Trimester 2
Practice Sheet

1. 3 — E♭ is the mediant (3rd scale degree) of C minor
2. 7 — E♭ is the subtonic (lowered 7th) of F minor
3. 5 — C♯ is the dominant of F♯ major
4. 6 — F♯ is the submediant of A major
5. 4 — B♭ is the subdominant of F minor
6. 7 — D is the leading tone of E♭ major
7. 2 — E is the supertonic of D minor

• E major — 4 sharps (F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯)
• D♭ major — 5 flats (B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭)
• B minor — 2 sharps (relative of D major)

a. Contrary — soprano moves down (A4→G4), bass moves up (F2→G2). Opposite directions.

b. Parallel — both voices move up by a M2, maintaining a compound P5 throughout. This is parallel 5ths — the key voice leading error to avoid.

c. Similar — both voices move up, but by different intervals: soprano up a minor 3rd (D4→F4), bass up a perfect 4th (G2→C3). Same direction, different sizes.

d. Oblique — bass holds A2 while soprano moves up (B4→C5). One voice moves, the other stays.

Parallel motion where the interval stays P5 or P8 is the error to avoid. Parallel 3rds and 6ths are common and intentional.

Key distinction: analytical responses connect ideas and argue a position; descriptive responses only define terms one by one.

• Overtone series / harmonic series — what it is, what intervals it produces
• Octave (2:1), perfect fifth (3:2), perfect fourth (4:3) — these appear earliest
• Diatonic scale — how stacking acoustically prominent intervals could lead to it
• Tetrachord / pentachord — the building blocks of makam
• Microtonal intervals — smaller than a semitone; central to makam, absent from equal temperament
• The contrast to make: Western music organized pitch around the most acoustically "natural" intervals → arrived at the diatonic scale. Turkish makam organized pitch around flexible smaller cells → produces modal variety and microtonality that goes beyond what the overtone series alone would suggest.

• Well-Tempered Clavier (1722) — what it is
• Temperament — the system for tuning a keyboard
• All 24 major and minor keys — what was unusual about this
• Equal (or well) temperament — why certain keys were previously problematic
• Pythagorean comma / wolf interval — what makes some keys unusable in older systems
• The argument to make: before equal temperament, some keys sounded noticeably worse than others on a fixed-tuning keyboard. Writing in all 24 keys was Bach demonstrating — with the music itself — that his tuning system made every key equally usable. The deeper point: tuning is not just a technical choice; it defines which musical ideas are even possible to express.

• Consonance / dissonance — the distinction that drove all of these rules
• Polyphony — multiple independent voices moving simultaneously; what new problems this created
• Musica ficta — performers adding unwritten accidentals to avoid the tritone; practice before it became rule
• Tritone / diabolus in musica — the most aggressively avoided interval
• Parallel fifths / parallel octaves — why avoided: voices lose independence, texture collapses; same underlying logic as musica ficta
• Voice leading / counterpoint — the codification of these instincts into teachable rules
• The through-line to argue: musica ficta, the tritone rule, parallel 5ths — all the same instinct. Composers and performers were managing dissonance so voices stay clear and music feels controlled. These are not separate rules — they are one tradition, expressed at different moments.

Orange dividers mark band transitions. The IB 3 band (37–45) climbs steeply — each point is worth ~0.30 Ecuador grade. IB 4–7 move much slower (~0.04–0.06/pt).