Engaging With Music

pitch

-highness or lowness of a sound

-measured relative to other pitches & to absolute standards like 440 Hz (standard orchestral A)

melody

a succession of single pitches that we hear as a recognizable whole

rhythm

-the organization of music through time

-refers generally to the element of time in music, specifically patterns of long & short notes and rests

-how beat, meter, accent, and tempo combine

meter

-repeated pattern of beats

-duple meter: beat group with multiples of 2

-triple meter: beat group with multiples of 3

tempo

speed

measure

one unit of regular metrical pattern repeated throughout the piece

harmony

-combo of notes to produce chords

-a way to understand the progression of chords through a piece

-building blocks: chords, key, major, minor, scale

chords

-2 or more notes at same time

-foundations of harmony

key

the note and mode a piece is composed around

scale

-series of pitches low to high or high to low

-typically made of 8 pitches

form

-the way musical material is organized

-combo of musical elements over time to create a complete piece of music

texture

-relationship btwn melodic and harmonic elements in a piece of music

-number of notes that occur at the same time

active listening and curiosity

-listen to many styles of music

-create an informed opinion based on musical facts

-share and defend your opinion

dynamics

-refers to volume

-how loud/soft a piece of music is

-forte (loud) & piano(quiet)

questions to ask when listening to music

-are the pitches high or low?

-what is the meter? (duple/triple) - relates to tempo/speed

-is the key major (happy) or minor (sad)?

-is the harmony intricate/complex or no?

-connect to colors, movements, textures

4 areas of engaging with music

1. mental

2. physical

3. emotional

4. spiritual

ancient music

-very few surviving pieces

-mostly reconstructed from writings

-music tied to poetry, ritual, & education

-monophonic, text-centered, small instrument forces

-know they existed in practice, but not always how they sound

monophonic

one melody, one line of text/song (basic)

why so little of ancient music survives

-oral tradition (low literacy)

-fragile notation systems (no standardization)

-music tied to specific performance context

-only fragments preserved on stone, papyrus, or manuscripts

music in Scripture

-earliest recorded music/song: Exodus 15:1-3 - The Song of Moses

-songs make up a large portion of Scripture

• 3 books dedicated to songs: Psalms, Song of Solomon, Lamentations

• other songs include: Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55, Song of Mary), Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79, Song of Zacharias), Songs of Revelation (Revelation 4:8, 11, 15:3-4)

Pythagoras

-key Greek thinker

-interval ratios, music as mathematics

Plato

-key Greek thinker

-music modes shape moral character

Aristotle

-key Greek thinker

-music for education & emotional regulation

Boethius

-key Greek/Roman thinker

-transmitted Greek ideas to medieval Europe

music as mathematics

-ratios

• octave (2:1)

• fifth (3:2)

• fourth (4:3)

-music as part of the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy

-”harmony of the spheres”: cosmic order expressed musically

music as ethics

-modes associated w/ ethos

• dorian = balanced

• phrygian = passionate

• lydian = soft/luxurious

-music shapes the soul

lyre/kithara

-Ancient Greek instrument

-education, civic life

aulos

-Ancient Greek instrument

-drama, ritual, emotional intensity

-double reed tube

percussion

-Ancient Greek instrument

-dance, festivals

seikilos epitaph

-one of the first written recordings of music (not religious)

-live not sad cause you’re gonna die

-1-2 century AD

Delphic hymn to apollo

-ritual context

-more elaborate

plainchant

-monophonic, unaccompanied

-sung in Christian liturgy

-oral tradition —> notation

-function: prayer, scripture, ritual

liturgy overview

-mass (ordinary & proper)

-divine office (daily prayer cycle)

-chant as the musical backbone of worship

Gregorian Chant

-standardized under Charlemagne

-developed in 9th & 10th centuries

-named after Pope Gregory I

-Neumes & early notation

-modal, free rhythm

-ex: Puer natus est nobis

text settings

-syllabic: one syllable per note of melody

-neumatic: smaller group of notes for every syllable of text

-melismatic: one syllable stretched across many notes (6 or more)

Hildegard von Bingen

-C. 1098-9/17/1179

-abbess (nun), visionary, composer

-unique musical voice

-wide ranges, expressive leaps

Notre Dame school

-Paris, 12th-13th c.

-Organum: form of early polyphony based on an existing plainsong (medieval)

-rhythmic modes

-key composers: Leonin, Perotin

-started harmony

troubadours & trouveres

-poet composers from secular medieval music

-courtly love

-monophonic songs

-strophic forms

-cleat melodies, poetic rhythm, emotional expression, secular themes, old French or Occitan

Ars Nova (“new art”)

-14th century France music (medieval secular)

-mensural notation (clearer)

-rhythmic complexity

-isorhythm (individual rhythmic structures)

Guillame de Machaut

-poet-composer

-master of the Arts Nova tradition

-formes fixes (ex: intro, verse, bridge, chorus - repetition)

-medieval secular & sacred music

medieval toward the Renaissance

-smoother lines

-imitation

-text clarity

What Is the Renaissance?

