<p>I'm enrolled in an AP Music Theory class and will be taking the exam in a few weeks. My Theory class is dominated by mostly counterpoint rules or lessons that do not require aural stimulus because most of the students are in the music program.</p>
<p>For me, the toughest part has got to be the aural stimulus parts. I don't really know how to discern, for example:</p>
<p>-harmonies! We have to write in SB and the Roman numeral analysis based on hearing a piece.
-in the Multiple Choice, knowing if the piece features hemiolas or syncopations
-knowing the piece's cadence or what scale degree it begins on
-sight singing! Rhythm will kill me, as well as forgetting what the minor altered keys sound like.</p>
<p>Should I:</p>
<p>-practice hearing intervals? ascending and descending?
-know the minor relatives of major keys cold?</p>
<p>Also, if may be answered:
-What's the best way to avoid parallel perfects? And parallel perfects are forbidden between Soprano and Bass, I'm sure, but also Alto and Tenor parts (Barron's book does not say AT)?
-**how important is knowing secondary dominance and how to form church modes?</p>
<p>Sometimes, I get the right answer just because it "seems" right. Keep in mind that I have little prior musical training.
I've got 4 other APs up my sleeve, most of which are "self-study." I'm shooting for a 4!</p>
<p>Running out of time! Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Hemiolas: This is just a switch between 2 and 3 pulses per measure. You know how many beats are in a measure (lets use 6/8 time), so listen and count the beats. When there are 2 pulses, there are minor accents on beats 1 and 4. When there are 3 pulses, minor accents occur on 1, 3, and 5. The beats are grouped like this:</p>
<p>|123 456|12 34 56|123 456|12 34 56| and so on. </p>
<p>This is a random person playing the 4th movement of Ginastera’s 1st piano sonata: [YouTube</a> - Heather’s Insane piano ability](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a2u36Pvhlw]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a2u36Pvhlw)</p>
<p>The beginning has the change in number of pulses (i.e. a hemiola). Hemiolas occur throughout the piece. See if you can catch the number of pulses per measure (it’s in 6/8).</p>
<p>Syncopations: When people listen to a song, they start tapping their fingers or feet in time. Lets take a piece in 4/4, for example. The listener will tap their feet on the beat: |1 2 3 4|1 2 3 4|. Each beat (1, 2, 3, 4) has a pulse, or a minor accent. However, a syncopation occurs when an accent occurs between 2 numbers (say between beats 2 and 3). Syncopations are easier to recognize because they usually occur when a note is played off a beat. So, in 4/4, quarter notes are on the beat (on 1, 2, 3, and 4). You can tell if there’s a syncopation if you tap your fingers on the beat, and there is no note when you tap. </p>
<p>Here’s an example: [YouTube</a> - Leroy Anderson Syncopated clock](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6vvkXd9GRw&feature=related]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6vvkXd9GRw&feature=related)</p>
<p>It’s Leroy Anderson’s “Syncopated Clock.” See if you can catch the syncopations. In this piece, it’s 2/4 time and the syncopations are usually like this:</p>
<p>eighth rest–>quarter note–>eighth note|quarter note–>quarter rest|</p>
<p>The syncopation occurs in the 1st measure I diagrammed above.</p>
<p>314159265:
Oh my goodness, thank you SO much. 
That clears up a lot! It’s making more sense to me though I’ve yet to clear my mind from overloading other studies and will listen again tomorrow.</p>
<p>Also, I’ve been practicing with harmonic notation in which we are given a set of chords, two measures, 4/4 time and must identify the missing chords and SB lines. In other words, one must identify the cadences, and this includes inversions. I can generally get the lines mostly/somewhat correct as well as the ending cadences. I’m really surprised that I could even get them somewhat correct (whew). Does anyone have any tips for those?</p>
<p>I’m not too familiar with the test format, but I’ve heard that you have the alto and tenor lines given to you, and you have to write soprano and bass. I’ve also heard that you hear the measures three times (correct me if I’m wrong about any of this).</p>
<p>So, first time: Get the soprano line. You should be able to discern the notes either with perfect pitch or by intervals, based on the first note.</p>
<p>Second time: Get the bass line. Isolate the lower 2 voices in your head as well as you can and identify the bass and tenor based on what the tenor notes are. This is a little more difficult if you don’t have perfect pitch, because you’re finding an interval going down (from high note to low note)</p>
<p>Third time: Check your work.</p>
<p>I think you get time to write in Roman numerals after you finish the listening, so you should be able to do that then based on what you have down.</p>