All CLEP Humanities Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #31 :Music
Which of the following instruments is most similar to the modern piano?
Lute
Lyre
Viola da gamba
Harpsichord
Mandocello
Harpsichord
The harpsichord is the modern piano’s most direct ancestor. The harpsichord had a similarly arranged keyboard, similar string layout, and was played in a similar manner to the piano. Unlike the piano, though, the harpsichord plucked rather than hammered its internal strings, meaning it was less able to modulate and sustain its volume.
Example Question #32 :Music
Which of the following styles of composition is associated with the "fugue" style?
Minor keys
有限公司unterpoint
Trumpet flourishes
Organ recitations
Tonal clusters
有限公司unterpoint
The fugue is a kind of melody that is based upon a relatively simple theme that is then woven and adapted with other lines that express this same theme. These variations weave in and out of each other, often opposing one another (though not in an unpleasant way). As one version of the theme is descending, another is rising, and perhaps yet another is preparing to descend. Although he had antecedents, J.S. Bach was well known for this style. He wrote a work,DieKunst der Fuge(The Art of the Fugue) that details many ways that fugues can be composed. So notorious was Bach for this style that Claude Debussy is said to have referred to his music as being "mercilessly regulated" and "joyless" in its attachment to the style of counterpoint.
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