Terms and Symbols Used on the AP Music Theory Exam Adapted from the AP Music Theory Course Descrip>on at

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1 1 Terms and Symbols Used on the AP Music Theory Exam Adapted from the AP Music Theory Course Descrip>on at DUE DATES: Term 2, December 13. Term 3, March 7. David Lockart The terms and symbols in the list below may appear in the direc4ons or ques4ons on the AP Music Theory Exam, as well as in course instruc4onal materials. As such, the list will be an invaluable guide in the development of an AP Music Theory course, but it is not intended to limit course content some teachers may choose to include topics not shown here. It is important to note that the list does not include extremely basic musical vocabulary, even though such widely used terms may be used on the exam for example, quarter note is not listed. Nor is every term of equal importance for example, strophic and rubato may not appear on every exam, but melody, phrase, and texture certainly will. Defini4ons and illustra4ons of the terms and concepts listed here can be found in music theory textbooks and standard reference works, such as The New Harvard Dic3onary of Music. I. FORM A. Symbols Lowercase lejers indicate musical phrases or subsec4ons: for example, a b indicates a contras4ng period; a b a indicates a phrase, contras4ng phrase, and return to the original phrase. A prime (as in a a') denotes a phrase and a varied restatement. Capital lejers are used to indicate larger sec4ons of composi4ons. B. Terms 1. Cadence 2. Caden4al extension 3. Coda 4. CodeJa 5. Contour 6. Countermelody 7. Elision (phrase elision) 8. Fragment (fragmented mo4ve) 9. Introduc4on 10. Jazz and pop terms a) bridge b) chorus c) song form (AABA) d) turnaround e) twelve- bar blues 11. Melodic procedures a) augmenta4on b) conjunct c) diminu4on d) disjunct e) extended version, phrase extension

2 2 f) fragmenta4on g) internal expansion h) inversion, melodic inversion i) literal repe44on j) mo4vic transforma4on k) octave displacement l) retrograde m) rhythmic transforma4on n) sequence o) sequen4al repe44on p) shortened version q) transposi4on r) trunca4on 12. Mo4ve 13. Period a) antecedent b) consequent c) contras4ng period d) double period e) parallel period 14. Phrase group 15. Refrain 16. Small forms a) binary b) rounded binary c) ternary 17. Solo, soli 18. Stanza 19. Strophic 20. Theme a) thema4c transforma4on 21. Through- composed 22. TuY 23. Varia4on 24. Verse II. HARMONY A. Symbols 25. Roman and Arabic numerals a) Capital Roman numerals denote major triads. b) Lowercase Roman numerals denote minor triads. c) A capital Roman numeral with a + indicates an augmented triad. d) A lowercase Roman numeral with a o indicates a diminished triad. e) Arabic numerals or figured- bass symbols denote intervals above the bass and hence indirectly indicate chord inversion. Arabic numerals may indicate voice leading and/or nonharmonic tones.

3 26. Triads a) 6 indicates a first inversion triad b) 6/4 indicates a second inversion triad 27. Seventh Chords a) 7 indicates a root- posi4on seventh chord b) o7 indicates a diminished (fully- diminished) seventh chord c) Ø7 indicates a half- diminished seventh chord d) 6/5 indicates first inversion e) 4/3 indicates second inversion f) 4/2 indicates third inversion 28. Other figures a) 8 7 indicates melodic movement from an octave to a seventh above the bass. b) 9 8, 7 6, 4 3 indicate a suspension and melodic resolu4on. c) An accidental before an Arabic numeral indicates altera4on of the interval involved. d) A figure with a slash (e.g., ) or a plus (e.g., 4+) indicates that the note crea4ng the interval in ques4on is raised a half step. B. Cadence Types 29. Authen4c a) IAC- imperfect authen4c b) PAC- perfect authen4c 30. Conclusive cadence 31. Decep4ve (DC) 32. Half (HC) a) half 33. Inconclusive cadence 34. Plagal C. Chord Quality 35. Triads a) augmented or + b) diminished or o c) major or M d) minor or m 36. Seventh chords a) major seventh (MM; M7) ( major- major ) b) dominant seventh (Mm7) (used for major- minor seventh chords exercising a dominant func4on) c) major- minor seventh (Mm7) (same quality as dominant seventh without deno4ng func4on) d) minor seventh (m7; mm) ( minor- minor ) e) half- diminished seventh (ø7; dm) ( diminished- minor ) f) fully- diminished seventh (o7; dd) ( diminished- diminished ) D. Func>ons and Progressions 37. Scale degrees/diatonic chord names a) tonic b) supertonic c) mediant 3

