In order to write your concert report and critique, and in order to survive the tests and exam in this class, you will need to be able to understand and use musical fundamental terms in analyzing music. It’s not enough to say, “This piece was simply delightful!” You have to show that you are understanding what you are hearing. You have to listen carefully and actively and analytically; don’t make music just something you have on in the next room as you’re cooking etc. Some of these musical fundamental concepts were explained in Fine Arts I, and virtually all are explained in the textbook, pages 1-61. This is an outline of most of the fundamental concepts I will use in class lectures. Most of the basic categories are as follows: Rhythm/Syncopation, Meter, Tempo; Melodic Range, Melodic Contour, Dissonance/Consonance, Major/Minor (or other); Texture, Timbre/Tone Color, Dynamics, Articulation, Form.

I) RHYTHM

a. Rhythm—deals with the length of notes and rests. A note (for the purposes of this class) is any musical sound. A rest is the absence of sound. Some notes are long, some are short. A series of very short notes played very quickly has fast rhythm; a series of very long notes has slow rhythm. (See textbook, p. 31, pp. 37-39.)

b. Meter—refers to the grouping of beats in music. A beat is what you tap your foot to or nod your head to or dance to in music.

i) Most of the music we’ll deal with this semester, and most of the music you listen to in your spare time, is in duple meter—music with two or four beats per measure (a measure is a group of beats), i.e. counted 1 2 1 2 or 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4. Examples from the CDs or cassettes for the class: CD 1/1, Wagner’s Lohengrin; CD 1/5, Strayhorn’s Take the A Train; CD 2/1, Mozart’s 40^th Symphony; CD 1/33, Bizet’s Farandole from the L’Arlesienne Suite. There are many, many others. Most of today’s popular music (including virtually all rap, virtually all R+B, most country, most alternative rock, and most gospel) is in duple meter. Try listening to the above pieces, or songs you listen to in your spare time, and count the beats along with the piece/song: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 etc.

ii) Some music, however, is in triple meter—music with three beats to the measure, i.e. counted 1 2 3 1 2 3. Examples from the CDs: CD 1/8, Britten Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (first part); Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik minuet (CD 2/16); Brahms 4^th Symphony (CD 3/1); Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (CD 3/15). All waltzes are in triple meter; so is some country music (especially some honky-tonk). The song “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” is in triple meter. Try listening and counting as above.

iii) Some music is in either no meter at all (in which there is no beat)—examples from the CDs include Monteverdi Tu Se Morta (CD 1/62), Hildegard O Successores (CD 1/46), Harvey Ritual Melodies (CD 3/53), and Ravi Shankar, Maru Bihag (CD 3/60)—or in unusual meters such as quintuple (5) or septuple (7) or 11 or 19 etc. (the end of the Stravinsky piece, CD 3/28—see also the Pink Floyd song “Money”, which is in 7, or the Dave Brubeck jazz tune “Take Five”, which is in 5), or else the meter frequently changes. (Again, try listening and counting as you listen, as above.) But most of the music we’ll listen to this semester is in duple meter. (See textbook, pp. 32-34, 40.)

Note: It is absolutely necessary for this class that you be able to find the pieces we will listen to on your CDs or cassettes. You can’t survive the class without listening to the CDs/cassettes.

c. Tempo—refers to the speed of the beats (not the notes)—how fast or slow they are. (See textbook, pp. 34-35.)

d. Syncopation is a special type of rhythm, in which the accent is not on the main beat. Say, for instance, that the piece is in duple meter, counted 1 2 3 4:

Perhaps beats 2 and 4 are accented, not beat 1—so that the music is counted 1 2 3 4. Virtually all gospel music, virtually all rock, virtually all rap, and some jazz is syncopated in this way. (When a gospel choir performs, they often signify this type of syncopation by clapping their hands on beats 2 and 4.) Almost no classical music uses this type of syncopation. This type of syncopation is called a backbeat. Listen to a record of gospel music and try clapping your hands to the backbeat.

Or perhaps the accents are in between the beats—perhaps in between beats 2 and 3, or between beats 3 and 4. (A good example: listen to the Omens of Spring section of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, CD 3/24, with the Listening Guide, p. 311.) Or perhaps beat 2 is accented in one measure, beat 4 in another. All these are types of syncopation. Syncopation is somewhat rare in classical music before 1900 but very common in almost all African-American music, as well as in other popular forms such as rock. (Textbook, p. 34.)

