Music theory and notation
What this domain tests
The theory and notation section checks whether you can read a score accurately, build and identify intervals, scales and chords, and name cadences and meters. Questions mix definitions with short practical tasks, so memorising terms without being able to apply them is not enough.
Scales and keys
- Major and three minor forms: natural, harmonic (raised 7th), melodic (raised 6th and 7th ascending, natural descending).
- Key-signature order: sharps F C G D A E B; flats B E A D G C F. A relative minor lies a minor third below its major; a parallel minor shares the tonic.
- Modes on white keys: Dorian on D, Phrygian on E, Lydian on F, Mixolydian on G, Aeolian on A, Ionian on C, Locrian on B.
Intervals and chords
- Invert an interval: the number sums to 9, the quality flips (major↔minor, augmented↔diminished, perfect stays perfect).
- Triads: major (M3+m3), minor (m3+M3), diminished (m3+m3), augmented (M3+M3).
- Figured bass: triads 5/3, 6, 6/4; seventh chords 7, 6/5, 4/3, 4/2.
Worked example
Invert a major third. The number 3 becomes 9−3 = 6; major flips to minor, so the result is a minor sixth (C up to E inverts to E up to C). The same logic explains why a root-position C major triad appears as 5/3 (rarely written), first inversion as 6, and second inversion as 6/4, where the bass is G and the intervals above it are a fourth and a sixth.
Traps that cost marks
Compound intervals (9th, 11th) must be reduced before inverting; enharmonic spelling matters when naming a chord; in minor keys accidentals are not in the signature; the tenor clef places C on the fourth line, not the third.