episodes for soloists. It creates a recurring structural anchor across the movement.

Question 15Music

A candidate must identify the mode of a melody that uses the notes E, F, G, A, B, C, D and centres on E. Which mode is it?

  1. Phrygian Correct answer.
  2. Lydian
  3. Dorian
  4. Mixolydian

Explanation

The Phrygian mode is the white-note scale centred on E, with its characteristic minor second between the first and second degrees. That semitone E–F is its most distinctive feature.

Question 16Music

Which notational device indicates that a performer should repeat a passage at a higher or lower pitch, often used in sequence?

  1. Segno
  2. Tremolo
  3. Fermata
  4. 8va Correct answer.

Explanation

The 8va sign directs the performer to play the written notes an octave higher (or 8vb an octave lower). It is a shorthand that avoids writing ledger lines.

Question 17Music

A candidate is analysing a passage where the bass holds a single sustained tonic note while the upper voices move through changing harmonies. Which device is present?

  1. A hemiola
  2. A pedal point Correct answer.
  3. A sequence
  4. An inverted cadence

Explanation

A pedal (or pedal point) is a sustained note, usually in the bass, held while the harmony above it changes. It creates tension that resolves when the harmony realigns with the held note.

Question 18Music

A New Zealand Scholarship candidate compares two recordings of the same work and notes differences in tempo and articulation. Which analytical approach does this best represent?

  1. Set-theory analysis
  2. Schenkerian reduction
  3. Serial analysis
  4. Comparative performance analysis Correct answer.

Explanation

Comparative performance analysis examines interpretive choices such as tempo, articulation and dynamics across recordings of one work. It treats performance as an object of study rather than only the score.

Question 19Music

Which harmonic function does a Neapolitan sixth chord serve in a minor key?

  1. A tonic substitute resolving to the submediant
  2. A predominant preparing the dominant Correct answer.
  3. A passing chord between tonic and mediant
  4. A cadential chord replacing the tonic

Explanation

The Neapolitan sixth is a major triad built on the lowered second degree, usually in first inversion, functioning as a predominant before the dominant. In C minor it is D flat major in first inversion.

Question 20Music

A candidate encounters a score marked 'senza misura'. What does the instruction require?

  1. Playing without any dynamic variation
  2. Playing at a slower tempo throughout
  3. Playing without strict metre or bar-based timing Correct answer.
  4. Playing entirely muted

Explanation

Senza misura means without measure, giving the performer freedom from a fixed metre or bar structure. It is a common instruction in twentieth-century and contemporary scores.

Question 21Music

A candidate analyses a passage in which a three-note motive is repeatedly shortened (diminished rhythmically) while rising in pitch. Which pair of devices is being used?

  1. Inversion and retrograde
  2. Retrograde and augmentation
  3. Augmentation and inversion
  4. Diminution and sequence Correct answer.

Explanation

Diminution shortens the rhythmic values of a motive, and sequence restates a pattern at successively higher or lower pitch levels. Together they produce the described tightening, rising effect.

Question 22Music

In a twelve-tone work, which statement correctly describes the relationship between the prime form and its inversion?

  1. The inversion repeats the row a semitone higher
  2. The inversion mirrors every interval direction while preserving order Correct answer.
  3. The inversion transposes the row by a tritone
  4. The inversion reverses the order of pitches in the row

Explanation

The inversion of a twelve-tone row keeps the order of pitches but reverses the direction of each interval, so an ascending major third becomes a descending major third. Order is preserved; only interval direction changes.

Question 23Music

A candidate must identify the form of a movement whose structure is A–B–A′–C–A″–D–A‴, with each return of A varied. Which form is this?

  1. Sonata rondo form
  2. Binary form
  3. Rondo form Correct answer.
  4. Strophic form

Explanation

A recurring A section alternating with contrasting episodes (B, C, D) is a rondo, and the varied returns make it a varied rondo. The refrain anchors the form while episodes supply contrast.

Question 24Music

A candidate is analysing a passage in which two melodic lines move in parallel tenths beneath a leaping bass, producing a thicker texture than the score suggests. Which analytical concept explains this effect?

  1. Ostinato variation
  2. Heterophony
  3. Metric displacement
  4. Implied polyphony Correct answer.

Explanation

Implied polyphony describes the perception of extra voices created by registral separation and parallel motion, even when fewer voices are actually notated. It is common in solo string and keyboard writing.

