Music Theory Guide
The College Board’s are challenging courses for high schoolers designed to emulate a semester-long college course. Students who perform well on standardized AP exams can earn college credit. AP courses exist across a broad range of disciplines, such as math, physical and life sciences, and the fine arts. The Music Theory AP exam is one of the least common exams taken among self-studiers and enrolled students alike. In 2016, only about 19,000 of the 2.6 million students taking AP exams took the Music Theory AP exam. If you are interested in taking the Music Theory AP exam, whether you have taken the class or are planning to self-study, read on for a breakdown of the test and CollegeVine’s advice for how you can prepare for it.
About the Exam In the Music Theory AP course, students learn to recognize, understand, and describe the basic materials and processes of music that are heard or presented in a musical score. You can expect to practice and develop musical skills while building your understanding of music composition and theory. You will also develop your music vocabulary through class discussions and written analyses of listening selections. Although there are no prerequisite classes for enrollment in the Music Theory course, you do need to be able to read and write musical notation. It is also strongly recommended that you have at least basic performance skills in voice or on an instrument. The Music Theory AP exam takes place over two hours and 40 minutes. It is comprised of two sections.
The first section lasts one hour and 20 minutes, is made up of 75 multiple-choice questions, and accounts for 45% of your total score. These questions are based on aural stimuli or analysis of printed music scores. The second section is the free-response section, which also lasts for one hour and 20 minutes and accounts for 55% of your score. This section includes nine exercises and accounts for the remaining 50% of your total score. Free response questions include melodic and harmonic dictation, part writing from roman numerals and figured bass, composition of a bass line, harmonization of a melody, and sight singing (which will be ).
In 2016, 59.6% of students who took the Music Theory AP received a score of 3 or higher. Of these, 18.2% of students received the top score of 5 with another 17.3% scoring a 4. Only 14.4% of students received a score of 1 on the exam. Generally, students performed equally well on their aural subscores as they did on their non-aural subscores.
Keep in mind, credit and advanced standing based on AP scores varies widely from school to school. Though a score of 3 is typically considered passing, it is not always enough to receive credit. Regulations regarding which APs qualify for course credits or advanced placement at specific colleges and universities can be.
A full course description that can help to guide your studying and understanding of the knowledge required for the exam can be found in the. Read on for tips for preparing for the exam. Step 1: Assess Your Skills Start by taking a practice test, called a formative assessment, to test your understanding of the material.
To learn more about the importance of formative assessments and how you can use one to get your studying off on the right foot, check out the CollegeVine article Because the test materials consist of both a written test and digital sound files, it can be difficult to find paired practice material, but the does provide with included sound files from the 1998 exam administration. Alternatively, you can find more recent test sections with sound files. Once you have taken some kind of formative assessment, score it to identify the areas you already understand and those in need of improvement. It can be helpful to have a friend help to score your free response essays, as these artistic interpretations are more subjective than the multiple choice section. From an accurate formative assessment, you will get a better idea of where to focus your studying efforts. Step 2: Study the material The Music Theory AP course teaches the mastery of pitches, intervals, scales and keys, chords, meter, and rhythm. You will need to apply this mastery towards complex and creative tasks such as:.
melodic and harmonic dictation. composition of a bass line for a given melody, implying appropriate harmony. realization of a figured bass. realization of a Roman numeral progression. sight singing of simple melodies You will also need to apply your knowledge to the analysis of melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, and form in repertoire drawn mostly from the Western European Common Practice style, but also including jazz, 20th century works, and world music. As well as studying theoretical applications of your knowledge, you will also need to refine your aural skills.
You should listen to musical works attentively and analytically, while developing your musical memory and ability to articulate responses to formal, stylistic, and aesthetic qualities of the musical pieces. Finally, you will need to work on your own musical performance. This will include singing, keyboard, and whatever your primary instrument of choice is.
You should especially focus on sight singing, as this is always a part of the free response section. For a more specific idea of where to focus your studying, you should consider using a commercial study guide. Because the AP Music Theory course remains one of the less popular courses amongst students, there are not many choices of high quality commercial study guides. One solid option, though, is. This study guide consistently receives high reviews for its effective summary of the material and test taking strategies specific to the Music Theory AP exam. It comes with two full-length exams including both aural and non-aural sections.
In addition, the sound files on the CD go beyond the practice tests to provide examples and exercises for the subject review chapters. There are also a number of free study resources available online. Many AP teachers have posted complete study guides, review sheets, and test questions. One has even posted a. Finally, another new, fun way to study is to use one of the recently developed apps for AP exams. These range in price from $0.99 to $4.99, but they provide a fun and easy way to quiz yourself. Make sure you read reviews before choosing one – their quality varies widely.
