NotePlayMusicGrade 2: Music in Context
Read a short melody and answer questions about it — contour, degrees of the scale, dynamics and bar structure, based on the ABRSM Grade 2 syllabus.
Never play this at your wedding
"Here comes the bride" is from Wagner's Lohengrin, where the marriage is over by morning, and a royal wedding in 1858 made it the world's wedding song.
Learning objectives
- Read a short melody and answer questions about it.
- Notice contour, scale degrees, dynamics, and bar structure.
Worksheet
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select TRUE or FALSE for the statement: All the notes in bars 1-4 of this melody can be found in the key of E minor.
Answer: ______________________
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select how many times the 7th degree of the scale occurs.
Answer: ______________________
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select the correct answer: The highest note in the melody is ...
Answer: ______________________
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select the correct answer: The softest note in the melody is in ...
Answer: ______________________
Look at this melody and then answer the question that follows. Select the correct answer: The notes in bar 2 have the same rhythm as the notes in ...
Answer: ______________________
Answer Key
- TRUE — Bars 1-4 use only E, F sharp, G, A, B, C, D and D sharp, all of which belong to E minor, so the statement is TRUE.
- 4 — The 7th degree of E minor is D (D natural or D sharp). It appears four times in the melody.
- E — The highest note reached in the melody is E, in bar 1.
- bar 8 — The dynamic pp (very quiet) appears at bar 8, which is the softest point in the melody.
- bar 5 — Bar 2 is eight quavers; bar 5 has the same rhythm of eight quavers.