Chapter 1: Pitch Notation, Scales, and Key Signatures 1

Website Exercises

Chapter 1 – Musical Space and Time

Pitch Notation, Scales, and Key Signatures e

Exercise 1: Write Diatonic (D) or Chromatic (C) half steps above or below the given pitch, as indicated by the
direction of the arrows.

Exercise 2: Notate the following major and minor scales using accidentals (not key signatures). Write ascending and
descending forms of the melodic minor scale. Hint: Look for half steps in major and minor scales and augmented
seconds (suggesting the harmonic minor) to help distinguish scales.

Exercise 3: Minor scale identification. Based on the given pitches, determine the tonic and type(s) of minor scale.
Begin by arranging the pitches into stepwise patterns.
2 Chapter 1: Pitch Notation, Scales, and Key Signatures

Exercise 4: Enharmonic pitches. Convert each given pitch to its enharmonic form (avoid double sharps and flats).

Exercise 5: Writing wildly misspelled major scales. Notate the following scales using as many enharmonic equivalents
as possible, then notate the scale correctly: D major, F major, A melodic minor, E harmonic minor. The given
example, beginning with B#-D-Fb, is actually the opening of a C major scale (C-D-E . . .).

Exercise 6: Notate the key signatures for the following major and minor scales.
 Chapter 1: Intervals 3

Exercise 7: The following key signatures are incorrect in terms of the given keys and general notational practice. Re-
write each key signature correctly.

Exercise 8: Ledger lines. Identify each of the pitches with its letter name and registral number, then transpose each
pitch up or down one octave, as indicated.

Intervals e
Exercise 9: Identify each of the following intervals using both generic and specific labels.

Exercise 10: Notate each of the required major, minor, and perfect intervals above or below the given pitch, as indi-
cated by the direction of the accompanying arrow.
4 Chapter 1: Intervals

Exercise 11: Circle the major thirds and sixths, the minor sevenths, and the diminished fifths, sevenths, and fourths,
as indicated in the examples below.

Exercise 12: Notate each of the required major, minor, perfect, augmented, and diminished intervals above or below
the given pitch, as indicated by the direction of the accompanying arrow.

Exercise 13: Identify each of the given intervals, then, maintaining the tied note, renotate the interval using an enhar-
monic pitch. Label the new interval. Note: The enharmonically renotated interval must retain the same number
of half steps as the original interval; do not use pitches that require double sharps or double flats.
 Chapter 1: Intervals 5

Exercise 14: Identify each of the circled intervals in J.C. Bach’s Sinfonia in Eb Major.

1. ___________ 4. ___________ 7. ___________ 10. ___________ 13. ___________

2. ___________ 5. ___________ 8. ___________ 11. ___________ 14. ___________

3. ___________ 6. ___________ 9. ___________ 12. ___________ 15. ___________

16. ___________
6 Chapter 1: Intervals

Exercise 15: Identify each of the intervals in the short tunes below, then transpose each tune by the requested interval.

Exercise 16: Identify each of the intervals in the short tunes below, then transpose each tune by the requested interval.
 Chapter 1: Rhythm and Meter 7

Rhythm and Meter e

Exercise 18: Rhythmic completion. Add one rhythmic element (note value and/or dot) to each incomplete measure
in order to fill out each measure’s full value.
8 Chapter 1: Rhythm and Meter

Exercise 19: Meter identification and beaming. For each one-measure example:
1. Determine the most logical meter.
2. Provide a meter signature and bar lines.
3. Add beams to clarify the meter. Remember that notes within one beat should be beamed together. There
are no examples of hemiola.

Exercise 20: Based on the given meter, correct/add beams, dots, et cetera.
 Chapter 1: Rhythm and Meter 9

Exercise 21: Borrowed divisions. Write a single duration that is equivalent to the combined durations of the given
patterns.

Exercise 22: Syncopation and hemiola. Identify instances of syncopation and hemiola in the following excerpts.
10 Chapter 1: Rhythm and Meter

Exercise 22: Syncopation and hemiola. Cont’d.

Exercise 23: Analysis of musical accent. The examples shown, all taken from Chopin’s waltzes, contain various types
of accents. Find and label at least one example of each type of accent. Your choices are: durational, harmonic,
registral, articulative, textural, contour, and pitch. Are these accents coordinated with the metrical accents?