- 1400 – 1600 AD

- Humanism

- Renewed interest in classical antiquity

- Shifts in art, architecture, and thought

- Visual examples: Brunelleschi, Donatello, early perspective painting

how we identify instruments

-hornbostel-sachs (HS) system

-orchestral groupings

hornbostel-sachs (HS) system

-ID instruments by how they produce sound

-chordophone (strings)

-membranophone (membrane stretched over top, like drums)

-idiophone (produce sound innately, like 2 pencils together)

-aerophone (uses air, like trumpet or harmonica)

orchestral groupings

-ID instruments

-strings

-percussion (membranophone & idiophone)

-woodwinds

-brass

Musical Changes in Renaissance

- Patronage shifts (courts, chapels)

- Rise of educated amateur musicians

- International style (France + Italy + England)

Medieval to Renaissance: Sonic Differences

• Medieval

- complex rhythms

- layered textures

• Renaissance

- smoother lines

- controlled dissonance

- consonant intervals (3rds/6ths)

- imitation

English Influence in Renaissance

- Contenance Angloise – In an English manner

- John Dunstable (1390-1453)

- Preference for 3rds/6ths

- More consonant sonorities

- Signaled major turning point into the music of the Renaissance

Guillaume Dufay (1397–1474)

- Life + career (cosmopolitan: France, Italy,

papal chapel)

- Importance in shaping early Renaissance style

- Genres, Secular and Sacred:

• Masses, motets, chansons

Early Renaissance Secular Music

- Chanson: smoother melodies, clear phrasing

- Forms still present but less rigid than Ars Nova

- Example: Dufay or Binchois chanson

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

-saw music as theology

-protestant reformation

-congregational singing!

-chorales/hymns: simple, memorable, strophic (one main melody w/ harmonies)

protestant reformation historical background

-1517: Luther posts 95 Theses

-1520s-1540s: PR spreads & Luther writes hymns

-1545-1603: Council of Trent

-1558-1603: Elizabeth I reigns

-printing press accelerates cultural change

• invented 1440

• music publishing - 1500s

Counter-Reformation (Catholic)

-Council of Trent (1545-1563) concerns:

• text obscured by dense polyphony

• secular tunes in sacred music

• overly elaborate musical display

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

-model of Catholic sacred polyphony

-smooth, stepwise melodies

-balanced imitation

-transparent textures

-careful dissonance treatment

the Madrigal (1550-1600)

-Renaissance, secular explosion

-Italian

-poetry-driven

-word painting

-emotional, expressive

-chromaticism emerges

the Madrigal key composers

-Cipriano de Rore (1515-1565)

-Luca Marenzio (1553-1599)

-Carlo Desualdo (1566-1613)

England’s Renaissance musical identity

-Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)

-William Byrd! (1540-1623) - helps establish Anglican Church worship forms like psalms

-Anglican Church forms

-composers navigate shifting religious politics

transition towards Baroque

-heightened text expression

-solo song experiments

-basso continuo emerges

-Florentine Camerata (late 1500s)

-keyboard instruments

-opera on the horizon

Viol family

-bass, tenor, and treble (not a violin)

-fretted, softer tone (like a guitar)

-used in consorts

-important for dance and domestic music

Renaissance instrumental music

-gaining independence from vocal models

-2 categories:

• functional dance music

• stylized dance music

-rise of consort ensembles

renaissance dance types

-pavane

-galliard

-allemande

-courante

-ronde

pavane

-renaissance dance type

-slow, stately, duple (royalty)

galliard

-renaissance dance type

-lively, triple (folk), athletic

allemande

-renaissance dance type

-moderate, flowing, duple

courante

-renaissance dance type

-fast, triple, “running”

ronde

-renaissance dance type

-circle dance, repetitive phrases

transition to instrumental baroque

-dance music becomes stylized, not functional

-rise of basso continuo and virtuosity - lots of notes

-instrumental idioms (violin, harpsichord)

-emergence of Baroque suite

Baroque dance suite

-allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue

-dance rhythms —> expressive art music

sarabande

-slow, expressive, emphasis on beat 2

-baroque dance

gigue

-baroque dance

-fast, lively, often fugal

violin

-4 strings

-bowed

-fretless (have to use exact placement)

-virtuosic

Claudio Monteverdi

-1567-1643

-founder of early baroque opera

-born in Cremona, Italy

-worked in Mantua & Venice (St. Mark’s Basilica)

