PART I – Materials of Music
Prelude 1. Listening to Music Today
This section is an introduction to the way in which we listen music today. It gives information about attending concerts, how to prepare for these, how to behave during the performance, and other valuable insights.
Chapter 1. Melody: Musical Line
Key Points
· A melody is the line, or tune, in music.
· Each melody is unique in contour (how it moves up and down) and in range, or span of pitches.
· An interval is the distance between any two pitches. A melody that moves in small, connected intervals is conjunct, while one that moves by leaps is disjunct.
· The units that make up a melody are phrases; phrases end in resting places called cadences.
· A melody may be accompanied by a secondary melody, or a countermelody.
“For much of the music we will study, melody is the most basic element of communication between the composer or performer and the listener.” (page 12)
Chapter 2. Rhythm and Meter: Musical Time
Key Points
· Rhythm is what moves music forward in time.
· Meter, marked off in measures, organizes the beats (the basic units) in music.
· Measures often begin with a strong downbeat.
· Simple meters – duple, triple, and quadruple – are the most common.
· Compound meters subdivide each beat into three, rather than two, subbeats.
· Rhythmic complexities occur with upbeats, offbeat’s, syncopation, and polyrhythm.
· Additive meters are used in some world musics.
· Some music is nonmetric or has an obscured pulse.
“Time is a crucial dimension in music. This is the element that binds together the parts within the whole: the notes within the measure and the measure within the phrase. It is thereby the most fundamental element of music.” (page 16)
Chapter 3. Harmony: Musical Space
Key Points
· Harmony describes the vertical events in music, or how they sound together.
· A chord is the simultaneous sounding of three or more pitches; chords are built from a particular scale, or sequence of pitches.
· The most common chord in Western music is a triad, which has three notes built on alternate pitches of a scale.
· Most Western music is bsed on major or minor scales, from which melody and harmony are derived.
· The tonic is the central tone around which a melody and its harmonies are built; this principle of organization is called tonality.
· Dissonance is created by an unstable, or discordant, combination of tones. Consonance occurs with a resolution of dissonance, producing a stable or restful sound.
Chapter 4. The Organization of Musical Sounds
Key Points
• An octave is the interval spanning eight notes of the scale. In Western music, the octave is divided into twelve half steps, the smallest interval used; two half steps make a whole step.
• The chromatic scale is made up of these twelve half steps, while a diatonic scale is built on patterns of seven whole and half steps that form major and minor scales.
• A sharp (#) is a symbol that raises a tone by a half step; a flat (b) lowers a tone by a half step.
• Other scale types are used around the world, built on different numbers of pitches and sometimes using microtones, which are intervals smaller than half steps.
• The tonic chord, built on the first scale tone, is the home base to which active chords (dominant and subdominant) need to resolve.
· Composers can shift the pitch level of an entire work (transposition) or change the center, or key, during a work (modulation).
“Thus it is the musical system and the tones chosen in that system that determine the sound and character of each work, whether classical, popular, or traditional.” (page 23)
“Although we are not always conscious of key centers and chord progressions while we are listening to music, these basic principles are deeply ingrained in our responses. We perceive and react to the tension and resolution provided by the movement of harmony, and we can see how composers have used the harmonic system to give a coherent shape and meaning to their works.” (page 24)
Chapter 5. Musical Texture
Key Points
• Texture refers to the interweaving of the melodic lines with harmony in music.
• The simplest texture is monophony, or single- voiced music without accompaniment.
• Heterophony refers to multiple voices elaborating the same melody at the same time.
• Polyphony describes a many- voiced texture based on counterpoint—one line set against another.
• Homophony occurs when one melodic voice is prominent over the accompanying lines, or voices.
• Imitation—when a melodic idea is presented in one voice, then restated in another—is a common unifying technique in polyphony; canons and rounds are two types of strictly imitative works.
This section is an introduction to the way in which we listen music today. It gives information about attending concerts, how to prepare for these, how to behave during the performance, and other valuable insights.
Chapter 1. Melody: Musical Line
Key Points
· A melody is the line, or tune, in music.
· Each melody is unique in contour (how it moves up and down) and in range, or span of pitches.
· An interval is the distance between any two pitches. A melody that moves in small, connected intervals is conjunct, while one that moves by leaps is disjunct.
· The units that make up a melody are phrases; phrases end in resting places called cadences.
· A melody may be accompanied by a secondary melody, or a countermelody.
“For much of the music we will study, melody is the most basic element of communication between the composer or performer and the listener.” (page 12)
Chapter 2. Rhythm and Meter: Musical Time
Key Points
· Rhythm is what moves music forward in time.
· Meter, marked off in measures, organizes the beats (the basic units) in music.
· Measures often begin with a strong downbeat.
· Simple meters – duple, triple, and quadruple – are the most common.
· Compound meters subdivide each beat into three, rather than two, subbeats.
· Rhythmic complexities occur with upbeats, offbeat’s, syncopation, and polyrhythm.
· Additive meters are used in some world musics.
· Some music is nonmetric or has an obscured pulse.
“Time is a crucial dimension in music. This is the element that binds together the parts within the whole: the notes within the measure and the measure within the phrase. It is thereby the most fundamental element of music.” (page 16)
Chapter 3. Harmony: Musical Space
Key Points
· Harmony describes the vertical events in music, or how they sound together.
· A chord is the simultaneous sounding of three or more pitches; chords are built from a particular scale, or sequence of pitches.
· The most common chord in Western music is a triad, which has three notes built on alternate pitches of a scale.
· Most Western music is bsed on major or minor scales, from which melody and harmony are derived.
· The tonic is the central tone around which a melody and its harmonies are built; this principle of organization is called tonality.
· Dissonance is created by an unstable, or discordant, combination of tones. Consonance occurs with a resolution of dissonance, producing a stable or restful sound.
Chapter 4. The Organization of Musical Sounds
Key Points
• An octave is the interval spanning eight notes of the scale. In Western music, the octave is divided into twelve half steps, the smallest interval used; two half steps make a whole step.
• The chromatic scale is made up of these twelve half steps, while a diatonic scale is built on patterns of seven whole and half steps that form major and minor scales.
• A sharp (#) is a symbol that raises a tone by a half step; a flat (b) lowers a tone by a half step.
• Other scale types are used around the world, built on different numbers of pitches and sometimes using microtones, which are intervals smaller than half steps.
• The tonic chord, built on the first scale tone, is the home base to which active chords (dominant and subdominant) need to resolve.
· Composers can shift the pitch level of an entire work (transposition) or change the center, or key, during a work (modulation).
“Thus it is the musical system and the tones chosen in that system that determine the sound and character of each work, whether classical, popular, or traditional.” (page 23)
“Although we are not always conscious of key centers and chord progressions while we are listening to music, these basic principles are deeply ingrained in our responses. We perceive and react to the tension and resolution provided by the movement of harmony, and we can see how composers have used the harmonic system to give a coherent shape and meaning to their works.” (page 24)
Chapter 5. Musical Texture
Key Points
• Texture refers to the interweaving of the melodic lines with harmony in music.
• The simplest texture is monophony, or single- voiced music without accompaniment.
• Heterophony refers to multiple voices elaborating the same melody at the same time.
• Polyphony describes a many- voiced texture based on counterpoint—one line set against another.
• Homophony occurs when one melodic voice is prominent over the accompanying lines, or voices.
• Imitation—when a melodic idea is presented in one voice, then restated in another—is a common unifying technique in polyphony; canons and rounds are two types of strictly imitative works.