The Music Stem / Music theory practice tests / Praxis Music 5115
Exam practice
Timed practice for Praxis Music 5115, set out in the board's own sections. Every answer comes with an explanation.
Praxis Music: Instrumental and General Knowledge (5115) is a licensure test for music teachers, owned by ETS.
This practice test covers history, theory, performance, teaching and professional issues, for instrumental music teachers.
The listening questions use our own piano recordings. They cover finding errors against a printed score and judging a piano performance. Each error question plays a single melody. Performance questions judge tempo, balance, dynamics and articulation on the piano. Recognizing a style, period, instrument or voice by ear is not included. Intonation, blend, tone and diction are not included either.
Exam mode runs a clock of 2 hours 5 minutes for the whole practice test.
The full practice test holds 125 questions.
Study mode has no clock. It checks each answer as you go.
Which composer dominated Italian opera in the middle and late nineteenth century with works such as Rigoletto, La traviata and Aida?
The answer is A, Giuseppe Verdi.
Verdi wrote Rigoletto (1851), La traviata (1853) and Aida (1871). Rossini's main operas came earlier in the century and Puccini's later, and Wagner wrote German music dramas.
The given opening in D minor climbs A, B♮, C♯, D. Which scale does this climb use?
The answer is D, Melodic minor, rising.
Raised sixth and seventh degrees, B♮ and C♯, belong to the rising melodic minor. They smooth the approach to the tonic and avoid the augmented second from B♭ to C♯.
A choral piece ends with the word morendo over the final phrase. How should the choir sing it?
The answer is A, Fading gradually in volume and intensity.
Morendo means dying away: the sound fades in both volume and intensity, often with a slight slowing. Speeding up is accelerando. A sudden forceful attack is sforzando. A long hold is a fermata.
Exam mode gives 2 hours 5 minutes for the whole practice test. It holds 125 questions. Study mode has no clock.
It follows the board's order: History and Literature, Theory and Composition, Performance, Pedagogy and Instructional Practices and Professional Issues and Music Technology.
Yes. Each answer comes with an explanation of why it is correct.
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