The Understanding of Music
Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Chapter 2: Rhythm and Meter: Musical Time
Materials of Music slide (slide #1)
We will begin our class with the materials of music, also called the elements of music.
All music whether it is Classical, Broadway theatre, or the popular songs you listen to are
made up of the same characteristics. They are:
 Rhythm
 Melody
 Harmony
 Texture
 Form
 Tempo
 Dynamics
 Timbre
What makes each piece of music sound different is that the composer chooses certain
characteristics from each of these categories, then combines these characteristics in a
particular way, which results in what we call musical style. So, Bach sounds different
than Beethoven or different than a piece of Broadway theatre music or a popular song.
We are going to start with the elements of rhythm and melody, because those are the
first sounds you respond to when hearing a piece of music. They are also the elements
most responsible for developing your musical memory, and that is something you will
have to do in this course to recognize and remember the pieces you have been assigned.
Rhythm and Meter slide (slide #2)
In rhythm, we have the length of the notes called the melodic rhythm, the beat, and
meter.
Melodic rhythm (slide #3)
Music is written with notes and rests, and these symbols look different depending on
whether they are longer sounds or shorter sounds.
For instance:
 a whole note sounds like this: (piano whole note piano example)
 a half note sounds like this: (piano half note piano example)
 quarter notes sound like this: (piano quarter note piano example)
 eighth notes sound like this: (piano eighth note piano example)
 and sixteenth notes sound like this: (piano sixteenth note piano example)
And so, some notes are longer individually, and others are shorter, but what we hear as
a listener is that certain parts of a melody written with long notes will sound like a
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The Understanding of Music
Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
slower rhythm, and other sections written with short notes will sound like it is a faster
rhythm.
You do not need to learn the names of these notes, but you do need to recognize the
difference.
[Some are just circles, some have stems attached, some are colored in, and some have
flags attached. The basic principle is simple - the more ink on the page at a certain point
in the melody represents a faster sounding section written with shorter notes. At the
bottom of the slide, you see additional values. For instance, if you add a dot to the note,
it sounds a little bit longer - if you put a tie connecting two notes together, it combines
those notes into one sound, and thus a little longer - if you add a triplet over three notes,
it makes those notes a little shorter. The dot, tie, and triplet are not necessarily items
you will respond to when listening to music, but we certainly must understand the
basics of longer and shorter notation, or faster and slower sounding melodic rhythm.]
Melodic Rhythm examples (slide #4)
As an example, the top line of “When the Saints Go Marching In” uses 3 note lengths.
Relatively speaking, you can see that we have 3 short notes, one long note (remember
that the tie creates one sound), 3 short notes, one long note, 3 short notes, 4 medium
length notes, and one long note. That characteristic of short-short-short-long, etc. is
one of the items that help us to remember this melody. (piano top line When the Saints)
Beethoven, on the bottom of the slide, chose a different sequence of long and short
notes for the 4th movement of his 5th symphony. Starting with the top line, we can see
he chose 3 long notes, 5 short notes (with short rests), 1 long, 2 short, 1 long, 2 short, 1
long and then an extended series of very short notes continuing onto the 2nd line. Listen
to the Beethoven example.
audio example - Beethoven
Meter (slide #5)
The next item besides the melodic rhythm is meter, and that is based upon beats. A
beat is the regular underlying pulse of a melody – (clap regular beats)
The beat is not the melodic rhythm – it is what we clap our hands to when hearing a pep
tune at a sporting event, or snap our fingers to when enjoying a piece of music. Not all
beats are equal. In most music, some beats are accented and others are not, and these
usually fall into regular repeated patterns. For instance, this pattern – (clap triple meter
accented beats).
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The Understanding of Music
Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
That pattern was one accented and two soft, so the entire pattern is 3, which is called
triple meter, and the pattern is then continuously repeated. Here is another pattern –
(clap quadruple meter accented beats).
