Music Appreciation: Elements and Significance

1. Music: An Appreciation, Brief, 8th edition | Roger Kamien Part i: Elements

2. Music: vital part of human society • Provides entertainment and emotional release; accompanies activities • Heard everywhere in modern life • Recorded music is a 20th-century innovation • Internet access • Portable audio • Live performance: special excitement • Experience affected by emotional state of both performer and audience • Evaluating music performances • Background music vs. active listening • Perceptive listening enhances enjoyment • Knowledge of musical elements enhances perception

3. SOUND: pitch, dynamics, tone color • Our world is filled with sounds • Sounds can be pleasant or unpleasant • Humans are able to focus on specific sounds • We can ignore sounds that do not interest us • Sound • Begins as a result of vibrating object • Transmitted through a medium: air • Causes our eardrums to vibrate • Impulses sent to brain for processing • MUSIC: organization of sounds in time • Four main categories of musical sounds • • pitch • dynamics • tone color • duration

4. pitch: highness or lowness of sound • Determined by frequency of vibration • Fast vibration = high pitch; slow vibration = low pitch • Generally, smaller vibrating objects = higher pitches • In music, definite pitch is a tone • Tones have specific frequencies e.g., 440 cycles (vibrations) per second = A) • Irregular vibrations create sounds of indefinite pitch • Interval: distance between 2 tones • Octave: doubling/halving of frequency • Tones an octave apart seem to blend together • Western music divides octave into 12 tones Nonwestern music may divide into different number • Range: distance between voice or instrument’s highest & lowest possible tones

5. dynamics • Relative loudness of a sound • Related to amplitude of vibration producing sound • Changes in dynamics may be sudden or gradual • Accent: tone played louder than tones near it • Italian terms used to indicate dynamics • Extremes: ppp, pppp, fff, ffff • Crescendo: gradually louder • Decrescendo (diminuendo): • gradually softer

6. tone color (timbre) • Quality that identifies an instrument’s sound • Can be bright, dark, mellow, etc. • Changes in tone color create variety and contrast • Tone colors add a sense of continuity Specific melodies with specific tone colors • Unlimited variety of tone colors Composers frequently blend sounds of instruments to create new tone colors • Modern electronic technique create new tone colors

7. listening outlines, vocal music guides, and properties of sound • Listening Outlines & Vocal Music Guides • Helps focus attention on musical events as they occur • Preceded by description of the music’s main features • Listening Outline: points out notable musical sounds • Vocal Music Guide: helps the listener follow the thought, story, or drama • *Suggestion: While listening to one passage, look ahead to what is next

8. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC Note: Tone colors through instrumentation Dynamic contrasts LISTENING The Firebird, scene 2 (1910) Igor Stravinsky

9. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC Listen for: Tone colors Repeated note melody Improvised solos Muted brass instruments LISTENING C-Jam Blues (1942) Duke Ellington

10. PERFORMING MEDIA:voices and instruments • Voices: unique ability to fuse words & musical tones • Voice range is based on physical makeup & training • Voice classifications Female Male soprano (highest) tenor mezzo-soprano baritone alto bass (lowest) • Vocal music is frequently performed with instrumental accompaniment

11. Musical instruments: any mechanism (other than voice) that produces musical sounds • Western instruments: 6 broad categories string percussion woodwind keyboard brass electronic • Made in different sizes for range variety • Tone color may vary with the register • Provide entertainment; used for accompaniment • Instruments’ popularity rises and falls with changing musical tastes

12. string instruments • Sound produced by vibrating tight cable • shorter the string and tighter the tension, higher the pitch • (& vice versa) • Orchestral bowed instruments • violin • viola • cello (violoncellon) • bass (double bass) • Common playing techniques • • pizzicato • vibrato • tremolo • • double stop • harmonics • mute • Some string instruments not played with bow • Guitar & harp use plectrum (small wedge; pick)

13. woodwind instruments • Traditionally, woodwinds were made of wood • In the 20th century, metal & plastic became common • The longer the tube, the lower the pitch • Holes along instrument change the length of the tube • Main orchestral woodwinds and ranges: • Woodwinds: single note instrument • Sounds produced by blowing (player’s breath) • • “whistle mouthpiece” • single reed • double reed • • saxophone: single reed instrument; common in jazz

14. brass instruments • Orchestral brasses (in order of range) • trumpet, french horn, trombone, tuba • cornet, baritone horn, & euphonium used mainly in concert and in marching bands • Sound produced by blowing into mouthpiece • Vibration of player’s lips produces sound • Sound exits through flared end called bell • Pitch changed in 2 ways: • Pressure of player’s lips (together and against mouthpiece) • Lengthening the instrument via slide or valves • Trombone uses sliding tubes • Others use valves connected to additional tubing • Generally, the longer the tube, the lower the pitch • Tone color is altered by inserting mute into bell • Brass provides power and emphasis in music

15. percussion instruments • Sound (generally) produced by striking, shaking, or rubbing the instrument • Instruments of definite pitchproduce tones • Those of indefinite pitch produce noise-like sounds • Membranes, pieces of wood or metal vibrate • Percussionists must play many instruments • Percussion traditionally emphasizes rhythm 20th-century music: greater use of percussion