Step 3: Practice Multiple Choice Questions Once you have your theory down, test it out by practicing multiple-choice questions. You can find these in most study guides or through online searches. You could also try taking the multiple-choice section of another practice exam. Keep in mind that the questions based on aural stimuli will test your listening skills and knowledge about theory largely in the context of examples from actual music literature. These questions will ask you to identify pitch and isolated rhythmic patterns, detect errors in pitch and rhythm, or identify “processes and materials in the context of music literature representing a broad spectrum of genres, media, and styles.” This includes melodic, harmonic, and tonal organization, meter and rhythmic patterns, instrumentation, texture, and formal procedures. Questions not based on aural stimuli emphasize score analysis. These skills include small scale and large scale harmonic procedures, melodic organization and developmental procedures, rhythmic or metric organization, texture, or formal devices and procedures.
These questions might also cover music terminology, notational skills, and basic composition. The includes many practice multiple choice questions along with explanations of their answers. There are additional questions available in commercial study guides. As you go through these, try to keep track of which areas are still tripping you up, and go back over this theory again. Focus on understanding what each question is asking and keep a running list of any vocabulary that is still unfamiliar. Step 4: Practice Free Response Section The free response section of the Music Theory AP is unlike most other AP exams in its emphasis on aural skills and your own sight singing performance. It can be most closely compared to foreign language exams rather than other theory courses.
Ap Music Theory Guide
The first two free response questions will focus on melodic dictation. These questions will ask you to notate a melody after listening to it several times.
You will always be told ahead how many times the melody will be played (usually three or four, depending on its length). Make sure to read the directions carefully so that you know how many chances you’ll have for listening. As you listen, pay particular attention to major and minor modes, treble and bass clefs, diatonic and chromatic melodies, and simple and compound meters.
Questions three and four in the free response section will focus on harmonic dictation. These questions will most commonly ask you to notate the soprano and bass voices of a harmony after listening to it several times. As in the melodic dictation questions, you will always be told ahead how many times the harmony will be played and you should keep this in mind while undertaking your notation. In this section pay attention to the notation of soprano and bass lines and the harmonic analysis in a four-voice texture. Question five will ask you to part write from a figured base. There is not typically any listening involved on this question. Instead you are given the opening chord and the proceeding bass line.
You are then asked to realize the figured bass in four voices within a traditional voice-leading procedure. For each chord you will need to write the Roman numeral that appropriately indicates its harmonic function. Question six similarly asks you to write a four-voice progression in traditional voice-leading procedures, as indicated by the Roman and Arabic numerals.
There is no aural component of this question. Question seven is a little more open to your own artistic interpretation and asks you to compose a bass line for a given melody. Again, there is no aural component.
Instead you will need to write an appropriate cadence at each phrase ending, give melodic interest to the bass line, and vary the motion of the bass line in relation to the soprano using only the written progression to guide you. The last two questions on the exam ask you to sight sing a given melody in pitch and accurate rhythm with a steady tempo. For each melody, you will have 75 seconds to practice and 30 seconds to perform the melody. You will hear the starting pitch for each melody at the beginning of the 75-second practice period.
These questions demand perhaps the most distinct skill set of any AP question. Luckily, there are many rehearsal materials available, including.
Step 5: Take another practice test As you did at the very beginning of your studying, take a practice test to evaluate your progress. You should see a steady progression of knowledge, and it’s likely that you will see patterns identifying which areas have improved the most and which areas still need improvement. Step 6: Exam day specifics In 2017, the Music Theory AP Exam will be administered on Monday, May 8 at 8 AM. For complete registration instructions, check out CollegeVine’s.
For information about what to bring to the exam, see CollegeVine’s If you feel like you need more help on the AP Music Theory exam, or you are not sure that you can do it on your own, look no further. For personalized AP tutoring, check out the, where students who are intimately familiar with the exam can help you ace it too, just like they did. For more about information about APs, check out these CollegeVine posts:.
What is it about music theory that has the power to inspire boredom, hatred or even fear in musicians? Humans usually don’t care for what they don’t understand, so it makes sense that even the most seasoned musicians sometimes yawn or shudder at the thought of music theory, a topic that’s benefits are frequently undersold and basic concepts poorly explained. But learning just a few music theory concepts is a powerful tool that every musician can use for writing, performing and understanding music. Rather than being a dusty set of rules that you’ll never apply to anything in your daily life, music theory is brimming with living ideas that can completely change the way you hear and create music.
