Music Appreciation Vocabulary

Elements of Music

Music in Society

• Music is a vital part of human society.
• It is heard everywhere in modern life.
• It provides entertainment, emotional release, and accompanies activities.
• The experience of music is affected by the emotional state of both the performer and the audience.
• Live performances offer a special excitement.
• Perceptive listening enhances enjoyment of music.
• Knowledge of musical elements enhances perception.
• Recorded music is a 20th-century innovation, facilitated by internet access and portable audio.
• There's a difference between background music and alert, active listening.

Sound

• Our world is filled with sounds, which can be pleasant or unpleasant.
• Sound begins as a result of a vibrating object.
• Humans can focus on specific sounds and ignore others.
• Sound is transmitted through a medium like air.
• Our eardrums vibrate, and impulses are sent to the brain for processing.
• Music is the organization of sounds in time.
• The four main properties of musical sounds are:
  • Pitch
  • Dynamics
  • Tone color
  • Duration

Pitch

• Pitch is the Highness or Lowness of Sound, determined by the frequency of vibration.
• Fast vibration = high pitch; slow vibration = low pitch.
• In music, a definite pitch is a tone with specific frequencies.
• Interval: the distance between two tones. For example, 440 cycles (vibrations) per second = A.
• Generally, smaller vibrating objects produce higher pitches.
• Irregular vibrations create sounds of indefinite pitch.
• Octave: doubling/halving of frequency. Tones an octave apart seem to blend together.
• Western music divides the octave into 12 tones, while non-Western music may divide it differently.
• Range: the distance between the highest and lowest possible tones of a voice or instrument.

Dynamics

• Dynamics refer to the relative loudness of a sound.
• Related to the amplitude of the vibration producing the sound.
• Accent: tone played louder than tones near it.
• Italian terms are used to indicate dynamics:
  • pianissimo (pp) - very soft
  • piano (p) - soft
  • mezzo piano (mp) - moderately soft
  • mezzo forte (mf) - moderately loud
  • forte (f) - loud
  • fortissimo (ff) - very loud
• Extremes: $ppp, $pppp, $fff, $ffff
• Crescendo: gradually louder.
• Decrescendo (diminuendo): gradually softer.

Tone Color (Timbre)

• Tone color is the quality that distinguishes tones and can be bright, dark, mellow, etc.
• Changes in tone color create variety and contrast.
• Tone colors add a sense of continuity.
• There is an unlimited variety of tone colors.
• Composers frequently blend sounds of instruments to create new tone colors.
• Modern electronic techniques create new tone colors.
• Specific melodies can be associated with specific tone colors.

Listening Aids

Listening Outlines

• Listening Outlines point out notable musical sounds.

Vocal Music Guides

• Vocal Music Guides help the listener follow the thought, story, or drama.
  *Suggestion: while listening to one passage, look ahead to what is next.
• Helps focus attention on musical events as they occur
• Preceded by a description of the music’s main features

Listening Examples

The Firebird, Scene 2 (1910) by Igor Stravinsky

• Notable for tone colors through instrumentation and dynamic contrasts.

C-Jam Blues (1942) by Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra

• Listen for tone colors, repeated note melody, improvised solos, and muted brass instruments.

Performing Media: Voices and Instruments

Voices

• Voices have the unique ability to fuse words and musical tones.
• Voice range is based on physical makeup and training.
• Voice classifications:
  • Female: Soprano (highest), Mezzo-soprano, Alto
  • Male: Tenor, Baritone, Bass (lowest)
• Vocal music is frequently performed with instrumental accompaniment.

Musical Instruments

• Musical Instruments are mechanisms (other than the voice) that produce musical sounds.
• Western instruments are categorized into six broad categories:
  • String
  • Woodwind
  • Brass
  • Percussion
  • Keyboard
  • Electronic
• Instruments are made in different sizes for range.
• Tone color varies with the register.
• Instruments provide entertainment and accompaniment.
• Instruments’ popularity rises and falls with changing musical tastes.

String Instruments

• Sound is produced by vibrating a tight cable.
• The longer the string, the lower the pitch.
• Orchestral bowed instruments include:
  • Violin
  • Viola
  • Cello (violoncello)
  • Bass (double bass)
• Common playing techniques:
  • Pizzicato
  • Vibrato
  • Mute
  • Tremolo
  • Harmonics
  • Double stop
• Some string instruments are not played with a bow, such as the guitar and harp, which use a plectrum (small wedge—pick).

