Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Orchestra Mid-Term Exam Study Materials 2007-08
1. You should be studying and practicing for your Final Exam. You need to:
 Performance Exam (50%) – Record Suzuki or other pre-approved
solo
o Concert Strings: 1 page
o String Ensemble & Symphony Strings: 2 pages
 Record MP3 format
 Smartmusic or Live Accompaniment
 Save your recording to: your School “S number”, home
hard drive or memory stick.
 Attach recording to your Smartmusic




Written Exam (50%) - Know Basics about the pieces you have
played in orchestra this year.
 Names and composers of your practice binder repertoire
 Type of piece, i.e. Serenade, Overture, Symphony, etc.
 Compositional characteristics of each piece, i.e. fugue,
chorale, prominent key, prominent tempo marking,
prominent instrumentation, etc.
 Be familiar with the handout covering practice binder
literature.
 Study Program note handout
Intervals/Scales & Key Signatures:
 Visit: musictheory.net & emusictheory.com for tutorials
and exercises.
 Intervals:
o Concert Strings: Major and Perfect intervals
o SE & SS: Major, minor and Perfect
o Study the Interval Help study sheet
 Identify key signatures (Concert Strings: major; SE & SS:
major and minor) up to 4 sharps or 4 flats
 Scales: Be able to identify scales and terms listed on
Understanding Scales study sheet
Know how to describe our orchestra tuning procedure
Be able to define the instrumental terms found on your Common
Vocabulary study sheet.
www.Musictheory.net
Do the following Lessons to study for exam:
 Steps & Accidentals
 The Major Scale
 Key Signatures
 Generic Intervals
 Specific Intervals
Do the following Tutorials to study for exam:
 Key Trainer: (click settings and choose only the keys you are interested in
quizzing. Use toggle button if it helps you.
 Interval Trainer: (Turn off Aug & Dim button, and also double accidentals)
www.emusictheory.com
Free Theory Drills (located under “everyone” on left panel)
 Key Signatures (click settings and choose:
o the number of 3’s and b’s
o major and/or minor
o relative minor or not
Intervals: Choose the clef of your choice. Click settings and choose:
 Identify intervals on staff
 No accidentals on starting note
 Interval types: Major and Perfect
 Interval direction: both ascending and descending
 Intervals: Select all
Understanding Scales – a study sheet
prepared by the FHS music faculty
Music reading requires a vocabulary of intervals, the distance from one pitch to another.
Most melodies are derived from scales, a pattern of pitches spelled sequentially.
Most scales consist of two or three interval types:
Half-step = closest pitch above or below a given pitch
Whole-step = two adjacent half-steps
Step and a half = one and ½ steps or 3 half-steps.
The interval of a half-step is most often spelled as a minor 2nd, i.e. C – C# or D#-E
The interval of a whole-step is most often spelled as a major 2nd, i.e. C-D or Ab-Bb
The interval of a step and a half is spelled as an augmented 2 nd or also a minor 3rd, i.e. augmented 2nd - CD#; minor third – C-Eb.
Other interval spellings will be discussed in a later study sheet.
Vibration creates pitch. The number of vibrations emitted per second identifies a tone or pitch, i.e. 440
vibrations per second, is generally accepted as the pitch “A.” Some prefer tune to an “A” of 442 vibrations
per second in order to achieve a brighter sound.
The tones or pitches that create scales are pre-determined by the natural laws of acoustics, the science of
sound. Simply put, certain frequencies (resulting in an audible pitch) resonate clearer than other pitches.
When a pitch is sounded, many other “higher” sympathetic pitches also vibrate, called overtones.
The strongest overtone of any pitch is the octave. Octaves are all pitches whose frequencies are related by
powers of 2, meaning twice as fast or twice as slow, i.e. an “A” will sound with = 220, 440 or 880
vibrations per second.
Scales begin and end on the same pitch. The octave provides an acoustical frame in which all other tones
fall into.
Music theorists have identified 12 pitches that are the building blocks of melody and harmony.
