Unit 1: The Fundamentals of Music

Chapter 1

  • Notation refers to the symbols used by composers to represent sound.

  • Musical notation system in use today has roots in the Middle Ages

  • We tend to perceive something as musical if it has a definite pitch and a distinct duration

  • Duration: Measurable length of time that a sound lasts.

  • Amplitude: How loud or soft a musical tone is.

    • Can be related to pitch and duration

  • Tone/Pitch: quality of a musical sound, how high or low the sound is. To be musical, a pitch must have a measurable frequency.

    • Tones are labeled using the first 7 letters of the alphabet.

  • Scale: set of ascending or descending pitches arranged in a certain pattern and centered on one of the twelve pitches.

  • Tonal Center/ Key: Most important pitch of a scale or musical work on which the work is based.

  • Music is made up of 7 elements

Melody

  • Melody: Series of tones or pitches that we understand as a recognizable unit.

    • Usually what we first take note of when we listen to a piece of music and what we remember about it.

  • Melodies are also referred to as tunes, themes, and motifs.

  • All melodies have a unique range

    • Range: Distance between the highest and lowest notes of a melody

  • Linear shape of melody is called contour

    • Contour: Mix of rise, fall, and stasis in a melody

  • Phrase Structure: Natural starting and stopping of the melody

  • Climax: Point in the melody where it reaches it’s highest intensity.

Rhythm

  • Rhythm: Movement of music through time

  • Beat: Basic rhythmic unit

    • Regular pulse that helps divide rhythm into understandable units

    • Accent: Placing of emphasis on a particular beat in a rhythm

  • Meter: Organizational device composers use to tell performers how the groupings or rhythms in a piece should sound. Duple, triple, and quadruple meters are all common in music and refer to rhythmic groupings in pairs, trios, and quads, respectively.

    • Duple Meter: Meter in which every other beat is accented, creating a pattern of “strong-weak”, “strong-weak”

    • Triple Meter: Every third beat is accented. Creates a “strong-weak-weak”, “strong-weak-weak” pattern

    • Quadruple Meter: Meter in groupings of fours, for example “strong-weak-weak-weak” beats

      • Not always the same emphasis pattern

  • Syncopation: Accents that fall on weak beats or on a division of a beat

    • very common in jazz and pop music, helps make rhythms interesting and varied.

Harmony

  • If melody is the linear aspect, then harmony is the vertical.

  • Harmony: Simultaneous sounding of two or more musical tones

    • Consonant Sound: Musical sound that sounds at rest or complete

    • Dissonant Sound: Musical sound that seems incomplete or creates tension

  • Chord: Three or more tones sounded simultaneously

  • Progression: In harmony, a series of related cords. They can be any combo of notes, but a common one in western music is a triad

    • Triad: When three notes are sounded that are separated by notes that are not sounded

Texture

  • Texture: Interplay of melodies and harmonies is the texture of a musical work

    • Monophonic: Single melody sounding by itself

    • Polyphonic: The music created when two or more melodic lines are heard simultaneously

    • Homophonic: Sound created when a single melody is accompanied by chords.

  • Todays music is a mixture of all three but is primarily homophonic

Timbre

  • Timbre: Particular quality of a musical sound, sometimes referred to as tone color

  • Each instrument has its own sound, also called tone color

Form

  • Form: Particular shape and structure of a musical composition

    • How the composer uses the melodic and harmonic structures in repetition, contrast, and/or variations

  • Movements: Part of a larger musical work. A movement is a distinct composition itself and a group of movements are usually related by melodic, rhythmic, or tonal ideas

Expression

  • Expression: A work’s tempo and dynamic

  • Tempo: Speed at which a musical composition is performed

  • Dynamics: In music notation, the term refers to symbols and/or words indicating how loud or soft a passage of music should be performed

  • Over time, certain words have been standardized to let conductors know how a piece is to be played. These words are often in italian

    • Piano: When used as a word to guide performers, the term means the piece or section should be played softly

    • Forte: In music, word meaning a piece or section of music should be performed loudly

    • Adagio: In music, a term meaning a slow tempo

    • Allegro: In music, a term meaning a moderately fast tempo.

  • Composers use tempo and dynamics for expressive purposes.

  • They have become more specific about markings used, and notations in general have become more specific as music has grown more complex.