This is part one of a special ReverbNation basic music theory guide. By the end of this guide, you’ll have everything you need to understand intervals, scales, chords, the circle of 5ths and other important music theory ideas. But before I walk you through the basic principles found in music theory, I need to tell you why it’s such an important thing for musicians to become familiar with. You have Successfully Subscribed! Why music theory should matter to musicians I’m pretty into music theory. So much so in fact that it’s pretty much all I talked about at a recent party I went to—yeah, I’m “that guy” now, apparently. “I hear you’re a music teacher or something,” a guy said to me.
“Do you know anything about music theory? I hated it as a kid.” I smiled and set down my drink.
I don’t blame anyone for having a grudge against music theory. Some people are first exposed to it in public school, a place where educators usually aren’t given enough time, money and resources to properly teach in-depth topics to a crowded classroom of kids. Others got pieces of the puzzle from the private music lessons they took as a child, but nothing close to the whole picture. Yes, learning how to play scales is important, but many guitar and piano teachers don’t bother to explain the hugely important music theory context behind them. Music theory has the power to lift the veil when it comes to seeing how chords, scales, and key signatures work.
Taking some time to memorize just a few simple formulas can give a musician access to a basic understanding why everything in music operates the way it does. It’s more of a language than a theory, and the ideas that govern music are set in stone and never change. Using a keyboard as a visual guide To get the most out of this guide, I recommend using a keyboard as a visual guide. The keyboard is basically a perfect visual representation of what’s happening in music theory.
This means that pianists have it pretty easy when it comes to mastering the basics of music theory. Musicians who play other instruments can easily apply the ideas I’ll discuss in this guide to their own instrument. If you can afford it, consider purchasing an inexpensive midi keyboard. Intervals If you want to understand something, you usually have to zoom in as far as you can go to see how it works. This is exactly what we’re going to do with music theory. Before we tackle things like chords, scales and keys, we have to look at the individual notes found in music.
Intervals are the relationships between notes in music, and each interval features its own unique sound. The best way to teach intervals is to provide an example of where it’s found in popular music, so that’s what I’ll do here. I’ll use the note of C as a reference point from here on out to make things easy, but the ideas I’ll introduce here can be adapted to any key. Intervals are measured by the half-steps between notes: Minor 2nd – C to C# (1 half-step) A minor 2nd interval is the distance between one note and the half-step above it. Play this interval in the low range over and over again on your instrument and you’ll hear the main theme from the.
Major 2nd – C to D (2 half-steps) The distance between one note and another two half-steps above it is a major second. The first two notes in the “Happy Birthday” song features this interval. Minor 3rd – C to Eb (3 half-steps) Minor third intervals are the distance between one note and another one three half-steps above. A minor third interval can be famously heard in the opening melody to the English folk song Major 3rd – C to E (4 half-steps) Major thirds cover the span of four half-steps.
Features this interval in its opening melody. Perfect 4th – C to F (5 half-steps) This interval can be famously heard in the song that we typically associate with weddings.
Perfect fourths are found between one note and another one five half-steps above. Tritone – C to Gb (6 half-steps) Tritones feature a dissonant sound and were once officially called Tritones span over six half-steps, and the most famous example of them is found in the opening melody of the theme song from The Simpsons television show. Perfect 5th – C to G (7 half-steps) This might be the most important interval in music theory because the relationship between one note or chord and the one a fifth away is one we hear time and time again in music.
Perfect fifths span the distance of seven half-steps, and they’re famously heard in the films. Minor 6th – C to Ab (8 half-steps) The distance between one note and another one eight half-steps above is called a minor sixth. This interval can be found in the word “fire” in the song by the band Fun. Major 6th – C to A (9 half-steps) Notes that span over nine half-steps are called major sixths. The most famous example of this interval can be heard in the first two notes of the. Minor 7th – C to Bb (10 half-steps) A minor seventh is the distance between one note and another ten half-steps above.
The musical Westside Story features a minor seventh from the song during the first two notes of the lyrics “there’s a place for us.” Major 7th – C to B (11 half-steps) Notes spanning over 11 half-steps are called major 7th intervals. One can be heard in the song from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory during the lyrics “a world.” Octave – C to C (12 half-steps) Finally, we’ve reached the interval of an octave.
Octaves span from one note to another note of the same name 12 half-steps above. This can be a confusing concept at first, but there are many different notes in music that share the same names.