16. electronic instruments • Produce or amplify sound using electronics • Invented ~1904, significant impact only after 1950 • Modern technology blurs lines between instrument types, recording, computer, and hybrid devices • Tape studio: main electronic tool of 1950s • Synthesizers came into use in 1960s • Huge machines first built in mid-1950s • Analog synthesis dominated until ~1980 • Digital (FM) synthesis came to forefront in 1980s Effects devices were integrated into digital synthesizers • Sampling technology advanced in 1990s • MIDI (1983) allowed connection of devices • Small computers develop in 1970s & 80s • Modern composers connect these devices, use software, and write new types of music

17. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC Listen for: Themes, variations Contrast Repetition Various orchestral instruments LISTENING The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34 (1946) Benjamin Britten

18. RHYTHM • Flow of music through time • Particular arrangement of note lengths • BEAT • Recurrent pulsation • Divides music into equal units of time • METER • Grouping of beats • 2s and 3s; strong and weak beats • ACCENT and SYNCOPATION • Accent: note is emphasized • Syncopation: emphasis placed on an unexpected note or beat

19. tempo • The speed of the beat; the pace associated with emotional effect • Tempo indicated at beginning of piece • As with dynamics, Italian terms are used • Molto, non troppo, accelerando, ritardando • Metronome: indicates exact tempo

20. MUSIC NOTATION • Written music stores information • Allows composer to communicate their ideas to others Notating pitch • Letter names: A B C D E F G • Staff • Grand Staff • G Clef or Treble • F Clef or Bass

21. notating pitch • Keyboard note names with notation

22. notating rhythm • music notation indicates length of tone in relation to other tones in the piece • How note looks indicates • duration • Notating Silence • Rests indicate • notated silence

23. notating meter • Time signature indicates the meter of a piece of music • Appears at beginning of piece • Appears again whenever meter changes • Written as two numbers, one above other • 3 top number: how many beats per measure 4 2bottom number: what type note counts 1 beat • Common and cut time; duple and triple meter • The Score • Includes music for every instrument • Can include 20+ lines of music at once

24. MELODY • A series of single notes that add up to a recognizable whole • Begins, moves, ends • Tension and release • Stepwise vs. leap motion • Climax • Legato vs. staccato • Made of phrases (parts) • Sequence within melodies • Cadence: complete vs. incomplete LISTENING Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC Over the Rainbow (1938) Harold Arlen

25. HARMONY • The way chords are constructed and how they follow each other • Chord: three or more tones sounded at once • chord is simultaneous tones • Melody is a series of individual tones • Progression: how chords follow each other • Consonance and Dissonance • Stable, restful chords (consonant) • Unstable, tense chords (dissonant) degree of dissonance—more and less dissonant • Resolution: movement away from a dissonance, towards consonance

26. the triad • Simplest, most basic chord Made up of three notes Notated on 3 adjacent lines or spaces • Tonic: triad built on 1st scale note Most stable, restful chord Pieces usually begin and end on this chord • Dominant: triad built on 5th scale note Most unstable, tense chord Dominant to tonic movement feels conclusive • Broken Chords (Arpeggios) • Chord tones sounded in series

27. KEY • Centering of a melody or harmony around a central note • The Major Scale • Whole steps and half steps occurring in a predetermined order bright, happy sound • The Minor Scale • Whole steps and half steps occurring in a different predetermined order dark, sad sound

28. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC Note: Harmony for variety and movement LISTENING Prelude in e minor for piano, Op. 28, No. 4 (1839) Frédéric Chopin

29. key signature • Pieces using major scales—major key • Pieces using minor scales—minor key • Number of sharps or flats played determines scale and key • Also determines key signature • Key signature notated at beginning of piece between clef sign and time signature • The Chromatic Scale • Utilizes all 12 notes within the octave • Includes both black and white piano keys • This scale does not define a key

30. modulation: change of key • Provides contrast within longer piece • Modulation like temporary shift in gravity new tone and key becomes “home” • Tonic Key • The main key of a piece • Modulations away to different keys usually return to the tonic key • Return to tonic creates feeling of resolution and conclusion return to tonic usually occurs near end of piece

31. MUSICAL TEXTURE • Layering of sound, how layers relate • Monophonic Texture • Single, unaccompanied melodyliterally “one sound” • Polyphonic Texture • Two or more equally important melodies sounding simultaneously • Homophonic Texture • One melody with chordal accompaniment • Changes of Texture • Within a piece, creates variety and contrast

32. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC Note: Contrasting textures LISTENING Farandole from L’ArlesienneSuite No. 2 (1879) Georges Bizet

33. MUSICAL FORM • Organization of musical elements in time • Techniques that create musical form • Repetition—restating musical ideas • Contrast—avoiding monotony with new ideas • Variation—reworking ideas to keep them new • Types of Musical Form • Ternary • simple • subdivided

34. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC Note: Ternary form LISTENING Dance of the Reed Pipes from Nutcracker Suite (1892) Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

35. types of musical form • Binary • A B • A A B • A B B • A A B B Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC LISTENING Bourée from Suite in e minor for lute (1710) Johann Sebastian Bach

36. MUSICAL STYLE • Characteristic way of using melody, rhythm, tone, color, dynamics, harmony, texture, and form • Western art music can be divided into: Middle Ages, 450-1450 Renaissance, 1450-1600 Baroque, 1600-1750 Classical, 1750-1820 Romantic, 1820-1900 20th Century to 1945 1945 to present • Shaped by political, economic, social, and intellectual developments