That pattern is one accented and 3 soft, so the entire pattern is 4, which is called
quadruple meter.
Meter examples (slide #6)
In music, we can feel this beat and meter. Just start clapping a tempo with me. Do not
try to count – do not try to accent any beats - but simply clap the beat until you feel the
rhythm, and you will notice that you automatically begin to make some of those claps
louder just by reacting to the music – (clap few non-accented beats, piano London
Bridge)
Probably you arrived at a pattern of 2, accented – not accented, which is duple meter.
But it could also be a pattern of 4 or quadruple meter. Pieces written in duple meter can
be written in quadruple meter, and as a listener, we might not know the difference –
they could sound exactly the same. Here is another example. Again, don’t try to count
or accent, just wait until you feel the rhythm and respond.
(clap few non-accented beats, and piano Amazing Grace)
That is a pattern of 3, or triple meter. As with 2 & 4, there is another possibility - pieces
written in triple meter can also be written in 6 or sextuple meter. For example the
Christmas carol, Silent Night can be written either way, and we may not hear the
difference depending on how the piece was performed. But 2 or 4 are certainly a
different feel than 3 and 6.
Meter (slide #7)
When we look at printed music, we know exactly what the meter is used, because there
is a meter signature or time signature at the beginning of the piece. There are 4 basic
types – duple meter, triple meter, quadruple meter, and sextuple meter. What you need
to recognize is of course the top number. For instance, all of the triple meters have a 3
at the top – 3/4 – 3/2 – 3/8, and the same is true of the other meters. It is not
necessary for you to understand the bottom number – that is what you would need to
know if you intended to perform the music. At the bottom of slide, you see additional
explanations. The C stands for Common Time – it is simply musical shorthand for 4/4,
and the C with slash through it stands for Cut Time – it is simply an abbreviation for 2/2.
Meter – audio examples (slide #8)
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Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Now we will listen to a few examples. Clap along and see if you can discover the meter.
The first example is Sousa - Stars & Stripes Forever.
audio excerpt – Sousa
Not every place in a piece of music is there a heavy accented metric feel, but where
those accents are clear, we heard duple meter. This is a march, and most marches are
in duple meter for the simple reason that we have 2 feet – left, right, left, right. Listen
to the next example - Beethoven’s God Same the King, also known as America.
audio excerpt – America
In this piece, we really did not hear any accents, so finding the meter may have been
difficult. But one clue to meter is the manner that people sing a particular song. For
instance, America is usually sung with this type of emphasis - (sing America in 3)
In other words, the emphasis is every 3 words which is Triple meter. It is very important
that the composer chose Triple meter. This song would sound ridiculous if he had
chosen duple meter. It would sound like this – (sing America in 2)
Obviously, duple meter does not work with the text, so Triple meter was a crucial
decision in writing this piece. Listen to the next example – Schubert’s Scottish Dance.
audio example - Schubert
I’m sure that what you recognized was the melody (piano melody).
For some reason, the melody is what we all respond to when hearing a piece for the first
time. But when thinking about meter, it is sometimes helpful to ignore the melody and
listen for the underlying parts or the accompaniment to discover a pattern. For instance
- (piano duple pattern). That was a pattern of 2 or duple meter. Or it might be this
pattern (piano triple pattern). That was a pattern of 3 or triple meter. Listen to the
piece again, trying to ignore the higher melody and listen for the accompaniment.
audio example - Schubert repeated
That underlying pattern was in duple meter. In fact, it sounded much like a grandfather
clock which is tick-tock-tick-tock. Clocks are in duple meter.
Listen to the next example, the Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss.
audio example - Strauss
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Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Remember it is important not only what a composer chooses to write, but also what the
composer does not choose to use. For instance the Strauss melody was not exactly this
(play piano conjunct version). Instead, he wrote a similar melody which every so often
uses a high note. Those high notes occur in regular patterns creating a melody that is
high-low-low, high-low-low, high – and that is the clue to the meter. Listen to the piece
again.
audio example - Strauss repeated
The Strauss example was in triple meter. Did you ever see someone dance a waltz? It
must be danced with a lilt, for the simple reason that waltzes are in triple meter, and we
only have 2 feet.
