GRAB A SEAT AND A
PILE OF PAPERS AND
NOTECARDS!
Before we get started…
1. Let’s assume that you’ve been studying the book, “Night” by Elie
Wiesel…
2. Let’s also assume that like many middle school students, you’re also
currently enrolled in some kind of music appreciation class.
Now… let’s go!
“I see what I hear and I hear what
I see.”
The Tone Poem and the Written
Poem
Music Appreciation
Language Arts and English
Ms. D’Angelo
Using the note cards you have been given, write down 3 words or phrases using SENSORY
LANGUAGE to describe what you see, hear, smell, feel or taste.
Now listen to this example.
How would you describe this
piece of music?
What story does it tell you?
Use a piece of paper to jot
down your thoughts.
Music that tells a
story is called
Programme
Music.
But all music can
tell a story…
Modest Mussorgsky composed his piece “Night on Bald Mountain” to
paint a musical picture depicting a witch’s sabbath. Leopold Stokowski
popularized the piece in the 1940 film Fantasia in which we hear his
version of the piece shown with images of Chernobog (black god)
summoning ghosts and demons – a similar picture intended by
Mussorgsky.
+
Element 3: It’s going down, I’m yelling
TIMBRE!
Timbre (not to be confused with Ke$ha’s song Timber) is a
way of describing all of the aspects of a musical sound that
do not have anything to do with the sound's pitch, loudness,
or length. In other words, if a flute plays a note, and then an
oboe plays the same note, for the same length of time, at the
same loudness, you can still easily distinguish between the
two sounds, because a flute sounds different from an oboe.
This difference is in the timbre of the sounds. It would also
mean WHAT is playing?
+
What words would I use then if
someone asked me to describe
Timbre?

Reedy

Warm

Brassy

Mellow

Clear

Resonant

Focused or unfocused

Dark or Bright

Breathy Rounded

Heavy or Light

Piercing

Flat

Strident


Harsh
Having much, little, or no vibrato
(a controlled wavering in the
sound); or narrow or wide, or slow
or fast, vibrato
+
M
O
R
E
T
I
M
B
R
E
Element 6: Dynamics
Dynamics refer to the loudness and softness
of whatever you’re listening to. It is
described in special terms we like to call
Italian.
ELEMENT
9:
T
E
M
Do not go gentle into
that good night…

The ghetto was awake. One after the other, the lights were going on behind the windows.
I went into the house of one of my father’s friends. I woke the head of the household, a man
with a gray beard and the gaze of a dreamer. His back was hunched over from untold nights
spent studying.
“Get up, sir, get up! You must ready yourself for the journey. Tomorrow you will be expelled,
you and your family, you and all the other Jews. Where to? Please don’t ask me, sir, don’t ask
questions. God alone could answer you. For heaven’s sake, get up…”
He had no idea what I was talking about. He probably thought I had lost my mind.
“What are you saying? Get ready for the journey? What journey? Why? What is happening?
Have you gone mad?”
Half asleep, he was staring at me, his eyes filled with terror, as though he expected me to
burst out laughing and tell him to go back to bed. To sleep. To dream. That nothing happened.
It was all in jest…
My throat was dry and the words were choking me, paralyzing my lips. There was nothing
else to say.
At least he understood. He got out of bed and began to dress, automatically. Then he went
over to the bed where his wife lay sleeping and with infinite tenderness touched her forehead.
She opened her eyes and it seemed to me that a smile crossed her lips. Then he went to
wake his two children. They woke with a start, torn from their dreams. I fled.
- pages 14-15 Elie Wiesel’s Night
English HOMEWORK!
Using the following passage we read and discussed together in class from Elie
Wiesel’s Night, select a musical piece that elicits the same emotions, feelings,
thoughts or story you felt while reading the selection. In 2-3 paragraphs please
explain why you chose the piece and how it connects to the reading passage.
You will need to use a combination of sensory language in describing what you
saw and felt while reading and musical terminology (in at least 2 instances) while
making your connections. Please ensure that your thoughts are organized and
cohesive – using the thought organizer provided may help as a starting point.
Note: While your musical selection doesn’t necessarily need to be from the
appropriate time period, you will need to provide ample evidence discussing why
you believe it is appropriate for the passage.
Requirements: 3 paragraphs, double spaced, Times New Roman size 12 font.
Music HOMEWORK!
Using what you have learned about the elements of music, sensory language
and imagery, select one of the following pieces of Programme Music or Tone
Poems. After listening to it, use the attached thought organizer to help you craft
a creative piece of writing in which you describe a story to match the music that
you hear. Please include at least 5 uses of musical elements in your sensory
descriptions.
Requirements: 3 paragraphs, double spaced, Times New Roman size 12 font.
Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson
Rodeo by Aaron Copland
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche ("Till Eulenspiegel's merry pranks"), op. 28 by
Richard Strauss
The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) by Felix Mendelssohn
The Rectory Heading

