2013-14
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Ancient – BC-500AD
Medieval – 500-1400
Renaissance – 1400-1600
Baroque – 1600-1750
Classical – 1750-1820
Romantic – 1820-1900
Modern – 1900-present
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Ancient BC – 500AD
Highly developed
 Greeks, Romans
 Far East, Africa, Americas, Native Australia
 Modes came from ancient music
 No official written record so little is proven about
characteristics but we know it existed
 Composers unknown
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Medieval 500-1400
Most music occurred in churches, monasteries –
Sacred music
 First written records of music and notation
 Gregorian chant
 Almost all vocal, few instruments
 Single lines, monophony
 Gneumes
 Texts were mostly Latin
 Composers – Hildegard von Bingen, Leonin, Perotin
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Renaissance 1400-1600
Repetition
 Court music
 Sacred and Secular music
 Instruments in small groups
 Polyphony
 Melody and accompaniment
 Composers – Palestrina, Josquin, William Byrd,
Thomas Tallis
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Baroque 1600-1750
Highly ornamented
 Repetition
 Larger groups of instruments (still small)
 Oratorios
 Cantatas
 Fugues
 Figured Bass and improvisation
 Concertos for solo instruments with accompaniment
 Composers – J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi
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Classical 1750-1820
More complicated harmonies
 More complicated forms
 First symphony – Haydn
 The beginning of orchestras as we know them today
 Opera
 Composers – Mozart, Haydn
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Romantic 1820-1900
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Large ensembles and orchestras
Symphony form perfected and elongated
Dramatic music in terms of volume and style
Music that tells a story
Complicated harmonies, forms, use of chromaticism
and dissonance
Beethoven – 9 symphonies
Tchaikovsky
Wagner
Brahms
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Modern 1900- present
Complicated rhythms
 Atonal harmonies
 Mixed meters
 Folk music
 Nationalism
 Composers – Bernstein, Copland, Stravinsky, Holst,
Gershwin, Debussy
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Notes that sound the same but are spelled
differently
Example – C# = Db
Write down all the other enharmonics
Half steps between white keys on the keyboard
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Between E and F
Between B and C
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Concert Pitch or C – flute, oboe, bassoon,
trombone, euphonium, tuba, percussion, piano
Bb – Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Tenor Sax,
Trumpet
Eb – Alto Sax, Bari Sax
F – English Horn, French Horn
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F, C, G, D, A, E B
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Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb
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Sharps – look at the last sharp (the one furthest
to the right) and go up one
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Example - 2 sharps F and C = key of D
Flats – look at the flat before the last flat
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Example – 3 flats Bb, Eb, and Ab = key of Eb
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CEG
GBD
DFA
ACE
EGB
BDF
FAC
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Major Triad – 1, 3, 5
Augmented – 1, 3, raised 5
Minor Triad - 1, lowered 3, 5
Diminished Triad – 1 , lowered 3, lowered 5
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Conjunct – smooth, movement by step
Disjunct – skips and leaps, not smooth
Major
Minor
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Two types
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Relative – share key signature
Parallel – share starting and ending notes
Three forms
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Natural – same as key signature
Harmonic – raise the 7th note
Melodic – raise the 6th and 7th ascending and lower
the 6th and 7th descending (natural form descending)
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Ascending notes crescendo
Descending notes decrescendo
Short to long
Weak to strong
Long notes must have shape
Melody must always be heard
Background parts must have shape
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Rhythmic emphasis on the upbeat as opposed
to the downbeat
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Re-statement of the main theme usually
following a development section
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How music is organized
Overture
 ABA – ternary
 AB – binary
 Sonata
 AABA
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