How good is your Music Theory/Reading?

[paul_5]

More likely to be facing a firing squad if I'm honest

[JapanAxe]

14/15

I got no.11 wrong - schoolboy error!

[Kirky]

14/15. The social media icons covered the last chord in the cadence - didn't notice it!

[lowdown]

[quote name='Kirky' timestamp='1433358692' post='2790477']
14/15. The social media icons covered the last chord in the cadence - didn't notice it!
[/quote]

Use your ears*.

[SpaceChick]

Alto clef is a mystery to me! As a result, I stuffed up!

[dadofsix]

Rats! I got an 8!! It's been too long. I should have done better.

[miles'tone]

10/15

I wasn't even aware there WAS an alto clef.
Learnt a few things there!

[Lord Sausage]

Got two wrong. Put minor ninth instead of second. Schoolboy error really.
Didn't know the last one.

[Norris]

14/15 - I got the 5 sharps key wrong

[ambient]

15/15 😁

[Bilbo]

13/15. Didn't get the cadence and the 6:8 note.

[Huge Hands]

Funnily enough - I play in 2 sight reading bands each week, and also dep here and there (nothing too pro) and I only got 9 out of 15!

My failings were the chordal stuff and cadence etc. This is where my theory has always let me down. Time to get some deeper theory training methinks....

[philparker]

13/15 - I'm embarrassed, I was too cocky and did it too quickly: that will teach me!

[ahpook]

I got 5 !

Call me the control.

[BassTractor]

14/15 because of the up bow/down bow thing - - something I've consistently erred on for decades.

But I've got a nerdy/geeky question, and I don't know whether the answer lies in the language department or in the realm of musical styles or even in changes within theory.
See, when I got my education, a D double sharp and and E are (in Dutch) not the same NOTE even if they give the same TONE on many instruments ("tone" here not meaning timbre but more like say frequency).
IMS, in Dutch classical music in the seventies/eighties, we'd call the interval a diminished second (D - E would be a large second, D sharp - E would be a little second).

In the quiz, I opted for "they're the same notes", not even looking at the other options, guessing this is what they wanted, and also guessing that in English this is a usual (and possibly even theoretically correct) way of looking at it.

How say you? Is the quiz correct in its answer? Does it differ per musical style?

Edited June 4, 2015 by BassTractor

[ras52]

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1433451871' post='2791261']
14/15 because of the up bow/down bow thing - - something I've consistently erred on for decades.

But I've got a nerdy/geeky question, and I don't know whether the answer lies in the language department or in the realm of musical styles or even in changes within theory.
See, when I got my education, a D double sharp and and E are (in Dutch) not the same NOTE even if they give the same TONE on many instruments ("tone" here not meaning timbre but more like say frequency).
IMS, in Dutch classical music in the seventies/eighties, we'd call the interval a diminished second (D - E would be a large second, D sharp - E would be a little second).

In the quiz, I opted for "they're the same notes", not even looking at the other options, guessing this is what they wanted, and also guessing that in English this is a usual (and possibly even theoretically correct) way of looking at it.

How say you? Is the quiz correct in its answer? Does it differ per musical style?
[/quote]

In [i]equal temperament[/i], D double-sharp and E are alternative "spellings" of the same note.

[such]

I got 9, did ok on note/chord/key recognition in bass and treble clefs but failed wherever guesswork was involved: funky clefs (yes, copyright), classical terms etc.

[Harlequin74]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1433346557' post='2790327']
I would fail badly if I took the test

I will however play every note correctly at my gig on friday , and hopefully with good timing and dynamics (or whatever the real word for that is)
[/quote]

Looks like we better stick together Lojo! We are surrounded by music theorist geniuses ( they can prob all play brilliantly also! )

[Guest MoJo]

I have very little musical theory knowledge. I'm self taught and have learned by ear. Can't read music either

[BassTractor]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1433456566' post='2791326']
In [i]equal temperament[/i], D double-sharp and E are alternative "spellings" of the same note.
[/quote]

Thanks for trying, Ras.
As indicated in other words in my question, I'm aware of them giving the same frequency in equal temperament, and that is not what I'm asking about.

I remember a BassChat post where a Brit stated that people use the word TONE when in reality they mean TIMBRE. So my guess was that the word TONE does exist is the meaning I tried to describe, and that that is what should have been used in the quiz.
Not sure though - - hence the question.

[ras52]

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1433502952' post='2791603']
Thanks for trying, Ras.
As indicated in other words in my question, I'm aware of them giving the same frequency in equal temperament, and that is not what I'm asking about.

I remember a BassChat post where a Brit stated that people use the word TONE when in reality they mean TIMBRE. So my guess was that the word TONE does exist is the meaning I tried to describe, and that that is what should have been used in the quiz.
Not sure though - - hence the question.
[/quote]

People on here talk about TONE a lot, probably because their basses have "tone" controls Tone meaning something frequency-related isn't common in the UK, although it appears in terms like "tritone". More usually we'll talk about NOTEs (e.g. C, implicitly any C) and PITCHes (e.g. Middle C, a specific instance of a note).

Re-reading your question, I think the answer is, "eh?" D-E is a major second, D#-E is a minor second (matching your terminology), but D##-E as a "diminished second" is a purely theoretical concept (with equal temperament): it would be a "zero interval" between identical frequencies.

I'm not sure any of that helps....

[CHW]

9/15

Dodgy clefs deceived me, and I can't read bass clef, I have to work it all out. In some cases I was sat here making scale shapes with my left hand- Teachers Notes- Must try harder

[KevB]

I didn't really look at the questions and got 8 by picking randomely. Which is what I'd expect if there were only 2 options for each question but I think there were more. Very odd.

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1433509937' post='2791706']
I didn't really look at the questions and got 8 by picking randomely.
[/quote]

That doesn't make me feel any better about my 9

Edited June 5, 2015 by CamdenRob

[BassTractor]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1433503903' post='2791627']
People on here talk about TONE a lot, probably because their basses have "tone" controls Tone meaning something frequency-related isn't common in the UK, although it appears in terms like "tritone". More usually we'll talk about NOTEs (e.g. C, implicitly any C) and PITCHes (e.g. Middle C, a specific instance of a note).
[/quote]

Thanks again, Ras, and a general mea culpa sorry for the thread derailment.
Tone controls! Why didn't I think of that?
BTW; also in Dutch we can use the word tone for timbre++, as in an instrument or a player having a great tone.

Great example with the tritone. Another thing I hadn't thought about.
Then again, I'd forgotten about the word "pitch" too.



[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1433503903' post='2791627']
but D##-E as a "diminished second" is a purely theoretical concept (with equal temperament): it would be a "zero interval" between identical frequencies.
[/quote]

Aye, but don't let that sound as something negative. It's not more theoretical than calling a C-C interval a "first" (which we do in Dutch calling it a prime), especially when talking about two different voices. It's just a tool to describe what we find.
But yes, composers are divided, and whilst some would write down the D double-sharp as a D double-sharp indeed, on the basis of the formal construction of the piece, others would just not care on that nerd/geek level, and write it as an E.

Anyway, thanks again.