Study Guide

Field 026: Fine Arts—General Music
Sample Listening and Multiple-Choice Questions

Expand All | Collapse All

General Directions

This test consists of two sections: (1) a listening section in which you will listen to audio excerpts and answer multiple-choice questions, and (2) a multiple-choice section in which you will respond to questions presented on the screen. The directions for each section appear immediately before that section.

Read each question and answer choice carefully and choose the ONE best answer. You should answer all questions. Even if you are unsure of an answer, it is better to guess than not to answer a question at all.

You may NOT use any type of reference materials during the testing session.

Listening Section

Directions

This section of the test contains multiple-choice questions that involve listening to a recorded excerpt. Excerpts will vary in length. Unless otherwise indicated, each listening excerpt will be played twice.

The audio will begin automatically once you advance to the next screen. There will be 20 seconds of silence before the audio excerpt begins to play. During these 20 seconds, you should familiarize yourself with the test question(s).

Once the audio begins, you will not be able to pause, stop, or replay it. Therefore, listen carefully. You will not be able to go back and review your answers to questions in this section of the test. Once you move to the next question, you will not be able to go back to previous questions in this section. Therefore, be sure to select your answer carefully before you move to the next question.

Sample Listening Question

Objective 0001
Aural Analysis of Musical Works and Styles (Standards 1.3–1.4)

1. Which of the following terms best describes the texture of this excerpt?

(The examinee listens to a 30-second excerpt from a Renaissance mass.)

  1. monophonic
  2. heterophonic
  3. polyphonic
  4. homophonic
Answer
Correct Response: C. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate a broad and comprehensive understanding of essential listening skills, including an aural analysis of Western art music from various historical periods. The music example contains an excerpt from a Renaissance mass. The texture is in four voices with the use of imitative counterpoint and a sacred text. This was one of the most important compositional techniques in the Renaissance style, used by the leading composers of the time in both sacred and secular vocal music.

Multiple-Choice Section

Objective 0002
History, Literature, and Culture (Standard 4)

2. Which of the following genres is a stylized Polish folk dance in triple meter?

  1. mazurka
  2. waltz
  3. minuet
  4. ballade
Answer
Correct Response: A. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate a broad and comprehensive understanding of music history and culture, including stylistic characteristics, instrumentation, and context of Western music from 1750 to the present. The mazurka, which originates from the Mazury (Masuria) region of Northern Poland, is one of Poland's five national folk dances. The meter of the mazurka is triple, often 3/4. The mazurka is most closely associated with Frédéric Chopin, who stylized the genre by blending cosmopolitan aspects of Western art music, such as harmonic syntax based on descending fifths, with nationalistic aspects of Polish folk music, such as characteristic rhythms, pedal points, and modally-tinged melodies.

Objective 0003
Music Theory, Composing, and Arranging (Standards 2, 3.3–3.6)

3. Use the example below to answer the question that follows.

Which of the following types of cadences is represented in the example?

  1. authentic
  2. deceptive
  3. half
  4. plagal
Answer
Correct Response: C. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate a broad and comprehensive understanding of the harmonic elements in music, including cadences. The key of the example is C major. The chord progression shown is C major to G major, or I to V. When a phrase ends on the V chord, and there is no modulation, it is called a half cadence.

Objective 0004
Music Pedagogy (Standard 7)

4. A general music teacher would like to teach the concept of contrast in music to a second-grade class. Which of the following musical activities would be most appropriate and effective for the teacher to use for this purpose?

  1. having students move to reflect tempo changes in a musical recording
  2. discussing with students verse-refrain form in a folk ballad
  3. having students listen to recordings of pieces with thick and thin textures
  4. showing students how to use symbols to identify ABA form in music
Answer
Correct Response: A. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate a broad and comprehensive understanding of music methodologies, including techniques for teaching aesthetic valuing and music appreciation. Young children can respond to music through movement in controlled and expressive ways. The following of the musical pulse is one of the initial objectives in movement development. Emile Jacques-Dalcroze believed that all degrees of tempo, such as allegro, andante, accelerando, or ritardando, could be experienced, understood, and expressed by young children through body movement.

Objective 0004
Music Pedagogy (Standard 7)

5. Which of the following is the correct way to instruct students to hold a recorder?

  1. "Place your right hand on the top and your left hand on the bottom."
  2. "Your left hand supports the lower end, while your right hand covers the holes."
  3. "Place your left hand on the top and your right hand on the bottom."
  4. "Your right hand supports the lower end, while your left hand covers the holes."
Answer
Correct Response: C. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate a broad and comprehensive understanding of music methodologies, including techniques for playing classroom instruments. The fingers and thumb of the left hand cover the top holes on a recorder. The left hand thumb covers the hole in the back of the instrument while the first three fingers cover the first three holes on top. The right hand thumb supports the recorder on the back of the instrument, between the fourth and fifth hole, while the four fingers of the right hand cover the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh holes on the front.