Music History & Literature

Praxis II: Music Content Knowledge 5113

Sacred vs. Secular Music

Sacred: from the church, Gregorian chant

Secular: for dance and entertainment

Gregorian Chant

Free flowing, no obvious meter. Sung by unaccompanied voice or choir, monophonic

Motet

Most important form of Medieval polyphony, sacred and secular

Medieval Mass

Driving force of musical development in the Med and Ren eras

The Liturgy of the Ordinary

Often set to music, musical advancements were applied to the composition of the mass`

Medieval Motet

• Tenor line gotten from plain chant

• 1+ upper voices in French or Latin

• Tenor line has short, repeated rhythmic pattern

  • Upper voices, in contrast, lively

Renaissance Motet

• Genre rather than a form or structure

  • Known as Polyphonic setting of any sacred Latin text

What did renaissance composers add to the motet?

Imitation, homophony, 4 part harmony

Polyphony

All parts hold similar musical prominence/interest

Homophony

1 part has melodic interest, other parts are accompniement

Monophony

1 melodic line, no accompaniment parts, EX: plainchant

Programmatic Music

• Represented non-musical ideas / images

  • Used in program symphonies, symphonic poems, character pieces

Absolute Music

• Instrumental music that did not use stories or images

  • Moved audiences using purity of the music itself

Valved Horns and Keys

• Allowed players to play chormatically

  • Made brass more important in orchestras

Impressionist Movement

• Influenced by the visual arts

  • No sharp lines gave the impression of a scene without precise details

Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-Tone Technique

• All 12 notes treated as equal, rejecting traditional tonality

• Pitches can be in any range or duration

• Must be introduced in their order

  • Abandoned any hint of a tonal center

Modernism

Atonal, complex / irregular rhythms

Neoclassicism

Sought a return to order, restraint, clarity

Minimalist Music

Emphasizes the process of music rather than running to a goal

Minimal notes, instruments, focal points

Afro-Cuban Jazz

Used Cuban rhythms like the mambo and habanera with elements of bebop

Distinctive syncopated rhythms

Afro-Brazilian Jazz

Rhythms of samba with music of Europe and America

Bossa Nova

Laid-back singing style, complex harmonies, distinctive rhythmic pattern

Blues Music

• Started around the emancipation of slaves

• Roots in traditional African Music

• 12-bar harmonic progression

• Melancholy emotion, moans and growls

Blues Scale

Lowerd third, dominant seventh

Leitmotif

Clearly recognizable by its melody, harmonic progression or rhythm

Tristan Chord

Tritone chord

(f-b-d#-g#)

Organum

Began as improvised voices that duplicated the original melody

Greek Tragedy

• Characters must show essential qualities or morals

• Large influence on modern opera and theatre

Opera Buffa vs. Opera Seria

• Buffa: Humorous and light hearted, mythical subjects

• Seria: Tragic and serious subjects that are historical

Authentic Musical Modes

• Used in modern times, origins in Medieval and Greek musical traditions

• Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian

Classical Sonata Form

Key compositional structure since the Classical era

Refers to a convention within a single movement of a sonata or symphony

Classical Symphonic Form

• Major compositional form in Classical Era

• Large musical work usually for orchestra

• Movements: 1 fast, 2 slow, 3 dance form, 4 fast

Opera vs. Oratorios

• Opera: Historical, mythological and other secular plot lines

• Oratorio: Religious or ethical subject

Waltz Form

• Dance evolved and it became longer in form and more complex

• Achieved popularity across Europe

  • Height of fashion with the Viennese waltz

Change encourages the Renaissance Movement

• Religious conflicts emerged through the Reformation

• European colonialism expanded

• Middle class grew

Renaissance Printing Press Invention

Let music become widely availible to the growing middle class

Baroque Music

• Ornamentation was used heavily

• Ensembles read music and improvise on a figured bass

• Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Scarlatti

African song and Dance changed Latin American Music

• Calypso Music

• Rumba

• Merengue

Mambo

• Developed in Cuba

• Influences from European dances and African rhythms

• Became a ballroom staple especially in NYC

Tin Pan Alley

A place where musicians and composers came together to create popular new songs for the working class. Opposed to upper class parlor music

Appalachian Music

• Folk traditions of the Appalachian mountain range

• Influenced by Irish, Scottish and English immigrants

• influenced after dance tunes and fiddle songs

• Also African-American musical traditions

New Orleans Jazz

• Earliest form of Jazz

• Influenced by black and creole musicians and the black church

• Interplay between instruments, improvisaitions, synchopated march rhythms

Waltz vs. Mazurka

• Waltz: From Germany/Austria, emphasis on the down beat

• Mazurka: From Poland, emphaisis on the 2nd or 3rd beats

Dialogue in African Musical Form

Happens when there is call and response

Cyclic Form

Various phrases with a set number of beats can be continued as long as the performers want