Woodwind Instruments

• Traditionally, woodwinds were made of wood, but in the 20th century, metal and plastic became common.
• Sound is produced by blowing, using the player’s breath.
• The longer the tube, the lower the pitch.
• Holes along the instrument serve to lengthen the tube.
• Main orchestral woodwinds and ranges:
  • Flute Family:
    • Piccolo
    • Flute
  • Clarinet Family:
    • Clarinet
    • Bass clarinet
  • Oboe Family:
    • Oboe
    • English horn
  • Bassoon Family:
    • Bassoon
    • Contrabassoon
• Woodwinds are single note instruments.
• The saxophone is a single reed instrument common in jazz.
• Single vs. Double Reed.

Brass Instruments

• Orchestral brasses (in order of range):
  • Trumpet
  • French horn
  • Trombone
  • Tuba
• Brass provides power and emphasis in music.
• Cornet, baritone horn, and euphonium are used mainly in concert and marching bands.
• Sound is produced by blowing into a mouthpiece.
• Vibration of the player’s lips produces sound.
• Sound exits through a flared end called a bell.
• Pitch is changed in two ways:
  • Lengthening the instrument via slide or valves.
    • The trombone uses sliding tubes.
    • Others use valves connected to additional tubing.
  • Generally, the longer the tube, the lower the pitch.
• Tone color is altered by inserting a mute into the bell.

Percussion Instruments

• Sound (generally) is produced by striking, shaking, or rubbing the instrument.
• Instruments of definite pitch produce tones, while those of indefinite pitch produce noise-like sounds.
• Definite Pitch:
  • Timpani (kettledrums)
  • Glockenspiel
  • Xylophone
  • Celesta
  • Chimes
• Indefinite Pitch:
  • Snare drum (side drum)
  • Bass drum
  • Tambourine
  • Triangle
  • Cymbals
  • Gong (tam-tam)
• Membranes, pieces of wood, or metal vibrate.
• Percussionists must play many instruments.
• Percussion traditionally emphasizes rhythm.
• 20th-century music saw a greater use of percussion.

Keyboard Instruments

• Keyboard instruments use a piano-type keyboard for control.
• They are capable of playing several notes at once.
• Instruments include:
  • Piano:
    • Sound is created when a felt hammer strikes a tight string.
    • Pedals affect the sound.
    • 88 keys.
    • Created ~1700 and refined through ~1850.
  • Harpsichord:
    • Sound is produced by small wedges plucking the string.
    • Important ~1500 through ~1775.
  • Pipe Organ:
    • Sound is produced by air being directed to pipes.
    • Pipe sets of various materials produce different tone colors.
    • Pipe sets are put in play by using knobs called stops.
    • Most prominent ~1600 to ~1750.
    • Wide range of pitch, dynamics, & tone color
  • Accordion:
    • Air bellows drive reeds controlled by keyboard and buttons.

Electronic Instruments

• Electronic Instruments produce or amplify sound using electronics.
• Invented ~1904, significant impact only after 1950.
• Modern technology blurs lines between instrument types, recording, computer, and hybrid devices.
• Tape studio: main electronic tool of the 1950s.
• Synthesizers came into use in the 1960s.
  • Huge machines first built in the mid-1950s.
  • Analog synthesis dominated until ~1980.
  • Digital (FM) synthesis came to the forefront in the 1980s.
  • Effects devices were integrated into digital synthesizers.
• Sampling technology advanced in the 1990s.
• MIDI (1983) allowed the connection of devices.
• Small computers developed in the 1970s and 80s.
• Modern composers connect these devices, use software, and write new types of music.

Listening Example

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34 (1946) by Benjamin Britten

• Listen for: Theme, variations, Contrast, Repetition, Various orchestral instruments

Rhythm

• Rhythm is the flow of music through time, the particular arrangement of note lengths.
• It divides music into equal units of time.
• Beat: recurrent pulsation.
• Meter: Grouping of beats into 2’s & 3’s and strong & weak beats.
• Accent: note that is emphasized.
  *Syncopation: emphasis placed on an unexpected note or beat.

Tempo

• Tempo is the speed of the beat, the pace, and is associated with emotional effect.
• Tempo is indicated at the beginning of a piece.
• As with dynamics, Italian terms are used.
• A metronome indicates the exact tempo.
• Molto, non troppo, accelerando, ritardando.