So we can find meter in many ways. Sometimes it is accented notes, sometimes it is in
the accompaniment parts, or sometimes it is the melody using higher notes or longer
notes in repeated patterns.
Rhythmn – other terms (slide #9)
Here are a few final terms from our rhythm outline.
 Melodic rhythm is divided into units of the meter by vertical lines called bar lines
or measure lines.
 Between each of these bar lines is one unit of the meter called a measure.
 The first beat of each measure is called the “Downbeat” and is an “Accented
Beat”.
 The last beat, whether that is duple, triple, quadruple, or sextuple is called the
“Upbeat, and is not accented.
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The Understanding of Music
Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Chapter 1: Melody: Musical Line
Melody (slide #10)
This lecture is about melody. Melody is defined as a succession of pitches. Melody
contains rhythm and pitch. We have already studied rhythm, but pitch is the key word,
so we need to recognize the element of pitch in printed music.
Melody Notation (slide #11)
Pitch is written on a staff consisting of 5 lines and 4 spaces in between those lines,
indicating high and low sounds. On that staff, a composer puts any pitches he/she
wishes, whether short or long. The key characteristic is that notes placed on the lower
lines or spaces sound lower in pitch, while notes placed on the higher lines and spaces
sound higher in pitch, so our example sounds like this – (piano written scale)
That’s not enough pitches to write music, so we also have additional lower and higher
notes on lines and spaces above and below the staff. Even though they are called ledger
lines, they function the same way as adding a sixth, seventh, or eighth line. Notes
placed below the staff continue to add lower pitches (piano ledgers below)
Notes placed above the staff continue to add higher pitches. (piano ledgers above)
At the beginning of the music we have either a treble clef sign or a bass clef sign. You
probably have some idea how that would change the pitch. Notes written in the Treble
clef would be higher pitches, and notes in the Bass clef would produce lower pitches.
Grand Staff (slide #12)
When all of this is put together, we end up with the Grand Staff or Great Staff.
 Notes below the bass clef staff would be pitches that the string bass or tuba play.
(piano example)
 Notes in the bass clef staff are pitches played by the trombones and where the
men sing. (piano example)
 Notes in the treble clef staff are a good example of the trumpet pitches and
parts the women sing. (piano example)
 Notes far above the treble clef staff are a range of notes where the flutes and
violins play. (piano example)
You can think of this Grand Staff as a complete “menu” of notes or pitches from which
the composer chooses to create his/her music.
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Range (slide #13)
The textbook describes 3 characteristics of melody: the range, the contour, and the
movement.
Range is the distance between the highest and lowest notes of a melody. It refers to
how much of the entire menu of pitches is used in a melody. For instance if the
composer uses only a few notes in the middle of the staff, it would be considered
“narrow” range. On the other hand, if the composer used many notes extending above
or below the staff, it would be considered a “wide” range. The distance between any 2
notes is called an “interval”.
Contour (slide #14)
Contour refers to the shape of a melody line. It is described as ascending, descending,
or wavelike. Ascending melodies start with lower pitches and move to higher pitches,
like the Grand staff example (piano ascending line)
Descending is the reverse – a melody that starts with higher pitches and moves to lower
pitch. (piano descending line).
We will hear an example of wave-like in a few minutes.
Movement (slide #15)
Movement is described as “conjunct” or “disjunct”.
 Conjunct is when the composer chooses notes that are connected – the melody
moves line-space-line-space, up or down, without skipping any pitches. This is
also referred to as step wise motion. (example of walking up stairs)
 Disjunct is melodies skip notes on the staff, such as a using a lower note – a
higher note – a lower note, a higher note, etc. It is also referred to as creating
melody by leaps. (example of leaping off stairs)
Melody – text examples (slide #16)
Here are the examples from our textbook.
