Piano Sight-Reading & Ear Training Flashcards

24 sample cards from the Sight-Reading & Ear Training deck

Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.

1. What is 'chunking' in sight-reading?

   Recognizing familiar patterns — scales, arpeggios, chord shapes, Alberti bass, common rhythms — as single units instead of individual notes, which dramatically increases reading speed.

2. List the order of sharps in key signatures and a mnemonic for it.

   F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯, B♯ — "Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle."

3. List the order of flats in key signatures and how it relates to the order of sharps.

   B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭ — it is the exact reverse of the order of sharps ("Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father").

4. State the quick rules for naming a major key from (a) a sharp key signature and (b) a flat key signature.

   (a) Sharps: the key is a half step above the last sharp. (b) Flats: the key is the second-to-last flat (F major, with one flat, must be memorized).

5. How does the circle of fifths organize key signatures?

   Each step clockwise (up a perfect 5th) adds one sharp (C→G→D→A…); each step counterclockwise (up a perfect 4th) adds one flat (C→F→B♭→E♭…).

6. How do you find the relative minor of any major key?

   Go down a minor 3rd ($3$ semitones) from the major tonic — e.g., C major → A minor; both share the same key signature.

7. Why should pianists learn to play without looking at their hands, and what is the main benefit for sight-reading?

   Every glance down loses your place in the score; keeping eyes on the music allows continuous reading ahead and an unbroken pulse, while the hands navigate by touch.

8. What tactile landmarks on the keyboard let you find notes without looking?

   The alternating groups of 2 and 3 black keys: C sits just left of the 2-black-key group and F just left of the 3-black-key group; hands measure intervals by feel from these groups.

9. What is pitch matching, and what is the basic exercise for developing it?

   Singing back a heard pitch accurately in tune; the core exercise is playing a single note, listening, singing it on a neutral syllable, and checking against the piano until they match.

10. What is audiation?

    Hearing and comprehending music internally in the mind when the sound is not physically present — the mental skill underlying singing at sight, transcription, and improvisation.

11. In movable-do solfège, what are the syllables for the seven degrees of the major scale?

    Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti (then Do again at the octave); 'Do' is always the tonic of the current key.

12. Give the semitone sizes of all intervals from minor 2nd through perfect octave.

    m2 $=1$, M2 $=2$, m3 $=3$, M3 $=4$, P4 $=5$, tritone $=6$, P5 $=7$, m6 $=8$, M6 $=9$, m7 $=10$, M7 $=11$, P8 $=12$ semitones.

13. What is the song-association method for interval recognition? Give reference songs for the ascending P4, P5, and octave.

    Link each interval to the opening of a well-known melody: P4 = "Here Comes the Bride", P5 = "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", octave = "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

14. What are the frequency ratios of the octave and the perfect fifth (just intonation)?

    Octave $= 2:1$ (e.g., A4 $= 440$ Hz, A5 $= 880$ Hz); perfect fifth $= 3:2$.

15. What is distinctive about the tritone as an interval?

    It spans $6$ semitones, exactly half the $12$-semitone octave, so it is symmetric (its inversion is another tritone); it sounds highly tense/dissonant and resolves inward or outward by step.

16. Give the interval construction (in semitones, from the root) of the major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads.

    Major: $4+3$ (M3 then m3, e.g., C–E–G); minor: $3+4$ (C–E♭–G); diminished: $3+3$ (C–E♭–G♭); augmented: $4+4$ (C–E–G♯).

17. What characteristic sound qualities distinguish the four triad types by ear?

    Major = bright/stable/'happy'; minor = dark/'sad' but stable; diminished = tense, unstable, wanting resolution; augmented = unsettled, dreamlike, 'stretched'.

18. How is a dominant 7th chord built, and what is its characteristic sound function?

    A major triad plus a minor 7th above the root (semitones $4+3+3$, e.g., G–B–D–F); its tritone between the 3rd and 7th creates strong tension pulling toward the tonic chord.

19. Name the four main cadence types and their chord progressions.

    Authentic: V→I (conclusive); Plagal: IV→I ('Amen' cadence); Half: ends on V (inconclusive, a musical 'comma'); Deceptive: V→vi (evades the expected tonic).

20. What distinguishes a perfect authentic cadence (PAC) from an imperfect authentic cadence (IAC)?

    PAC: both V and I in root position with the tonic scale degree in the top (soprano) voice — the strongest close; IAC: V→I but with an inversion or a non-tonic note (3rd or 5th) on top, sounding less final.

21. What is an effective step-by-step process for transcribing a melody by ear?

    1) Find and sing the tonic to establish the key, 2) determine the meter and write the rhythm, 3) identify each pitch by scale degree/solfège relative to the tonic (using contour and intervals), 4) notate, then 5) play back and check against the original.

22. When harmonizing or identifying chords by ear, why do you listen to the bass line first, and which three chords harmonize most diatonic melodies?

    The bass usually carries the chord root, so it reveals the progression fastest; the primary chords I, IV, and V (which together contain every note of the major scale) harmonize most simple diatonic melodies.

23. Write out the standard 12-bar blues progression in Roman numerals.

    Bars 1–4: I I I I; bars 5–8: IV IV I I; bars 9–12: V IV I I (the last bar often becomes V as a turnaround).

24. What is the 'chord tones on strong beats' guideline for improvising over a progression?

    Place notes of the current chord (root, 3rd, 5th, 7th) on the strong beats and use scale steps or passing/neighbor tones between them on weak beats, so the line always agrees with the harmony.

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