These 12 pitches are known as the chromatic scale:
i.e. C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C
or C, B, Bb, A, Ab, G, Gb, F, E, Eb, D, Db, C
IMPORTANT – The chromatic scale is a scale of 12 half-steps.
All other scales of our western music heritage are constructed from less than 12 tones and contain a
mixture of half-steps, whole-steps or wider intervals.
Note that the United States generally uses 7 alphabet letters, A-G. Europe uses 7 solfege syllables - do, re,
mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do instead of our 7 alphabet letters, i.e. C = do, D = re, etc.
Since we have 12 tones possible and only 7 letters are used, we use accidentals to indicate notes that are
raised or lowered. These notes fit between the 7 alphabet letters. The piano keyboard provides a wonderful
visual of the chromatic scale. The white keys are the unaltered alphabet letters and the black keys are the
raised or lowered accidentals.
Look closely at the chromatic scales given above. Do you see that there are two sets of alphabet letters that
do not have an accidental (# or b) placed between them?
Acoustic properties divide the octave unevenly into 7 strong pitches and 5 secondary pitches instead evenly
(6 strong and 6 secondary). Therefore, two sets of strong pitches sit side-by-side as half-steps. These two
pairs, B-C and E-F are called natural half-steps or half-steps created without the use of accidentals.
Now you have the tools to recognize and create scale patterns found in the music we perform.
Familiar scales listed in their order of scale degrees:
Each scale is illustrated in its simplest key. Key is identified by the octave tones (strongest frequency center
that all scale notes revolve around).
Pentatonic – any 5 note scale
Irish/Scottish/Folk/Oriental/Native American are cultures that have a considerable repertoire of pentatonic
music.
Scale degree = 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 8ve
Pitch name =
Do – Re – Mi –Sol – La – Do
also spelled as - C - D - E - G - A - C
interval pattern =
W W 1½ W 1½
There are many variations of pentatonic scales this is the most common. This scale is constructed by
replacing half-steps with 1 ½ step intervals spelled as minor 3 rd s. .
Whole tone (6 consecutive whole steps)
Scale degree = 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
6th 8ve
Pitch name =
Do – Re – Mi – Fi – Si – Li– Do
also spelled as - C - D - E - F# - G# - A# - C
C# - D# - F – G – A – B – C#
interval pattern = W W W W W W
Hepatonic scales (7 note scale)
**Major (our most common scale)
Scale degree = 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
Pitch name =
Do – Re – Mi – Fa – Sol – La – Ti – Do
also spelled as - C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
interval pattern =
W W h W W W h
In order to construct a major scale, all one has to remember is that all intervals are whole steps except 3-4
and 7-8, which are half-steps. This interval pattern happens in all major scales – NO EXCEPTIONS!
There are three types of minor scales. We begin with Natural Minor since it contains no accidentals.
1. Natural minor scale (7 note scale = hepatonic)
Scale degree = 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
Pitch name =
La – Ti – Do – Re – Mi – Fa – Sol – La
also spelled as - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A
interval pattern =
W h W W h W W
In order to construct a natural minor scale, all one has to remember is that all intervals are whole steps
except 2-3 and 5-6, which are half-steps. This interval pattern happens in all natural minor scales.
Helpful hint: Using the solfege system, Do – Do = major and La – La = minor
2. Harmonic minor (Natural minor with a raised 7 th degree)
Scale degree = 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
Pitch name =
La – Ti – Do – Re – Mi – Fa – Si – La
also spelled as - A - B - C - D - E - F - G# - A
interval pattern =
W h W W h 1½
h
This scale contains three pairs of half steps and one augmented second. It sounds “Oriental” (Snake
Charmer) in color.
3. Melodic minor (Natural minor with 6th and 7th scale degrees raised while ascending and lowered back to
natural minor when descending.) Example is ascending.
