MUSIC 1000A
Lecture 2
Review and announcements
• Attend more than one concert before
the concert report is due.
• Course objective
• Introduction to effect and means, and
some musical elements.
• Today more discussion of those musical
elements starting with . . .
Rhythm
– The relationship between sounds in time
– The experience of time in music
• We experience time in thousands of ways
• Different cultures express musical time in
different ways
– “A rhythm” is a particular arrangement of
longer and shorter notes in a musical
passage
Rhythm
• Time concepts in Western music
– Beat
• Regular, recurring background pulse
– Accent
• Extra emphasis placed on some beats
• Music can have regular, irregular, or no accents
– Meter
• Regular, recurring pattern of accented and unaccented
(strong and weak) beats
Meter
– Simple meters
• Duple meter (Yankee Doodle)
• Triple meter (God save the Queen)
– Compound meter
• Quick triple subdivision of the beat(row row)
– Irregular meters
• Quintuple meter, etc.
What is the difference
between rhythm and meter?
– Meter background; rhythm foreground
• Meter the yardstick; rhythm the object being measured
– Rhythms can coincide with underlying meter, play
with it, or even contradict it
• Some rhythms are strongly metrical
• Syncopated rhythms play with meter; place accents on
weak beats or in between beats
• Some rhythms imply the “wrong” meter; some are
entirely nonmetrical
Syncopation
– Syncopated rhythms displace accents away from
normal metric accents
• Can put accents on weak beats
– one TWO | one TWO | one TWO |
• Can put accents in between beats
– one AND two AND | one AND two AND |
– Syncopation plays with meter
• Most effective when meter is clearly heard
• Examples: Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer or Give my
regards to Broadway
Tempo
– Rate of speed at which beats follow one another
– Metronome marks tell us exactly how many beats
per minute
• 60 = one beat per second; 120 = two beats per second;
and so on
– Tempo indications are approximate
• Often in Italian
• Can also express a specific mood
Common Tempo Indications
• Adagio • Slow
• Andante • On the slow side,
• but not too slow
• Moderato • Moderate tempo
• Allegretto • On the fast side,
• but not too fast
• Allegro • Fast
• Presto • Very fast
Tempo Changes
– Accelerando; Ritardando
• Gradually getting faster; gradually getting slower
– Più lento; più allegro
• Slower; faster
– Fermata
• Hold a note (or rest) for an indefinite time
• Temporary suspension of tempo
– a tempo
• Back to the main tempo
Key Terms
rhythm
beat
accent
sforzando
meter
measure
bar
barlines
simple meter
duple meter
triple meter
compound meter
quintuple meter
nonmetrical
syncopation
More Key Terms
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tempo
metronome marks
tempo indications
adagio
andante
moderato
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allegretto
allegro
presto
accelerando
ritardando
fermata
Let’s Listen
Pitch
• Aspects of pitch
– Definite or indefinite
– High or low
– Most music draws from a pool of definite
pitches, or a scale
– The distance between any two notes is
called an interval
Interval is the space between
two pitches
• Step
– Step is a small interval
– Usually the distance between adjacent notes of a
scale
– Two sizes: half step and whole step
– Scale steps are specific notes of a scale
• e.g., scale step 1 (do) or scale step 5 (sol)
– Suggests a ladder; discrete pitches, not entire
pitch continuum
Octave
• The most important interval is the Octave
– Special interval relationship
– Upper note seems to duplicate lower note, though
its pitch is higher
– Very smooth blend derives from overtone series;
octave is the first overtone
– Men and women singing a tune together normally
sing in octaves
Intervals
• Half step (semitone)
– The smallest interval in most Western
music
– The interval between any two consecutive
notes of the chromatic scale
– On a keyboard, the distance between any
note and the note nearest to it, black or
white
Intervals
• Whole step
– The most common interval found in
diatonic scales
– Same distance as two consecutive half
steps
Scales
– Collections of pitches used to construct melodies
or entire pieces
– Diatonic scales typical of Western music
• Contain seven notes in each octave
– Chromatic scale uses all notes on the piano
keyboard
• Contains twelve notes in each octave
– Modern music and world music use many other
scales
Diatonic Scale
– Contain seven different pitches
– Seven letter names (ABCDEFG) originated with
diatonic scales
– Octave (eighth note of scale) repeats the starting
letter name
– Contains both whole steps (5) and half steps (2);
asymmetrical
– Good examples include major scales (do re mi fa
sol la ti do), minor scales, and church modes
Diatonic Scale
Chromatic Scale
– Contains twelve different pitches; uses all
black and white keys in each octave
– Consists entirely of half steps; symmetrical
– Requires sharps or flats to notate black
keys
– Developed later than diatonic scales, filling
in whole steps with half steps
Sharps and Flats
– The flat lowers a note by a half step
– The sharp raises a note by a half step
Chromatic Scale
Diatonic vs. Chromatic
Scales and Instruments
– Western instruments are designed to play
diatonic and chromatic scales
– Musicians learn to play in tune
– Many instrument can bend pitches
• A little: flute, clarinet, saxophone, guitar
• A lot: voice, trombone, violin, cello, timpani
– Some cannot
• Piano, harpsichord, xylophone
Pitch Key Terms
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Pitch
Scale
Interval
Octave
Diatonic scale
Chromatic scale
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Flat
Sharp
Half step
Whole step
Playing in tune
Let’s Listen to some examples
Let’s look at notation