Music Basics
Music notation
the staff
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Music notation
clefs
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Music notation
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Script letter G
Qu i ck Ti m e ™ an d a
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( Uee
n co
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edt h
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. or
Music notation
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Middle C in G clef
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Middle C in other clefs
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Notes in the Grand Staff
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Pitches
• Refers to pitch only as in cycles per
second
• 440Hz equals A above middle C
• 220Hz equals A below middle C
Overtone Series
• All pitches except sine waves have these
• Different emphasis on different overtones
produce different timbres
• Partials begin on 1, overtones begin on 0
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Notes
• Refers to pitch, duration, loudness, etc.
• Notes equate to cope-events
• Pitch is the second element of a copeevent
Duration
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Durations
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Relationships
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Rests
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Meter
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Tempo
• Fast (q = 120) - Allegro
• Moderate (q = 90) - Moderato
• Slow (q = 60) - Adagio
Dynamics
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Articulations
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Notes sounding alone
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One after another is called monody
Or monophony
Or melody
Or musical line
Tonality
• Tonality usually means notes sounding
primarily according to a given scale
• Major scales consist of stepwise intervals
• Major scale: M2 M2 m2 M2 M2 M2 m2
• Natural minor scale M2 m2 M2 M2 m2 M2
M2
• Notes not in scale called chromatic
Key
• Keys are defined by scales and can be
centered around any one of 12 starting
notes
• To create the proper intervallic content
some keys must have sharped and
flatted notes
• Key signatures make these easier to
read
Motives
• Motives are groups of 3 to 7 notes that
have some distinctive property (pitch,
rhythm, etc.)
• Motives are varied in many ways
(transposition, inversion, extrapolation,
etc.)
• Motives help identify longer melodic
lines
Notes sounding together
• Are called harmony if they move
together
• Are called polyphony or counterpoint if
moving offset
• Fugues and canons are examples of
polyphony
Harmony
• Harmony has function (syntax and
semantics)
• Harmonic syntax means what can
follow what
• Harmonic semantics means what
constitutes the harmony itself
Harmonic syntax and semantics
• In tonal music, some harmonies can follow
other harmonics but not others
• We use Roman numerals in indicate
semantics as in a major scale:
• I, IV, and V indicate Tonic, Subdominant, and
Dominant harmonic called primary functions
• ii (supertonic), iii (mediant), vi (submediant),
and vii (leading-tone), called secondary
functions
Harmonic syntax
• I can be followed by anything
• V is best followed by I (authentic) or vi
(deceptive) but never IV
• IV can be followed by V (mostly) and I
• ii belongs to the IV family, iii the I
family, vi the I family, and vii the V
family interchangeably.
Harmonic syntax
• I means home base
• IV means moving toward V (predominant)
• V means needs to go home
Phrases
• Music consists of phrases usually as long as a
human breath (based on past on singing)
• Phrases end in cadences
• Cadences usually end in I (authentic), V,
(half), or V-vi (deceptive)
• Phrases usually come in pairs in tonal music
as in (cadences V and then I question/answer.
Modulation
• Modulation means to subtly change
keys for variety
• Best key changes mean to move from a
key 1 sharp or 1 flat more of less in key
signature.
Periods
• Phrases group into periods consisting
usually of two matching Q and A
phrases
• Periods can repeat, repeat with
variation, or contrast
Sections
• Sections consist of two or more periods
• Sections can consist of contrasting or
similar periods
Form
• Form delineates the material of a work
or movement of music
• Form is usually described by u.c. letters
in alphabetical order
• ABA form (called ternary) indicates
one musical idea (section A) followed
by a contrasting musical idea (section
B) followed by a return of section A
Structure
• Structure is NOT form
• Structure indicates relative importance
of musical material (hierarchy)
• Structure deletes less important musica
material in order to highlight the
important musical material
Example
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MIDI
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Musical Instrument Digital Interface
Watch it: “MIDI interface” is redundant
Does not create sound
Like a musical score
Channels tell sequencers (Finale, Sibelius,
etc.) when to turn on a channel, turn off a
channel, etc.
• Set the instrument in any channel you want
MIDI and Music Notation
• Ontime: 0; Duration:500 = an eighth-note in
music notation
• Ontime: 845; Duration:260 = gibberish in
music notation
• Result: keep your cope-events in logical
ontimes and logical durations
• Triplets, etc. = 333, 333, 334 durations, etc.
• If you want good notation-be careful!!!
MIDI types
• Performed MIDI files
• Must quantize to a given duration that often
alters the music severely
• Non-performed MIDI files
• Works best for analyzing music
Remember
• Music notation is an algorithm
• Music notation is an algorithm created by
other people
• Music notation is an algorithm created by
other people that severely limits expression
• Ledger lines, rhythm, pitch, etc.
• MIDI need not have such limitations
• Only if you wish to see your music
represented
Great music is music that:
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Sells the most?
Performed the most?
Listened to the most?
Talked about the most?
Differing arrangements the most?
Quoted the most?
Lasts the longest?
If so
• The best restaurant would be Burger
King
• The best film would be Titanic
• The best author would be Stephen King
• The best hotel would Best Western
• The best music would be the Star
Spangled Banner
Then what is it?
• Best: music that does the most with the
least
• Worst: music that does the least with
the most
Or
• Best: music that gets better the more
you listen to it
• Worst: music that you listen to once.
Best music is like an onion
• Keep peeling off the layers and
continue to discover something new.
Personal taste
• There is no such thing as good music.
• There is no such thing as bad music.
• There is only music you like or don’t
like.
George Lewis (1952-)
• improvises via trombone with his Voyager
hardware and software
• a portable computer, 'listens' via a
microphone to Lewis' trombone
improvisations
• quickly generates musical responses that
make appropriate melodic, harmonic, and
rhythmic sense
Andrei Andreyevich Markov
1856 - 1922
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Markov Chains
Probability
• Typically measured between 0.0 and 1.0
• For events following another event must
total 1.0
• Important in statistics
• Be careful in establishing (e.g., the
probability of heads up on a tossed coin is
forever 0.5 no matter how many times the
coin is tossed).
Zero order Markov Chain
Pseudo-random choices.
First order Markov Chain
indicates that the current
event will effect the choice
of the following event.
A
B
C
A
0
.5
.5
B
.5
0
.5
C
.5
.5
0
Second order Markov chain
Two successive events will
influence the next event
A
B
AA
0
1.0
0
AB
.3
.3
.4
AC
0
.2
.8
BA
0
.6
.4
BB
.2
.5
.3
BC
0
1.0
0
CA
.7
.2
.1
C
CB
.1
.4
.5
CC
.2
.8
0
Random Walk
A
B
C
A
0
1.0
0
B
.5
0
.5
C
0
1.0
0
Example for Markov
Markov Chains
• Are a type of grammar (syntax)
• Many types of grammars (e.g., finite state,
recursive, augmented transition, etc.)
• These are typically linear
• Robust grammars require hierarchy
• Hierarchy is non-linear
Hidden Markov Models (HMMs)
• Markov works for representations (x) for
actual states (x) only as in
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Write code that will
analyze first-order
Markov info for
monophonic music.
Define Lisp functions that:
will transpose events any
distance up or down.
a predicate determining
whether or not its arg is a
cope-event or not.
changes the tempo of an
eventlist.
plays an eventlist
backwards.
delays the beginning of
an eventlist by any
amount.
makes canons from an
eventlist.
Assignment:
Create Markov code
to analyze data
representing pitches
Send code to me
via e-mail
before next Thursday
Make sure the code
works
is well documented
top down
makes sense
Your midi files
play them and discuss