Ch. 2 - Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
Voices – unique ability to fuse words (“text”) & musical tones
• Voice classifications
Female
Soprano (highest)
Mezzo-soprano
Alto
Male
Tenor
Baritone
Bass (lowest)
• Male voice with female range:
• “castrato”
• countertenor
Musical Instruments – mechanism (other than the voice)
that produces musical sounds
• Western instruments: 6 broad categories
• String
• Woodwind
• Brass
• Percussion
• Keyboard
• Electronic
• Made in different sizes for range
• Tone color varies with the register
• Instruments’ popularity rises &
falls with changing musical tastes :
Ever hear of the Baryton?
String Instruments
• Sound produced by vibrating a tight cable
• The longer the string, the lower the pitch
• Orchestral bowed
instruments
•
•
•
•
Violin
Viola
Cello (violoncello)
Bass (double bass)
• Common playing techniques
• Pizzicato
• Double stop
• Vibrato
• Mute
• Tremolo
• Harmonics
• Some string instruments not played with bow
• Guitar & harp use plectrum (small wedge—pick)
Woodwind Instruments
• Traditionally, woodwinds made of wood
• In 20th Century, metal & plastic became common
• The longer the tube, the lower the pitch
• Holes along instrument serve to lengthen the tube
• Woodwinds—play single note at a time
• Sound produced by blowing—player’s breath
• “Whistle mouthpiece”
• Single reed
• Saxophone—single reed inst. common in jazz
• Double reed
Main orchestral woodwinds and ranges:
Flutes—Orchestra uses “edge” flutes
• Bass, alto, 2 concert, soprano, piccolo
Clarinet
• Clarinet, bass clarinet
Saxophones
Saxophones: single
reed
Double Reeds
Brass Instruments
• Orchestral brasses (in order of range):
• Trumpet, french horn, trombone, tuba
• Cornet, baritone horn & euphonium used mainly in concert and
marching bands
• Sound produce 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 or 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
Percussion Instruments
• Sound (generally) produced by striking, shaking,
or rubbing the instrument
• Instruments of definite pitch produce tones
• Those of indefinite pitch produce noise-like sounds
Definite Pitch
Indefinite Pitch
Timpani (kettledrums)
Snare drum (side drum)
Glockenspiel
Bass drum
Xylophone
Tambourine
Celesta
Triangle
Chimes
Cymbals
Gong (tam-tam)
• Membranes, pieces of wood or metal vibrate
• Percussionists must play many instruments
• Percussion traditionally emphasizes rhythm
• 20th Century music—greater use of percussion
The Orchestra’s layout
Keyboard Instruments
• Use piano-type keyboard for control
• Capable of several notes at once
• Best known:
• Piano
• Created ~1700 & refined through ~1850
• Sound created when felt hammer strikes tight string
• Pedals affect sound
• 88 keys
• Harpsichord
• Important ~1500 through ~1775
• Sound produced by small wedges plucking string
• Pipe Organ
• Most prominent ~1600 to ~1750
• Wide range of pitch, dynamics, & tone color
• Sound produced by air being directed to pipes
• Pipe sets of various materials produce different tone color
• Pipe sets put in play by using knobs called stops
• Accordion
• Air bellows drives reeds controlled by keyboard & buttons
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
• Theremin: 1924. Example Clara Rockmore, “The Swan”
• Tape studio: main electronic tool of 1950s
• Synthesizers came into use in 1960s
• Huge machines first built in mid-1950s
• Popular machine beginning in 1970s: Moog synthesize
• “Switched on Bach” became top selling pop record
Electronic Instruments
• Analog synthesis dominated until ~1980
• Digital (FM) synthesis came to forefront in 1980s
• Effects devices were integrated into digital synthesizers
• Sampling technology advanced in 1990’s
Listening
The Young Person’s Guide to the
Orchestra, Op. 34 (1946)
by Benjamin Britten
Listening Outline: p. 27
Basic set, CD 1:18 Brief set, CD 1:11
Listen for:
Theme, variations
Contrast
Repetition
Various orchestral instruments
The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34
(1946)
by Benjamin Britten
• Theme and Variations based on a theme by
Henry Purcell
• Each variation highlights a different
instrument family
Listening log:
How does each variation contrast with the next?
• Tone color (instruments), mood
Is your cell phone
silenced and put away?
Listening Logs: listening in real time, running
narrative or set of observations, not one
sentence or a couple of phrases of summary.
