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About Clare Redfarn
Expertise
All aspects of the academic/theoretical side of music, including harmony, counterpoint, elementary composition, history, harmonic analysis, aural training, sightreading - the lot! Please note: I'm neither a professional composer (so I can't help with composition beyond what's required for Grade 8 theory or A'level) nor a singing teacher (so I can't answer questions about vocal technique or extending your vocal range). And don't ask me about psychoacoustics or music psychology as I have no knowledge of, or interest in, either subject.
Experience
50 years as pianist (professional soloist and accompanist); 35 years as harpsichordist (professional soloist and continuist); 10 years as violinist and 6 years as bassoonist (youth orchestras/chamber groups); 37 years as piano teacher, coach in performance/interpretation (all ages, instruments and levels) and private tutor (mainly the old O'level, Grade VI+ ABRSM theory/practical musicianship, A'level and undergraduates).
Organizations
I've been a member of the Musicians' Union in Britain since 1978.
Publications
I've written many programme notes and a few articles for an online magazine. During the '90s I was also a Music Assessor for London Arts and as such regularly wrote critiques of concerts given by recipients of Arts Council funding.
Education/Credentials
MA in European Cultural Policy & Administration (Warwick University, 1994)
B Mus with Honours (London University, 1977)
Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Administration (City University, 1982)
Licentiate of Royal Academy of Music in Piano Teaching (1976)
Licentiate of Royal Academy of Music in Harpsichord Teaching (1978)
Studied RAM Junior School (1966-74), then as full-time student (1974-78).
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You are here: Experts > Music/Performing Arts > Musicians' Exchange > Musical Composition, Theory, Songwriting, and Singing > questions to theory papers Grades 1-5
Expert: Clare Redfarn - 10/22/2009
Question
Hi Clare! Hopefully giving you enough time to answer more questions without rushing you. I'll warn you ahead of time, this is a long one.
Grade 4 - Paper 2
Because 1.1 has the alto C clef and also I deduced the sharp written is actually F# positioned in the 4th space, my question comes from a question on the Grade 5 - Paper 1 which actually asks for a key sinature of C# minor (being the same as E major - 4 sharps FCGD). I positioned them F# 4th space; C# 3rd line; G# 5th line; and D# 3rd space.
In AMEB that clef does not appear so we don't seem to be required to know about it, not up to 5th Grade anyway. (I have a couple of samples, of a few different year's exam papers and it is not mentioned on them). I, however, chose to 'tackle it', as it were, learning a new thing, broadening my knowledge base. Also at this point it is mainly about the position of the sharps for this clef. I will mention the content of the question when I write to you about the answers for Grade 5 - Paper 1. The other one like it, positioned differently, the tenor clef, I presume it is, is referred to in Grade 5 - Paper 1 question 1.1, so have seen how the sharps are positioned for that key - A major in that clef.
Question 1.3
I said '7/8' - correct or not?
Question 1.4
I said 'Perfect 5th'
Question 1.6
I said 'a semitone'
Question 1.8
I said 'B'. I figured that because the question mentions the dominant 7th chord so wouldn't that mean 'B7' & V7' are correct and rules both of them out?
Question 1.9
I said "Am/E'. If this correct it is more of a guess than by having an understanding of how to read the notes. Could you please explain how those are worked out. Because this may not be correct anyway, because of the answers, but I thought it could be 2nd inversion Ic in A minor. This is also a lead into part of question 6.1 on Grade 5 - Paper 1.
Question 10
I initially said 'IV-I' as, as far as I know, in AMEB, there isn't a differentiation with the lettering. Now you having mentioned about the large letters meaning 'major' and small meaning 'minor', so I worked out 'IV-i', however looking at the notes in the 'IV' I worked out that that chord could be 'C minor' which would make it 'iv-i' all small letters. I could be wrong of course. How did I fair?
