MUS

8/29

Melody:

• Somewhere over the rainbow - Judy Garland

• how does the melody reflect the lyrics?

  • disjunct, melody reflects the arc of a rainbow

• how would you characterize the mood/sprirt?

  • hopeful and bright

• how is the bridge melody different than the first?

  • conjunct, bridge is more upbeat and quicker

Listening journal:

• how would you describe the beginning melody of this piece? how is it similar to the beginning of beethovan 5th symphony?

  • begining is very dark as its minor key

• Around 55 seconds into the movement, the melody changes. How does it change and how many melodies are playing here?

  • 2 melodies playing,

• a third melody enters around 3 minutes into the piece. How is it different from the previous?

  • major melody enters and bring the mood of the piece up. origionally was minor

• how can recognizing melodic changes help us describe a piece of music?

Harmony:

• the sound of 2 or more pitches heard simultaniously, often used to support a melody

• can have vertical and horizonal components

  • vertical: what i shappening at one given time

  • horizontal:

• chord: simultanousl sound of 3 or more pitches

• scale: notes in an ascending or descending order

  • diatonic scale: 7 notes (5 5 whole steps and 2 half)

    • major(happy) minor(sad)

  • Chromatic scale: 12 half steps that make up the octave

  • pentatonic scale: a 5 note scale usually used in folk music or childrens songs, black keys (ie. amazing grace)

  • whole tone scale: a 6 note scale made up of whole steps only

  • pitch and scales:

    • half step: smalles musical interval used in western tonal music (minor second or semi-tone) (when no black key separates 2 white keys)

    • whole step: (major or second tone) the distance of 2 half steps.

    • flats and sharps: 5 additional notes (black keys) #is half step higher, flat is half step lower (d# and e flat are the same black key)

  • octave is the duplicate pitch higher or lower, frequency is twice that of the lower pitch

  • cadence: a sequence that ends

  • ostinato: a short, melodic, rythim repeated over and over again

• key and tonality:

  • key: a system of related cords deriving from the major or minor scales, central note known as tonic

    • dominant(5 note is key chord), subdominant(4 note is key note)

  • tonic: first note of a diatonic scale

  • triad: the most common cord in western music, particular combo of 3 notes, created by combining every other note

• consonance and dissonance:

  • consonant: stable and do not evoke feelings of distress and unease

  • dissonant: create the impression of tension, intensly feel like they clash with harmonic structures around them

  • movement between them can provide shape and direction to a piece

  • every piece has both