Listening Assignment 1, Listening Guides
• Due next Thursday
Ch. 5 - Melody
• A series of single notes that add up to a
recognizable whole
• Comprised of rhythm, pitch
• Begins, moves, ends —can be short, long, anywhere in
between; creates tension & release
• Melodic movement
•
•
•
Stepwise vs. leap motion
Climax
Examples:
• Somewhere, Over the Rainbow
• Evil Ways
• Legato vs. staccato
Melody
• Made of phrases (parts)
• Cadence: Complete vs. Incomplete
• Phrases may or may not resemble one another
Melody
• Row Row Row Your Boat: Contrasting phrases
Melody
• Some pieces have phrases of differing lengths
• The sequence
Theme
• Usually extended melody (but not always)
• Part of a larger work
– Repeated, manipulated
– Point of compositional departure
– Can be long, short, or in between
Examples:
• Symphony 5, Beethoven
• Symphony 40, first movement, Mozart
MELODY: THE MOVEMENT OF SINGLE TONES
THROUGH TIME
Music: constant movement from
tension to resolution (and other
forms of contrast)
• Melody does this in interaction
with melodic movement, climax,
and its interaction with Harmony
Ch. 6 - Harmony
• The way chords are constructed and how they
follow each other
• Chord: 3 or more tones sounded at once
• Chord is simultaneous tones
• Melody is 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 & less dissonant
• Resolution—movement away from dissonance
The Triad
• Simplest, most basic chord
• Made up of three notes
• Triad built on 1st scale note called tonic
• Most stable, restful chord
• Triad built on 5th scale note: dominant
• Most unstable, tense chord
• Dominant to tonic movement feels conclusive
Broken Chords (Arpeggios)
• Chord tones sounded in series
Ch. 7 – Key/tonality
• 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
Listening
Prelude in E Minor for Piano, Op. 28, No. 4
(1839) by Frédéric Chopin
CD 1:36
Listening Outline: p. 40
This piece uses a simple melody, but Chopin’s use of harmony is
remarkable
Listening Log: Make a timeline lasting 2 minutes, marked at 15
second intervals
Listen for points of harmonic tension and release, and mark
them as a “seismograph” – more tension = higher peaks
2011 © McGraw-Hill Higher Education
The 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
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 usually return to the tonic
key
• Return to tonic creates feeling of conclusion
• Return to tonic usually occurs near end of piece
Ch. 8 - Musical Texture
Layering of sound, how layers relate
Monophonic Texture
• Single, unaccompanied melody
• Literally “one sound”
Monophony is extremely common throughout the world
Parallel Octaves
called monophony because singing in parallel
octaves sounds virtually the same as a single melody
Polyphonic Texture
2 or more equally important melodies sounding
simultaneously
Two types: imitative, non-imitative
Changes of Texture
• Within a piece, creates variety and contrast
Polyphonic Texture/Polyphony
Imitative polyphony: same melody (sometimes
starting at a higher or lower pitch, echoing first
melody
Row, Row, Row…
Homophony
- a single melody accompanied by supporting harmony
• In the graph of a homophonic texture below, the melody the
voice sings is the principal melody associated with the song
• The parts played by the guitar and bass accompany it.
Homophony
- a single melody accompanied by supporting harmony
Listening
Farandole from L’Arlesienne
Suite No. 2 (1879)
by Georges Bizet
Listening Outline: p. 46
Basic set, CD 1:53 Brief set, CD 1:37
Listening Log:
Create a graphic representation for each of the
melodies presented
Make a timeline spanning 3 minutes, marked in
15 second intervals across bottom of the long
side of the sheet of paper
1 min
2 min
3 min
Ch. 9 - Musical Form
• Organization of musical elements in time
Techniques that Create Musical Form
• Repetition—restating musical ideas
• Contrast—avoiding monotony w/ new ideas
• Variation—reworking ideas to keep them new
Types of Musical Form
• Ternary
• A
B A
• Each section divided into phrases
Listening
Dance of the Reed Pipes
from Nutcracker Suite (1892)
by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Listening Outline: p. 49
Basic Set, CD 1:58 Brief Set, CD 1:42
Listening Log:
• Describe the instruments and tone colors you
hear in the “A” section. As the “B” section is
played, contrast the tone colors and moods of
the two sections.
Types of Musical Form
Binary
• AB
• AAB
• ABB
• AABB
Listening
Bourée from Suite in E Minor
for Lute (1710)
by Johann Sebastian Bach
Listening Outline: p. 51
Basic Set, CD 1:61 Brief Set, CD 1:45
Make a graphic representation of the A section:
• Just try to get a basic sense of the contour (up, down,
step, leap); check it on the repeat
• Underneath this do the same for the “B” section
• Compare the two—how to they differ?
Ch. 10 - 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