NB. Most of today’s slides are
not covered in the text book.
(Still More) Useful Terms for
Describing Music
(my terms – most not in the textbook)
“RHYTHM”
• From a Greek word (“rhythmos”) that
means “flow”
• Refers to all temporal (durational)
elements in a piece of music
• “The organization of time in music,
dividing up long spans of time into
smaller, more easily comprehended units”
Some Terms related to Rhythm
• Beat – regular, unchanging pulse
• Accent – emphasis on a beat (or other)
• Meter – measurement of time in regular
groupings of beats
• Measure or Bar – one group in a Meter
- can be Duple, Triple, or Quadruple
• Division of beats can be Simple (2) or
Compound (3)
• Tempo – speed of the beat
Examples for Rhythm
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Thunderer by John Philip Sousa – YouTube
Johann Strauss II - The Blue Danube Waltz – YouTube
Dave Brubeck - Take Five ( Original Video) – YouTube
Alan Jackson - Amazing Grace – YouTube
The King's Singers - Greensleeves – YouTube
Jethro Tull - Living In The Past 1969 – YouTube
Don Ellis 1977 (10) Pussywiggle Stomp
Monks singing Gregorian Chant in a Catholic Benedictine
Seminary
What can you organize?
The 4 Parameters of Sound
• Pitch = the frequency of vibration (heard as
“high” vs. “low”)
• Duration = the length of time a sound lasts
(heard as aspects of rhythm)
• Timbre = tone color (the source of the sound,
i.e., instrument, voice, other)
• Dynamics = Loudness/Softness
Dynamics
•
•
•
•
How loud or soft (…in Italian…)
“piano” = “soft” (abbrev. = p)
“forte” = “loud” (“strong”) (abbrev. = f)
“mezzo” = “medium” (abbrev. = m)
mezzopiano, mezzoforte (mp, mf)
• “-issi-” = “-er”, e.g., pianissimo = pp,
pianississimo = ppp, etc. (also fortissimo, etc.)
• Changing dynamics (growing louder/softer)
crescendo / descrescendo or diminuendo
What can you organize?
The 4 Parameters of Sound
• Pitch = the frequency of vibration (heard as
“high” vs. “low”)
• Duration = the length of time a sound lasts
(heard as aspects of rhythm)
• Timbre = tone color (the source of the sound,
i.e., instrument, voice, other)
• Dynamics = Loudness/Softness
PITCH
• Function of “frequency” (how many
vibrations per second)
• Usually described as “high” or “low”
• Individual sound sometimes called a
“note” (from the written symbol for a
single sound)
• Range of human hearing 20 – 20,000 Hz
Some Useful Terms related to Pitch
• Interval – “distance” between 2 pitches
• Octave – 2:1 ratio of frequency
• Tonality – organization around home
pitch
• Tonic – the home pitch
• Key – collection of pitches around a tonal
center
• Scale – set of pitches in ascending and
descending order (scala [Ital.] = “ladder”)
Scale types
•
•
•
•
•
Use only some of all the available pitches
Series of whole and half steps (7 notes)
Major – sounds “bright,” “cheery”
Minor – sounds “dark,” “somber”
Pentatonic – uses only 5 notes
- Major or Minor
Harmony (Some Useful terms)
• Chord – 2 or more simultaneous pitches
• Triad – 3-note chord
• Tonic (I) – chord on home note (name of
scale or “key”)
• Dominant (V) – chord on 5th note of scale
• Subdominant (IV) – chord on 4th note of scale
• Consonant / Consonance – “pleasant”
combinations of sounds (subjective)
• Dissonant / Dissonance – “unpleasant”
combinations of sounds (subjective)
(Still More) Useful Terms for
Describing Music
(my terms – most not in the textbook)
Listening Critically
(Theme 1)
(Last batch of) Useful Terms
for Describing Music
(my terms – most not in the textbook)
Musical Form
• The basic organizing principal in music
“What comes next?”
• Three basic elements:
Repetition – the same thing
Contrast – something new
Variation – a mix of old and new
Melodic Structure
• Similar to Speech (words, phrases,
sentences, paragraphs, etc.)
• Musical PHRASE – coherent subdivision
of a larger unit (similar to sentences or
clauses in speech)
• CADENCE – resting point at the end of a
phrase (full or partial, cf. punctuation
marks, periods, commas, etc.)
Some Formal Patterns
• Organization by phrases and larger blocks
- relates to both music and text (words/lyrics)
• Strophic
- Stanza (same block of music, repeated)
- new words with each Verse
- Ex. “Barbary Allen” and most hymns
• Alternating sections
- Verse (same music, but changing words)
- Chorus (same music & words; “refrain”)
- Ex. “Gospel Ship,” “Jingle Bells,” “Yankee
Doodle,” etc.
More Patterns & Terms
• “Song Form” – usually 4 equal phrases/sections
- A A B A or A A’ B A” or AABC, ABCD, etc.
- Bridge or Release
(3rd phrase) contrasts harmonically & melodically
- Exs. “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair,”
“Taking A Chance on Love,”
“New San Antonio Rose,” “Sh-Boom,” etc.
• 12-Bar Blues – 3 phrases repeated over and over
A - statement
A’ - restatement (intensification)
B – conclusion
Ex. “Black Snake Moan,” “Hound Dog,” etc.
A Few Last Terms
• Call-Response
- leader first, answered by group (or single)
- Ex. “Long John,” and most Blues-based music
• Introduction
- a brief section to start a piece of music
(exactly what it says)
• Coda
- a short ending added to a piece (literally: “tail”)
Five “Themes”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Listening Critically (terminology)
Music and Identity
Music and Technology
Music is a Business
Music has “Centers” and “Peripheries”
(places)
Music Centers & Peripheries
• “Centers” – money, power and control
- NYC, LA, Nashville (?!)
- aims at the mass (= urban, white) market
• “Peripheries” – the edges
- physically remote
- lacking in power or influence
- stylistically unique or “different” (often)
• Peripheries influence and change Centers
Streams of Traditions
• Three main sources of American Pop Music
• European
- chiefly white (Anglo) Northern Europe
- British Isles (Scotch, Welsh, Irish, etc.)
• African
- chiefly from West Central Africa
- imported slaves (mostly) to Southern regions
• Latin America
- Caribbean, Mexican, Brazil, etc.
- often mixes African w/ indigenous elements
“Barbary Allen”
Jean Ritchie (b. 1922; d. 2015);
Kentucky native
• Folk Music
• Appalachian region
(from Anglo-Irish)
• “Ballad” tradition
(tells a story)
• Child Ballad # 84
• Strophic form
• “a cappella”
performance
• Jean Ritchie--Barbry
Allen – YouTube
[Textbook, p. 21-3]
Friendly Warning
Test # 1 in about 10-12 days
(covers Chapter 1 & Terminology)
Official Date to be announced on
Thursday