II) PITCH, MELODY, HARMONY: a pitch is a musical sound with a definable high or low quality. When Whitney Houston sings, she sings high pitches; when a death metal singer sings, he usually sings low pitches. You can find high pitches at the top of a keyboard, low pitches at the bottom. A melody is a series of pitches, played one at a time (no chords), either played or sung. Harmony is the part of music related to chords—when you have several pitches played or sung at the same time (as on a guitar or piano, or when a choir sings). In a rock band, the lead singer usually sings the melody and the rhythm guitarist usually strums the chords.

a) Melodic range refers to how high or low the singer’s or instrumentalist’s pitches go. A wide range is when someone can reach high and low pitches; a narrow range is when someone can reach only a few pitches in the middle. Most Broadway music and opera uses a wide range; most blues music and rap music uses a narrow range.

b) Melodic contour is the shape of the melody—how it goes up and down. An ascending melodic contour is when the melody goes up; a descending melodic contour is when the melody goes down. There are other possibilities. (Textbook, pp. 1-4, 40-45.)

Pitches have names depending on whether they are high or low. There are seven letters used to notate pitches: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. There are also sharps and flats used to notate the black keys: A#, C#, D#, F#, G#, Bb, Db, Eb, Gb, Ab. Sharp means the pitch is a little bit higher (A# is just higher than A); flat means the pitch is a little lower (Bb is just lower than B). A G is just higher than an F, which is just higher than an E etc. (LOOK AT PAGES 35-37 of the textbook for this—it is helpful if you figure this one out with a piano in front of you.) The interval between two pitches is the distance between them—thus A to B is a second (A-B; 1-2), A to E is a fifth (A-B-C-D-E; 1-2-3-4-5), D to G is a fourth (D-E-F-G; 1-2-3-4); A to the A above it is an octave (8^th)(A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8).

c) A consonant interval is an interval that sounds relaxing, like a third or a fifth or an octave. A dissonant interval is an interval that sounds tense or harsh, like a second or a seventh. (Try playing these intervals on a piano or other musical instrument, or singing them.) A consonant chord is one with a lot of consonant intervals in it; a dissonant chord has lots of dissonances. A consonant piece has mostly consonant chords and intervals; a dissonant piece has mostly dissonant chords and intervals. Some consonant pieces on the CDs: listen to the Haydn Symphony, CD 2/10; Beethoven String Quartet, CD 2/19; Vivaldi Concerto, CD 1/63, title song from Oklahoma!, CD 3/58. Some dissonant pieces: listen to Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, CD 3/30; Webern’s Third Piece, CD 3/32; Harvey’s Ritual Melodies, CD 3/53. Most of today’s popular music (especially R+B, Gospel, soft rock, and country) is consonant; some alternative rock (like Rage Against the Machine) and movie/TV music (like the music for the X Files) is dissonant. Most classical music before 1900 is pretty consonant (with some notable exceptions); most classical music after 1900 is very dissonant. (Textbook, p. 44)

In most classical music and almost all of today’s popular music, there are 12 pitches that can be used: C, C# (also called Db), D, D# (also called Eb), E, F, F# (also called Gb), G, G# (also Ab), A, A# (also Bb), B. (Again: please see pp. 35-37.) Then the series of twelve starts again in a higher range, an octave above the first. BUT, in any given piece/song usually only seven of the 12 pitches are used consistently, in what is called a major or minor scale. A G major scale uses the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F# (it does not use Ab, Bb, C#, Eb, or F); a G minor scale generally uses G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, and F (it does not use Ab, B, C#, E, or F#). Thus, to get from a major scale to a minor scale, you lower the third, sixth, and seventh pitches of the scale. Most classical music between 1600 and 1900, and most of today’s popular music, is in either the major or minor key; a piece in the major key is one that uses the major scale, and a piece in the minor key uses the minor scale.

Note: the first pitch of each scale (G in the case of a G major or G minor scale) is called the keynote. Music that has a keynote (most music) is called tonal music. Music without a keynote (much 20^th century classical music, some 1960s and 1970s jazz, some punk rock) is called atonal music.

d) Pieces in major tend to sound happy; pieces in minor sound sad. Examples of major pieces: listen to Bach Brandenburg Concerto (CD 1/54), Handel Hallelujah Chorus and Every Valley, from the Messiah (CD 1/72, 1/73); Mozart piano concerto (CD 2/27); Copland Appalachian Spring (CD 3/40), Title song from Oklahoma (CD 3/56), all gospel music, most R+B music, most uptempo country music. Examples of minor pieces: listen to Beethoven’s 5^th symphony (CD 2/34), Chopin Revolutionary Etude (CD 2/51), Brahms 4^th Symphony (CD 3/1), much alternative rock (REM’s Losing My Religion, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, parts of Pearl Jam’s Jeremy).

Some music, however (not just atonal music, but other types as well), uses neither the major nor the minor scale. Examples: Most classical music before 1600 and much classical music after 1900; some 1960s and 1970s jazz; some noise rock, most rap, most non-Western music. (See pp. 45-49 for a fuller discussion.)