 The first one, “Ode to Joy” is considered a narrow range. If we find the highest
note and lowest note used in the melody, we can see that it uses a space-linespace-line-space range, which is a 5-note span or interval called a narrow range.
The movement is conjuct, because the melody moved up or down by step
without skipping any pitches on the staff. The shape is wave-like. Here is how it
sounds - (piano Ode to Joy example)
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Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes

The next example, Joy to the World is described as a medium range. It uses 8
line or space notes on the staff. It is conjunct because the melody is step-wise
without skipping pitches. It is described as descending, but that is because we
see only the first portion of this melody.
o The text example sounds like this – (piano example). If they showed the
rest of the melody, you would notice that it leaps up and ascends –
(piano next phrase),
o then it descends (piano next phrase) –
o then it leaps up and descends (piano next phrase) –
o then it has a wave-like section (piano next phrase) –
o and finally ends by leaping up and descending (piano last phrase)
So when we talk about ascending, descending, or wave-like we are only referring
to a portion of the melody, because all melodies eventually move in both
directions.

The last example is the Star – Spangled Banner. It is wave-like with some
sections ascending and some descending. It is disjunct – notice the melody does
not use every line and space note, but leaps from one to the next. It is described
as a wide range with a 10-note span or interval. That is because we do not see
the entire piece. If they showed the entire song, it would be at least a 12-note
span and the way some people sing it, a 16-note span. (piano Star – Spangled
Banner)
Conjunct/Disjunct examples slide (slide #17)
Here are a couple examples from our assigned music, West Side Story. When the jets
and sharks begin there melody, it is conjunct.
(audio Bernstein Jets/ Sharks)
You may have noticed that as the music continued, the melody changed and they began
to sing high-low-high-low-high-low, high – low. So the melodic movement changed
from conjunct to disjunct.
Here is another example - Tonight melody
(audio Bernstein Tonight melody)
This melody is obviously disjunct with many leaps.
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Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Conjunct/Disjunct examples slide (slide #18)
Here are a couple examples from our assigned music, the Hallelujah Chorus.
The top example is conjunct (audio Handel Hallelujah Chorus “the kingdom”)
The bottom example is obviously discjunct and continues through many imitations.
(audio Handel Hallelujah Chorus “and He shall reign”)
So melody can be described by its range, contour, and movement. There are a few other
terms on your melody outline (motive, sequence, phrase, and cadence) which we will
deal with when we discuss musical form.
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Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Chapter 3: Harmony: Musical Space
Chapter 3: Harmony (slide #19)
Our next topic is harmony, which is referred to as musical space. The simplest definition
of harmony is pitches sounding simultaneously. Notice that melody was pitches in
succession or one after another. Pitches heard at the same time create what is called
harmony. There are a few basic terms in Harmony.
 Chord: 3 or more pitches simultaneously.
 Triad: a chord with exactly 3 notes
 Scale: a series of pitches in ascending or descending order
 Octave: distance between the highest and lowest notes of the scale
Harmony: text example (slide #20)
In our textbook example, the melody is written on the treble clef staff - (piano melody)
The bass clef staff is the harmony. Note that we have three notes stacked on top of
each other. This indicates that they are to be played at the same time, and that is called
a chord – in this case, it is exactly 3 notes so the type of chord is called a triad - (piano
harmony chords)
Where would we usually hear harmony? It is normally in what we would refer to as the
accompaniment of the music. So if we put the melody and the harmony together, we
would often say we are hearing the melody and the accompaniment - (piano both parts)
At the bottom of this page, we see a scale. Most composers do not use the entire menu
of notes discussed earlier – they choose a selected portion of that menu we call a scale.
Notice that this scale is a span of eight pitches or an octave. From that scale, the
composer selects the pitches to use for their melody, and knows which pitches to
combine into chords, creating the harmony. We will learn more about scales in a later
unit.