Question 2.2
'A' the note printed, I wrote, putting the stem upwards on the 'A' and beaming together, as instructed, 'C' second space; 'E' third space; 'A' 5th line; then together 'C' second space; 'E' third space; 'A' 5th line, 'middle C' line above stave; then together 'E' third space; 'A' 5th line; 'middle C' line above stave; 'E' 2nd line above stave, which was how, as per instruction, it was to finish.
Question 3.1
Key sinature, at beginning of piece, written incorrectly.
'Gospel' needs to be hyphenated so 'pel' syllable to come in line with 'B'.
I questioned the underlining of 'coming'. I would put a hyphen between 'com' & 'ing'.
With the underline to just be after the semicolon, after the syllable 'ing'.
Whether the minim on 'ing' be a crotchet then another crotchet note and then a crotchet for the word 'I' or perhaps a dotted crotchet as the tied note leaving the quaver for the word 'I'.
Then the word 'just' to be printed under the 'B' the third beat in the 3rd bar and 'at' under 'B' the 4th beat in the same bar.
Question 4.1
Is this still to be transposed in the treble clef if so then the first note will be 'A' first line above stave and then the pattern to follow for the rest of the piece finishing on 'F' natural, 1st space on stave.
Section 6
Question 6.1
'A' (2nd space); 'G' (2nd line); beamed together a quavers; 'F' (1st space); 'E' (1st line) beamed together as quavers /(bar line) 'D' (space below stave) quaver beamed together with 'E' (1st line) 'F' (1st space)as semiquavers; 'F' (1st space) quaver 'E' (1st space)beamed together as quavers /(bar line) 'E' (1st line) quaver beamed with 'D#' (1st space) quaver; 'E' (1st line) quaver beamed with 'F' (1st space) semiquaver; 'G' (2nd line) semiquaver /(bar line) 'A' (2nd space) minim.
Section 7 Questions:
7.1 D major
7.2 If the 'bass' is the indicator of the 'harmonic rhythm' then I would say it is 'regular'. Could you please explain something about 'harmonic rhythm.'
7.3 Simple
7.4 I suppose they are not to be played as 'strong' as indicated by 'sf' (sforzando)which means note to be played 'with a strong accent'.
7.5 Only a guess - The 1st section, for the mosst part, are 'compound intervals', whereas in the second section the intervals are 'simple intervals'.
7.6 Based on what you said about inverting downward intervals and that they add up to '9' and my research says 'major intervals' invert to 'minor intervals', my working (which could be wrong) is that the inversion is major and so would make the interval a 'minor 7th'.
7.7 E
7.8 I did look this up because I didn't know and I could still be wrong but I said 'violin'.
7.9 The first section is like half time whereas the second section is doubled, as it were.
7.10 Only a guess I say 'giocoso' (meaning 'humorous') - the triplets could be like laughter.
On the Grade 5 - Paper 1 in question 6.1 it mentions 'Bo' and Bo/D. Could you explain these chords to me, what does the little 'o' mean and how to write out that chord. When writing out E7 chord is it EGBD#?
I realise that as the 'Grades' gets higher so does the degree of difficulty to the questions so I apologise for the length of this request for help.
I hope you don't mind I have lifted you up in prayer. Just to say Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually. God so loved the world that He sent Jesus His Son to die for us, Clare, and you are a part of the world so His love and care is for you.
Thanks again for your help.
Talk to you soon.
Annette
Answer
Hello again Annette,
You'll find the correct order of sharps and flats in the alto and tenor clefs at the end of this page: http://musictheory.halifax.ns.ca/24clefs.html.
You've got the whole of Section 1 and 2 right. Q1.9 - because classical music theory doesn't use chord symbols I've never learned them, but I'm guessing you write chord slash note chord starts on if not the root. You're right - it's A minor second inversion.
Q1.10 - here's that stupid American system again. According to the European system the answer's IV I. Because the idiots who devised this system feel the need to differentiate between major and minor chords, they're looking for the answer iv i. They probably talk about "wet water" too.
Deep breath <g>.
