Question 1: Describe the typical characteristics of jazz music that emerged in the early 20th century. Include aspects such as rhythm, harmony, and improvisation.

Answer: Jazz often features swing rhythms with a strong emphasis on syncopation, complex and extended harmonies using chords like seventh chords, and improvisation where musicians spontaneously create melodies over the chord progressions.

Question 2: Listen carefully to a piece of music that features a repeated, rhythmic pattern known as 'ostinato'. Explain what an ostinato is and how it is used in this context.

Answer: An ostinato is a short musical pattern that is repeated persistently throughout a section or entire piece. In this context, it provides a rhythmic foundation and can create a hypnotic or driving effect.

Question 3: Identify and describe the main features of atonal music, which became prominent in the early 20th century.

Answer: Atonal music avoids establishing a key or tonal centre, often using dissonant intervals and avoiding traditional harmonic progressions. It can sound tense or chaotic and is characterized by the absence of a tonal gravity.

Question 4: Sketch a simple musical staff and indicate a melody using a sequence of five notes. The melody should start on middle C, then move up stepwise to D, E, F, and G.

Answer: A correct sketch would show a standard five-line staff with five notes placed on the lines/spaces corresponding to C, D, E, F, and G, with the first note on the line for middle C, and subsequent notes stepwise ascending.

Question 5: Compare the use of harmony in classical music of the early 20th century with that in popular music of the same period. Highlight two key differences.

Answer: Classical music often employed complex, chromatic harmonies and extended chords, while popular music tended to use simpler, diatonic harmonies with basic chord progressions like I-IV-V.

Question 6: Explain the significance of the development of electronic music during the 20th century. Mention at least two technological innovations involved.

Answer: Electronic music allowed composers to create new sounds and textures using synthesizers and electronic instruments. Key innovations include the invention of the synthesizer and the use of tape recordings for manipulation.

Question 7: Identify the musical genre characterized by the use of improvisation, swing rhythms, and a focus on solo performance, which gained popularity in the 1920s and 1930s.

Answer: Jazz.

Question 8: Describe the main features of minimalism in music and name a composer associated with this style.

Answer: Minimalism features repetitive motifs, steady pulse, and gradual changes over time. A well-known composer is Steve Reich, who used repetitive patterns to create hypnotic effects.

Question 9: Listen to a piece of music that uses a twelve-tone row. Explain what a twelve-tone technique involves.

Answer: The twelve-tone technique involves using all twelve notes of the chromatic scale in a specific order (row) as the basis for the composition, avoiding traditional tonal centers and emphasizing serialism.

Question 10: Draw a simple diagram illustrating a typical twelve-tone row with its sequence of twelve notes. Label each note with its pitch name starting from the first note.

Answer: A correct diagram would show twelve boxes or positions in a sequence, each labeled with a different pitch name (e.g., C, D#, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D, F, G#, A#), representing the ordered twelve-tone row without repeats.