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Chapter 5: Musical Texture
Chapter 5. Musical Texture (slide #21)
Our next topic is texture, sometimes referred to as musical fabric. Texture may seem to
be a funny word to use in music, but in a way it is appropriate. It you think that your
garment looks different than your friend’s clothing, it could be because they chose
different materials to construct the garments. Even if they use the same fabrics, it could
be that they chose a different design or way of putting them together, and so you think
of the texture of clothing as being different. Music is much the same process – we have
melody, harmony, accompaniment, bass parts – and texture is determined by what a
composer chooses to use a specific time, and also how he chooses to put those elements
together. The basic types of texture we will study are monophonic, polyphonic –
imitative and non-imitative, homophonic, and a sub-type of homophonic called
homorhythmic.
Musical texture – examples (slide #22)
The first texture is called monophonic. The simplest definition of monophonic is one
melody with no accompaniment. For instance, this texture is monophonic (piano Are
You Sleeping).
If I were singing along with the piano melody, it would still be monophonic. (piano and
sing Are You Sleeping).
In fact, we could have the entire choir singing and the orchestra playing, but if everyone
was performing only the melody, it would still be monophonic texture. Performing
exactly the same part is called “in unison”. If however there were other parts in
addition to the melody such as the harmony chords, it is no longer monophonic.
The next texture is polyphonic imitation. This is what you learned in grade school as a
“round”. The teacher divided you into three groups and the first group began singing
“Are You Sleeping, Are You Sleeping”. The second group started later singing “Are You
Sleeping, Are You Sleeping”, while the first group was already singing “Brother John,
Brother John”. Last, the third group started at the beginning of the tune, while the other
groups were already singing the second or third part of the melody.
One thing to be careful about is not to be confused by the definition of polyphony.
Polyphony is defined as 2 or more melodies simultaneously. The round just described
uses the same melody, but it is not being performed in unison or at the same time. The
melody is being imitated, and so each part functions as its own independent melody line
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even though it is the same tune. In classical music, a “round” is often referred to as a
“canon”, which means strict imitation of one melody line.
Musical Textures: Examples (slide #23)
The next type of texture is polyphonic – non-imitation. You can clearly see that the
melodies of the first and second lines use different rhythms and pitches, and thus are
two different melodies. If they were performed at the same time, the texture would be
polyphonic – non-imitative. Polyphonic texture is based on a technique called
“counterpoint” - defined as the art of combining 2 or more melodic lines.
The next texture, homophonic, is the most common texture we hear from the 18 th
century up to today, including popular music. The definition of homophonic texture is
one melody with accompaniment. And so it sounds very much like the harmony page we
looked at earlier where we hear the melody and chords - (piano Homophonic example)
Anything that functions as accompaniment produces homophonic texture – it does not
have to be chords. For instance this rhythm, a bass/afterbeat sound (piano Bass,
Afterbeat example).
That is obviously not melody, but an accompaniment part and would indicate
homophonic texture. Sometimes, accompaniment can sound like it is one note at a time.
I’m sure you have heard a guitar player when he strums all of the strings at the same
time which produces chords. But a guitar play can also pick one string at a time. That is
not the melody, but it is an accompaniment function, and therefore still homophonic
texture.
Musical Texture – Examples (slide #24)
There is a sub-type of homophonic called homorhythmic texture. Notice in the top
homophonic example, the accompaniment chords are longer notes than the melody
rhythm. In the bottom example, the melody is the top voice, and all of the notes
beneath that are the harmony chords but they are in the same rhythm as the melody
which is homorhythmic texture – when the accompaniment or harmony is in the same
rhythm as the melody.
Musical Texture – Examples (slide #25)
Now let’s listen to a few examples. Here is the Haydn Trumpet Concerto.