Question 25Music

A candidate must decide which cadential progression most strongly confirms a new key in a Classical development section. Which progression does this best?

  1. A half cadence in the tonic
  2. A perfect cadence in the new key Correct answer.
  3. A deceptive cadence in the original key
  4. A plagal cadence in the subdominant

Explanation

A perfect cadence (V–I) in the new key is the strongest confirmation of a modulation because it presents the new dominant resolving to the new tonic. A half cadence leaves the key open, and a deceptive move avoids closure.

Question 26Music

A candidate hears a melody built on the whole-tone scale. Which harmonic resource is most characteristically associated with that scale?

  1. The diminished seventh chord
  2. The major sixth chord
  3. The augmented triad Correct answer.
  4. The minor seventh chord

Explanation

The whole-tone scale is constructed from equal whole steps, and stacking thirds drawn from it yields an augmented triad (for example C–E–G♯). Because every interval in the scale is equidistant, the augmented triad is the chord most idiomatically generated from it, a resource used by Debussy and later composers.

Question 27Music

A score for horn in F shows a written middle C. Which concert pitch will sound?

  1. The B flat below middle C
  2. The C below middle C
  3. The F below middle C Correct answer.
  4. The F above middle C

Explanation

An F instrument sounds a perfect fifth lower than written, so a written middle C sounds as the F a perfect fifth below it. Transposing instruments are named for the pitch that sounds when the player reads a written C.

Question 28Music

Which texture is created when a single melodic line is performed by all voices at the same pitch or in octaves, with no independent accompanying part?

  1. Homophony
  2. Polyphony
  3. Monophony Correct answer.
  4. Heterophony

Explanation

Monophony describes a single melodic line with no harmonic support, whether performed by one voice or doubled at the octave. The defining feature is that all performers realise the same line rather than independent parts.

Question 29Music

In a score, a composer writes a small note before a principal note with a diagonal stroke through its stem. What does this indicate?

  1. A mordent, alternating with the note above
  2. A turn, circling the main note
  3. An acciaccatura, played as quickly as possible before the main note Correct answer.
  4. An appoggiatura, taking half the value of the main note

Explanation

A grace note with a struck-through stem is an acciaccatura, crushed quickly onto the beat or just before it without taking substantial rhythmic value. The stroke distinguishes it from the appoggiatura, which normally takes measurable time from the principal note.

Question 30Music

Which characteristic most clearly identifies a Baroque dance suite movement labelled 'sarabande'?

  1. A brisk triple metre with a strong first-beat accent
  2. A fast duple metre with running quavers
  3. A slow triple metre with a stress on the second beat Correct answer.
  4. A moderate compound metre with a leaping upbeat

Explanation

The sarabande is a slow dance in triple time whose defining trait is an agogic accent on the second beat, often reinforced by a harmonic change or ornament. This second-beat stress distinguishes it from other triple-metre suite movements.

Question 31Music

A candidate must identify the cadence at which a dominant seventh chord resolves directly to the tonic triad with both chords in root position. Which cadence is this?

  1. Imperfect authentic cadence
  2. Perfect authentic cadence Correct answer.
  3. Deceptive cadence
  4. Plagal cadence

Explanation

A perfect authentic cadence requires V to I with both chords in root position and the tonic in the soprano on the final chord. If either chord is inverted or the melody ends on the third or fifth, the cadence is imperfect.

Question 32Music

A candidate reads a score in which the time signature changes from 6/8 to 3/4 at the same crotchet pulse. Which relationship holds between the two bars?

  1. The bars contain different total durations despite equal beat values
  2. The bars contain the same total duration but different beat groupings Correct answer.
  3. The second bar is twice as long as the first
  4. The bars are identical in every respect

Explanation

Six quavers in 6/8 and three crotchets in 3/4 both equal three crotchets of duration, so the bar length is unchanged. What changes is the grouping: 6/8 divides into two groups of three quavers, while 3/4 divides into three crotchet beats.

Question 33Music

Which term describes a chord built on the second degree of a major scale that replaces the expected minor triad with a major triad, often borrowed from the parallel mode?