-bridge btwn Renaissance polyphony & Baroque expressivity

-advocated “Seconda Prattica” - music serves the text

Monteverdi’s musical innovations

-est opera as a dramatic art form

-expressive dissonance for emotional impact

-early use of basso continuo

-heightened text painting and recitative style

Heinrich Schutz

-1585-1672

-bridge between Italy (studied in Venice w/ Gabrieli + Monteverdi) & Germany (born)

-brought Italian Baroque style to German sacred music

-9/23 slides

-

Schutz musical innovations

-developed the sacred concerto

-introduced Italian expressive style to German texts

-used echo effects, dramatic contrasts, & flexible rhythm

-precursor to Bach’s sacred works

Antonio Vivaldi

-1678-1741

-master of the concerto

-Venetian violin virtuoso

-taught at Ospedale della Pieta

-nicknamed “the red Priest”

-prolific: 500+ concertos, 40+ operas

Vivaldi’s musical innovations

-standardized 3-movement concerto (fast slow fast)

-developed ritornello form

-expanded violin technique

-early programmatic music (the four seasons)

Johann Sebastian Bach

-1685-1750 (end of Baroque Era)

-architect of counterpoint (certain rules)

-German composer/organist

-worked in Weimer, Kothen, Leipzig

-synthesized Italian, French, & German styles

-revered more after his death than during his life

Bach musical contributions

-mastery of fugue, counterpoint, & improvisation

-monumental sacred works (cantatas, Passions, Mass in B minor)

-instrumental masterpieces (Brandenburg Concertos, Cello Suites, stylized dance music)

-Well-tempered Clavier & tuning system exploration

St Matthews Passion

-Bach

-large-scale sacred work

-scored for 2 choirs & 2 orchestras

-ch 26-27 of Matthews gospel

-characters: commentator (soprano), evangelist (tenor), Christ/Peter/Judas (bass)

-interspersed with popular chorale melodies of the time

-Performances: 1727, 1729 (Good Friday), 1742

Brandenburg Concerto No 3

-3 movements: allegro, adagio, allegro

-Bach

-collection of 6 concertos, assembled in 1721

-layered contrapuntal lines

-driving motor rhythm

-equal importance of instrumental voices

-tight structural clarity - ritornello form (I & III)

classical era

-balance, clarity, symmetry

-contrast

-rise of public concerts

-expansion of instrumental genres

-homophonic textures

-standardized forms

symphony (classical)

-opera overture —> independent genre

-4-movement plan

1. opening movement - fast/moderate tempo, sonata form (sometimes preceded by slow intro)

2. slow movement - slow tempo, sonata form, variations, rondo, other

3. minuet (with trio) - moderate tempo, minuet form

4. closing movement - fast tempo, sonata or rondo form

-key forms: sonata, minuet & trio, rondo

sonata form

-exposition (theme 1 —> bridge (transition) —> theme 2 —> closing theme)

-development —> retransition

-recapitulation (return of both themes)

-coda (sometimes) - more of same thing

theme & variation (classical)

-A B —> A²B² —> etc

-repetition with alteration

-baroque vibes

minuet and trio forms

-baroque minuet consists of 2 sections, each come to a complete stop and is immediately repeated

-minuets tend to come in pairs, alternating in an ABA pattern. second dance, B, is called the trio, bc in early days it was often played by only 3 instruments

-classical minuets were expanded to include a restatement of the “a” theme in the second repeated section

opera

-monteverde

-dramatic

-stage work

-overture intro —> aria - ABA

-recitative (moves story along)

-chorus (libretto)

Beethoven

-1770-1827

-German

-aggressive, bad childhood

-1790s-1802: early period of music

-1803-1818: 2nd period of music

-1819-1827: late period (wrote most famous things)

-classical

-wide contrasts

-went deaf

romantic era

-1820-1900

key themes in romantic music

emotion over structure

imagination, nature, supernatural

individual expression

expansion of timbre and color

poetry as inspiration

originality

romantic vocal genres

art song (lied)

song cycle

opera

choral works

art song

-solo voice and piano

-intimate, poetic emotional

song cycle

-group of songs telling story

-psychological depth

opera

-large-scale drama

-passion, conflict, spectacle

choral works

-masses, requiems, oratorios

-monumental sound & spiritual intensity

Franz Schubert

-1797-1828

-composer

-artsong

-austrian

-wrote 600+ Lieder

-piano paints the text (text painting)

-emotional immediacy

Robert Schumann

-composer

-1810-1856

-deeply literary

-loved setting poetry

-song cycles exploring love and longing

-troubled life

chromaticism

-refers to harmony moving to unexpected chords outside of an established key

-compositional tool for emotional ambiguity

-used to intensify expression and blur tonal boundaries

-romantic

rubato

-romantic

-compression or expansion of the rhythm of a piece of music

-used to mimic natural speech or breathing

program music

-romantic

-tells a story, paints a scene

-usually inspired by another piece of art

-not as concerned with form