Audio - Haydn Trumpet Concerto
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What you heard on that example was the trumpet playing the melody. The orchestra is
also playing, but they were not playing melody. They were playing accompaniment
parts – so that is an example of homophonic texture.
The next example is Bach Art of the Fugue. Before you listen to this, I will tell you that it
is performed by a Brass Quartet. It begins with one instrument, and then is joined by
the second instrument, the third instrument, and finally the fourth instrument. So what
is the texture going to be? It depends on what those instruments do when they start
participating. They could simply join the melody in progress, they could imitate the
melody, or they could begin to add harmony and chord parts. Here is the Bach example.
audio – Bach, Art of the Fugue
You noticed that the second and third instrument started, they were imitating the first
melody, and so we have polyphonic texture.
Our next example is Billing’s Chester. This is a full choir with soprano, alto, tenor, and
bass parts, but we will have to listen to their function in order to determine the texture.
Here is first verse.
audio - Billings 1st verse
Hopefully you recognized that all 4 voices were singing the melody together, or in
unison, producing a Monophonic texture. In the next section, the sopranos begin, then
the Altos join, and finally the Tenor and Bass parts are added. Listen to what each part
does –
(audio Billings 2nd verse)
When the altos, tenors, and basses joined, they did not imitate the melody, but they
began filling out the harmony and chords. Their harmony parts were in the same rhythm
as the melody, thus the texture was homorhythmic.
Musical Texture: Handel (slide #26)
The next two slides are a listening guide to Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah.
This is one of the best pieces to understand texture. The first section – “Hallelujah,
Hallelujah” is in homorhythmic texture. Notice that you not hearing only melody, you
are hearing complete filled out chords and harmony.
audio - “Hallelujah”
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The next section is something that happens often in music, the quick alternation of
textures. When they sing “For the Lord God”, the texture is monophonic – when they
sing “Hallelujah” it is homorhythmic, and alternating texture is done twice. Listen to this
example.
audio - “For the Lord”
The bottom example of this page indicates they are singing “For the Lord God” together
with “Hallelujah”. We have already heard each of these melodies individually, but now
they are combined at the same time – thus we have polyphonic texture – non-imitative.
audio “For the Lord with Hallelujah”
Musical Texture: Handel (slide #27)
The next section is “The Kingdom of this World” which is a homorhythmic texture. It is
also “conjunct” or step-by-step melody, first soft in the lower range, then loud in a
higher range.
audio - “The Kingdom”
The next section, “And He Shall Reign”, is polyphonic imitation starting with the basses,
and adding the tenors, the altos, and finally the sopranos. It is also a very “disjunct”
melody with many leaps.
audio - “And He Shall Reign”
You should print out these last two pages and follow them when listening to Handel’s
Hallelujah Chorus. It is more specific than the Listening Guide in your textbook.
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Chapter 6: Musical Form
Musical Form (slide #28)
Musical form is based on three principles – repetition, contrast, and variations – and
refers to the overall structure or design in music. During the melody chapter one, we
skipped some terms on our outline, and will cover them in this lecture.
Structure in Music (slide #29)
You do not need to learn this chart, but you may find it helpful in understanding some of
the musical terms. Units of melody and form are similar to elements in our written
language.
A single note has no musical significance, just like a single letter in the alphabet. I
realize in today’s world of texting and e-mail, we sometimes use the letter “U” as
shorthand for the word “Y-O-U”, but a single letter or note in music have no specific
meaning.
Structure – Motive/Sequence (slide #30)
The smallest unit of music is called a “motive” - a short melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic
fragment. This is one of the most famous motives in history (piano Beethoven’s 5th
motive), and from that melodic fragment, Beethoven developed his 5th Symphony. Here
is an example of “harmonic” motive which has been used for pep tunes at a ballgame
(piano harmonic I–IV–V). In the same setting of a sporting event, you might hear this
“rhythmic motive” before the tune called “We Will Rock You” (stomp-stomp-clap).
