MUSIC💗🎼

What is the broadest definition of music?

Sound organized in time

What is a sound in the most broad sense?

Noises and tones produced by any means

True or False: The definition of music requires that a person (often called a composer) must first imagine the music

False

True or False: The definition of music requires that human or mechanical performers must generate sounds

False

True or False: The definition of music requires that there is a mechanical means of recording and reproducing sounds

False

What are the requirements of music?

A time frame, sound waves, a cognizant mind to perceive, and some degree of human intention and perception

What is improvisation?

A practice that can occur when composition and performance happen simultaneously

What is electronic compostion

A practice that sometimes causes an effect similar to improv

What is the word for music in cultures where music is extremely interconnected into ritual, language, dance, and other aspects of life?

None, there is no separate word for "music"

What is the "music of the Western World"?

The musical traditions that developed in Europe in the past two millennia and their cultural extensions in the Americas

What is a sound in an abstract sense?

A wave of energy

What two traits does sound have as a result of it being a wave?

Amplitude and frequency

What does the amplitude of a sound affect?

The decibel level (how loud a sound is)

What does the frequency of a sound affect?

The pitch (the highness/lowness of a sound)

At what frequency can the human ear hear a wave as a single, sustained tone?

Between 20 and 20,000 cycles per second

What does Hz mean?

Cycles per second

What is the frequency of an A above middle C?

440 Hz

What frequency do United States orchestral musicians typically tune their instruments to?

"A-440", meaning 440 Hz

Why doesn't the sound of a book dropping on the floor quickly die down with no discernable pitch?

The wave pattern is so irregular and short

What are the two different types of music sounds?

Pitched and non-pitched instruments

What is an ethnomusicologist?

The modern term for scholars who study the music of other cultures, or who study multiple cultures comparatively

When did ethnomusicologists Curt Sachs and Eric von Hornbostel categorize 4 types of instrument groups?

The late 19th century

What are the four instrument groups created by Sachs and Hornbostel?

Aerophones, membranophones, idiophones, and chordophones

What are chordophones?

Instruments with one or more strings, which are pucked, bowed, or struck

How are sound waves created with choordophones?

Through the vibration of a string

Name 6 examples of chordophones.

Violin, viola, cello, double bass, guitar, and lute

What were chordophones called prior to the Sachs/Hornbostel classification?

Stringed instruments

What are aerophones?

Instruments with a vibrating column of air

Woodwinds and brass instruments are both a part of which Sachs/Hornbostel classification?

Aerophones

Name 6 examples of woodwind aerophones.

Piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and the saxophone

Name 7 examples of woodwind aerophones.

Trumpet, trombone, French horn, tuba, flugelhorn, baritone, and bugle

What is a membranophone?

Instruments with a skin or other membrane stretched across some kind of frame

How are sound waves created with membranophones?

The membrane vibrates when struck

Name 4 examples of membranophones.

Timpani, bass drum, snare drum, tambourine

What is an idiophone?

An instrument which vibrates when struck.

Name 9 examples of idiophones.

Marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, tubular bells, gongs, cymbals, triangle, wood block

Membranophones, idiophones, and chordophones that are struck are all members of which older instrument family?

Percussion

Which listening example includes a timpani membranophone?

Ferde Grofe's "On the Trail" form the Grand Canyon Suite (Listening Example 1)

Vibraphones and marimbas perform during which listening example?

Rain Tree (Listening Example 3)

What fifth Sachs/Hornbostel category was added later than the rest?

Varies, AKA electrophones

What are 4 examples of electrophones?

Piano, harpsichord, organ, and celesta

What are electrophones?

Instruments which create sound waves using a mechanical device known as an oscillator and is dependent upon electricity

What is the modern day family equivalent of electrophones?

Keyboards

Which listening example employs synthesizers?

Radiohead's "Idioteque" (Listening Example 11)

Who invented the theremin?

Russian physicist Leon Theremin

What categories do Western instruments use today: families or the Sachs/Hornbostel system?

Instrument families

How do brass instruments differ from woodwinds?