  1. Picardy third
  2. Augmented sixth
  3. Secondary supertonic (major II) Correct answer.
  4. Neapolitan sixth

Explanation

A major triad on the second degree in a major key is a borrowed chord, often analysed as V/V because it can function as the dominant of the dominant. It is distinct from chromatic chords such as the Neapolitan, which is built on the flattened second degree.

Question 34Music

A candidate must identify the interval between the notes B and the F above it. Which interval is it?

  1. Diminished fifth Correct answer.
  2. Augmented fourth
  3. Minor sixth
  4. Perfect fifth

Explanation

Counting letter names from B to F gives a fifth, and the perfect fifth above B would be F sharp. Because the upper note is F natural, the interval is one semitone smaller than perfect, making it a diminished fifth.

Question 35Music

In a minor key, which scale form raises both the sixth and seventh degrees ascending and lowers them descending?

  1. Melodic minor Correct answer.
  2. Dorian mode
  3. Natural minor
  4. Harmonic minor

Explanation

The melodic minor scale alters the sixth and seventh degrees depending on direction, raising them on the way up to smooth the approach to the tonic and restoring the natural minor form on the way down. This directional asymmetry is its defining feature.

Question 36Music

A candidate analyses a passage in which a solo instrument plays a cadenza-like flourish while the orchestra sustains a soft sustained chord. Which texture does this most closely resemble?

  1. Imitative polyphony
  2. Melody with accompaniment Correct answer.
  3. Canonic writing
  4. Antiphonal exchange

Explanation

A florid solo line over sustained harmonic support is a melody-and-accompaniment texture, with one dominant voice and subordinate material. The orchestra supplies harmony rather than an independent competing melody.

Question 37Music

A candidate encounters the instruction 'con sordino' above a string section. What does this require?

  1. Players use the wood of the bow
  2. Players fit mutes to their instruments Correct answer.
  3. Players pluck the strings
  4. Players bow near the bridge

Explanation

Con sordino means 'with mute', instructing string players to attach a mute that dampens and softens the tone. The instruction is cancelled later by 'senza sordino', meaning without mute.

Question 38Music

A candidate must identify the form of a single-movement work structured as a continuous succession of contrasted sections that return in altered form, unified by a recurring motto theme. Which term best describes this?

  1. Through-composed aria
  2. Idée fixe transformation Correct answer.
  3. Theme and variations
  4. Sonata-rondo form

Explanation

A recurring motto theme that is transformed across contrasting sections is the idée fixe principle, associated with Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. The theme returns altered in character, tempo and scoring rather than simply repeated.

Question 39Music

A candidate hears a passage in which a chord is sustained while the bass moves down by step beneath it, producing changing harmonies over a held upper structure. Which technique is this?

  1. Pedal point Correct answer.
  2. Alberti bass
  3. Ground bass
  4. Walking bass

Explanation

A pedal point is a sustained note, usually in the bass, held while the harmony above it changes. A ground bass differs because it is a repeated melodic pattern rather than a single sustained pitch.

Question 40Music

A candidate identifies a passage in which a four-note motive is stated, then restated a semitone higher, then a semitone higher again. Which technique is being used?

  1. Real sequence Correct answer.
  2. Tonal sequence
  3. Inversion
  4. Augmentation

Explanation

A sequence that preserves exact intervallic content while shifting pitch level is a real sequence. A tonal sequence would instead adjust intervals to remain within a key.

Question 41Music

A candidate must identify the chord symbol for a chord containing the notes F sharp, A, C sharp and E in a jazz context.

  1. F sharp dominant seventh
  2. F sharp major seventh
  3. F sharp minor seventh Correct answer.
  4. F sharp half-diminished seventh

Explanation

The chord contains a minor third (F sharp to A), a perfect fifth (F sharp to C sharp) and a minor seventh (F sharp to E), which spells a minor seventh chord. The symbol is therefore F sharp minor seventh.

Question 42Music

A candidate analyses a passage in which the dominant seventh chord resolves to the submediant, then the submediant moves to the subdominant, then the subdominant to the tonic. Which harmonic progression is described?

  1. Interrupted cadence followed by perfect cadence
  2. Authentic cadence followed by half cadence
  3. Deceptive resolution followed by plagal motion Correct answer.
  4. Circle-of-fifths sequence

Explanation

Dominant to submediant is a deceptive resolution, and subdominant to tonic is plagal motion. Combining them produces a deceptive approach followed by a plagal close rather than a standard authentic cadence.