Sometimes motives are simply repeated, but other times they are used in a “Sequence”.
Look at the second and third lines of the Britten example. The second line begins with a
motive, which is repeated at the end of the second line, and then twice more on the
third line. But these are not exact repetitions – though the rhythm stays the same, each
repeat is at a different pitch level and is called a “Sequence”. (piano Britten example).
Structure – Phrase/Cadence (slide #31)
A melody is made up of phrases, much like parts of a sentence, and every phrase ends
with a cadence. The cadence is the last few notes and last few chords of any section of
music. The definition as a “resting place” can be somewhat misleading, because not all
phrases feel like they pause at the end. A cadence is similar to musical punctuation. For
instance, this sentence – “I’m going to the store.” That sounded like a period at the end.
Or this, “What, I’m going to the store?” like I was asking a question. Or this, “I’m going
to the store, but I will be stopping at the shop on the way home”. That sounded like it
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had a comma in the middle. Cadences function in a similar fashion, and we have heard
enough music in our lives to know when the melody is finished or when it sounds
incomplete because of the cadence being used.
Structure – Saints Go Marching In (slide #32)
Here is a melody with two phrases – or a b. I will stop at the end of the first line, and
notice how the melody feels incomplete, like the melody must continue - (piano 1st line
of Saints). That incomplete feeling is because of the cadence. The second line sounds
like this – (piano second line). Now that melody sounds finished or complete – because
of the ending cadence.
Structure – Greensleeves (slide #33)
Our textbook uses this piece as a musical form shown as AABB. But some reference
sources use it as an example of phrases and label them differently. Let’s see if we agree.
[We are going to follow the 2 procedure to identify the similarity and difference
between phrases.]
 The first line sounds like this (piano first line).
o That lined ended with an incomplete cadence. A first glance, we might
think the second line is a repeat of the first, but look at the endings.
o The first and second lines have different notes at the cadence point.
 Here is the second line (piano second line).
o That was a more complete sound – more like a complete or final cadence.
 The third and fourth lines are obviously new phrases and have similar beginnings
but different endings.
o At the cadence or ending, these phrases use the same melody and
cadences of the first two lines.
 Here are the third and fourth lines – (piano third and fourth lines).
Because of the melody and cadence differences in each line, the structure could be
labeled A B C D.
Structure – Oh Susanna (slide #34)
Not all pieces with four or more phrases are simply A B C D E F etc. For instance, here is
the opening line of Oh Susanna (piano first line).
The second line looks similar but the ending is slightly different (piano secondline).
Thus we have A & B. The third line is obviously a new melody and will be phrase C
(piano third line).
The fourth line is an exact repeat of the second line (piano fourth line).
So this is an example of a melody in four phrases that would be labeled A B C B.
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The Understanding of Music
Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Musical Form (slide #35)
Most classical pieces have more than one melody section. At that point of combining
multiple melodies, we are looking the larger Musical Form. We will begin Form by
studying Binary, Ternary, Variation, and Song Form.
Musical Form (slide #36)
Binary Form is a two-part form or A B. Listen to this opening of Handel’s Water Music
audio -Water Music
That was the opening section called A. At this point the music continues and the
composer has two options – either repeat section A, or compose a new melody as
section B. The music could be played by different instruments, at a different volume
level, or sound different in a number of ways, but melody is the key factor. If the next
section is still the original melody (piano opening), then it is still section A. Here is the
second excerpt.
audio -Water Music
That was repeating melody A with different instruments. As this music continues, the
composer has the same two options as before. Here is the next section.
audio - Water Music
That was obviously a new melody and thus section B. On the slide you can see other
types of binary form. So what is necessary to have binary form? Simply this – there are
only two primary melody sections and the piece ends with B. The Handel excerpt is not
yet finished and now the composer now has three options. He could repeat B, write
new melody for a section C, or bring back the original section A melody. Here is the
excerpt.
audio – Water Music
In this case, the composer brought back section A to end the piece the piece of music,
and that makes it Ternary Form or A B A.
