Music Appreciation Course Introduction Elements of Music

1
Music AppreciationCourse IntroductionElements
of Music
2
Course Objective

• To produce an educated patron of music
• Listening
• Selected topics
• Historical evolution

3
Objectives
Live performancespecial excitement
Evaluating music performances
4
Music HistoryWestern European American music

• Historical style periods
• Selected great composers

5
Part I Elements of Music

• Sound
• Rhythm
• Melody
• Key
• Form

• Performing Media
• Music Notation
• Harmony
• Texture
• Style

6
Sound
CHAPTER 1SOUND PITCH, DYNAMICS, AND TONE COLOR

• Music is the organization of sounds in time
• Properties of musical sounds

• Dynamics

• Tone color

7
Pitch

• Highness or lowness of sound
• A definite pitch is a tone

8
Dynamics
Italian terms used to indicate dynamics

• Extremes ppp, pppp, fff, ffff

• Crescendo gradually louder

• Decrescendo (diminuendo) gradually softer

9
Tone Color

• Also called timbre quality of a sound

• Can be bright, dark, mellow, etc.

10
Performing Media The Singing Voice

• Grouped by gender

2 main groupings

• Female

• Male

• Soprano (high)
• Mezzo Soprano (medium high)
• Alto (low)

• Tenor (high)

• Baritone (medium high)
• Bass (low)

11
Musical Instruments

• Instruments made in different sizes (for range)

Western instruments 6 broad categories Orchestral
groups Non Orchestral

• String
• Woodwind
• Brass
• Percussion

• Keyboard
• Electronic

12
Homework Listening Assignment

• Britten Young Persons Guide to the
  OrchestraTwo OptionsKamien disc 1 (pg 30 in
  text), orKamien cd rom/Instruments/Young Persons
  Guide

13
String Instruments

• Sound produced by vibrating a tight cable

• Longer string lower pitch

Orchestral instruments

• Violin
• Viola
• Cello (violoncello)
• Bass (double bass)

Symphonic music uses bow
14
Woodwind Instruments

• Traditionally, woodwinds made of
  wood

• In 20th Century, metal plastic became common

• The longer the tube, the lower the pitch

• Covering holes along instrument serves to
  lengthen the tube

Main orchestral woodwinds and ranges
15
Brass Instruments

• Orchestral brasses (in order of
  range)

• Trumpet
• French horn
• Trombone
• Tuba

(Cornet, baritone horn, euphonium used mainly
in concert and marching bands)
16
Percussion Instruments

• Sound (generally) produced by striking, shaking,
  or rubbing the instrument

• Some instruments of definite pitch produce tones

17
Percussion Instruments

• Instruments of indefinite pitch produce
  noise-like sounds

• Membranes, plates, or bars
  vibrate

18
Keyboard InstrumentsPictured on pages 26 27

• Piano
• Harpsichord
• Pipe Organ

19
Organ Pipes
20
Pipe Organ
21
Electronic Instruments

• Produce or amplify sound using electricity
• Synthesizer an instrument and/or a modifier of
  musical instruments
• Can order sounds in time through electronic means
• Frankenstein the Edgar Winter Band
• May 1973 Billboard no. 1

22
Electronic Instruments
MIDI (1983) allowed connection of devices
Modern composers connect these devices, use
software, and create and write new types of
music
23
Rhythm

• - Organizes movement in time
• - Recurring patterns

24
Beat

• Recurrent pulsation
• Divides music into equal units of time
• Grouping of beats into measures
• Downbeat
• Syncopation

25
Tempo
The speed of the beat, the pace
Indicated by Italian terms at beginning of piece

• accelerando, ritardando

Metronomeindicates exact tempo
26
Notating Rhythm

• Music notation indicates length of tone in
  relation to other tones in the piece

• How note looks indicates duration

• Note head stem

• Flag

• Beam

• Dotted note
• Tie

Notating Silence
Rests indicate notated silence
27
Notating Meter

• Time signature indicates the meter of a piece
  of music

2
3

• Top number how many beats in measure

4
2

• Bottom number what type note counts 1 beat

28
Music Notation

• Written music stores information

Notating Pitch
Letter names for notes A B C D E F G
Staff
Clef signs

• Treble

• Bass

Grand staff
29
Notating Pitch
Keyboard note naming
Keyboard note naming with notation

• Sharp, flat, natural notes

30
Score

• Includes music for every instrument of the
  orchestra on one sheet
• Can include 20 lines of music at once
• See example p. 39

31
Orchestral Score Example
32
Melody

• Definition

Range Direction and motion Theme Climax
33
Harmony

• Definition example

Chord Progression Triad
Tension release Dissonance Consonance
34
Homework Listening Example

• Prelude in E minor for Piano,
• Op. 28, No. 4 (1839)
• by Frederic Chopin
• Listening Outline p. 46
• Brief set, CD 136
• Listen for Pulsating chords monotonous melody
• Dissonant chords underlying melody
• Climax with faster rhythm crescendo
• Near end, dissonant chord, silence, resoluti
  on at cadence

35
Organization of Musical Sounds

• Key Tonality
• The central tone is the keynote, or tonic
• Scale
• Chromatic Scale
• Major Scale
• Minor scale

36
The Major Scale

• Drawn from the 12 chromatic semitones (half
  steps)

The Formula
Whole step
, half step
Formula W W H W W
W H

• Bright, happy sound

37
The Minor Scale
Whole steps and half steps occur in another
predetermined order
Formula W H W W H W
W

• Dark, sad sound

38
The Key Signature
Sharp and flat symbols at the beginning of
the music Number of sharps or flats played
determines scale and key
39
Modulation Change of Key

• A temporary shift in tonal gravity

Provides contrast
Tonic Key the main key
Modulations away usually return to the
tonic key
40
Musical Texture

• Definition
• Monophonic Texture
• Polyphonic Texture
• Homophonic Texture
• Changes of Texture

41
Homework Listening Example

• Farandole from LArlesienne
• Suite No. 2 (1879)
• by Georges Bizet
• Listening Outline page 52
• Brief Set, CD 137
• Note contrasting textures

42
Musical Form - Architecture

• Techniques that Create Musical Form
• Repetition
• Contrast
• Variation

43
Types of Musical Form

• Three-Part (Ternary) Form A B A
• Simple A B A
• Subdivided aba cdc aba
• Dance of the Reed Pipes
• from Nutcracker Suite (1892)
• by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Listening Outline p. 56
• Brief Set, CD 142

44
Types of Musical Form

• Two-Part (Binary) Form A B

• A B

• A A B

• A B B

• A A B B

45
Listening ExerciseWrite down your observations
of Performing Instruments, Rhythm, Melody, and
Harmony

• Contradance No. 7 in Eb Major
• from Twelve Contradances for Orchestra (1892)
• by Ludwig van Beethoven
• Listening Outline p. 57
• Brief Set, CD 145

46
Other types of form

• Through-Composed reflects a poems continual
  changing mood, a musical journey
• Strophic repeating the same music for each
  verse of text
• Theme Variation used in popular and jazz
  frequently where variations of the theme are used
  repeatedly and often improvised