Brass instruments are aerophones made of metal, which are sounded by the performer's buzzing lips, making the air column vibrate

Woodwind instruments move the column of air by breath alone or by one or two vibrating reeds

What material are reeds usually made from?

Wood

When did the first electronic instruments begin to appear?

The 20th century

Which 20th century electronic instrument is occasionally used today?

The theremin

How does one play the theremin?

By regulating frequency with one hand and amplitude with the other by disturbing the electrical fields that surround the protruding bars

For what two reasons did World War II create the most important step for electronic instruments?

Advances in radio technology and electronics were made for wartime purposes

Many studios were no longer needed for military purposes post-war

Members of which two occupations began to collaborate and create art with the new equipment granted by World War II?

Composers and scientists

What is musique concrete?

A form of composition where electronically generated sounds are recorded on tape, where they could be edited, manipulated, and mechanically recombined to form collages of sound

How was musqiue concrete performed?

Through a loudspeaker

Why is musique concrete a French term?

Its first practitioners were based in Paris

What are the two basic techniques of tape music? What do these practices result in?

Looping and splicing; music that can't be reproduced by a human performer

What music technology followed tape music?

Pure electronic music produced on computers

Which 4 cities are notable for having famous postwar centers for electronic music?

Rome, Paris, Cologne, and New York

What are the four properties of a single, isolated musical sound?

Pitch, duration, volume, and timbre

What is "a pitch"?

A single tone whose highness or lowness does not change (AKA a steadily oscillating sound wave)

What is the pitch of the A string on the guitar?

110 Hz

If you were to press the A string to the fret board at the exact midpoint, what will the pitch of this sound be? Why?

220 Hz, because it vibrates twice as fast, therefore producing a pitch twice as high

What is an interval?

Distance between two notes

What is an octave?

The distance between one A and the next/lower A

Where are the highest-sounding pitches on a keyboard?

The right

Where are the lowest-sounding pitches on a keyboard?

The left

What is the term for moving from left to right on a keyboard?

Going "up" the keyboard

What is the term for moving from right to left on a keyboard?

Moving "down" the keyboard

What key is equidistant from both ends of the keyboard?

Middle C

How are the black keys on a keyboard arranged?

In alternating groups of two or three

Where is middle C located in relation to the groups of black keys?

The left of the group of two black keys closest to the middle of the keybard

What is the pitch of "A2" on the keyboard?

110 Hz

What is the pitch of "A3" on the keyboard?

220 Hz

What is the pitch of "A5" on the keyboard?

550 Hz

Where is the A key located in relation to the black keys on a keyboard?

Between the upper two of the three black keys

What is a half step?

The distance between any two adjacent keys on the keyboard

What is a half step also known as?

A semitone

What is the smallest interval normally used in Western music?

A half step

What is a whole step?

The distance between every other key

What is a scale?

A sequence of pitches in ascending or descending order

What are the basic intervals of a scale?

Half steps and whole steps

What are the white keys called on the keyboard?

The natural keys

From what range of alphabetical letters do the natural keys span?

A through G

What symbol represents a natural note?

♮

What happens if a natural sign is omitted?

Musicians assume the pitch is natural, although sometimes the symbols are used for clarification

What do the signs ♯ (sharp) and ♭ (flat) indicate?

That a given pitch has been raised or lowered by a half step

What does music notation use as a ladder to indicate pitches?

A five-line staff

What is each line/space on the staff assigned? How can this vary?

A letter of the musical alphabet; varies depending on the clef symbol

Where is the clef symbol located?

At the left-hand end of the staff

Where does the word "Clef" originate from?

The French word "key"

What does each clef focus on?

One line of the staff

What are the three main clefs in use today?

The treble clef, bass clef, and "C-clef"

What is another term for the treble clef?

The "G-clef" [𝄞]

What does the treble clef indicate?

The second line from the bottom of the staff is G

What is another term for the bass clef?

The "F-clef" [𝄢]

What does the bass clef indicate?

That the fourth line from the bottom is read as the pitch "F"