A recorded chord is a major triad with a minor seventh sounding above its root. Which chord is heard?Wikipedia, "Dominant seventh chord". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 002
A recorded folk melody uses only five different pitches in each octave. Which kind of scale is heard?Wikipedia, "Pentatonic scale". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 001
A recorded phrase comes to rest on the dominant chord and sounds unfinished, as if a question had been asked. Which cadence is heard?Wikipedia, "Cadence". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 002
A recorded piece keeps a steady pulse that groups itself in fives from start to finish: 1-2-3, 1-2. What is the meter?Wikipedia, "Quintuple meter". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 003
A recorded song repeats a pattern of twelve bars built on the I, IV and V chords. In each verse a line is sung, sung again, and answered by a new line. Which form is heard?Wikipedia, "Twelve-bar blues". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 004
Show all 48 questions (43 more)
Listening skills, continued
A recording presents a gamelan: an ensemble of metallophones struck with mallets, with hand drums keeping the beat. Where does this music come from?Wikipedia, "Gamelan". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 005
In a recording a choir sings one melody in unison, with no accompaniment and no harmony. Which texture is heard?Wikipedia, "Monophony". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 004
In a recording a harpsichord and a cello play a continuous bass part with improvised chords beneath two solo violins. This basso continuo points to which period?Wikipedia, "Figured bass". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 005
In a recording the violins play a four-note motif, repeat it at once a step higher, then a step higher again. Which melodic device is heard?Wikipedia, "Sequence (music)". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 001
Over the last eight bars of a recorded dance the beat grows steadily faster. Which term names this change?Wikipedia, "Tempo". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 003
The score marks a passage staccato, but the recorded clarinetist joins each note smoothly to the next. Which element of the performance does not match the score?Wikipedia, "Staccato". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 006
The score shows two even eighth notes on the third beat of a bar in 4/4. In the recording the player fits three even notes into that beat. What was played?Wikipedia, "Tuplet". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 006
Music theory 8
A da capo aria has an A section and a contrasting B section. What does the instruction “da capo” at the end of the B section tell the singer to do?Wikipedia, "Da capo aria". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 010
A fermata is printed over the last note of a phrase. What does it tell the performer?Wikipedia, "Fermata". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 010
A march in 6/8 is counted in two. Which note value gets one beat?Wikipedia, "Time signature". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 009
A melody puts its accents between the beats and on weak beats, against the regular pulse. Which rhythmic device is this?Wikipedia, "Syncopation". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 009
A phrase in C major ends with a G7 chord that resolves to an A minor chord in place of the expected C major chord. Which cadence is this?Wikipedia, "Cadence". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 008
Which interval lies between E and the C above it?Wikipedia, "Minor sixth". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 007
Which major key has a key signature of four flats?Wikipedia, "A-flat major". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 008
Which modern mode matches the piano's white keys from D to D?Wikipedia, "Dorian mode". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 007
Music history 8
The djembe is a rope-tuned goblet drum played with bare hands. In which region is it widely used?Wikipedia, "Djembe". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 014
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, composer of the Missa Papae Marcelli, worked in which period, and what in his music most influenced later musicians?Wikipedia, "Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 011
Hildegard of Bingen, a Benedictine abbess of the 12th century, is among the best-known composers of which kind of music?Wikipedia, "Hildegard of Bingen". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 011
In the Western classical tradition, what is a Lied?Wikipedia, "Lied". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 012
The sitar, a plucked string instrument, is used in which musical tradition?Wikipedia, "Sitar". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 014
The steelpan, also called the steel drum, originated in which country?Wikipedia, "Steelpan". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 013
Which American composer, dubbed the “King of Ragtime”, wrote more than 40 ragtime pieces and two operas?Wikipedia, "Scott Joplin". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 013
Which French composer is sometimes regarded as the first Impressionist composer, though he rejected the term?Wikipedia, "Claude Debussy". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 012
Music creation and performance 8
A choir director looks at where most of the notes of the alto part lie, not only at its highest and lowest notes. Which term names that part of the range?Wikipedia, "Tessitura". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 016
A composer restates a theme with every note value doubled. Which compositional device is this?Wikipedia, "Augmentation (music)". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 015
A conductor beats time with one hand. What is the second hand commonly used for?Wikipedia, "Conducting". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 018
A middle school chorus teacher plans parts for boys whose voices are changing. By about how much does the male voice typically deepen during puberty?Wikipedia, "Voice change". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 016
A tenor trombone part in an orchestral score sounds as written. In which clef is most of it notated?Wikipedia, "Trombone". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 017
