Comprehensive Music Theory and History: Textures, Forms, Instruments, and Styles

Textures

Monophonic--single melody line

Strophic

AAA... (typical hymn or folk song, same music each time)

Through-composed

ABC... (each section different)

Theme and variations

AA1A2... (variation on same music each time)

Ternary

ABA (same music at beginning and end, different in middle)

Pitch

How high or low a tone is (frequency of vibration)

Dynamics

Volume in music

Timbre

Tone color; the quality that allows us to distinguish between two instruments playing the same pitch at the same volume (relative strength of overtones)

Interval

Difference in pitch between two tones

Octave

Interval from one pitch up or down to the next pitch of the same name (frequency ratio of 1:2)

Half-step

Smallest interval in western music; one-twelfth of an octave

Whole-step

Interval twice as large as a half-step

Beat

Division of time into equal units

Measure

Group of beats

Meter

Number of beats per measure

Tempo

"Speed" of beat; number of beats per minute

Rhythm

Series of durations related to the beat

Key

System of relationships among pitches, in which 7 out of the 12 pitches per octave are "in the key", and one of those seven is used as a center, or final goal ("tonic")

Scale

Pitches in a key arranged in order, beginning and ending with the tonic

Mode

Series of intervals taken from, or used to construct, a scale

Major mode

WWhWWWh; intervals taken from C major scale (CDEFGABC)

Melody

The song-like part of a musical texture

Accompaniment

All of a musical texture except the melody

Harmony

Combination of simultaneous pitches

Instruments of the orchestra

String: Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass; Woodwind: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon; Brass: Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, French Horn; Percussion: Timpani, Cymbal, Snare Drum, Bass drum, Gong, Tambourine, Triangle, Xylophone; Other: Piano, Harp

Middle Ages

450-1450) Mostly vocal, mostly sacred. Gregorian chant—smooth, no beat, calm, monophonic.

Renaissance

1450-1600) Interest in re-discovered ancient Greek culture. Humanism—art and philosophy less focused on religion, more on earthly human life.

Baroque

1600-1750) Unity of mood and rhythm. Terraced dynamics. Spun-out melody. Highly ornamented.

Classical

1750-1820) "Enlightenment". Concentration on logic, science, reason. Questioning of authority.

Romantic

1820-1900) Personal, intimate, subjective expression. Growing interest in music of earlier periods.

Modern

1900-present) Many composers, wide variety of styles and techniques ("isms"). Much experimentation.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Struggle; successful free-lance career; lost hearing at age 30; composed slowly and laboriously; all types of music (one opera); nine symphonies, of which we heard the Fifth and the Ninth ("Choral Symphony").

Emotional subjectivity

Extremes (louder louds, softer softs, faster, slower, higher, lower, longer long pieces, shorter short pieces).

Nationalism

Use of folk songs, legends, and history of a composer's homeland.

Exoticism

References to distant places and times.

Program music

Music associated with a story, poem, picture, or descriptive title.

Rubato

Performer's freedom to vary the tempo.

Art song (Lied, Lieder)

Classical piece for one voice and piano.

Song cycle

Series of 8-20 songs intended to be performed in sequence.

Piano cycle

Piano piece consisting of 8-20 short movements.

Virtuoso

Technically impressive performer.

Schubert

Best known for songs and song cycles; influenced by folk music; The Willow-King.

Chopin

Mostly piano solo music; lived and worked mostly in Paris; composed athletic pieces and delicate ones; Mazurkas, Waltzes, Nocturnes, Etudes, Preludes.

Schumann

Song cycles and piano cycles; much program music; Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love), song cycle.

Brahms

Serious, mellow, deep; Violin Concerto.

Tchaikovsky

Best known for operas and ballets, including The Nutcracker; great orchestrator; 1812 Overture.

Opera

Play with orchestral music and singing throughout; invented around 1600 by a group of composers in Italy.

Monteverdi

Italian composer known for operas; Orfeo.

Mozart

Mixed serious and comic situations and characters; Cosí fan tutte.

Verdi

Italian composer known for catchy tunes and strong emotional situations; Rigoletto.

Puccini

Italian composer known for 'Verismo' (realism); La Bohème.

Wagner

German composer known for 13 operas, including The Ring of the Nibelungs; wrote his own librettos.

Impressionism

Late 19th/early 20th-century style emphasizing tone color, atmosphere, fluidity; Debussy Clouds.

Neoclassicism

Early 20th-century style marked by emotional restraint and use of elements of older styles; Ravel Sonatina.

Expressionism

Early 20th-century style emphasizing expression of extreme emotions, especially anxiety and fear; Schoenberg 'Drunk on Moonlight'.

Atonality

No key; Webern Five Orchestral Pieces.

Twelve-tone technique

Tone row (ordering of twelve pitches in octave) as basis of harmony and melody.

Stravinsky

Russian composer known for The Rite of Spring, ballet based on ancient fertility rites.

Jazz

American, 20th-century, improvisation, syncopation; derived from Black and White American sources.