Hi

I was wondering what a)
it meant when themetronome mark reads: crotchet = ca. 63 what does the ca. stand for?

and

When for example it asks for something like:

"In bars 1-12 the first dominant chrod is in bar 3 and it is in ............ inversion and in the key of ...................."

or

"A plagual cadence that occurs in C major is in bars ..........."

How do you know the key signature? I had a look at the AB guide part two at harmonic sequences but do not understand much.

Can any one help?

micky

The ca. stands for circa. So this means e.g. circa 63 crotchet beats per minute, i.e. about 63 crotchet beats per minute.

I think so anyway

ca means 'circa;' or approximately.

Now for the plagal cadence - it says its in C Major ! So it will be chord on ths subdominant (IV) ie in F ( egFAC) followed by a tonic chord (CEG).. Plagals are fairly easy to spot because they ususally sound a bit like 'Amen'

Finally your second question, a dominant chord will be based on the dominant (V) of the key youre in. So for example if in the key of C it will be a chord on G (GBD in any order) . If the G is in the bass it will be in root position, if its the B at the bottom it will be first inversion, and if its the D at the bottom it will be second inversion.

Thank you very much once I read your comment a memory of me being told this after asking my teacher last year just flew back to me

Now only the key thing?? Any help anyone???

THanks
Micky

*EDIT*

I'm really sorry, I didn't notice your post Fsharpminor, it wasn't there when I went to reply.

Sorry

At grade 6 for knowing the key you are meant to be able to work it out from the key signature and and accidentals.
You have to be able to tell when the music has modulated and what the prevailing key is at any point in the music.
It's an extension of knowledge of key signatures learned in earlier grades.

Yeah but how do you discover if it has changed key? So far I have been looking at accidentals in the bar but I don't know if that correct. or not?


Micky

You can probably work it out by looking at accidentals (e.g. seeing an F#-G in a piece that started in C is a good sign of a modulation to the dominant), but in the end you'll get on better if you can sing it (silently to yourself preferably!) and hear the modulation.

Chris

And you need to look at more than one bar.... a modulation can take place over a few bars.
There might not be enough notes in one bar to tell properly.
You need to start looking at lots of music (start with piano scores) and trying to spot where and how modulations take place to help you to get used to what to look for.