music midterm

Terms:

• Historiography: the study of methods historian use to develop history

• Sacred music: music of the church intended for certain things like ritual

• Secular music: music associated with a certain court, not tied to the church however could be inspired by the church, or vice versa

• Iconography: the study of art paintings carvings that tell us about history

• Plain chant: monophonic, free from a regular metre, has a flowing sense to it with no organisation of beat or pulse, usually speechlike with a narrow contour.

Music and the Medieval Period

• Medieval era began with the fall of the roman empire in 476 (dark ages)

• Lasts roughly 1000 years

Two main powers in Europe:

Church (catholic)

State (monarchy)

• Most music from this era is sacred

• Literacy was usually a privilege of the church

Lots of music from this era is anonymous (unknown composer)

• The reason for this is lots of music was passed down orally

• Music in this era was usually memorized instead of written down

• Most medieval music we have is vocal

• There was instrumental music but it usually wasn't notated

• There are polarities in medieval music, usually in rhythm. Some rhythms were very simple while others were very complicated. Another polarity in medieval music is authorship. Some pieces are anonymous while some pieces have authors

Musical Characteristics of Medieval Music

Melody:

Conjunct motion, has a narrow range, very singable, not hard to sing, moves in stepwise motion and sometimes leaps to disjunct motion with large leaps to create contrast. There are exceptions that are very hard to sing. Melismatic (many notes per syllable) and Syllabic are both prevalent.

Harmony:

There is an emphasis on what is called perfect intervals. They have a kind of open sound and quality. Medieval harmony is also modal, which is between major and minor

Texture:

Chant primarily is monophonic, everybody is singing the same line in unison. However it can also be polyphonic with additional voices but this is much rarer.

Timbre:

Primarily of music in the middle ages was vocal, instruments were used but there is very little notation.

Rhythm and Metre:

 Sometimes the beat and time signature is very fuzzy, sometimes inaudible possibly because the time signature wasn't invented yet. Chant can be described to have a sort of flow to it, when you get to the end of a phrase it often slows down.

Dynamics and Articulation

These are not specified. It's kind of a guessing game. The Dynamics and articulation you hear on a recording is speculation and is the performers choice.

Form

This mostly applies to secular songs, a lot of this music is strophic

Hildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179)

• Wrote Alleluia, O virga mediatrix (O mediating branch)

• Was promised as a tithe to the church

• She had visions that she would write down, like prophecies, philosophies

• Was also a scientist and wrote poetry

• Most of her music was performed by the nuns in her convent

• She was unusually educated for a woman in these times

• Wrote her own text which was rare because most chant would come from the bible

Music and the Mass

• Daily ritual/ service of the catholic church

• Reinacts the acts of the last supper

• Two categories of prayers ordinary and the proper

Mass ordinary

• texts are the same every day

• all in Latin except for kyrie which is in Greek.

• Gloria , Credo, Sanctus, agnus Dei, are all in Latin

• Texts are the same every day

• Mass proper the texts vary from day to day depending on the church calendar

Organum

Polyphonic/polyphony and the Notre Dame school

• 12th and 13th centuries

• Organum - the earliest notated polyphony, based on a pre-existing chant

• There are a few types one where one voice sings long singular notes while another sings multiple notes at the same time

• Only elite singers who are trained were able to sing organum

• Some of the earliest polyphony is chant where 2 voices start in unison and then start to sperate and then return to unison

• Polyphony is associated with composers from Notre Dame School

The Troubadours and Secular Song

• The troubadours are lyric poets in the south of France - 11th to 13th centuries

• lyric is about personal expression

• The poems are musical and instruments were played with them

• Trobairitz is a female troubadours

• Spoken in a vulgar tongue, which means of the people so it’s the language the people speak

• Proponents of erotic, romantic love

• Court poet- musicians

• Wrote in an old dialect related to French called Occitan

Jaufre Rudel and Love from Afar

• Mid late 12th century

• Amor de lonh / love from afar

• This was seen as the most pure form of love since it had the least chance of being fulfilled

Jaufre Rudel, Lanquan li Jorn

• Strophic, lines up with the same melody is coordinated, all verses are sung to the same music

• Rythym is a guessing game, we don't know how it was performed

• The melody

Guillaume de Machaut

• Ca. 1300-1377

• Wrote both sacred and secular music and texts

• Wrote for the Mass and for the Court

• He also wrote his own poetry instead of using the bible

• Was very self aware, cared about the life of his music after he died, made sure his manuscripts were perfect for the next generations

• One of the first composers where we know about his personality

Machaut, "Puis quen oubli"

• Chanson

• Rondeau form = ABaAabAB

• Capital letters mean same music and text

• Lowercase means same music but different text (A and a have the same music but different text)

• Melody: the melody has a relatively short range, and seems easy to sing, there is rippling one voice sings text whileothers are vocalising

• Harmony: hollow cadences at phrase ends (perfect intervals)

• Rhythm: very clear rhythm, although its not consistent it follows a pattern, slow tempo

• Texture: polyphony (three parts)

The ritual aspect of music is the function of the music

Japan Shomyo Buddhist Ritual- Dai Hannya Ceremony

• Japanese buddhist music

• Has origins in India and China

• Shomyo, bright voice

• Teaching of shomyo began in 6th century but existing melodies are from 12th century and later.

