Thursday January 31, 2013

1. M100: Music AppreciationDiscussion GroupBen Tibbetts, T.A.Welcome! Please sign the attendance at the front of the room. Thursday January 31, 2013

2. Welcome Kristen’s Students! • Big class today

3. Heads up! • Get the book if you haven’t already: Listen to This by Mark Evan Bonds (Second Edition). Optional: “MyMusicLab”

4. Heads up! • You’ll be taking the Elements Test next class (Tuesday). • Remember: this will test you on material from discussion groups and the book. • You’re allowed one hand-written double-sided 8 ½ x 11 sheet of notes. • We aren’t on Moodle yet. In the meantime, the slides from today and last Tuesday can be found here: www.bentibbetts.net/M100/spring2013/

5. Email • My students: please send me an email if you haven’t already with your full name and a link to some of your favorite music. This is so I have your email address and can send you updates, class info, etc. benjamintibbetts@yahoo.com

6. Today’s Agenda • Pages 1-15 • Quickly reviewing some of Tuesday’s material. • Collecting the Elements Packet. • Musical notation and elements (continued).

7. Review: The Musical Staff • The lines are numbered #1-5 from bottom to top. Same with the spaces #1-4.

8. Review: Treble Clef • The treble clef (also sometimes called the “G clef” because the spiral circles around line number 2, or G) can be used to write notes in a high register. • The placement of these notes is as follows:

9. Review: Bass Clef • The bass clef may be used to write notes in a low register. The two dots surround line number 4, or F. • The placement of these notes is as follows:

10. Review: The Beat • The beat is a phenomenon which occurs in most music—it is a regular, recurring pulse around which musical events are temporally organized (i.e. organized with regards to time). • Sometimes the beat is obvious and/or loudly represented by a percussive instrument. Other times, it’s very quiet, or even only implied.

11. Review: Meter • By accenting one beat over the others (make it unusually loud or emphatic), beats can be generally grouped together in clumps of two or three. • When beats are regularly grouped together in this fashion, a meter has been established. Meter is an “underlying pattern of beats that maintains itself consistently throughout a work.” (page 517)

12. Review: Duple versus Triple Meter • If it sounds like beats have been grouped together in two-beat (or four-beat) patterns, then the music is said to be in duple meter (or “quadruple meter”—for the purposes of this course quadruple meter will be treated as equal to duple meter). • If it sounds like the beats have been grouped in three-beat patterns, then the music is in triple meter. • Sometimes, the difference between them can be difficult to notice. Other times, the music is clearly in one meter or the other. • Not all music is in a regular meter. • Music doesn’t have to stay in one meter throughout.

13. Review: Measures • In music notation, every group of beats is shown through the use of measures, or musical divisions shown by vertical barlines. • Each of these is one complete measure:

14. Review: Time Signatures • A time signature is made up of two numbers, one on top of each other. (Although it’s not a fraction.) • The top number indicates how many beats there are in every measure. In the example below, there are four. • The bottom number indicates which note value “gets the beat”—[rephrased: which note value represents one beat].

15. Review: Note Values The “value” of a note (black or white note head, whether or not it has a stem and a flag) determines how long that note is to be held. Note values are proportional: a “whole note”, the longest note value, always is twice as long as a half note. A half note in turn is twice as long as a quarter note, etc.

16. Review: Time Signatures • The bottom number in a time signature indicates which note value will represent the length of a single beat. If it’s a 4 (as it often is), then the quarter note is worth one beat (see the chart below).

17. Review: Note Values • In the time signature where a quarter note is equal to one beat (again, this is the most common situation), then the beat-measurements of all the other note values may be calculated arithmetically:

18. Review: Rhythms • Measures are filled with endless combinations of note values—these are called rhythms. • For example: If a measure contains three beats, and the quarter note “gets” the beat, then that measure could be filled with three quarter notes. Notice: rhythms are totally unaffected by clefs.

19. Review: Rhythms • Here’s another rhythm: Since a half note is twice as long as a quarter note, the same measure could be filled with one half note and one quarter note (2+1=3). There are endless other combinations.

20. Review: Intervals • An interval is the distance between two notes on the keyboard. • If—counting the black keys—two notes are right next to each other, then they are said to be a half step apart. • If there’s a note between them, then they’re a whole step apart.

