Exam 1- Musical Practices

What is Music?

The Art of Tones!

What are the 4 Qualities of Sound?

Pitch, Amplitude, Duration & Timbre

1.Amplitude

Dynamics

2.Timbre

melody, harmony and texture that distinguishes different voices or instruments

3,Duration

meter (time signature, tempo markings)

4. pitch

literally the sound/frequency of a note

Acoustics

the science of how a sound is made, how it interacts when going through certain mediums (air, water, etc)

Pitch

the pereived quality of sound, its fundamental frequency

Tone color and Timbre

the uniquness of the sound, or its character, qualtiy of the sound that distinguishes it from another instrument

Idiophone

Vibrations produced through an instruments own material, striking the material usually without using string, membranes or air!

What are Idiophone instruments?

struck: triangle, xylophone, cymbalsm

rattled: marcas

Membranophone

produces sound through vibrations of a stretched membrane through stricking or rubbing

what membranophone instruments?

drums (snare & bass), timpani(kettledrums), bongos

Chordophone

sound produced by the vibration of strings activated by striking, plucking, or bowing

chordophone instruments

the entire string family (violins, violas, violoncello), guitar, harp

Aerophone

Sound from air vibrating

aerophone instruments

Entire brass family & woodwind family (flute, clarinet oboe, trumpet, horn, cornet)

String quintet

2 violins (vio 1. & vio 2), viola, violoncello + one extra (most common: VIOLA)

String Quartet

Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Violincello

What is a Symphony?

A piece of music usually written for a full orchestra w/ multiple movements.

(Large scale musical compositon) includes Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion Instruments

What in an Orchestra? And how big is it?

Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, & Percussion instruments, its 70-100+ musicians

How Many Elements of Music? What are they>

There are 8! Dynamics, Form, Harmony, Melody, Rhythm, Texture, Timbre, and Tonality.

divisi (performance indication)

when a single instrument or voice section should divide into different sections

muta (performance indication)

changes the tuning of the instrument as specified

Woodwind quintet

flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, french horn

Woodwind quartet

flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon

flutterzunge or fluttertongue (performance indication of Brass in.)

rapid alteration of the tongue

open

no hand in bell of the horn

stopped

almost mute your entire instrument, put ur hand in bell

cuivré

to play loud, harshing, Blasting tone!

How to READ SCORES?

1. Woodwinds

2. Brass (horns at top

(in between: voice, percussion or piano)

3. String instruments

amplitude

loudness or softness

pianissmo(p), piano(p)

soft

mezzopiano(mp), mezzoforte(mf)

medium soft

forte(f), fortissimo(ff)

LOUD

Meter

recurring pattern of beats occuring over time

Duple simple

two main beats subdivided by two

duple compound

two main beats subdivided by three

triple simple

three main beats subdivided by two

triple compound

three main beats subdivided by three

unmetered

no regular, recurring beat pattern

polymeter

multiple main beats patterns occuring simulataneously

Asymeterical

main beat patttern over duple or triple

syncopation

accentuation of the off beat or the subdivision

Hemiola

the use of three notes of equal value on time normally by two notes of equal (3:2 ratio)

accelerando

gradual increase in tempo

ritardando

gradual decrease in tempo

Melody

The musical manipulation of pitch over a temporal line

Interval

the distance between two notes

Theme

a longer melodic unit

How to Describe Melody Range

narrow: 1-4 pitches

medium: 5-8 pitches

wide: 9- more pitches

What are the different melodic movements?

conjunct, disjunct & triadic

conjunct

stepwise, notes are right next to each other

disjunct

leapwise, intervalic relationships between notes

Triadic or diatonic motion

outlines triads, chords

What are the Melodic Shapes?

wave, descending/ascending, arch, level

what are the 3 ways to describe a melody

melodic range, motion/movement & (wave) shape

motive

the shortest, coherent melodic structure, put them together to create a sequence

Melody

is the music manipulation of pitch over time

Harmony

the manipulation of pitch, simultaneously!

Consance

a combination of notes that sound stable, pleasant, and expection, they end in resolutions

Disosance

combination of notes that sound harsh, tense or unstable when played together

inversion

flipping an interval

enharmonic equivalents

are two different names for the same note

What are the names of the Scale degrees

do: tonic , re: supertonic, mi: mediant , fa: subdominant , so:domianant , la:submediant, ti: leading tone

chromatic

uses all twelve pitches in a scale

Major scale

WWHWWWH

Minor Scale

WHWWHWW

Chord

simultaneous sounding of 2 or more pitches (chord can be across 2 hands)

Tonality

the hiegarchal structuring gof triads around a central pitch (tonic)

Atonality

music that lacks a central key or home

Cadences

punctuation in music, points of harmonic rest that punctuate music like a comma or period

Modulation

changing your what your tonic is, need to have modulation to move into a new key

What are the different kinds of Textures (timbre)

Monophony, Heterophony,Homophony, Polyphony

Monophony

one single line of music regardless of instrumentation, exactly the same “mono”

Heterophony

one line of music except each line does it w/ embellishments

Homophony

one melodic line and accompaniment (supporting part)

Homorhythm

voices moving to the same rhythm (doesnt need to be homophonic)

Polyphony

multiple melodic lines usually imiating one another, ex: subject on D, Answer on A, subject can be manipulated over time

diminuataion

cut it in half

Retrograde

playing the melody completely backwards

retrograde inversion

inverted melody backwards

Fugue

is introduced by the primary voice and then imiated and interwoven by different other voices

Form

All other elements exist in formal structure, patterns create formal structure itself

How to create musical form?

initital idea, repitition, contrast, variation (change of instrumentation,or stanzas/refrain, change of tonality (modulation), new rhythms or meter_