At the top left hand corner:
Name
Subject & Section
Teacher’s Name
Date
Assignment
Joe Jonas
Music 8-3a, H period
Ms. D’Angelo
September 1, 2014
Elements of Music
Assignment
So… what are the Elements of
Music?
Elements of music are the basics, pieces,
fundamentals or features of music that help
to describe it! When you talk about music…
you can talk about it in many different ways.
(just like you can with a painting or one of
your friends!)
Element 1: Meter
In order to define meter, let's first define beats.
Beats give music its regular rhythmic pattern.
Beats are grouped together in a measure; the
notes and rests corresponds to a certain
number of beats. Meter refers to rhythmic
patterns produced by grouping together strong
and weak beats. Meter may be in duple (2 beats
in a measure), triple (3 beats in a measure),
quadruple (4 beats in a measure) and so on.
Parts of a Measure
- Clef: voice.
- # and b’s: sharps and flats –
what key are you in?
- Time signature: how many
beats can you write in one
measure and which one gets
the beat?
- Duple vs. triple examples:
- https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=Hx-4K7wlovk
ELEMENT 2: TEXTURE
Musical texture refers to the number of layers, as well as the types of
those layers, used in a composition (a piece of music) and how these
layers are related. Textures may be monophonic (monophony),
polyphonic (polyphony) or homophonic (homophony). A way of
describing music as thick or thin.
WHAT THE HECK ARE
THOSE?
Monophonic music is one line of music – it could mean a lot of people
singing or playing the same thing all at the same time or it could mean one
person doing that!
Polyphonic music is 2 or more lines of music – it could mean a couple
of people are singing something different or 100 people all singing
different things.
Homophonic music is the kind of music you’re all used to listening to!
It’s typically someone singing or playing along with chords behind it.
S O YO U ’ V E H E A R D M O N O P H O N Y
A N D YO U ’ V E H E A R D
HOMOPHONY…
But what about polyphony? What’s the difference between Polyphony
and Homophony? What are these fancy words you speak of ?
Listen to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yi2MMtIimY
Yeah, polyphony is old. But can you hear a few people singing things
aren’t quite the same? There are no chords behind them, just a few
people singing a few lines of music at the same time!
ELEMENT 4: MELODY
Melody is a group of notes that is put together that
YOU as the listener, perceive to be one group. In a
song that is homophonic, you would consider it to
be the front or the foreground to the chordal
background.
Element 5: Harmony
Harmony is the use of different pitches, or notes on
top of each other all at the same time. It helps to
establish certain chord “qualities” like major and
minor. In jazz music (ooh… like the kind we’re
studying) certain notes together make a piece sound
“bluesy” or “jazzy”. How cool! Listen to the beginning
of this piece to hear how nicely harmony works
together! (and I bet you can perceive a melody too!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNNQh9wtisc
Element 7: Pitch
Pitch refers to the frequency of vibration in
sound. This means that notes have a
mathematical number assigned to them. For
example – the note A vibrates at 440 hz/sec.
Anything faster is perceived as what we call
“sharp” or high and anything lower is what we
call “flat” or low. It can also refer to the
relativity in which you compare two notes.
Higher or lower, for example.
Form refers to the structure of music – or the
order in which melodies happen. The term is
regularly used in two senses: to denote a
standard type, or genre, and for melody
structure.
Example: Symphony, form and variations both
names and forms.
The name of a song might not tell you the form –
but the form will tell you how the music is put
together!
Element 8: Form
THIS ALL HAS TO DO
WITH… AFFECT!
MAKE
MUSIC INTERESTING!
All of these elements are what
Actually, it’s what makes music. How interesting!
Just like we described the picture at the
beginning of class, you can describe what you
hear just as well as what you see. So now…