Review guide for MUHL 3771 Exam III. The three exams MUHL 3771 exams are each worth 20% of your total grade. It is essential that you keep with all of the reading and listening assignments in order to do well on the exam. The following review should help you prepare for the third exam.
I. A few general tips: 1. Focus on the repertoire list. You need to have a command of the music on the listening list. You can do this by using flash cards, making a large table (via MS Excel or other software), or using large posters. 2. Don’t go it alone. Be sure to study in groups. There is a lot of information to prepare for the exam. It will be helpful to pool your knowledge. 3. Review often. It is never to early to go over material. Because we cover a new topic every day, some of the material might not stick the first time around. 4. For listening identification: I will not always start at the beginning of a composition, but I will play excerpts that exhibit distinct traits. I expect that you will be able to hear a piece and recognize whether it is monophonic or polyphonic, sacred or secular, organum or discant, etc. and be able to connect these traits to works on your listening list.
I. Known Listening Identification You will be given the titles of several pieces on the listening list and asked to supply the composer, genre, and approximate date of composition for each piece. Then brief excerpts (ca. 30-60 seconds) from some of these pieces will be played. You will be asked to match the number of each excerpt with the correct title of the piece. The question will look like this, except that it will have more examples:
Number Composer Genre Date ___ A chantar ______Epitaph of Seikilos ______Robins m'aime ______
The composer's name should be given in full. If the name is not known, write "anonymous." When we do not have an exact date for a piece, give the date as a range (e.g., "second half of 12th century" for A chantar) or an approximate date (e.g., "ca. 1284" for Adam de la Halle's Robins m'aime). Be as specific as you can be given the dating information in the textbooks and on the listening list. When a reasonably exact date is given in NAWM or on the listening list, your answer will be judged correct if it is within ten years either way (if you give a date) or in the right quarter-century (if you give a date range).
II. Unassigned Score or Listening Identification You will be played or shown a short piece or excerpt that you have not studied but which are similar in significant ways to pieces on the listening list. These unknown examples will be labeled as such. For these, you may be asked to identify the likely composer, genre, and date, then asked several short-answer questions that demonstrate your ability to apply terms and concepts from class or the readings to music you see or hear. For instance, we might show you a sixteenth-century vocal composition and ask you the following questions: What language is the text of this work? What genre is this piece? Describe elements of the text that help distinguish the genre of this work. What is a possible date for this work? Was this work intended for professional or amateur singers? Does the composer employ madrigalisms? expressive harmonic passages? Where? Who is the likely composer? You may be asked to cite specific style traits that help guess the name of the composer.
III. Known Score or Listening Identification You will be played or shown short pieces or excerpts drawn from compositions on the listening list and asked a series of short-answer questions including composer, genre, date, and questions that demonstrate your ability to apply terms and concepts from class or the readings to music you see or hear. For instance, I might play Luca Marenzio’s Solo e pensoso (NAWM 54) and ask these questions (these questions are not necessarily applicable to all of the pieces that may be chosen for this portion of the exam): Composer (2 point): Genre (2 point): Date (1 point): Describe elements of the text that help distinguish the genre of this work. Describe two examples of text painting in the excerpt. Was this music composed for amateur or professional musicians? Support your answer.
The examples that may be used for this questions are as follows: Jacques Arcadelt, Il bianco e dolce cigno Cipriano de Rore, Da le belle contrade d’oriente Luca Marenzio, Solo e pensoso Carlo Gesualdo, ″Io parto" e non più dissi Claudin de Sermisy, Tant que vivray Claude Le Jeune, Revecy venir du printans
IV. Topical questions You exam will have one or more short, topical questions. They will be chosen from the list below.
1. Discuss St. Mark’s Basilica. Where was it located and what is its importance to music history. Be sure to discuss a work on our listening list that was performed there and mention at least two musicians who were associated with that institution. 2. Discuss the difference between expressing text through madrigalisms and through an expressive harmonic language. Be sure to articulate the difference clearly and give at least two examples of each technique from works on your listening list. 3. Choose two genres of instrumental music that were common in the sixteenth century. Be sure to note their salient traits and include examples of each from your listening list.
IV. Weiss-Taruskin Readings One questions will draw upon a reading in Weiss/Taruskin’s Music in the Western World. In reviewing Weiss- Taruskin, focus particularly on these readings: Madrigals and Madrigalisms (38); The Most Musical Court in Europe (40); Music and Dancing as Social Graces (41); Radical Humanism (43)
IV. Terms and Names You will be given a list of terms and names and will be asked to identify some number of them (for example, three from a list of five). For each of the items you choose, identify and describe it as fully as you can in the time you have, providing a date or dates as appropriate and explaining why it is important. Hint: learning these terms will also help you with other questions on the exam. Terms for the third exam will be drawn from this list:
Ottaviano Petrucci Villancico The Triumphs of Oriana Venice concerto delle donne pavane St. Mark’s Basilica Pierre Attaignant galliard Isabella d’Este Parisian chanson tablature sonnet Franco-Flemish chanson consort Francesco Petrarch Musique mesurée virginal Gioseffo Zarlino Musica transalpina cori spezzati Ferrara