An arranger writes a C in the part for a B♭ clarinet. Which concert pitch sounds when the player reads that note?Wikipedia, "Transposing instrument". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 015
In conducting, what does the downbeat indicate?Wikipedia, "Conducting". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 018
Which players make up a string quartet?Wikipedia, "String quartet". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 017
Music education 12
17 U.S.C. 107 names purposes for which the fair use of a copyrighted work is not an infringement. Which purpose is on its list?17 U.S.C. 107, text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 024
A band director checks sound levels in the rehearsal room against workplace noise rules. Most such regulations treat noise as hazardous when it exceeds which level over an 8-hour exposure?Wikipedia, "Occupational noise". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 022
A general music teacher has students sight-sing with movable-do solfège syllables and hand signs and speak rhythm syllables. Which approach is in use?Wikipedia, "Kodály method". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 020
A music teacher writing to the school board cites federal education law. In 20 U.S.C. 7801, music is named in the definition of which term?20 U.S.C. 7801(52), text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 019
A student in band has an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Under 34 CFR 300.323(d), what must the school ensure for each teacher responsible for carrying it out?34 CFR 300.323(d), text at the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 021
A student plays a keyboard connected to a computer by MIDI. What does a MIDI event carry?Wikipedia, "MIDI". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 023
A student who enjoys fixing violins and guitars asks about careers in music. What do we call a craftsperson who builds string instruments or repairs them?Wikipedia, "Luthier". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 024
After a unit on rhythm, a teacher lets each student show what was learned by performing, notating or composing a pattern. Which element of instruction is being differentiated?Wikipedia, "Differentiated instruction". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 021
In a rehearsal room with hard, bare walls, sound lingers after the band stops playing. What is this persistence of sound called?Wikipedia, "Reverberation". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 022
The National Core Arts Standards group their anchor standards under four artistic processes. Which list names them?National Core Arts Standards, nationalartsstandards.org. Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 019
Students record their compositions, cut out mistakes and mix the tracks on a classroom computer. Which kind of software is made for this work?Wikipedia, "Digital audio workstation". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 023
Which approach combines music, movement, drama and speech in lessons like a child’s world of play, with small xylophones, glockenspiels and metallophones that have removable bars?Wikipedia, "Orff Schulwerk". Outline: MTTC Music Education (099) test objectives, objective 020
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test objectives of MTTC Music Education, field 099, as the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification site prints them (https://www.mttc.nesinc.com/Content/STUDYGUIDE/MI_SG_OBJ_099.htm; test page https://www.mttc.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/MI099_TestPage.html), read 2026-10-09: 100 multiple-choice questions in 2 hours 30 minutes, passing score 220; Subarea I Listening Skills (objectives 001 to 006, 25%), II Music Theory (007 to 010, 16%), III Music History (011 to 014, 16%), IV Music Creation and Performance (015 to 018, 16%), V Music Education (019 to 024, 25%). This bank holds 12, 8, 8, 8 and 12: two questions for each of the 24 objectives. The real test plays recorded examples through a headset for its listening questions; this page plays no sound, so its 12 listening questions say in words what a recording presents. Every fact was read on 2026-10-09 in the page named under its question: 42 Wikipedia articles, the National Core Arts Standards site, and 17 U.S.C. 107, 20 U.S.C. 7801 and 34 CFR 300.323 at the Legal Information Institute. The sample questions of the study guide were not opened. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This MTTC Music Education practice test asks 48 questions of our own on field 099. Nothing plays: a listening question tells you what is heard. It is unofficial, with no tie to the Michigan Department of Education or Pearson.
Read the full guide
The five subareas
The test objectives, read October 9, 2026, give listening skills and music education 25% each, and music theory, music history, and music creation and performance 16% each. Here that is 12, 8, 8, 8 and 12 questions: two for each of the 24 objectives.
Listening without sound
The test page says a headset is used for the listening questions. Twelve questions here describe a recording, so also practice naming scales, cadences, meters and textures by ear from real music.
Two tests for the endorsement
The test page notes that initial certification with the JQ endorsement takes both Music Education (099) and a Professional Knowledge and Skills test.
A quarter of the test is music teaching itself: pedagogy, learners with different needs, rehearsal spaces, technology, and law such as copyright.
Questions and answers
Is this an MTTC music education full length practice test?
No. The real test has 100 multiple-choice questions and this bank has 48, in the same shares. Exam mode runs them in 72 minutes, the pace of the real 2 hours 30 minutes.
Does the MTTC Music Education test have listening questions?
Yes. Listening Skills is the first subarea, with six objectives on melody, harmony, rhythm and tempo, form and style, historical context, and matching a performance to its score. The test page says a headset is included for them.
What is the passing score for the MTTC music test?
The score to reach is 220, by the test page. Forms may carry questions that are being evaluated and do not affect a candidate’s score, so nothing here turns a count of right answers into a result.
Where do the answers on this page come from?
Each explanation names the page its fact was read on: a Wikipedia article for theory, history and instruments, the National Core Arts Standards site, or the section of federal law for copyright and special education questions.