INTRODUCTION
TO MUSIC
LISTENING
• How did we get to where
we are now?
• Guitars, Drumkit, Voice,
Bass, Keyboard?
BY THE END
OF THIS
LESSON YOU
WILL:
• Have a brief understanding of
music and its development
throughout the last 600
years.
• Be able to identify the
Baroque orchestra and its
components
• Have an understanding of the
instrument of the
Harpsichord
TIMELINE
COPY DOWN
Periods of music
• Medieval 0 – 1400
• Renaissance 1400 – 1600
• Baroque 1600-1750
• Classical 1750-1820
• Romantic 1820-1900
• Twentieth Century 1900-2000
WHERE TO
START?
• We will start at where we first have
music being written down and
preserved.
• The renaissance period
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SvE
ttR6HTY
RENAISSANCE
1400-1600
• Renaissance music was usually based on
folk tunes, and used to dance to
• Only the rich would have many
instruments together and play as an
‘orchestra’
• There are many vocal works from this
time such as Nunc Dimittis by Giovanni
Pierluigi da Palestrina(1524?-1594).
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Vo
Kso5ERI
TIMELINE
BAROQUE
PERIOD
1600-1750
• Baroque Music
• Music composed between 1625 and 1750
approximately. It includes the music of
composers such as Bach, Handel and
Vivaldi.
• There are many different types of music
from this time which saw the
development of many new forms in
music such as opera, concerto, sonata,
fugue, the suite and oratorio. (We’ll
learn about these later)
VIVALDI
SPRING
• Listen to this example by Vivaldi, from a
concerto called ‘Spring', one of a group of four
concertos called 'The Seasons'. This was one of
the first pieces of music written to tell a story
which tries to portray the words of a poem in
music.
•
Notice that the music is very dance-like, as
was the custom at this time, that it is written
for string orchestra.
• The bright character of the music is made
possible by the music being written in a major
key and it has four beats in a bar.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRhfOWm
_CXc&feature=bf_prev&list=PL33598478A6276
2FC&lf=results_video 3:00
THE BAROQUE
ORCHESTRA
• Stringed instruments
– 12 Violins
– 4 Violas
– 2 Violoncellos (Cello’s)
– Bass
– Harpsichord
• Woodwind
– Bassoon
– Oboe
• Brass
– Natural Trumpets
• Percussion
– Timpani
TASK:
COPY OUT THE PICTURE OF THE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
THE BAROQUE
ORCHESTRA
HARPSICHORD
THE BAROQUE
ORCHESTRA
HARPSICHORD
• A harpsichord is a musical instrument
played by means of a keyboard. It
produces sound by plucking a string
when a key is pressed.
• Watch how a harpsichord s played in
this clip.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAU
X783S94Y
TECHNIQUES
OF PLAYING
• We have looked at the Baroque
orchestra today.
• The different techniques that these
instruments use are:
• Blowing – The method by which
woodwind, brass and pipe instruments
are played by blowing across or into a
mouthpiece.
• Bowing – The method used to play
certain string instruments, including the
string instruments of the orchestra, by
drawing a bow across the string.
• Striking - The method mainly used to
play percussion instruments.