Bmus Entrance test

banquo

it's 488

I'm rushing to get a ticket the second my grant comes in. Really hope they're not sold out!

rcaz

Is going to NUIM for music a bad idea if I'm not really into the likes of Mozart and Beethoven? I love Stravinsky, Debussy, Messiaen, Part, Shostakovich, Gorecki... Steve Reich So I guess I'm more of a romantic/modern kinda guy? Is that sort of stuff observed at all?

Yeah, I appreciate that if I want to study composition, I'll have to go back to the beginning and learn all the rules, I've no problem with that bit. But they expect you to love hardcore classical stuff?

funky penguin

There is alright, but.....how can you not like Mozart or Beethoven as well?

Seriously though...this college course is all about brining people up to the same level in first year, giving them a taster of everything in second year, then doing what you want in third (to a certain degree anyway).

You WILL be doing baroque/classical harmony, which in essence means, yes everything will end V-I, and the leading note will always rise. :P

Buuuuuut, you will also be doing composition with Martin O'Leary who will love you for loving 20th cent music! Here you will be expected to write in a 20th century style.

So, like everything in life - you gotta take the good with the bad.

What other courses have you applied for? Have you done auditions for them yet? Like DIT, or Trinners, or Cork or Waterford? I royally fooked up my audition for DIT. However, Maynooth was always my first choice. DIT looked at my like I had two heads when I sadi I wanted to do composition and performance held no interest for me.

Norrdeth

El Pr0n wrote: »

I love Stravinsky, Debussy, Messiaen, Part, Shostakovich, Gorecki... Steve Reich

God you're gonna love the composers society or not(we're pretty lame this year I have to admit)

Stuff we normally listen to (or have listened to) include:
Part, Gorecki, Kancheli, Whitacre, Ravel, Mahler, Stravinsky, Zimmer, Debussy, Adams, Shostakovitch,
Prokofiev, Tavener, Kodaly, Lauridsen, Lukaszewski, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Poulenc,
Rodrigo y Gabriela, E.S.T, Adès, Vaughan Williams, Reich
aaaand stuff from student composers!

CaoimH_in

When I realised my mystake with the A major key last night in bed, I just shoved my face into the cushions and screamed... I do know keys.
I do
I DO I DO
do do
doo do do do

rcaz

funky penguin wrote: »

Buuuuuut, you will also be doing composition with Martin O'Leary who will love you for loving 20th cent music! Here you will be expected to write in a 20th century style.

...

What other courses have you applied for? Have you done auditions for them yet? Like DIT, or Trinners, or Cork or Waterford? I royally fooked up my audition for DIT. However, Maynooth was always my first choice. DIT looked at my like I had two heads when I sadi I wanted to do composition and performance held no interest for me.

Is Martin O'Leary tall with grey hair, and pretty well-spoken?

I've only applied for Trinity as well. I didn't apply for DIT, since I'm way way way too weak a performer (Never classically trained, only started piano reasonably seriously when I was 17).
I'm a bit worried that maybe I messed up my CAO by not apllying for every music course going, and then deleting them later on. But oh well, if I don't get music I'll be pretty happy in a Science course.

And Norrdeth, that society sounds really really cool! :cool: Hopefully I might join someday!

Norrdeth

El Pr0n wrote: »

Is Martin O'Leary tall with grey hair, and pretty well-spoken?

Might be Paddy Devine your talkin' about!

funky penguin

Could be Bara as well.

banquo

which one?

rcaz

banquo wrote: »

That's the one! The filename would suggest that that's not O'Leary :P

He's the one I was talking to at both the open day and the expo in the RDS. What's he like? He smirked a little when I said I was a Stravinsky fan, which is why I remember him I guess.

CaoimH_in

ok, just one thing, the folks who ran thhrough the example entrance test.

Could they put up answers to questions 5, and the letter names for question 4.

that and teach me how to write alto soprano and tenor parts for question 8?

rcaz

CaoimH_in wrote: »

ok, just one thing, the folks who ran thhrough the example entrance test.

Could they put up answers to questions 5, and the letter names for question 4.

that and teach me how to write alto soprano and tenor parts for question 8?

Here are my answers, they mightn't be right but I think they are...

Q4 - D, E, F, G, A, C, C#, D

Q5 - Interrupted, Perfect, Perfect

Q8 - From my understanding, you just have to make the triad (root, third, fifth) plus an octave, putting two notes on each stave to make SATB parts.
I guess you'll get more marks for using inversions.

funky penguin

Unless it says so, don't invert the chords, just use root, it'll be far easier.

Make sure you don't cross tenor and alto parts, and make sure Soprano is the highest voice.

banquo

Only inversion you need is the third-last chord in the whole thing: iib.

Your last three chords should probably (99% certainly) be iib-V-I.

CaoimH_in

ok, so im confused help me where i went wrong.

Key: B flat Maj
Flats:B,e

notes for the first
Treble F#..G
.........D....B
___________
Bass...A....G
.........D....E
Chord of D to the chord of E?

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

Where am I going wrong?

funky penguin

The key is Gminor not Bb major, because of the F sharp. So, its V-VI, D - Eb or an interrupted cadence.

