Sample Exam -- MUSC101

MUSC 101 - UD ONLINE

SAMPLE EXAM
with annotations in red

(This is not an exhaustive illustration of exam questions, and not all of the exams will have the same kinds of questions. In addition, the format of this sample exam is meant to look like the old paper exam. The actual online exam will look much like the quiz-assignments, with one question shown at a time. The online exam is in four parts: Known Listening, Matching, Multiple Choice, and Unknown Listening.)

I. KNOWN LISTENING (1 pointa for each blank). Please give the requested information for each piece.

[Note that none of these pieces are on your Norton CDs or among the added MIDI files on WebCT; these sample questions and answers give you an idea of the kinds of things you may be asked about. In addition, on the actual exam, there will be an alphabetical list at the start of this section that interfiles the composer's last names and the titles of the pieces -- you will still need to know which piece is played and its composer. On the online exam, each question under each listening example will be on a separate screen page and will include a link to click to hear the musical excerpt.]

Example 1.
Title of whole (larger) work Concerto in D minor for harpsichord, strings, and continuo
Movement no. 1___
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach
Form of movement ritornello
Era (the historical epoch) Baroque

Example 2.
Title of whole work Le chant des oiseaux (or Song of the Birds)
Composer Clement Jannequin
Language   French
Genre (type of piece)   __ programmatic chanson
Number of voice-parts needed 4
Era   Renaissance

Example 3.
Title of whole work   The Stars and Stripes Forever
Composer   John Philip Sousa
Genre   march
Instrumental group playing military band
Era   late Romantic

Example 4.
Title of whole work   Suite No. 3 in G Major, Op. 55
Movement no. and title 1, "Elegy"
Composer Peter Tchaikovsky
Genre of whole work orchestral suite
Form of this movement ternary (or ABA)
Era late Romantic

Example 5.
Title of whole work The Saracen
Title of movement/number Duet of the King and and Agnès (in Act III)
Composer   César Cui
Year(s) of composition 1896-1898
Number of characters singing in this number 2
Genre opera
Librettist Vladimir Stasov and the composer
Name of play upon which the libretto was based Charles VII chez ses grands vassaux (or Charles VII at the Homes of His Great Vassals)
Author of that literary work Alexandre Dumas the elder

Example 6.
Title of work Fingal's Cave (or The Hebrides)
Composer Felix Mendelssohn
Genre concert overture
Era Romantic
Country depicted by this piece Scotland

Example 7.
Title of work "Für Elise"
Composer Ludwig van Beethoven
Form rondo
Instrument piano

Example 8.
Title of whole work Symphony No. 1 ("Classical"), Op. 25
Movement no. 1
Composer Sergei Prokofiev
Form of movement sonata-allegro
Year of composition 1917

Example 9.
Title of whole work Missa de Notre Dame
Movement title "Gloria in excelsis"
Composer Guillaume de Machaut
Genre of whole work polyphonic mass
Century of composition 1300s (or 14th century)

Example 10.
Title of whole work The Creation
Title of movement "The Heavens are Telling"
Composer Franz Josef Haydn
Genre of whole work oratorio
Era Classical
Type of voice or voices performing (mixed) chorus

Example 11.
Title of work "Se la face ay pale" (or "If my face is pale")
Composer Guillaume Du Fay
Era (early) Renaissance
Genre ballade
Form strophic

II. MATCHING 1 point each). In the blank space write the letter of the item from the right side that best relates to or defines the item on the left side.

[Your actual exam may have a different number of questions to answer; notice that the examples below are just a skeleton; the items on the right wouldhave a real definition filled in.]

meter ______

augmentation ______

texture ______

"da capo" form ______

forte ______

allegro ______

staccato ______

counterpoint ______

Definition or schematic summary of "da capo" form

Definition of allegro

Definition of staccato

Definition of or listing of types of meter

Definition of augmentation

Definition or illustration of counterpoint

Definition of forte

Definition of or listing of types of texture

III. MULTIPLE CHOICE (1 point each). In the space on the left place the letter of the best answer (there is only one best answer for each question).

[Your actual exam may have a different number of questions to answer; notice that these are just skeletal examples, as in the previous section.]

______ 1. The approximate dates of the Classical era in music history are:
                    a. answer "a."
                    b. answer "b."
                    c. answer "c."
                    d. answer "d."

______ 2. Which one of the following important Romantic composers that you have studied used the piano in all of his/her compositions?
                    a. Composer "a."
                    b. Composer "b."
                    c. Composer "c."
                    d. Composer "d."

______ 3. [etc.]

IV. UNKNOWN LISTENING (2 points for each question) You will hear one or more excerpts of a piece that you will not have heard already in your required listening, and may not have heard before at all.

The online exam will have a link to click for hearing the piece. The possible questions that can be asked about this excerpt can come from, but are not limited to, this list:

Which simple meter does this composition display?
What instrument is playing the melody?
Does this piece use voices alone, instruments alone, or a combination of instruments and voices?
What basic musical texture does this excerpt display?
In which broad historical era (not century) do you think this music was written?

Copyright (c) 2016 by Lyle K. Neff

Last updated: Mar. 14, 2013

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