Fine Art: Music Exam 1 Study Guide

Ouachita Baptist University, Dr. Aipperspach

Art is inherently _____.

good

Definition of personalized experience

 Art gives people personalized experiences, meaning everyone experiences art in a different way.

Definition of intention

how the composer/artist intended for a piece of music to be interpreted.

Definition of perception

how the audience perceives a piece of music regardless of how the composer/artist intended it.

Definition of music

organized sound and silence

Explain Science of Sound (from the textbook):

sound begins when an object is set into motion and caused to vibrate, which creates sound waves that travel through the air to your ear.

Explain Sound and the Ear (from the textbook):

Sound waves travel through the ear and vibrate your eardrum → eardrum vibrates the hammer, anvil, and stirrup → transfers vibrations to the cochlea → converts the vibrations into electrical nerve impulses → sent to the brain

Explain Sound and the Brain (from the textbook):

The impulses from the cochlea are sent to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.

Musicians use the occipital lobe to read music and the parietal lobe to move their fingers.

Explain Sound and the Body (from the textbook):

Musical expression is healthy for your well-being

Music provides an enhanced quality of life

Music helps you live a significant, meaningful life

Definition of hearing (as opposed to listening):

A secondary focus and serves to create a mood or atmosphere.D

Definition of listening (as opposed to hearing):

Requires concentration, understanding, and comprehension.

Ex: sensory listening, associative listening, and active intellectual listening

Definition of sensory listening

Paying attention to how the music makes you feel.

Definition of associative listening:

What personal memories the music reminds you of.

Two problems with sensory and associative listening:

1. only surface-level ways that do not truly make a great listening experience

2. purely subjective and different for each person

Definition of intellectual listening:

Seeking to understand what is happening in the music and what the composer and performers are trying to communicate to you. It involves paying attention to how the music is constructed, the messages, and the deeper meanings in the music.

Is music a universal language?

Yes, because it can transcend cultural barriers and provide clear communication between people with different spoken languages.

Pitch is the relative _______ or _______ of sound.

highness or lowness

Pitch is determined by the ________ of _________.

frequency of vibrations

________ pitch: specific/consistent/________ frequency.

definite, measurable

________ pitch: unspecific/inconsistent/________ frequency.

indefinite, immeasurable

How is pitch a tool?

High and low pitches are used as tools to communicate ideas through music.

Oval-shaped _____ are placed on a ______.

notes, staff

A staff has _____ lines and is read from _____ to right.

five, left

Notes outside the staff (either above or below) contain ________ lines.

ledger

Notes are given ______ names.

letter (A, B, C, D, E, F, G)

There are two basic clefs: _______ clef and _______ clef.

treble, bass

The ______ staff combines both treble and bass clefs.

Grand

__________ change the pitch of a note.

accidentals

_______ raise the pitch by one ______ step.

sharps, half

_______ lower a pitch by one half _____.

flats, step

Naturals ________ a sharp or flat.

cancel out

Examples of rhythm in nature:

Earth’s yearly trip around the sun, rise and fall of ocean tides, your heartbeat

Studying rhythm means listening to the “______” and “______” in music and how they are carefully crafted and arranged.

“longs” and “shorts”

Beats divide music into ______-_______ units of time.

equally-spaced

Tempo is the ______ of the beats.

speed

Very fast

presto

Fast

Allegro

Moderate

Andante

Slow

Adagio

Very slow

Largo

Not too much

Non troppo

Very or much

Molto

Definition of metronome

Devices that keep a steady beat and are set to a specific number of beats per minute.