Q3.1 - you've got the inaccurate key signature and the general rule about aligning syllables under the notes to which they're sung and putting in hyphens to separate every syllable. You missed out the barline after "a-", though. That long note on "ing" - you must group to the half bar, so you need a crotchet tied over to a dotted crotchet, which is where the line ends.
Q4.1 - you're transposing up an octave so what other clef can you write it in <g>? Check the accidentals carefully if you're transposing a chromatic passage.
Section 6 - I don't think much of your bar 2 as a melody <g>. You're not hearing what you write, are you? And that D# is interesting - it's correct but I don't think you're intended to use chromatic passing notes at this level. Stick to diatonic passing notes and stick in a few semiquavers to make it more interesting, along the lines of: quaver A, 2 semiquavers A B, 2 quavers C# A / 2 quavers F# A, crotchet D' / 4 semiquavers B C# D B, 2 quavers G# E / minim A //.
Section 7 - if I don't mention the question means you've got it right.
Q7.2 - as I've said before, "harmonic rhythm" isn't a term I'd use, but it means the speed of harmonic change. What I find daft about this question is that if you're analysing an 8-bar phrase you don't start on the 2nd bar. The whole phrase is I V V I I V V I, so yes, it's regular.
Q7.4 - you've got sforzandi on the weak beats = syncopation.
Q7.5 - the 1st section makes use of a motif consisting of triplets followed by a wide leap - the smallest of these leaps is a minor 7th and all the rest are compound intervals. The 2nd section moves mainly by step and in fact the entire 2nd section melody lies within a minor 7th.
Q7.8 - you're expected to know about orchestral instruments - their range and how they're played - so do the research. There are lots of websites for children but this one's good: http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/thesoundexchange/the_orchestra/instruments/
Q7.9 - the 1st section's in crotchets and the 2nd section's in quaver ie twice as fast.
Q7.10 - oh,it's clearly "giocoso". You've got that strong one-in-a-bar swing going on with those off-beat sforzandi (typical Beethoven humour) - it's a Laendler.
I've no idea what the chord symbol o means so let me look it up and I'll get back to you. Your dominant 7th isn't right but I'll explain all later.
Hope this helps
Hi again,
I've found a useful website at http://musictheoryblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/chord-symbols.html which gives you all the chord symbols used by jazz musicians. His section on "Chords" gives examples written in stave notation. I've deliberately specified jazz musicians because classical SATB harmony doesn't include many of the more chromatic triads and in any case doesn't use chord symbols - it's concerned with the relationships between chords rather than the chords themselves.
Anyway, it turns out the o means a diminished triad, and if you look at Q6.1 you'll find the harmonic analysis of the passage is I Ib IV II IIb V7 I. The supertonic of a minor scale is a diminished chord (root, up a minor 3rd, up a minor 3rd) so in A minor it'll be B-D-F.
A feature of jazz is building up chords by adding 7ths, 9ths etc to every degree of the scale. In SATB harmony the only time you add the 7th to a chord is to the dominant - it becomes the dominant 7th and plays an important function in that you cannot achieve a modulation without it. It's built up diatonically (ie using only the notes of the scale), so in A minor the dominant triad is E-G#-(don't forget the leading note must be sharpened)-B plus the minor 7th above = D. The leading note must rise and the dominant 7th must fall.
I really don't like the Trinity syllabus, particularly their harmony questions - there's absolutely no excuse for setting incorrect questions. I've just noticed Q1.10 is wrong as examples of SATB writing (too big a gap between tenor and alto), as is the second question of Q5.1 (you do not double the root of 2nd inversions). I think they're trying to combine jazz harmony with SATB harmony and be all things to all people, and you can't.
I've just looked at the rest of the paper and found yet another mistake in Q7.7 - what do they mean, this song does not modulate? Yes it does, in bar 13, to the relative minor - the leading note of the new key's in the bass and the dominant 7th's in the treble. Who on earth set this paper and don't they know anything about harmony?
Hope this helps
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