CaoimH_in

explain.. Im sorry.

funky penguin

Do you know about relative major/minors?

CaoimH_in

well.. kinda. please run over the ideas, and I can explain what I was taught.

banquo

Every major key has a 'key signature' - A major's 3 sharps are its key signature.

For every major key, there is a minor key with the same key signature. These major and minor keys are said to be 'related' - hence 'relative majors and minors'.

Bb major's relative minor is G Minor. Similarly, G Minor's relative major is Bb.

In a major key, you usually only use notes that fit in the key signature - few flats, sharps etc. Not true for minor keys. Minor keys have an 'unwritten' sharp that's not in the key signature. This is always the last note before the 'tonic' (the note with the same name as the key)

Thus, in G minor, the tonic is the note G, so f nearly always has a sharp.

If the melody is going f->g, then give the f a sharp so it's f#->g. If it's going down like g->f, then leave the f unsharpened.

You can figure out a major key's relative minor by counting down three semitones - three more frets on the guitar - down from the tonic of the major key.

So, if the piece is in C Major, count down three semitones from C and you'll get to the note A, so you know that hte relative minor of C Major is A Minor, and the G - though it's not in the key signature - should be sharpened.

This is kinda fun

banquo

some links:

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theory/theory.htm

http://www.musictheory.net/

CaoimH_in

I did understand the idea of Major/minor keys, just my teacher left out this "unwritten rule" of sorts, thank you for correcting it.

So let me get this straight.

Amaj = Fsharpminor
Emaj = CSharpMinor
Gmaj = E minor

Correct? or..

so let me get this right as well, when this note below the tonic key, is sharpened? this puts the entire piece in its relative minor, I thought, that the 7th note had to be made into a natural for the key to sound minor?

Edit: thanks for links!

thanks,
feed back and fill my head with knowledge.

banquo

CaoimH_in wrote: »

I did understand the idea of Major/minor keys, just my teacher left out this "unwritten rule" of sorts, thank you for correcting it.

So let me get this straight.

Amaj = Fsharpminor
Emaj = CSharpMinor
Gmaj = E minor

Correct?

Correct! **claps enthusiastically**

CaoimH_in wrote: »

so let me get this right as well, when this note below the tonic key, is sharpened? this puts the entire piece in its relative minor, I thought, that the 7th note had to be made into a natural for the key to sound minor?

Edit: thanks for links!

thanks,
feed back and fill my head with knowledge.

Sort of, yeah. As long as the piece has that sharp in it, then it's minor.

But, in a major piece you can have little mini minor 'sections'. These minor sections are heralded and negated by the presence and absence of the sharp.

Example. A big long piece in C Major. No sharps or flats in the melody or the harmony. Then, outta the blue, the G# comes in. That means that the piece is - for the time being - now in the key of a minor. After a while you'll see a G natural again, which will mean that the piece is back in the relative major key.

There's reasoning behind all this.

What makes a key a key? The answer is a V-I cadence in that key. As soon as you've two chords next to each other that could be called a V-I, you've got yourself a key.

Think V-I in C Major. The 'closing' sound in that progression comes from the note b in G/V and the note c in C/I.

That's why we have to sharpen the note just before the tonic - in theory called the 'leading note' because it has a 'leading' inclination to the tonic - because there has to be a semitone between the leading note and the tonic to get that V-I sound. G natural to A wouldn't be a semitone in distance, so we sharpen the G to make it G# and then the new G# going to A makes a nice V-I in the new key.

Apologies if this is really confusing. It's the kinda thing you really need diagrams for. Also, I'm watching tv simultaneously.

More questions!

Norrdeth

Not sure if this is working but a score should appear above ^

banquo

sibelius.

funky penguin

Let Us Play A GAmors!




What are the keys and chords of the first four bars?

If you feel up to it, tell me the same of the last one. But be careful! It changes key for a bit to the relative minor!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Norrdeth

Are we allowed play??

funky penguin

Of course not!

Maybe spoiler tags? I'd prefer if you didn't though cos the temptation is just always too much!!!!

Norrdeth

funky penguin wrote: »

Let Us Play A GAmors!
F:V-I, d:V-i, D:V-I, b:V-i


What are the keys and chords of the first four bars?

If you feel up to it, tell me the same of the last one. But be careful! It changes key for a bit to the relative minor!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Couldn't resist! =(

First one
F:Vadd6-I, d:V-i, D:V-I, b:V-i

The last one
Ab maj: I-V-IV-I-IV-Vi f:V-i Ab:IV-ii-V-I
Also theres no 3rd in the third last chord naughty,naughty!!!

banquo

Bars 1 - 2: V added 6th to I in F Major
Bars 3 - 4: V to i in d minor.

The Rest: In key of Ab.

I-V-IV-I
IV-vi-(now in F Minor by virtue of the e natural in the alto) V-i

(now in Ab again, by virtue of the eb's return!)

IV-probably.ii.but.no.3rd.in.the.chord.NOOB:D-V-I.

And not one V7 or inversion. Pft

This is fun. Will throw one up myself when I get home.