Scale degree = 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
Pitch name =
La – Ti – Do – Re – Mi – Fi – Si – La
also spelled as - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G# - A
interval pattern =
W h W W W W h
By beginning on different scale degrees without the addition of accidentals, the pattern of Whole and Halfsteps is rotated. The placement of the two sets of half-steps are moved to different scale degrees resulting in
less familiar scales or modes.
C – C or Do – Do = Ionian or what we call Major
D - D or Re to Re = Dorian
E – E or Mi to Me = Phrygian
F – F or Fa – Fa = Lydian
G –G or Sol – Sol = Mixolydian
A – A or La – La = Aeolian or what we call Natural Minor
B – B or Ti – Ti = Locrian (rarely seen in music literature)
Interval (distance from one pitch to another) Help Sheet
Minor 2nd =
Major 2nd =
Minor 3rd =
Major 3rd =
Perfect 4th =
Tritone =
Perfect 5th =
Minor 6th =
Major 6th =
Minor 7th =
Major 7th =
Perfect 8th =
1 half step
2 half steps
3 half steps
4 half steps
5 half steps
6 half steps
7 half steps
8 half steps
9 half steps
10 half steps
11 half steps
12 half steps or
or
1 whole step
or
1 ½ whole steps
or
2 whole steps
or
2 ½ whole steps
or
3 whole steps
or
3 ½ whole steps
or
4 whole steps
or
4 ½ whole steps
or
5 whole steps
or
5 ½ whole steps
6 whole steps
It is often helpful to invert larger intervals to their INVERSION.
Inversions follow this formula: Minor intervals invert to Major
Major intervals invert to Minor
Perfect invert to Perfect
Diminished invert to Augmented
Augmented invert to Diminished
Interval inversions add up to 9. i.e.
P1 + P8 = 9
m2 + M7 = 9
M2 + m7 = 9
m3 + M6 = 9
M3 + m6 = 9
P4 + P5 = 9
d4 + A5 = 9 or A5 + d4 = 9 (Tritone)
{We will cover other diminished and augmented intervals later!}
m6 + M3 = 9
M6 + m3 = 9
m7 + M2 = 9
M7 + m2 = 9
P8 + P1 = 9
Intervals of a major scale (distance from tonic note to other note):
P1
M2
M3
P4
P5
M6
M7
P8
1st Semester Practice Binder Contents 2007-08

Northern Region/All-State Scale and Solo Packet
Concert Strings (Violins are to have both 1st and 2nd violin parts.)
 Strictly Strings book 3 (school binder only)
 Bach: 371 Chorales (school binder only)
 Hofelt: The Gift
 Holst: St. Paul’s Suite
 Nelhybel: Danza
 Washburn: Queen Noor Suite
String Ensemble
 Bach: The Art of the Fugue
String Quartet Albums
 Clark: String Music of the Baroque Era
String Quartets
 Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1 in F major
 Boccherini: 9 Quartets
 Schubert: String Quartet no. 13 in A minor
 Walker: Traveling Songs for String Quartet
Symphony Strings/Orchestra
 Bloch: Concerto Grosso
 Dvorak: Serenade, op. 22
 Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, New World
 Hovhaness: Celestial Fantasy
 Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor
 Stravinsky: Danse Infernale
 Stravinsky: Berceuse and Finale
 Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Vintage 21 (3 points each for V21 music)
 Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 (violas, cellos and bass)
 Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors
 Vivaldi: Concerto for 4 Violins in D, op. 3 no. 1
 Wagner: Siegfried-Idyll
Paul O'Neill: Composer, Lyricist, Producer
Trans-Siberian Orchestra was formed in 1996 by Paul O'Neill who immediately
approached long time friends and collaborators Robert Kinkel and Jon Oliva to form a
core writing team. Paul O'Neill is a rare talent; a prolific writer and producer with a
tremendously varied career in the music industry. A New York City native, O'Neill shaped
his passion for music around the varied sounds he was introduced to while growing up from Queen to classical, Yes to Harry Chapin, Broadway musicals to Jim Croce. After
playing with a number of rock bands through high school and playing folk guitar gigs at
downtown clubs, Paul took his first serious musical steps almost 20 years ago as the guitarist
in the touring productions of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Hair." From 1980-85 he worked at
Leber-Krebs Inc., the legendary management company that launched the careers of