4 d) subdominant e) dominant f) submediant g) subtonic h) leading tone 38. Func4ons a) tonic func4on b) dominant func4on c) predominant func4on 39. Circle of fijhs 40. Decep4ve progression 41. Harmonic rhythm 42. Modula4on a) common tone modula4on b) phrase modula4on c) pivot chord modula4on 43. Neighboring chord 44. Rate of harmonic change 45. Realize, realiza4on of a figured bass, a) realiza4on of a four- part Roman b) numeral progression 46. Retrogression 47. Secondary dominant 48. Secondary leading tone chord 49. Toniciza4on 50. Treatment of second inversion (6/4) triads: a) Arpeggia>ng 6/4 a 6/4 created by arpeggia4on of the triad in the bass b) Caden>al 6/4 a I6/4 preceding the dominant, ojen at a cadence. Although it contains the notes of the tonic triad, it does not exercise a tonic func4on but rather serves as an embellishment of the dominant. It occurs in a metrically stronger posi4on than the dominant, and the upper voices most ojen move by step to the tones of the dominant. May also be wrijen as V6/4 5/3, including the resolu4on of the caden4al 6/4 to the dominant. c) Neighboring or pedal 6/4 (embellishing 6/4, auxiliary 6/4) occurs when the third and fijh of a root posi4on triad are embellished by their respec4ve upper neighboring tones, while the bass is sta4onary, usually occurring on a weak beat. d) Passing 6/4 harmonizes the second note of a three- note ascending or descending scale fragment in the bass; that is, it harmonizes a bass passing tone. The usual metric placement is on an unaccented beat and the mo4on of the upper voices is ordinarily by step. E. Nonharmonic Tones 51. An4cipa4on 52. Appoggiatura 53. Embellishment 54. Escape tone (échappeé) 55. Neighboring tone (auxiliary tone, embellishing tone, neighbor note) a) double neighbor b) lower neighbor 4

5 5 c) upper neighbor d) neighbor group (nota cambiata, changing tones, changing notes) 56. Ornament 57. Passing tone (accented, unaccented) 58. Pedal point 59. Prepara4on 60. Resolu4on 61. Retarda4on 62. Suspension a) rear4culated suspension b) suspension chain F. Spacing/Voicing/Posi>on 63. Alto 64. Bass 65. Close posi4on 66. Doubling 67. First inversion 68. Inversion, inversion of chords 69. Open posi4on 70. Root 71. Root posi4on 72. Second inversion 73. Soprano 74. Tenor 75. Third inversion G. Voice Leading 76. Common tone 77. Contrary mo4on 78. Cross rela4on (false rela4on) 79. Crossed voices (voice crossing) 80. Direct fijhs (hidden fijhs) 81. Direct octaves (hidden octaves) 82. Oblique mo4on 83. Overlapping voices 84. Parallel mo4on 85. Parallel intervals a) objec4onable parallels b) parallel fijhs c) parallel octaves 86. Similar mo4on 87. Tendency tone 88. Unresolved leading tone 89. Unresolved seventh 90. Voice exchange

