week 3

9/9

choirs and orchestra

  • examples: O fortuna and battle of the fates

  • gospel choir: lots of call and response, invites crowd to sing as well in a form of worship


orchestra: any performing body of diverse musical instruments- can be vocal orchestra, chamber orchestra

  • western orchestra: strings at the core (violins)

  • conductor: keeps time, qeues people, leads the music, determines the final interpretation of the music

  • concert master: first violinist, the middle point of the conductor and the musicians, leader in the actual orchestra


  • bands: groups without the strings: woodwinds, brass percussion, marching band, rock band,

  • chamber ensemble: ensemble of 2+ musicians with no conductor, usually one person to a part/instrument


Elements of Music: Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Form

  • Dissonance- tension, harsh, crowded, not pleasant to hear, intensity

  • Consonance- release after dissonance, calm, pleasant 

  • Rhythm: organization of time

  • Tempo: pace of music 

  • Beat: pulse/heartbeat

  • Meter/Measure: patterns of beats, strong downbeat (first beat, helps differentiate)

  • Metric patterns: duple meter (2 beats), Triple meter (3 beats)

  • Subdivision: simple beat- beat divided into 2; compound beat- beat divided into 3

  • Polyrhythm- multiple rhythms overlaid on top of each other

  • Syncopation: emphasis on weak/off beats instead of downbeat; common in jazz

  • Pitch= frequency; vibrations per second, measured in Hz per second

  • Perception of pitch depends on frequency and speed

  • Melody= succession of single pitches head as a recognizable whole

  • Location on staff = frequency

  • Shape of note = duration

  • Sharp= raised pitch

  • Flat= lower pitch

  • Range= distance between highest to lowest notes, shown on shape of notes on staff

  • Contour= overall shape melody takes

  • Conjunct= small leaps, Disjunct= separated, larger leaps

  • Interval= distance between two pitches 

    • octave aka C to next C

    • Perfect 5th

    • Tritone

  • Cadence= musical punctuation, end of thought; dominant cadence- between 4th and 5th chord

  • Countermelody= independent melodic idea separate from main melody; counterpoint- interaction of both melodies

  • Scale= building blocks of melody; patterns of notes within one octave

  • Major Scale= ionian mode, CDEFGABC,

  • Minor Scale= Aeolian Mode, CDEbFGAbBbC,

  • Pentatonic Scales= five notes scale, can be major or minor; more folky


melody

  • phrases have a question (call) and an answer (response)

  • dominant is the first part of the phrase (the call) and the tonic is the response


texture

  • monophony: single voice

  • homophony: single voice and chordal accompaniment

  • polyphony: multiple voices with a melody and countermelody (counterpoint, multiple voices doing different things)