III) TEXTURE. The five main types of texture:

a) Monophony—only one melody at a time, no chords. Monophonic music can be either sung or played on instruments, on one instrument/voice or on many. Example: Listen to Alleluia Vidimus Stellam (CD 1/43).

b) Melody and Accompaniment/Homophony: one melody with harmonic/rhythmic accompaniment. Examples: Listen to Tschaikovsky Dance of the Reed Pipes (CD 1/38, beginning; the flutes are the melody, the rest of the orchestra is the accompaniment), Handel Every Valley from the Messiah (CD 1/72; the voice is the melody and the orchestra is the accompaniment), Schubert Erlkonig (CD 2/42; the voice is the melody and the piano is the accompaniment), Chopin Nocturne (CD 2/48; the high pitches are the melody and the low pitches are the accompaniment), almost all of today’s popular music (the lead singer is the melody and the instruments and/or choir is the accompaniment).

c) Chordal Homophony: everyone sings/plays the same rhythms at the same time, but in a different pitch range; for instance the sopranos can be high, the altos lower, the tenors even lower, and the basses lowest of all. This is different from monophony, because in monophony everyone sings/plays the same pitches as everyone else. Example: Listen to Bach cantata seventh movement (CD 1/71), most church hymns.

d) Imitative Polyphony—there are several melodies going on at once, and each imitates the other. Example: listen to the beginning of Josquin’s Ave Maria (CD 1/50), Bach fugue (CD 1/59), a round like “Row Row Row Your Boat” or “Frere Jacques”.

e) Non-imitative polyphony—there are several completely different melodies going on at once. Example: listen to Machaut Agnus Dei (CD 1/47). (Textbook, pp. 49-53; listen to Bizet Farandole, CD 1/33, with the Listening Guide in the textbook, pp. 52-53, which uses a variety of the above textures.)

IV) TIMBRE or TONE COLOR. Timbre can be vocal or instrumental. Different vocal timbres include vibrato (a full vocal sound that involves shaking the voice—virtually all classical vocal music between 1700 and 1900, not just opera, uses vibrato—listen to the Wagner and Puccini excerpts at the beginning of the 3^rd CD), crooning (frequent with 20s-30s-40s-50s popular singers like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole, and in most of today’s R+B music), growling, rasping (frequent in blues and hard rock). Instrumental timbre refers in part to the sounds produced by the different instruments: woodwinds (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, saxophone), brass (trumpet, trombone, French horn, tuba), strings (violin, viola, cello, bass, harp, guitar), percussion (drums, cymbals, tambourine, wood block, triangle, gong etc.), keyboard (piano etc.), and electronic instruments.)(See pp. 5-31, and for instrumental timbre listen to Britten, Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (CD 1/8), with the Listening Guide in the textbook—pp. 30-31. Follow the music in the Listening Guide as you listen to it.)

V) DYNAMICS. How loud or soft music is. (pp. 4-5)

VI) ARTICULATION. Whether notes are smooth and connected to each other (legato), or short and quick and detached and separated from each other (staccato).

VII) FORM. The order of events in music. Form is related to I-VI above. Thus, in the Tschaikovsky piece (CD 1/38; listen to it carefully with the Listening Guide in the textbook as you read this), the beginning has flutes in the melody, high melodic range, major key, and is very staccato; the middle has trumpets in the melody, lower melodic range, minor key, and is more legato; and the end is like the beginning. Thus the FORM of the Tschaikovsky is ABA (Ternary form), meaning that the first section (beginning or A) is like the last section (end, also A) and the middle is different (B). Other pieces have Binary form (AB; two sections, the first is different from the second). Most of today’s popular music is in verse-chorus strophic form, which means that the piece begins (after an introduction) with a verse, then a separate chorus; then there is a second verse in which the singer sings the same music as in the first verse, but different words, then a second chorus which is identical to the first chorus; then a third verse in which the singer sings the same music as in the first verse again, but different words from either the first or second verse; then a third chorus (identical to the first and second chorus), and so on. Virtually any song you hear on the radio or see on MTV or VH1 will have this form. (Textbook, pp. 53-59)

Go over the above with the textbook and the CDs/cassettes. If you don’t own a copy of the textbook or the CDs/cassettes PLEASE PLEASE buy them at the bookstore. Ask me in class or during my office hours or by email if there is something you don’t understand. Some of the above is easier to understand than the rest; don’t worry if you’re not getting all of it, since the focus this semester will be on music history, not fundamentals.

ANCIENT MUSIC

Little known today, but:

CONTEXTS: Dionysian rites, theater.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS USED: lyre (a small plucked harp) and aulos (like an oboe).

AESTHETICS: education: music must be combined with gymnastics as part of a liberal education--music is effeminate, gymnastics aggressive, balance of the two ideal.

HEALING: a certain mode (scale) can help heal one, because each mode has behavioral qualities--passive, strong, valorous, angry etc. If you hear music in a certain mode, you become like that mode (angry etc.).