6 6 H. Miscellaneous Harmonic Terms 91. Arpeggio, arpeggia4on 92. Chroma4c 93. Common Prac4ce Style 94. Consonance 95. Diatonic 96. Dissonance 97. Figured bass 98. FlaJed fijh 99. Lead sheet 100.Picardy third 101.Resolu4on III. INTERVALS 102.Compound interval 103.Half step (semitone) 104.Interval 105.Inversion of an interval 106.Numerical names (i.e., third, fijh, octave) 107.Quality or type (e.g. perfect, major, minor, diminished, augmented) 108.Tritone 109.Unison (prime) 110.Whole step (whole tone) IV. PERFORMANCE TERMS 111.An4phonal 112.Ar4cula4on a) arco b) legato c) marcato d) pizzicato e) slur f) staccato g) tenuto 113.Call and response 114.Dynamics a) crescendo b) diminuendo c) terrace dynamics d) pianissimo pp e) piano p f) mezzo piano mp g) mezzo forte mf h) forte f i) for4ssimo ff 115.Improvisa4on, improvisatory 116.Phrasing

7 7 117.Tempo a) adagio b) allegro c) andante d) andan4no e) grave f) largo g) lento h) moderato i) presto j) vivace k) accelerando l) ritardando m) ritenuto n) rubato V. RHYTHM/METER/TEMPORAL ORGANIZATION 118.Accent a) agogic accent b) dynamic accent c) metrical accent 119.Anacrusis (pickup; upbeat) 120.Asymmetrical meter 121.Augmenta4on 122.Bar line 123.Beat 124.Beat type a) compound b) simple 125.Changing meter (mul4meter) 126.Cross rhythm 127.Diminu4on 128.Dot, double dot 129.DoJed rhythm 130.Duplet 131.Dura4on 132.Hemiola 133.Irregular meter 134.Meter a) duple b) quadruple c) triple 135.Note value 136.Polyrhythm 137.Pulse 138.Rhythm 139.Swing rhythm 140.Syncopa4on

8 8 141.Tempo 142.Tie 143.Time signature (meter signature) 144.Triplet VI. SCALES/KEYS/MODES 145.Accidental 146.Chroma4c, chroma4cism 147.Diatonic 148.Key signature 149.Major 150.Minor a) harmonic minor b) melodic minor, ascending/descending c) natural minor (Aeolian) 151.Mode a) Ionian b) Dorian c) Phrygian d) Lydian e) Mixolydian f) Aeolian g) Locrian 152.Modality 153.Parallel key, parallel major or minor 154.Pentatonic 155.Rela4ve key, rela4ve major or minor 156.Scale degrees a) tonic ^1 b) supertonic ^2 c) mediant ^3 d) subdominant ^4 e) dominant ^5 f) submediant ^6 g) leading tone ^7 157.Tetrachord 158.Tonal 159.Tonality 160.Tonic 161.Whole- tone scale VII. OTHER A. TEXT/MUSIC RELATIONS 162.Lyrics 163.Melisma4c 164.Stanza 165.Syllabic

9 9 B. TEXTURE 166.Alber4 bass 167.Canon 168.Canonic 169.Chordal accompaniment 170.Contrapuntal 171.Counterpoint a) imita4on b) imita4ve polyphony c) nonimita4ve polyphony d) countermelody e) fugal imita4on 172.Heterophony, heterophonic 173.Homophony, homophonic a) chordal homophony b) chordal texture (homorhythmic) c) melody with accompaniment 174.Instrumenta4on a) brass b) con4nuo c) percussion d) rhythm sec4on e) strings f) 4mbre g) woodwinds 175.Melody 176.Monophony, monophonic 177.Obbligato 178.Os4nato 179.Polyphony, polyphonic 180.Register 181.Solo, soli 182.Tessitura 183.TuY 184.Walking bass C. More terms that may be used on the AP Music Theory Exam 185.Aria, Art song 186.Concerto 187.Fugue 188.Genre(s) 189.Interlude 190.Opera 191.Prelude, Postlude 192.Sonata 193.Song 194.String quartet, Symphony

Syllabus List. Beaming. Cadences. Chords. Report selections. ( Syllabus: AP* Music Theory ) Acoustic Grand Piano. Acoustic Snare. Metronome beat sound

Syllabus List. Beaming. Cadences. Chords. Report selections. ( Syllabus: AP* Music Theory ) Acoustic Grand Piano. Acoustic Snare. Metronome beat sound Report selections Syllabus List Syllabus: AP* Music Theory SYLLABUS AP* Music Theory AP is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse,