MU111 Listening Assignment #2:
Music's Temporal Dimension: Rhythm, Meter, and Tempo

Prof. Saunders

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Assignment 2

Assigment 2 Answers

Before listening to the works on these pages, read the assignment in Todd, Discovering Music


Example I.

Answering the questions successfully will require careful, and sometimes repeated listening; don't hesitate to listen to a passage several times. A good technique to guide your listening is to read the complete question(s) and all answers before listening to the excerpt.

Check each answer immediately, reading the answers in the key completely and carefully. Often the point is not merely to get the correct answer, but to expand or clarify a point made in the text or lectures. If you miss a question either: a) listen to the selection again (if your hearing was at fault); or b) review the appropriate section of the text (if you don't recognize an important term or concept).

How would you characterize example I in terms of :

      1. tempo?
          a) the tempo is regular (steady)
          b) the tempo is irregular (unsteady)

      2. meter?
          a) the meter is duple
          b) the meter is triple
          c) the meter is compound
          d) the meter is irregular

Listen to Example I:       See Answers to example I


Example II.

How would you characterize example II in terms of :

      1. tempo?
          a) the tempo is regular (steady)
          b) the tempo is irregular (unsteady)

      2. meter? (hint: the pulses move briskly, one about every half second)
          a) the meter is duple
          b) the meter is triple
          c) the meter is compound
          d) the meter is irregular

      3. What musical element(s) leads you to hear the meter the way you did in answering question II-2?
          a) The relative duration of the notes
          b) The placement of accents (louds and softs)
          c) The rhythm (rhythm in its narrow sense, the composer's arrangement of long and short notes)
          d) The pitch (highness or lowness) of certain notes.

Listen to Example II:       See Answers to example II


Example III(a-e).

You will hear six excerpts. Decide whether the passage is in duple, triple, quadruple, or some other meter. Don't worry much if you mix up duple and quadruple meters.

Listen to Example IIIa:       See Answers to example IIIa
Listen to Example IIIb:       See Answers to example IIIb
Listen to Example IIIc:       See Answers to example IIIc
Listen to Example IIId:       See Answers to example IIId
Listen to Example IIIe:       See Answers to example IIIe
Listen to Example IIIf:       See Answers to example IIIf


IV. Schumann, "Ich grolle nicht"

Finally, listen again to "Ich grolle nicht," again, thinking about the questions from last time, along with questions of tempo, rhythm, and meter: Is the meter duple or triple? is the basic tempo fast, slow, or moderate? Do you hear rhythmic patterns that recur? Remember that a number of questions on the first exam will be based on this song.

Listen to Schumann, "Ich grolle nicht"


*End of Listening Assignement #2*

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