• Shomyo melodies were passed down orally

• True shomyo possesses magic and is reserved for special occasion and rituals

• Solo chanting, responsorial chanting, choral singing

• The instrumental accompaniment is characteristic of Japan

• Ornamentation: a line with bumps, pitch and notes are not really defined, fluid

• Melodic embellishment

• No regular rhythm and tempo

• Lots of parts with chanting, pitch isn't indicated

• Pacing varies in  the season, number of chanters and the size of the hall

• The important parts of the chant aren't notated, and cant be notated adequately

• Responsorial chanting, has a soloist and a response from other singers

• Antiphonal, multiple choirs taking turns singing

• Heterophonic, which is rare

• Melismatic at the start but towards the end, text is chanted syllabically

Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream, "Wedding March"

• Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

• German composer, conductor, pianist, organist

• Wedding March, is from his incidental (between acts) music for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream

• Very deliberate and specific rhythm and tempo, is a march so the rhythm is duple time

• March, a functional genre, duple time, was created for military use, emphasises marching band instruments, brass and percussion

• Illustrates a shift in functional music, a stylized march, kind of strays away from its function, but is still used for its function

Dolores Claman "The Hockey Theme"

• July 6th, 1927 - July 17th, 2021

• Composed music for ballets, musical theatre, television, film, and commercial jingles

• Hockey Theme was written in 1968

• One of few women writing commercial music at this time

• Describes arriving at the rink, the battle on the ice, going back home, and a cold beer

• Is still a song for a ritual, in a broad sense, brushing your teeth is a ritual, sitting and watching a hockey game is a ritual, and ritual music accompanies a ritual

 Renaissance period

• 15th and 16th centuries bleeds into 17th century

• Renaissance is a 19th century term, meaning rebirth

• Order, balance and realism are valued

• Shift of thought, in religion, martin luther

• The printing press is invented

• The first printed collection of music is from 1501

Melody during the Renaissance

• Generally construct, smooth motion

• Lyrical (singable)

Harmony during the Renaissance

• 8-mode system primarily

• Ionian mode emphasised

• Aonian mode emphasised

• Thirds and sixths considered consonant, less hollow chords than medieval, sweet sounding

• Fourths generally considered dissonant

• Strict treatment of dissonance that resolves to consonance

• Chromaticism, two or more successive semitones moving in the same direction, gives a colourful sound

Texture

• Polyphony dominates rather than monophony in the middle ages

• Imitation, imitative polyphony, voices echo each other to makes the texture dense

• Homorhythmic textures, the rhythm of the voices are the same or very similar, easier to read and hear text

Rhythm

• Avoidance of strong downbeats/floating rhythm, rhythm pulse is still there but is soft and floating

• Bar lines, in middle ages there was no such thing as a bar line

• Different voices move in similar rhythms/note values

Timbre

• The human voice is ideal, there is still instruments to support the voices but they don’t substitute the voices

• Classification of instruments into categories begins

Form

• Continuation of medieval forms

• Paratactic form: a sequence of sections with new material in each, some sections might be similar and some might be unrelated

• Polyphonic mass cycle (Kyrie Gloria Credi Sanctus Agnus Dei) same melody with tweaks to parts of the mass

Dynamics and articulation

• We don't know

• Not notated

Treatment of text

• Increased emphasis on comprehensibility

• More specific text expression, more deliberate relationship between words and musical effects

Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450-1521)

• Worked in france and italy, including the papal chapel

• Wrote masses, motets, and secular music

• His music is travelling the world due to the printing press

Josquin, Ave maria…virgo serena

• Genre: motet, a piece of music in several parts with words

• Lasted a long time - early 13th C to the mid 18th C

• One of the most important form of polyphonic music

• Definitions vary in specific historical or regional contexts

• Renaissance motets are polyphonic and imitative

• Latin text, usually sacred, but not liturgical (not meant to be sung in mass)

Alexander Muir

• 1830-1906

• Songwriter, poet

Muir, The maple leaf forever

• Composed in 1876

• Lyrics were written by Muir

• Predates O Canada and at times was more popular

• Takes an English Canadian perspective

• Original score was for voice and piano

• Different performers emphasise different messages

Public Enemy

• Formed in the 1980s

• Contract with Def Jam in 1986

• First album in 1987

• Collective of a lot of different artists

Fight the Power

• Used in Spike Lees film do the right thing

• Song was commissioned for the film

• It is a violent song with a negative spotlight because the idea that the song is dangerous

• Polyrhythmic

Susan Aglukark

• Born Manitoba in 1967

• Inuit songwriter

• Known for humanitarian work and Canadian pop music

E186

• From 1999 album unsung heroes

• About marriage, motherhood, childhood abuse

• The title references Inuit disc numbers

• E186 is not an actual disk number

• Form of the song alternates between verse and chorus and bridge

• Not a traditional Inuit songMetis jigging

  •  

   

  Classical pieces tend to shed their dancing elements or purpose to become a concert piece

   

  Red river jig

  • Most well known mitis fiddle tune

  • Oral and social tradition

  • Social dancing

  • strong beat, but can have metrical irregularities

  • The same song can sound different depending on the region and the performer

   

  Origins

  Three theories

  • Lower Canada

  • From the red river settlement, the Metis fiddle response to Scottish bagpipe music

  • Created for a Metis weeding in 1860 by Macdallas

   

  Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky

  • 1840-1893

  • Russian composer of the romantic period

  • One of the early graduates of the new St. Petersburg conservatory

  • Integration of western European and Russian traditions

  • Mental crises and sexuality

   

  The nutcracker, March and Russian dance 1892

  • Ballet to a story by E.T.A Hoffmann

  • Near the opening of the ballet, as gifts are distributed

  • Associations with military, the march of the soldiers

  • Trepak- Russian and Ukrainian folk dance

  • Very lively in duple metre

  • Mostly performed by men

   

  Alice Coltrane (1937-2007)

  • Pianist, organist, harpist, and composer

  • Trained classically in the jazz tradition

  • She was married to jazz saxophonist john coltrane from 1965 until his death in 1967