Question 43Music

A candidate compares a Baroque and a Classical orchestral score and notes that the Classical score specifies clarinets, while the Baroque score does not. Which explanation is most accurate?

  1. The clarinet existed but was reserved for solo concertos only
  2. The clarinet was developed after the Baroque orchestral tradition was established Correct answer.
  3. Baroque composers banned reed instruments by convention
  4. The clarinet was considered too quiet for Baroque halls

Explanation

The clarinet emerged in the early eighteenth century and entered the orchestra gradually during the Classical period, so standard Baroque orchestral scores do not include it. Its later inclusion reflects the instrument's development and changing orchestral taste.

Question 44Music

A candidate must identify the mode of a melody that uses the notes of the D major scale but centres on B. Which mode is it?

  1. B Mixolydian
  2. B Aeolian Correct answer.
  3. B Dorian
  4. B Phrygian

Explanation

The sixth mode of a major scale is Aeolian, and centring the D major collection on B produces the B natural minor scale, which is B Aeolian. The key signature of two sharps confirms this.

Question 45Music

A candidate analyses a passage in which the bass descends chromatically from tonic to dominant while upper voices hold common tones. Which harmonic device is being used?

  1. Circle-of-fifths sequence
  2. Augmented sixth progression
  3. Chromatic descending bass with common-tone retention Correct answer.
  4. Pedal point

Explanation

A chromatic bass line moving by semitone while upper voices retain common tones produces smooth voice leading and often supports chromatic harmony. The device is defined by the stepwise chromatic bass combined with held upper parts.

Question 46Music

A candidate must decide which feature most strongly indicates that a passage is in a new key rather than merely using chromaticism. Which feature is decisive?

  1. A cadence confirming the new tonic Correct answer.
  2. A single borrowed chord
  3. Use of a chromatic passing note
  4. An ornamented melodic line

Explanation

Modulation is established by a cadence that confirms the new tonic, often with its dominant prepared beforehand. Chromatic notes or borrowed chords alone do not establish a key because they can occur within a single tonal area.

Question 47Music

A candidate examines a twelve-tone row in which the second hexachord is the exact inversion of the first. Which property does this describe?

  1. Transpositional equivalence
  2. Retrograde symmetry
  3. Hexachordal inversional combinatoriality Correct answer.
  4. Tonal answer

Explanation

When the second hexachord is the inversion of the first, the row possesses hexachordal inversional combinatoriality, allowing forms to combine without duplicating pitch classes. This property is central to the serial practice of Schoenberg's later works.

Question 48Music

A candidate analyses a passage in which a chord built on the flattened sixth degree appears in first inversion, then resolves directly to the dominant. Which chord is described?

  1. Neapolitan sixth
  2. Borrowed mediant
  3. Augmented sixth chord Correct answer.
  4. Secondary dominant

Explanation

An augmented sixth chord is built on the flattened sixth degree, typically appears in first inversion and resolves outward to the dominant. Its defining interval is the augmented sixth between the flattened sixth and the raised fourth degrees.

Question 49Music

A candidate analyses a movement whose principal theme returns in the tonic but is preceded by a development that never states the theme intact, and whose recapitulation reorders the subject groups. Which formal description is most apt?

  1. Strophic form
  2. Binary form with repeats
  3. Rondo form
  4. Sonata form with a developmental recapitulation Correct answer.

Explanation

A recapitulation that reorders or alters the expected sequence of subject groups, following a development that avoids complete statements of the theme, indicates a modified sonata form typical of later nineteenth-century practice. The essential sonata principle of tonal resolution remains.

Question 50Music

A candidate must explain why a passage that begins on a tonic chord, moves through a circle-of-fifths sequence and returns to the tonic can still be heard as unstable. Which explanation is most convincing?

  1. The tonic chord is never actually sounded
  2. The bass never moves
  3. The sequence delays cadential confirmation of the tonic Correct answer.
  4. The passage uses no chromatic notes

Explanation

A circle-of-fifths sequence prolongs harmonic motion and postpones the cadence that would confirm the key, so the tonic is heard as a point of departure rather than arrival. Stability in tonal music depends on cadential confirmation, not merely on the presence of the tonic chord.