Hello All
I hope this one doesn't start world war 3 or something, like the last one.
I am sitting the grade2 theory 3/3/05. I have just completed a number of old exams and doing ok....so I feel confident. However in grade 2 2003
page 12 Q 8 b (iv)... It asks if the notes in the above score would make up the C Major scale.......so I looked and yes CDEFGAB........and answered TRUE............. I may be wrong because it's not a complete octave...ah ah another solly mistoke. When my teacher saw it and we discussed it......she wondered if the exam board had meant to put it in like that as she thought it seemed a bit sneaky/difficult for people at grade 2. I should have known better as I have been covering a lot of theory....but just seem to miss silly things.
Does anyone have any comments on this one....no fighting....
Best Wishes Mike

wheee im doing g3 on the same day! good luck not that you need it

i've found similar questions on past papers- where both my teacher and i have agreed that it is a little too ambiguous. for example on one i did the other day it asked "in which bar are the notes tied"- simple right? no. there were too examples but the question made it sound like there was only one i ended up spending at least 5 minutes trying to figure out if there was some half hidden detail in one which meant it was not technically tied......

my teacher always says that the questions are straight forward and they wont try to trick you/trip you up. there have been one or two occasions when i think to myself she lies

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QUOTE (Kerropi @ Feb 9 2005, 09:42 AM)

I think in that case you should just write the answer with some explaination next to it , e.g. for PlinkPlonkMan. We can write False, the last note (higher C) is missing to make an octave etc etc ...

Why do you need to make the octave? It's still C major scale.

Sorry did not read the question properly. My point is just explaining if the question is very vague.

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QUOTE (Kerropi @ Feb 9 2005, 10:18 AM)

Wait a minute, if you have only 7 notes, it is not really a full C major though. It can be desending A melodic minor as well

It's you who are being vague. Please read the first post. "It asks if the notes in the above score would make up the C Major scale". Where does A minor descending come into it?
You're saying it isn't a full C major because it hasn't two C's?

I see this post has been edited for no good reason. I will be withdrawing from these boards.

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[B]Ambi, I never use an instructive tone. Even to both of my student (G2 & G8) I always you suggestive tone. If you insist I am using it, I can do anything. By the way hope that you will stay in the forum. See you, everybody, have a good year in Music.

QUOTE (Kerropi @ Feb 9 2005, 11:08 AM)

I am sorry if I use hurt your feeling or you are a very high qualified professional. What I really want to say to PlinkPlonkMan is when the exam question is vague just write explaining in details and I really don't want to involve in any other discussion. If possible Ambi, don't reply my message in future.

You have indeed because someone has edited my post where I used it back to you. I will not be posting any more after this round.
Good luck. The question AND answer by the way are not vague at all. If you don't know that CDEFGAB make up the scale of C major you have no business posting here in an instructive tone.

Kerrpoi, I've asked for all my posts and personal details to be erased from this site, so you soon won't have to worry about me replying - so I hope.

I suggest you learn a little music before trying to 'help' other beginners. You only serve to confuse at your current level of knowledge.

Can I just ask one more question. What your knowledge level/ what qualification do you hold. I think I will stop visit ABRSM website anymore as I am just not enjoy to discuss with many people.

QUOTE (PlinkPlonkMan @ Feb 8 2005, 07:00 PM)

Hello All I hope this one doesn't start world war 3 or something, like the last one. (....) no fighting.... Best Wishes Mike

Well, it was a good try!

QUOTE

It asks if the notes in the above score would make up the C Major scale.......so I looked and yes CDEFGAB........and answered TRUE............. I may be wrong because it's not a complete octave...

Mike - for what it's worth, I think the question is ambiguous.

If the question means do the notes belong to the C major scale, the answer is clearly yes.

If they mean is it a complete C major scale it's less easy.
In one sense it's complete - in that it contains every letter name in the C major scale - I honestly don't know what they want you to say here !! Not much help - I think yes is probably nearer than no, but I'm not 100% sure either!

Maggie

I was going over an old grade 2 or 3 paper with one of my students a few months ago, an it said "how many times does this rhythm appear?" I thought the answer was clear-cut until my student pointed out that there was a repeat in the passage. So were we supposed to double the answer, I don't know. I advise my students to do as Kerropi suggested - write a few words of explanation on the exam paper as to how you've decided on the answer, if you think there could be more than one "right" answer, and one would hope that the marker would look kindly on that. Best wishes to everyone taking their theory soon.
Chris

I would agree with Maggie, because all the notes in the C Major scale are there I would have said true (I wouldn't think that it's necessary to repeat the tonic (the C) at the top). I think it's good advice to write a brief explanation if you're unsure as the examiner will see it; I would, however, make sure that you put the answer that you think is most probable to be right in the first part of your explanation as some exams are marked on the basis that they'll take your first answer and ignore the rest (I don't know if this is the case in theory exams). Good luck .

QUOTE (AnotherPianist @ Feb 10 2005, 01:21 PM)

some exams are marked on the basis that they'll take your first answer and ignore the rest (I don't know if this is the case in theory exams).

I would hope not. I wonder if marking criteria are available??

QUOTE (sarah-flute @ Feb 12 2005, 12:31 AM)

QUOTE (AnotherPianist @ Feb 10 2005, 01:21 PM) some exams are marked on the basis that they'll take your first answer and ignore the rest (I don't know if this is the case in theory exams). I would hope not. I wonder if marking criteria are available??

This policy is usually adopted in exams to prevent people who don't know the answer from writing one answer in one sentence followed by a contradictory answer in another sentence and still getting the mark for the question because they had said the correct answer. For example if asked for what an interval was, one couldn't say "minor third, major third" and get the answer if one was correct!

I guess it depends. If someone write something blatantly contradictory like that then yes, it should be marked incorrect (even if one of them is right!). But I would hope that if there was a note of explanation to the answer then it would be read and taken into account.

QUOTE (Kerropi @ Feb 9 2005, 09:42 AM)

...

that must be one of the most interesting posts i have ever read in my entire life!!

QUOTE (sarah-flute @ Feb 21 2005, 10:29 PM)

But I would hope that if there was a note of explanation to the answer then it would be read and taken into account.

I'm sure it would be. Sometimes if it's the fault of the exam board that the question is ambiguous then both yes and no are accepted as correct answers, hence anyone having written anything gets the mark whether they noticed the ambiguity or not! (This is not ABRSM but I'm sure they'd have to make a similar concession if the ambiguity was considered serious...).

*nods* yup I get you. Sounds like you're probably right - well, it makes sense to me anyway!

Grade 2/03 Paper C qu 8b:
'This piece uses all the notes of the scale of C major. Is that true or untrue?'
I think the answer is true: the piece does use all the notes of the scale of C major: C D E F G A B. As the lowest note of the extract is E on the first line and the highest note is E in the 4th space, the pitch of the notes wouldn't make an octave of the scale of C anyway because the C and D are higher. I don't think a grade 2 candidate would be expected to identify any more than C D E F G A B - the notes of the scale of C major. I suppose at a higher grade it would be quite conceivable to expect a candidate to say it was the scale of C beginning and ending on the mediant.