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The Understanding of Music
Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Variation Form (slide #37)
The textbook postpones variation form until a later chapter, but will study it here. In
variation form, sometimes called Theme and Variations, each section is based on the
same melody, but the melody is altered in some way.
Variation Form – Haydn (slide #38)
Here is an example – the opening Theme from Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, the 2nd
movement.
audio - Haydn Theme
The next section is the same theme, but a countermelody has been added in flutes and
violins, thus it is variation 1, or A1.
audio - Haydn Variation 1
The next variation shifts harmonies a few times and thus the melody changes. It is
Variation 2.
audio - Haydn Variation 2
In Variation 3, we hear a faster note version of the same melody played by the Oboe
audio – Haydn Variation 3
Song Form (slide #39)
Song form is often used in 20th century popular songs. One of our required pieces, the
“Tonight” melody from Bernstein’s West Side Story is in this form – A A B A. The
listening guide shows slash marks on the second and third A sections, indicating some
variation in those melodies. Listen to the Tonight melody from West Side Story
Musical Form – Tonight (2 slides) (slides #40 & #41)
audio - Bernstein Tonight
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The Understanding of Music
Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
Chapter 8: Voices and Musical Instrument Families
Chapter 9: Western Musical Instruments
Chapter 10: Musical Ensembles
Timbre (slide #42)
Our final section of the Materials of Music is timbre, sometimes referred to as musical
color. It refers to the unique tone color or sound of each instrument or voice range. We
will start with the standard parts in the choir and orchestra. Others will be added later
in the semester.
There are four standard parts in a choir.
 Soprano and alto are women’s voices
 Tenor and Bass are men’s voices
 An important understanding is that these are listed from highest range to lowest
range – soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.
The orchestra families are listed in a similar fashion.
 Violins are the soprano part of the string section
 Violas are the alto part
 Cellos are the tenor part
 String Bass is the lowest part
In the brass family, instruments are listed in similar fashion.
 Trumpet is the soprano range instrument
 French Horn is the alto
 Trombone is the tenor
 Tuba is the bass part
The woodwinds are similar, but we can’t be quite as specific.
 Flutes are the highest part – the soprano range.
 We can’t refer to the oboe or the clarinet as an alto or tenor part, because
sometimes they also play higher ranges. The best understanding is that the oboe
and clarinet are mid-range woodwind instruments.
 The bassoon is the natural bass voice.
We will deal with Percussion in later units of the course. You will need to memorize the
names of the instruments in each family, and their ranges or parts from highest pitch to
lowest pitch, and vice versa.
Britten, Young Persons Guide, page 1 (slide #43)
A good introduction to the sound of instruments is Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the
Orchestra. The opening theme section uses the same melody for each choir of
instruments – the Woodwinds, Brass, Strings, and Percussion.
Here is an excerpt including the Woodwinds followed by the Brass.
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The Understanding of Music
Unit 1: Materials of Music – Lecture Notes
audio - excerpt from Theme section
The Variations section demonstrates the sound of each instrument family. Notice how
Britten takes advantage of the unique qualities of each instrument by writing styles with
different tempos, melody characteristics, and rhythms. Here is an excerpt involving the
flutes, oboes, and clarinets.
Audio – excerpt from Variation section – flutes, then oboes, then clarinets
Britten, slide 2 (slide #44)
Here is an example using the French Horns, followed by the Trumpets.
audio – excerpt, french horn followed by trumpet
Britten, slide 3 (slide #45)
The closing Fugue section adds each instrument one at a time leading to the full
orchestra climax at the end of the piece, which uses the original Theme as well as the
fugue material. Here is the final section.
audio – full orchestra ending
You should listen to the entire piece on your DVD Listening Guide, and begin the process
of recognizing the different tone qualities of each instrument in the orchestra.
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