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Accents: Arithmetic

Goal: To hear, sing, or play and differentiate accents and articulations: staccato, legato, marcato, sforzando, subito, tenuto, fermata, and cesura.

Out of Tempo

All Levels

“Out of Tempo” exercises are not presented separately in Ear Training III and Ear Training IV improvisations. Should any exercise prove difficult performed in tempo, out of tempo versions of the materials in Ear Training III and Ear Training IV can be modeled on Ear Training I and Ear Training II approaches to out of tempo improvisations.

In Tempo

Teacher sets up a tempo, time signature, tonality, and rhythms.

Start with one note per measure and add different rhythms as students become more comfortable with the exercise. For more confident students, use non-repeating notes and rhythm patterns.

Addition

Beginning

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing or play one measure of accent x and add a measure of accent y.”
  2. Students do so.

Intermediate

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing or play one beat of accent x and add a beat of accent y.”
  2. Students do so.

Advanced

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing or play one beat of accent x and y, then add beats of accent z.”
  2. Students do so.

Subtraction

Beginning

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing or play one measure of accent x and remove one beat of accent x from the measure – you choose which beat to remove.”
  2. Students do so.

Intermediate

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing or play two beats of accent w, x and two beats of accents y, z and remove two of the accents from the combination – you choose which accents to remove.”
  2. Students do so.

Advanced

  1. Teachers sets up as above in compound meter and prompts, “Sing or play the eighth notes of the time signature using a combination of accents you choose, and remove one of the accents.”
  2. Students do so.

Multiplication

Beginning

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing one measure of accents x and y, then repeat the entire combination x times.”
  2. Students do so.

Intermediate

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing one measure of accents x and y, and z, then repeat the entire combination x times.”
  2. Students do so.

Advanced

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Sing one measure of accents w, x, y, and z, then repeat the entire combination x times.”
  2. Students do so.

Division

Rhythmic division.

Beginning

  1. Teacher sets up as above in four-four time and prompts, “Sing four measures of accent x, one beat per measure, then divide rhythm in half and sing four measures of accent x, two beats per measure."
  2. Students do so.

Intermediate

  1. Teacher sets up as above in four-four time and prompts, “Sing four measures of two beats per measure – one beat of accent x and one beat of accent y, then divide the rhythm in half and sing four measures of accent x and y, four beats per measure."
  2. Students do so.

Advanced

  1. Teacher sets up as above in four-four time and prompts, “Sing four measures of four beats per measure – one beat of accent w, one beat of accent x one beat of accent y, and one beat of accent z, then divide the rhythm in half and sing four measures of accents w, x, y, and z, eight beats per measure."
  2. Students do so.