Aerosmith, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Ted Nugent, The New York Dolls, The Scorpions, and Michael
Bolton among others. In the 1980's, Paul became one of the biggest rock promoters in Japan,
promoting every tour of Madonna and Sting done in that decade, as well as some of the
biggest rock festivals with such acts as Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and Ronnie James
Dio. O'Neill's productions include Aerosmith's platinum "Classics Live, Volumes 1 & 2,"
Savatage's critically acclaimed "Hall of the Mountain King," "Gutter Ballet," the rock operas
"Streets," "Dead Winter Dead," as well as the "Badlands" debut album. From there he
expanded his horizons to create the ageless and widely praised Trans-Siberian Orchestra
(TSO). The platinum selling band quickly became one of Lava/Atlantic's top artists. An
established songwriter, O'Neill has also written and directed several music videos highlighted
by "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" from TSO's debut album "Christmas Eve and Other
Stories," as well as the TV special "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve," starring Michael Crawford,
Ossie Davis, Jewel, and TSO. TSO's music has recently been featured in several films such as
"The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," and "Little Vampires." Wizards in Winter is from “The
Lost Christmas Eve”.
The scenario for Firebird, as adapted by Fokine, follows an old Russian folk tale. The
Tsarevitch, Prince Ivan, is hunting the elusive Firebird, and during the night he wanders into a
magical garden. As he walks through the garden he sees the Firebird, a beautiful bird with
dazzling plumage. Ivan captures the Firebird, but agrees to let her go free, after taking one of
her feathers as a trophy. At sunrise, Ivan meets thirteen princesses, who have come into the
garden to dance and play with golden apples from the garden's orchard. Ivan learns that the
garden belongs to the evil magician-king Kaschei, who has enchanted the princesses, and who
has the ability to turn his enemies into stone. Ivan Tsarevich falls in love with one of the
princesses. The prince vows to enter Kaschei's castle and free his beloved. As soon as he
opens the castle gate, however, Kaschei and his crew of demons appear and capture Ivan in a
furious battle (Infernal Dance). The Firebird suddenly appears and distracts Kaschei's
monsters by dancing wildly among them. The Firebird reveals to Ivan the secret of Kaschei's
immortality: an egg that contains Kaschei's soul. Ivan smashes the egg, and Kaschei
immediately dies; and with him all of his enchantments. The Firebird dances a lovely Lullaby,
gradually bringing to life all of the knights that Katschei had frozen. The ballet closes with a
triumphant Final Hymn, and rejoicing by the prince and his princess.
In the summer of 1909 the ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev telegraphed Stravinsky in St.
Petersburg with a commission for an original ballet score, based on a scenario by
choreographer Michael Fokine. It was first performed in Paris on June 25, 1910. The Firebird
remained one of Stravinsky's favorite pieces throughout his life, and he frequently
programmed it in his appearances as a conductor--in a 1961 interview, he noted that he had
conducted Firebird over a thousand times!
The “Arpeggione” was a guitar-like instrument tuned the same as a guitar, but held between
the knees and played with a bow. Invented in 1821 by the Viennese guitar maker Johann
Georg Stauffer, it was originally called “Guitarre d’amour,” but soon dubbed “Arpeggione”
because it lent itself so well to arpeggio playing. However, its peculiar guitar-like body made
adequate performance on it very awkward; especially in loud passages it was very difficult to
keep the bow on one string only. But the instrument possessed a warm sound quality, and it
was this attribute which Schubert exploited in the sonata which he wrote for it in 1824. The
arpeggione soon became obsolete and transcriptions of this sonata now exist for cello, violin
or viola.