Gradually faster

Accelerando

Gradually slower

Ritardando

Less motion (a new slower tempo)

Meno mosso

More motion (a new faster tempo)

Piu mosso

The organization of beats into regular patterns is called ______.

meter

Two beats in a measure is called _____ meter.

duple

Three beats in a measure is called _______ meter.

triple

Definition of time signature and what the top and bottom numbers mean

Time signature: tells us the meter of music

Top number: indicates how many beats occur in each measure

Bottom number: indicates which notated rhythm gets the beat (2 = half-note, 4 = quarter-note, 8 = eighth-note)

Definition of nonmetric music

No beat and no meter; free and floating with no obvious pulse

Changing beat groupings within a piece of music is called ______ meter.

mixed

The space between each bar line is called a ________.

measure

The vertical lines between the meter patterns are called _______ ______.

measure lines

The first beat of a measure is called the ________.

downbeat

Notes often have a vertical ____.

stem

Eighth notes have one ____.

flag

Silence in music is notated using _____.

rests

When a note is emphasized more than the other notes around it, it is called an _______.

accent

When beats are emphasized in addition to the downbeat, it is called a ________.

backbeat

Rhythms that occur between the regular beats are described as _________.

syncopation

________, or volume, is the spectrum of loud to soft.

dynamics

Volume is measured in ________.

decibels

volume = strength of ________.

vibrations

_____ _______ describes the characteristics of a sound, such as bright, dark, mellow, rich, etc.

tone color or timbre

_________ are instruments that produce sound via the vibration of their entire body. Ex: cymbals, triangles, or xylophones

idiophones

_________ produce sound through the vibration of a membrane, which is usually over a frame or shell. Ex: drums

membranophones

________ produce sound through the vibration of strings stretched over a body. Ex: piano, guitar, harp, violin, etc.

chordophones

_________ produce sound through the vibration of an air column. Ex: woodwinds, brass instruments, pipe organs, etc.

aerophones

__________ instruments now deserve their own classification for instruments such as synthesizers, personal computers, digital samplers, etc.

electronic

________ instruments combine characteristics of multiple classifications. Ex: tambourine (membranophone and idiophone), electric guitars (chordophone and electronic), etc.

hybrid

Music is guided by the constant struggle between _______ and _______.

tension and release

A ______ is an organized set of pitches that can be thought of as the main idea of a piece of music.

melody

Nine characteristics of a melody:

1. recognizable

2. overall up-and-down shape

3. steps and leaps

4. climax

5. pitch range

6. shorts and longs

7. phrases

8. cadences

   1. layers of meaning

_________ refers to the pitches used to support a melody.

harmony

Groups of pitches that serve as the basis of a piece of music are called ______.

scales

_______ refers to a piece of music beginning on, straying from, then returning to the central tone of a scale.

tonality

The ______ scale is made up of all twelve pitches on a piano.

chromatic

The distance between each of the twelve tones is exactly the same and is referred to as a _____-_____.

half-step

Western scale is comprised of:

do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do

Major Scale Steps:

WWHWWWH

_____-_____ are equal to two half-steps.

whole-steps

Minor Scale Steps:

WHWWHWW

The scale a composer uses as the basis of a composition determines the ___ of a piece.

key

______ are made up of three or more simultaneous pitches.

chords

The manner in which chords move one to the next is referred to as a ______ ________.

chord progression

The same melody being accompanied by various chords result in a number of distinct _________.

harmonizations

________ chords are tense, unstable-sounding pitch combinations.

dissonant

________ chords are restful, stable-sounding pitch combinations.

consonant

A _____ is made up of alternating tones on a scale: 1 (skip 2) 3 (skip 4) 5.

triad

______ chords are often described as happy, bright, or triumphant.

major

______ chords are often describes as sad, dark, or somber.

minor

A triad or chord built on the first note of a scale is called the _____ chord.

tonic

A triad or chord built on the fifth note of a scale is called the ________ chord.

dominant

Music is often built upon the pull of the ________ chord to the _____ chord.

dominant, tonic

______ ________ refers to how many layers of sound are heard at once and the relationship between those layers.

musical texture

_________ texture is a single melodic line without accompaniment.

monophonic

________ texture is made up of a main melody with some sort of accompaniment.

homophonic

________ texture is when two or more melodies of equal interest and identity are sounded simultaneously.

polyphonic