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Unit 2 · Music Fundamentals II Flashcards Cheat Sheet Essentials Visual Review MC Practice FRQ Practice

AP Music Theory Unit 2 Essentials

The must-know terms and core concepts for Unit 2: Music Fundamentals II. Every vocabulary word and idea you need to master.

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Key Concept 1
Minor comes in three forms — and they're all related to major
Natural, harmonic, and melodic minor share a single key signature (borrowed from the relative major); they differ only in whether the 6th and 7th degrees are raised. Harmonic minor raises 7 to create a leading tone; melodic minor raises 6 and 7 ascending, then lowers them descending. Understanding minor as "major with altered degrees" makes every minor-key question faster.
Natural Minor Harmonic Minor Melodic Minor
Key Concept 2
Keys are a web of relationships
Every key connects to others. Relative keys share a key signature (a minor 3rd apart); parallel keys share a tonic but differ in mode; closely related keys differ by at most one accidental. These relationships explain why some key changes sound smooth and others jarring — and they set up modulation in the harmony units to come.
Relative Keys Parallel Keys Closely Related
Key Concept 3
Every interval has a size and a quality
Name intervals in two steps: count letter names for the size (2nd, 3rd, 4th…), then count half steps for the quality (major, minor, perfect, augmented, diminished). Only unisons, 4ths, 5ths, and octaves can be perfect. Inversions are symmetrical — sizes sum to 9 and qualities flip — which makes intervals the reliable measuring tool for all the harmony that follows.
Interval Size Interval Quality Inversion
Key Concept 4
Timbre, melody, and texture describe how music sounds
Beyond pitch and rhythm, music has color and shape. Timbre is the tone color that distinguishes a flute from an oboe; melodic features describe a line's contour and whether it moves by step (conjunct) or leap (disjunct); texture describes how many independent lines sound at once — monophony, homophony, or polyphony. Transposing instruments add one more wrinkle: written pitch isn't always sounding pitch.
Timbre Melody Texture
Natural minor scale
The minor scale built on the pattern W–H–W–W–H–W–W. It uses the same pitches as its relative major, beginning on the 6th degree.
Minor Scales
Harmonic minor scale
Natural minor with the 7th degree raised a half step, producing a leading tone that pulls to the tonic (e.g., A minor uses G♯).
Minor Scales
Melodic minor scale
Raises the 6th and 7th degrees ascending, then lowers them back to natural minor descending.
Minor Scales
Scale degree
The numbered/named position within a scale (1 tonic … 7 leading tone). In minor, degrees 6 and 7 vary by form.
Minor Scales
Relative keys
A major and minor key that share the same key signature — a minor 3rd apart (C major / A minor).
Key Relationships
Parallel keys
A major and minor key that share the same tonic but differ in mode (C major / C minor); their signatures differ by three accidentals.
Key Relationships
Closely related keys
Keys whose signatures differ by no more than one accidental, plus their relative major/minor — they share most pitches.
Key Relationships
Distantly related keys
Keys whose signatures differ by many accidentals; they share few pitches and sound farther apart.
Key Relationships
Chromatic scale
A scale of all 12 pitches within an octave, moving entirely by half steps.
Other Scales
Whole-tone scale
A six-note scale built entirely of whole steps. With no half steps it lacks a clear tonic.
Other Scales
Pentatonic scale
A five-note scale. Major pentatonic uses scale degrees 1–2–3–5–6 (no 4th or 7th).
Other Scales
Interval size
The distance between two notes counted by letter names (2nd, 3rd, 4th…). Count both endpoints.
Intervals
Interval quality
The exact half-step content of an interval: major, minor, perfect, augmented, or diminished.
Intervals
Perfect interval
The quality applied only to unisons, 4ths, 5ths, and octaves.
Intervals
Interval inversion
Flipping an interval so the lower note becomes the higher. The two sizes sum to 9 and the quality reverses (major↔minor, aug↔dim, perfect stays).
Intervals
Compound interval
An interval larger than an octave, such as a 9th or 10th — a simple interval plus an octave.
Intervals
Transposing instrument
An instrument whose written pitch differs from its sounding (concert) pitch — e.g., a B♭ clarinet written C sounds a whole step lower.
Sound & Design
Concert pitch
The actual sounding pitch, regardless of how it is written for a transposing instrument.
Sound & Design
Timbre
Tone color — the quality that distinguishes instruments or voices playing the same pitch, arising from their overtones and attack.
Sound & Design
Conjunct vs. disjunct motion
Conjunct melodies move mostly by step; disjunct melodies move by leaps. Contour describes the line's overall shape.
Sound & Design
Melodic transposition
Moving an entire melody to a new pitch level while preserving its sequence of intervals.
Sound & Design
Monophony
A texture of a single melodic line with no accompaniment (octave doubling still counts as monophonic).
Texture
Homophony
A texture of one primary melody supported by chordal accompaniment.
Texture
Polyphony
A texture of two or more independent melodic lines sounding at once (e.g., a fugue or round).
Texture