Music Test CH 1-4

Quote

"Art is the expression of one soul talking to another"

Characteristics of Sound: Pitch and Dynamics

Pitch and Dynamics are two characteristics of sound. The pitch of the sound describes its highness or lowness. Dynamic level of the sound describe its loudness or softness.

What are the differences between Art and Recreational Music?

-Art music has the ability to endure, not all art music is old. -Recreational music serves the here and now only. -Art music expresses global emotions. -Recreational music expresses current thoughts and trends. -Art music challenges the listener in order to be understood. -Recreational music is trendy and requires less thought to be understood. It doesn't challenge us. -Art music is about the composer personally (Beethoven). -Recreational music is often highly commercial and centers around the performer(Michael Jackson).

Tone

A tone is a specific pitch, produced by sound waves with a constant rate of vibration. That is, a tone is a specific pitch with a a specific frequency. In music we refer to specific pitches, or tones, with letter names from A through G. This is best explained by referring to a piano keyboard. The piano consists of a simple pattern of white and black keys, each one of them representing one tone. We think of the keys on a keyboard as "steps." A "half step" refers to any key's nearest neighbor key(whether black or white). Each of the seven different white keys bears one of the seven letter names A,B,C,D,E,F,G. The black keys have the same letter names as the white keys, but each is black key is called either sharp(one half step higher in pitch than the previous white key) or flat(one half step lower in pitch than the following white key) depending on the note you are using as a reference. For example, the black key that falls between notes C and D on the keyboard can be called C sharp because it is one half step higher in pitch than the previous white key (C) that is our reference. Or that same black key we can call it D flat because it is one half step lower in pitch than the white key (D) that follows that specific black key.

Accent

Add stress(volume) given specific beat(s) within a measure. Beat 1 tends to be accented.

Beat

Again, "beat" is the rhythmic pulse of a musical piece. Beat is the basic rhythmic pulse of music. Beat is the unit of time that is constant in a musical selection. We walk with constant beat pattern of 2. Within section of a song or in the whole song beat is constant. We think of the rhythm as the "pulse" of music and describe the basic rhythmic pulse of a musical piece as the beat. Musical sounds vary in intensity as well as duration: some beats are strong and others weak. Strong beats, or "accents", may be achieved or implied in at least three ways: by stress(striking a note harder or singing or playing it louder than adjacent tones), by duration(holding a tone longer than those around it), or by position(placing a tone significantly higher or lower than others).

Duple, and Triple meters.

Duple meters are two beats to the measure and Triple meter are three beats to the measure.

Clefs

In the left part of the staff there is a sign called a "clef" that indicates that a particular line in the staff represents a specific pitch and therefore fixes the positions of all the pitches on the staff. The most common clefs are bass and treble. The symbol shown in here is the bass clef.

What is music?

Music is organized sound. It is repeatable and has elements of creativity. That is, music is organized sound that should be repeatable and creative.

Staff

Music is written, or notated on a staff of five lines and four spaces in between those lines. The staff forms some sort of ladder, with each line and each space representing a particular pitch arranged in ascending order from the bottom line to the top.

Meter

Organization of rhythm into regularly repeating groups of beats(pulses). Metered music is notated in units called "measures" or "bars" each containing a certain number of beats. In other words, a "measure" is the distance between 2 bar lines, a repeatable unit of the meter.

Register

Register refers to a particular range of pitches that an instrument can reach. For example, an instrument can be played in its lower or upper register. The lower register producing lower pitches and the upper register producing higher pitches.

Rhythm

Rhythm is the arrangement of time in music. This includes all factors that pertain to "duration" including "rests." Rhythm concerns the arrangement of long and short sounds in music. Rhythm is one of the "elements" of music. We think of rhythm as the "pulse" of music. We describe the rhythmic pulse of a musical piece as the "beat".

Conductor

The conductor of a performing group of ensemble such as a chorus, band or orchestra shows meter when conducting.

Intervals

The intervals are the distances between two tones. This distances or intervals have numerical names. In other words, an interval is the distance between two pitches. For example the interval from any note(of some pitch) to its nearest neighbor as from C to D is called a major second or simply a "second." In other words, a major second or simply "second" is a whole-step (whole tone), and a minor second is a half-step (semitone). A second or whole step above C would be D. A minor second or half step above C could be called either C sharp or D flat. The interval from C to E is a third interval. The interval from C to F is a fourth, and so on. The interval of an eighth, as from C to C is called an "octave." The two tones of an octave look alike on the keyboard and also sound similar but they have different frequencies. They have a 2:1 ratio to their frequencies. That is, the higher tone is produced at twice the rate of vibration(frequency) of the lower tone.

Dynamics

The loudness or softness of the musical sound. The differences between terms indicating a level of volume, such as forte(loud) and piano(soft), and terms indicating a change of dynamic level such as crescendo(becoming louder) and decrescendo or diminuendo(both of which mean becoming softer). Changes in dynamic level during the performance of music may be achieved in two ways: 1. The instruments or voices may simply play or sing more loudly or more softly. 2. A number of instruments or voices may be added or taken away. In other words, Dynamics are relative to a reference and they are also relative within scores and instruments.

Pitch

The pitch of a sound depends on the rate of vibration or frequency of the sound producing instrument. A faster rate of vibration(frequency) causes a higher pitch, and a slower rate of vibration(frequency) causes a lower pitch. Pitches relate to one another. Vocal chords can vibrate hard enough since they are the strongest muscles in the body.

Ledger Lines

The staff can be extended up and down by adding a number of small lines called ledger lines. In other words, the ledger lines are the short, horizontal lines added to the top or the bottom of a staff for the indication of notes too high or too low to be represented on the staff proper. Some pitches such as middle C which lies in the middle of the piano keyboard may be notated in the staff in either the bass(lower) or the treble(higher) clef.

Tempo

Written music indicates the duration of a tone only in relative terms, that is, how it is to be sustained in relation to other tones in the piece. For example, if we say that something is "half" of something then we can know its exact size only if we know the "whole" of that something that it refers to. In music, a half note is held twice as long as a quarter note but the specific duration of a half note or quarter note depends on the rate of speed or "tempo" at which music is performed. The cessation(rests) of musical sound is as important as sounded tones. "rests" are also notated by signs. The device known as the metronome, is an instrument that may be set to sound regular beats within a wide range of speeds from very fast to very slow. This makes it possible for composers to indicate the tempo of their music as exactly as they notate pitch. Metronome indicates tempo. They use a click or beep sound to indicate beats/second.