Queen Noor Suite, was commissioned for the opening concert at the Conservatory of Music
at the Royal Cultural Center in Amman, Jordan, performed by the Young Strings in Action,
Washington D. C. Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan is an international humanitarian
activist and an outspoken voice on issues of world peace and justice. She was born Lisa
Najeeb Halaby, to an Arab-American family distinguished for its public service. Since her
marriage in 1978 to King Hussein, Queen Noor has founded and sponsored numerous activities
to address national changes in education, health, sustainable development, women’s
empowerment, human rights and cross cultural understanding.
Robert Washburn is Dean and Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow in Music at the Crane
School of Music of the State University of New York at Potsdam. After completing his
undergraduate studies at Potsdam he was awarded a Danforth Foundation Fellowship to
complete a Ph.D. in composition at the Eastman School of Music where he worked with
Howard Hanson, Bernard Rogers and Alan Hovhaness. Further studies included a summer at
the Aspen Music School where he studied with Darius Milhaud, and a season in Paris with
Nadia Boulanger. He also participated in seminars at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the
University of Oxford in England.
Danza was first performed in April 1971. This piece has three contrasting sections: Adagio,
Allegro, and Vivo. Nelhybel’s affinity for Renaissance and Baroque period music is evident in
the use of modal melodies, parallel intervals in conjunct motion, and fugal techniques,
including imitative entries, stretto and augmentation. The three movements are a
monothematic composition based on a five note theme. The three-part form is typical of many
Slavic folk dances. Nelhybel was born in Czechoslovakia and studied composition at the Prague
Conservatory of Music. He held various conducting posts, including the Czech Philharmonic,
Swiss Radio and Radio Free Europe. He immigrated to the United States and became a citizen
in 1962, where he was active as a composer, conductor, and lecturer.
The Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 was written when the composer was only 19 years old.
Mozart’s five authentic violin concertos were all products of a single year, 1775 and were
performed in Salzburg shortly after that date, most likely with Mozart himself as soloist. As
second concertmaster in the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg (under Michael Haydn,
younger brother of the great Joseph Haydn), Mozart would have been called upon to perform
as soloist in his violin concertos, and he probably composed all of them for his own use.
Intimate lyricism is the keynote of this concerto, but elegance and vivacity are part of the mix
as well.
The fact that Mozart never really tried to develop his talents as a violin soloist --and later
preferred to play viola-- was always a source of anguish to his violinist father. His letters to his
son frequently held wistful hints; in 1777 he wrote: "I feel a little melancholy whenever I go
home, for as I get near the house, I always imagine that I shall hear your violin going." A few
weeks later: "You have no idea yourself how well you play the violin; if you only do yourself
justice and play with fire, heartiness, and spirit, you may become the first violinist in Europe."
Mozart had other plans, but he was obviously trying to please his father when he wrote from
Munich: "They all stared; I played as if I were the first violinist in Europe." After 1775, though,
he composed no more violin concertos, and made it clear that he did not care to be the
greatest violinist in Europe.
Traveling Songs are contemporary adaptations of familiar American songs about travel –
travel of the body, of the spirit and of the imagination. These adaptations use the traditional
songs as “springboards” for musical explorations – delighting in the sonorities, the colors and
the humor latent in the tunes. Because this work was a joint commission from string quartets
in California and Arkansas, it seemed appropriate to feature one song especially recognizing
each state. Arkansas Traveler is the Arkansas state song. It is presented energetically, then
daintily, then in a modern (cubistic!) fashion, and finally, joyfully!
String Quartet no 13 in A minor was written and first performed in 1824. This was the only
one of Schubert’s four great quartets to be published in his lifetime. It was dedicated to the
violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh whose quartet gave the first performance and takes its title from
the theme of the second movement which derives from Schubert’s music for Rosamunde.
The drama begins in the first bar with its throbbing bass line and an accompanying figure on
second violin above which the first violin enters with a melancholy theme. After a brief silence
a secondary theme is heard on second violin, but it is the first theme with its numerous
imaginative transformations and modulations which dominates.