Music Notation

• Written music stores information, allowing composers to communicate their ideas to others.
• Letter names: A B C D E F G

Notating Pitch

• Staff
• Grand staff
• G Clef or Treble
• F Clef or Bass
• Keyboard note naming with notation

Notating Rhythm

• Music notation indicates the length of a tone in relation to other tones in the piece.
• How a note looks indicates duration.

Notating Silence

• Rests indicate notated silence.

Notating Meter

• The time signature indicates the meter of a piece of music.
• Appears at the beginning of the piece and again later if the meter changes.
• Written as two numbers, one above the other.
  • Top number: how many beats per measure.
  • Bottom number: what type of note counts 1 beat.
  • Examples: \frac{2}{4}, \frac{3}{2}
• Common & cut time, duple & triple meter.

The Score

• Includes music for every instrument.
• Can include 20+ lines of music at once.

Melody

• A series of single notes that add up to a recognizable whole.
• Begins, moves, ends.
• Tension & release.
• Stepwise vs. leap motion.
• Climax.
• Legato vs. staccato.
• Made of phrases (parts).
• Sequence within melodies.
• Cadence: Complete vs. Incomplete.

Harmony

• The way chords are constructed and how they follow each other.
• Chord: 3 or more tones sounded at once.
• Melody is a series of individual tones.
• Progression: how chords follow each other.
• Stable, restful chords are consonant.
• Unstable, tense chords are dissonant.
• Resolution—movement away from dissonance.
• Degree of dissonance—more & less dissonant.

Consonance and Dissonance

• Chord is simultaneous tones

The Triad

• Simplest, most basic chord.
• Made up of three notes.
• Notated on 3 adjacent lines or spaces

Broken Chords (Arpeggios)

• Chord tones sounded in a series.
• A triad built on the 1st scale note is called the tonic.
  • Pieces usually begin & end on this chord.
  • Most stable, restful chord.
• A triad built on the 5th scale note is called the dominant.
  • Dominant to tonic movement feels conclusive.
  • Most unstable, tense chord.

Key

• Centering of a melody or harmony around a central note.

The Major Scale

• Whole steps and half steps occurring in a predetermined order.
• Bright, happy sound.

The Minor Scale

• Whole steps and half steps occurring in a different predetermined order.
• Dark, sad sound.

Listening Example

Prelude in E Minor for Piano, Op. 28, No. 4 (1839) by Frédéric Chopin

Note: Harmony for variety and movement

The Key Signature

• Pieces using major scales are in a major key.
• Pieces using minor scales are in a minor key.
• The number of sharps or flats played determines scale and key.
• The key signature is notated at the beginning of the piece between the clef sign and the time signature.

The Chromatic Scale

• Utilizes all 12 notes within the octave.
• Includes both black and white piano keys.
• This scale does not define a key.

Modulation: Change of Key

• Provides contrast within a longer piece.
• A new tone and key becomes “home.”
• Modulation is like a temporary shift in gravity.
• Modulations away usually return to the tonic key.
• The return to the tonic creates a feeling of conclusion.
• The return to the tonic usually occurs near the end of the piece.

Tonic Key

• The main key of a piece

Musical Texture

• Layering of sound; how layers relate.

Monophonic Texture

• A single, unaccompanied melody.
• Literally “one sound.”

Polyphonic Texture

• Two or more equally important melodies sounding simultaneously.

Homophonic Texture

• One melody with chordal accompaniment.

Changes of Texture

• Within a piece, creates variety and contrast.

Listening Example

Farandole from L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2 (1879) by Georges Bizet

• Note contrasting textures.

Musical Form

• Organization of musical elements in time.

Techniques that Create Musical Form

• Repetition—restating musical ideas.
• Contrast—avoiding monotony with new ideas.
• Variation—reworking ideas to keep them new.

Types of Musical Form

• Ternary: A B A, Subdivided: aba cdc, aba cdc

Listening Example

• Dance of the Reed Pipes from Nutcracker Suite (1892) by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  *Note ternary form

• Binary: A B, A A B, A B B, A A B B

Listening Example

• Bourée from Suite in E Minor for Lute (1710) by Johann Sebastian Bach
  *Note binary form

Musical Style

• Characteristic way of using melody, rhythm, tone color, dynamics, harmony, texture, and form.
• Western art music can be divided into:
  • Middle Ages—450-1450
  • Renaissance—1450-1600
  • Baroque—1600-1750
  • Classical—1750-1820
  • Romantic—1820-1900
  • 20th Century to 1945
  • 1945 to the present
• Shaped by political, economic, social, and intellectual developments.