21. Review: Intervals • The distance between F and G is a whole step. And the distance between B and C is a half step. • These notes correspond to notes on the page.

22. Review: Sharp & Flat • Black keys are described in relation to white keys. Two words and symbols are used to accomplish this: sharp (#) and flat ( ). • Sharp indicates that the note has moved upwards by a half-step. C#, for instance, is the black note one half-step above C. • Flat indicates that the note has moved downwards by a half-step. B , for instance, is the black note one half-step below B. • These symbols are called accidentals. They are drawn beside the note head.

23. Review: The Keyboard

24. End of Review • Questions?

25. Harmony vs. Melody • The melody or the “tune” can be defined as “a single line of notes heard in succession as a coherent unit” (pg. 517). It is often the most memorable aspect of a piece of music. • Harmony is “the sound created by multiple voices playing or singing together” (page 516). Harmony also refers to the music which usually accompanies the melody—it is supplemental. • Example: Music from Grave of the Fireflies (Japan) by Michio Mamiya. Excerpt #1: Melody by itself. Excerpt #2: Melody accompanied by harmony.

26. Texture • Musical texture is “the number and general relationship of musical lines or voices to one another” (page 518). There are three main types of musical texture: • Monophonic (low complexity) • Homophonic (medium complexity) • Polyphonic (high complexity)

27. Monophonic Texture or “Monophony” • “A musical texture consisting of a single melodic line” (page 517). • Melody alone • Example: Underground Theme from Super Mario Bros. by Koji Kondo

28. Homophonic Texture or “Homophony” • “A musical texture in which a melody is performed with a supporting accompaniment” (page 516). • Melody + Harmony • Example: excerpt from Hurt by Trent Reznor (Johnny Cash cover) • Example: excerpt from Cântec de Nunta (Romania) music by Gheorghe Zamfir (?)

29. Polyphonic Texture or “Polyphony” • “A musical texture consisting of multiple lines of equal importance” (page 517). • Melody + Melody(s) or Multiple Melodies + Harmony • Example: The Tonight Quintet from West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein)

30. Scales • A scale is “a series of notes that provide the essential pitch building blocks of a melody” (page 518). • Music based off major scales seems to generally evoke positive emotions. • Music based off minor scales seems to generally evoke negative emotions.

31. Scales • A scale begins on the note it’s named after (i.e., the C Major scale begins on C). • Listen: C Major Scale

32. Intervals in the Major Scale • The intervallic pattern for the major scale is WWHWWWH, or Whole-Whole-Half-Whole-Whole-Whole-Half • On the keyboard: C to D is a whole step, D to E is a whole step, E to F is a half step, F to G is a whole step, G to A is a whole step, A to B is a whole step, and B back to C is a half step. • Listen again: C Major Scale

33. The Keyboard

34. Minor Scales • There are three minor scales: the natural minor, the harmonic minor, and the melodic minor. • The intervallic pattern for the Natural Minor Scale is WHWWHWW. • Listen: C Natural Minor Scale • Listen: C Harmonic Minor Scale • Listen: C Melodic Minor Scale

35. Form vs. Genre • Form is “the structure of a musical work; the way in which its individual units are put together” (page 516). What happens and in what order. • Genre is “the category of a work, determined by a combination of its performance medium and its social function” (page 516). Why the music is being played, for what occasion.

36. Timbre • Timbre refers to the “character or quality of a sound” (518). • It usually refers to an individual instrument or an isolated section of a piece. • Video: “The Soundtrack” from Fantasia (1940)

37. Dynamics • Dynamics refer to the volume of music or sound. • From softest to loudest: pp p mp mf f ff • Pianissimo = pp • Piano = p • Mezzo-Piano = mp • Mezzo-Forte = mf • Forte = f • Fortissimo = ff • Crescendo = gradually get louder. • Decrescendo = gradually get softer.

38. Tempo • Tempo refers to the speed of a musical meter—how fast or slow the beat is. • Point of confusion: Tempo does not describe rhythms. Some music may be played at a slow tempo (with a slow beat) and still use fast rhythms (so there are many musical events between the slow beats). • Example: two excerpts from First of the Year (Equinox) by Skrillex

39. Final Reminders / Homework • Don’t forget to pass in your Elements Packet • Elements Test next class (optional 8 ½ x 11 sheet of notes) • Questions? Email: benjamintibbetts@yahoo.com