NotePlayMusicGrade 2: Music in Context Practice
Read a short melody and answer questions about it — contour, degrees of the scale, dynamics and bar structure, based on the ABRSM Grade 2 syllabus.
Trace pitch, rhythm and dynamics through one melody
Read the clef and key before evaluating a claim about a whole passage. An E-minor melody can contain both D natural and a locally raised D sharp; both are versions of its seventh scale degree. To count that degree, check every bar rather than stopping at the first occurrence.
Rhythm and dynamics need different evidence: compare the duration pattern within each bar for a repeated rhythm, and find the quietest written dynamic for a softest-bar question. A high note does not necessarily coincide with a loud one.
How to work it out
- Locate the relevant bars and identify whether the question is asking about notes, scale degrees, loudness or duration.
- For a repeated rhythm, write the sequence of note values without their pitches; compare that sequence with the other bars.
Worked example
If one bar has four crotchets and another has four different pitches also written as crotchets, do they share a rhythm?
Yes. Both bars have the same sequence of durations even though their pitches differ.
Watch for this mistake
Count an altered scale degree by its letter position when asked for the degree: both D natural and D sharp can be seventh-degree notes above E.
Never play this at your wedding
"Here comes the bride" is from Wagner's Lohengrin, where the marriage is over by morning, and a royal wedding in 1858 made it the world's wedding song.
Learning objectives
- Read a short melody and answer questions about it.
- Notice contour, scale degrees, dynamics, and bar structure.
Worksheet
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select TRUE or FALSE for the statement: All the notes in bars 1-4 of this melody can be found in the key of E minor.
Answer: ______________________
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select how many times the 7th degree of the scale occurs.
Answer: ______________________
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select the correct answer: The highest note in the melody is ...
Answer: ______________________
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select the correct answer: The softest note in the melody is in ...
Answer: ______________________
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select the correct answer: The notes in bar 2 have the same rhythm as the notes in ...
Answer: ______________________
Answer Key
- TRUE — Bars 1-4 use only E, F sharp, G, A, B, C, D and D sharp, all of which belong to E minor, so the statement is TRUE.
- 4 — The 7th degree of E minor is D (D natural or D sharp). It appears four times in the melody.
- E — The highest note reached in the melody is E, in bar 1.
- bar 8 — The dynamic pp (very quiet) appears at bar 8, which is the softest point in the melody.
- bar 5 — Bar 2 is eight quavers; bar 5 has the same rhythm of eight quavers.