Concerto Grosso No. 1 by Ernest Bloch, was written for the student orchestra at the
Cleveland Institute of Music, though it quickly became and has remained, a standard in the
professional repertoire. Bloch intended it to demonstrate to composition students that one
could create a “modern” piece while still adhering to traditional forms and structures. This
Concerto Grosso consists of four contrasting movements and is harmonically accessible, yet it
contains many traits characteristic of Bloch’s compositional style: bitonal and modal writing;
mixed meters in all but the final movement, cross rhythms, elements of folk music in the third
movement, and a thick, broad texture throughout. Movement I is a bold opening with
sweeping chords and repeated down bows. The
Dirge is full of bitonality with the lower strings often a half step off in key. The Pastorale
sections of the third movement have an impressionistic use of tone color, likely Debussy’s
influence, with exposed sections requiring sensitive playing skills. The fugue requires a more
baroque playing style. However, the dynamic contrasts are quite dramatic and more romantic
in nature.
Bloch, composer, conductor, philosopher, music educator, and administrator, was born in
Geneva, Switzerland. He studied composition with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and violin with Louis
Reyh. Bloch first came to the United States in 1916 as the conductor for a dance tour. He
taught at the Mannes School of Music in NYC, Cleveland Institute of Music, San Francisco
Conservatory and at the University of California, Berkeley.
Farmington High School Music Department
Common Vocabulary – Mid-term 07
Accidentals This is the general term for a sharp, flat, and natural (cancel) sign.
They are used to alter the pitch of a note.
Bar Line
A line drawn vertically on a staff to mark off a measure. Other types of
bar lines include a double bar (used at key changes and section changes),
Caesura
To cease or stop. Indicated by the symbol: //
Canon A polyphonic piece in which all parts are identical, but enter at different times.
A round is a canon.
Chord Three or more notes sounded together.
Crescendo and abbreviated: cresc. Indicates to gradually increase volume.
Decrescendo and abbreviated decresc. Indicates to gradually decrease volume.
Dynamics
The general term referring to levels of volume. Performers should
work to perform at all levels from pianissimo (pp) to fortissimo (ff).
Enharmonic Two notes which sound the same, but look different from each other
when written. Ex. c-sharp & d-flat; e-sharp & f-natural
Fermata
Symbol that indicates to hold a note until the conductor indicates to
move ahead.
Harmony
Simultaneous sounding of two or more pitches.
Interval
The distance between two notes. Measured by determining the size
and quality of the distance.
Key Signature
A sign found at the beginning of each line of music that
indicates what key (major or
relative minor) a
piece is in and the sharps or
flats that applies.
Legato
To perform with no interruption between notes.
Measure
Metrical unit set off by bar lines.
Meter The sign at the beginning of a piece of music which indicates, by two
numbers, the (time signature) number of beats per measure (top number) and what
unit (note) receives one beat.
Music Sound in time; usually implies a degree of organization. The three essential
elements of music are generally considered to be: rhythm, harmony, and melody.
Phrase
A natural division of a melodic line, comparable to a sentence in
language. Phrasing is an essential component in the expressive nature of music.
Rhythm
Everything which refers to the temporal quality (duration) of a musical
sound. It is considered along with harmony and melody (motion) one of the three
building blocks of music.
SATB
The abbreviations that stand for the major voice parts: Soprano, Alto,
Tenor, and Bass.
Scale
Actually means “ladder.” An ascending (or descending) series of tones
moving in a particular way. Examples of commonly used scales are: Major, minor,
and chromatic.
Syncopation When emphasis is given to notes that fall on a “weak” beat or the
weak portion of a beat. Sometimes defined as accenting the off-beat.
Tempo
The speed at which time is measured (or beat) in music. There are
general and specific tempo markings. Specific time is kept by a metronome marking
such as: quarter note= 60.
Tie
A curved line, which connects two successive notes of the same pitch, making
them a single sound equal in duration to the sum of the two notes.
Tone Quality The characteristic sound made by an instrument or voices, which
allows us to distinguish voices and instruments from each other.
Vibrato
A slight fluctuation in pitch used to enhance or intensify a sound.