I could go into the science behind why (it’s called the overtone series, and it’s actually pretty interesting), but let’s save that for another article. An octave is found in the opening melody to from The Wizard of Oz. You don’t need to memorize all these intervals right away, but they’re a crucial part of other concepts in music theory. Basic chords Chords are different combinations of intervals that are played simultaneously. There’s three basic types of chords in music: major, minor and diminished. Adding notes to these basic chords changes the sound of them completely, but for the purposes of this guide we’ll just stick to your garden variety chords for now. Unless you’re into some truly obscure stuff, pretty much all the music you listen to is built off over different chord progressions.
Everything from Beethoven to Beach House to jingles written for commercials selling toothpaste is music built off of different chord combinations. Here’s a simple guide to teach you how to construct basic chords. The “R” means the “root” of the chord, and to make things easy, the root will always be the C note. Major Chords: R + Major 3rd (4 half-steps) + Perfect 5th (7 half-steps) To build a C major chord, you’ll play C, the note of E four half-steps above it and then G, which is seven half steps above C. If you’ve got a keyboard handy, try playing this combination of intervals at different spots to practice building different major chords.
If you play guitar, you might be saying something right now like, “Hey, the C major chord I know how to play has like, five notes in it! What gives, ya big nerd?,” but all basic chords like the C major one I just showed you can have repeating notes. However, basic chords can completely change if a note other than the root of the chord is played on the bottom. These are called chord inversions, but you don’t need to worry about that for now.
Major chords feature a full and complete sound. Many people describe them as sounding “happy,” but I think it’s unwise to stereotype all major chords that way. Context is king when it comes to describing the sound of something. You have Successfully Subscribed! Minor Chords: R + Minor 3rd (3 half-steps) + Perfect 5th (7 half-steps) If you’ve got a good grasp on how to build major chords, then minor chords should be a breeze for you.
They’re exactly like major chords except that the third of the chord is lowered half a step. A C major chord has the notes C, E and G, but in a C minor chord the E becomes an Eb. This leads me to a very important point. All basic chords are built off of what we like to call triads in music. Triads are sets of three notes that skip alternating notes. So a C minor chord will always have some sort of C, E and G and never a note like a D# even though it shares the same note as Eb. I know this seems super confusing, but it’s actually a system to make understanding notes easier.
C-Eb-G is easier to read than C-D#-G on the staff for musicians. Minor chords usually sound “sad” to most people, but there’s many examples of music that written in minor keys that ‘s able to convey a wide variety of emotions. Diminished Chords: R + Minor 3rd (3 half-steps) + Tritone (6 half-steps) Diminished chords sound tense, dissonant and uncertain. The dramatic music played in silent movies where a villain ties a helpless girl to the train tracks is heavy on diminished chords. Where minor and major chords can be used for countless purposes in music, diminished chords are almost alway used to convey tension, anger, hopelessness and drama. Diminished chords are built just like minor chords but with the fifth of the chord lowered down a half-step. A C diminished chord is built using the notes C, Eb and Gb.
And remember, any C chord has to have some kind of C, E and G in it, so the Gb in a C diminished chord is never going to be called F#. For practice, I recommend writing down and playing the intervals and basic chords I taught you on your own instrument. If you play an instrument that only plays one pitch at a time, try arpeggiating some basic chords (arpeggiating a chord means to play it note by note). Solidifying the concepts I introduced here are key to understanding everything else we’ll cover in the next guide, so take some time to memorize intervals and how to construct basic chords. I hope part one of this basic music theory guide has been helpful to you. In the, we’ll learn how to understand scales, discover how to build every key in music with the circle of fifths and I’ll talk about how to construct and understand chord progressions with Roman numeral analysis.
We’re just getting started! AHRIMAN RISING - July 14, 2017 I didn’t have to go very far to catch errors in this theory primer. In the first interval discussed, a minor second, while true it is a half step, the upper note must be referred to as D flat, not C sharp.
To be totally correct, the two notes of any interval must differ by letter name, not just by whole or half steps. Incidentally, notes of different letter names, C sharp / D flat, are referred to as an enharmonic spelling, and the letter name the note goes by is determined by the key the note is found in. Secondly, the tritone, 6 half steps, is reffered to as ” Diabolos in Musica ” or the ” Devil in Music “, not the Devils’ Chord. A chord, properly speaking, requires 3 notes; a Root note, a third, and a fifth. The relationship between two notes, an interval. This has been true since J.S.
Bach developed the concept of tercian harmony, or chords built on successive thirds. I quit reading this primer here, afraid I’d run into more mistakes. I’ll leave it to someone else to check the rest.