BM or BMus Bachelor of Music Western Music History Periods 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Medieval compositional technique layers a new melody above a pre-existing plainchant called the 'tenor'?
- Organum
- Fauxbourdon
- Isorhythm
- Cantus firmus counterpoint (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Cantus firmus counterpoint
Cantus firmus counterpoint places a new melody above a pre-existing chant (the tenor), a foundational Medieval and Renaissance technique.
Question 2: The Renaissance motet differed from the Medieval motet primarily in that it:
- Used multiple texts simultaneously
- Set a single Latin sacred text with imitative polyphony (Correct answer)
- Was always based on a secular tune
- Employed strict isorhythmic structure
Correct answer: Set a single Latin sacred text with imitative polyphony
Renaissance motets typically set a single Latin sacred text using imitative polyphony, unlike Medieval motets which often combined multiple simultaneous texts.
Question 3: Which Baroque practice involves performers improvising chords from a notated bass line with figured numerals?
- Basso ostinato
- Basso continuo (Correct answer)
- Ground bass
- Thoroughbass realization
Correct answer: Basso continuo
Basso continuo is the Baroque practice where keyboard players and bass instruments improvise harmonies from a notated bass line with figures indicating intervals.
Question 4: The Classical-era sonata cycle typically ends with a movement in which form?
- Theme and variations
- Rondo or sonata-rondo (Correct answer)
- Minuet and trio
- Binary form
Correct answer: Rondo or sonata-rondo
Classical sonata cycles usually conclude with a rondo or sonata-rondo finale, providing a lighter, energetic close.
Question 5: Which Romantic-era genre describes a one-movement orchestral work depicting a narrative or pictorial idea?
- Program symphony
- Symphonic poem (Correct answer)
- Concert overture
- Tone cluster
Correct answer: Symphonic poem
The symphonic poem (or tone poem), pioneered by Liszt, is a single-movement orchestral form that follows a non-musical narrative or image.
Question 6: Which 20th-century technique assigns each of the twelve chromatic pitches to a strict ordering before any pitch repeats?
- Serialism (Correct answer)
- Microtonality
- Spectralism
- Neo-tonality
Correct answer: Serialism
Serialism (twelve-tone technique), developed by Schoenberg, orders all twelve pitches in a row that governs the composition before any note recurs.
Question 7: In Medieval music theory, the term 'musica ficta' refers to:
- Music composed for fictional scenarios
- Chromatic alterations not written in the score but implied by performance practice (Correct answer)
- A genre of secular narrative song
- The doctrine of musical ethos from ancient Greece
Correct answer: Chromatic alterations not written in the score but implied by performance practice
Musica ficta denotes chromatic accidentals (sharps, flats) that Medieval and Renaissance performers were expected to add by convention even when absent from the written score.
BM or BMus Bachelor of Music Western Music History Periods 2
Which Medieval compositional technique layers a new melody above a pre-existing plainchant called the 'tenor'?