Engaged Listening:
To really immerse yourself into the music you are listening to, consider this four-step process:
Attentiveness, analysis, interpretation, and inner awareness
The elements of music: Six categories that will make understanding of the elements of music:
Melody, Rhythm, harmony, timbre, texture, form
Melody: A unit of pitches or tones sounded in succession, It can also be described as part of a
tune or the main part of a song. Think of a melody like a sentence of tones. Melody usually
represents emotions. Melodies that have a step wise progression. A step wise progression in
pitches is called conjunct motion. Disjunct potions are pitches jumping all over the place.
Western music is based of tone and release. DO-RE-MI-FA-SOL-LA-TI-DO
SOL is the dominant
DO is the octave
Scales derives from the latent erm Scala meaning ladder. The scale system is divided into 12
steps called half steps. Most western music uses MAJOR or MINOR scales. This is represented
by a specific pattern of whole steps and half steps.
Baroque started tri tones
Rhythm
The way which music is organized into distinct time units. A big part of rhythm is the beat ( a
steady rhythmic pulse). Beats are categorized into repeated group called measures. The first beat
(called down beat) is always the strong beat. The meter ( which determines the number of beats
in a measure) is a key fundamental to the organization of how rhythm in a song.
The last important factor of rhythm is the tempo ( the speed of which a song is perfrmed) In
simple terms: fast or slow
Harmony
When two different pitches sound at the same time. Constant harmonies usually pleasing to rhe
ear.
Dissonant harmonies usually sound harsh or clash with sounds. These determinations are
factored into the period of time and composer
Chords are three or more pitches at the same time
3 important roman numerals chords that make up most of the model for western music I-IV-V
Tonic is do mi sol
Subdominant is fa la do
Dominant is sol ti re
If you play these chords in a sequence is called a cadence
Timbre
Described as color tones or the quality of the sound
Timbre can be categorized in three factors:
The size of the instrument, what it is made of, how the sound is produced
Certain instruments could best be directed to ties into the historical culture
Another form of timbre is dynamics ( the volume of a note or passage of music
Classifications of instruments
Membranophoones: drums
Idiophones: marcas xylophones, gongs
Electophones: synthesizers radios, turn-tables
Aerophones: trumpets, flutes
Chordophones: guitars, violins, piano
Orchestras: string, brass, woodwinds, and percussion
Texture
Monophony, polyphony (renaissance), homophony, heterophony, biphony
Monophony is a single musical line without accompanied (lullaby)
Polyphony is several independent lines sounding simultaneously (group singing row row your
boat)
Form:
The overall shape and structure of a piece of music. Form can be solely determined by
the composers and also dictate the road map of the overall piece.
Western music follows three types of form: binary ternary and rondo
Binary form: Musical form consisting of two sections (AB). When parts of the A section returns
to the end, this is called a rounded binary
Ternary Form: A musical form consisting of three sections (ABA)
Rondo Form: a musical form with a recurring refrain that alternates with new material (ABAC)
32 bar song form: A song that consists of 4 equal sections of 8 measures (AABA). Most popular
music follows this formula today. ( always have a repeated A section)
12 bar blues: a form of the blues that is divided into three equal sections of 4 measures each
(equaling 12 bars). The lyrics follows the AAB form
Bach was known for improvising intricate polyphonic compositions called fugues
Bourrée
A 17th century French folk dance. Commonly danced by the nobility and theatrical entertainment
Texture: Polyphonic
Meter: Duple (based on tow main beats to a measure)
Form: binary (AB)
Japanese Musical history
Shakuhachi: A five tone hole bamboo flute
Invented in china, brought over to china in the 8th century.
32 BAR SONG FORM (IMPORTANT)