Prelude 1 (Ch 1-13)
What is the term for an interval smaller than a step?
half step
A knowledge of blank styles helps put a musical work in the context of its creation.
historical
STYLES IN HISTORY
In Western art music, each historical period has its own stylistic characteristics. Because of this, we can tell that a work of art dates from the Middle Ages or the eighteenth century. A knowledge of historical styles will help you place a musical work within the context (time and place) in which it was created. The timeline below shows the generally accepted style periods in the history of Western music.
Identify instruments and ensembles. What instrument families are included in the fifth variation and which are not?Britten, Young Person's Guide
Included: strings, brass, percussion Not: woodwinds
DUPLE METER
The most basic metrical pattern, known as duple meter, alternates a strong downbeat with a weak beat: ONE two, ONE two; or if you marched it, LEFT right, LEFT right. ex)Mozart: Ah vous dirai-je
TRIPLE METER
Triple meter, another basic pattern, has three beats to a measure—one strong beat and two weak ones (ONE two three). This meter is traditionally associated with dances such as the waltz and the minuet. Ex)America
STYLE
What makes one musical work sound similar to or different from another? It's the style, or individualized treatment of the elements of music. In short, style refers to the distinctive way in which pitch, time, timbre, and expression are utilized in a given work or body of work.
Which indicate male vocal ranges?
baritone tenor
Haydn: Symphony No. 100 (Military)
:regular, duple meter melody prominent :consistent orchestral sound :moderate-ranging lines :predominantly consonant
Consonance creates a sense of suspense that is only resolved with dissonance.
False
The chords in this excerpt are dissonant.Haydn, Symphony No. 94 Surprise, II
False
What members of the string family are featured playing the melody in the seventh variation?Britten, Young Person's Guide
cellos
Messiaen: Turangalîla
changing instrumental timbres :wide-ranging lines :irregular or mixed meter :melody sometimes :highly dissonant
All string family instruments are blank. The harp and guitar are plucked-string instruments, while violins, violas, cellos and basses are generally played with a blank.
chrodophones bow
Is Joy to the world disjunct or conjunct
conjunct
What is the meter for Empire Strikes Back
duple
Match each descriptive label with the correct excerpt from Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
excerpt 4 - full orchestra playing the theme except 1 - solo harps accompanied by strings gong and cymbals excerpt 3 - percussion playing the theme excert 2 - solo trumpets accompanied by strings and snare drum
Genre describes a musical form.
false
In this example, the entire excerpt is in a major key.Tavener, Hymns to the Mother of God
false
The solo instrument heard in the second variation in Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is a clarinet.Britten, Young Person's Guide
false
In Britten, Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, each member of the woodwind family is featured. In what order are they featured?
flutes oboes clarinets bassoons
Match the descriptive words or phrases with the different elements of music as found in Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
form with theme and variations perforning forces with full orchestra texture with homophonic at the beginning, polyphonic at the ned melody with based on a Baroque tune
The term arpeggio, meaning "broken chord," is derived from the name of what instrument?
harp
Which instrument groups are not heard in los jilacatas
idiophone, chordophone
This excerpt is an example of which kind of tonality?Battle Hymn
major
Monophony
texture in which there is only one melody and no accompaniment. This is the simplest type of texture. ex)call to prayer
Which of the following indicates a fast tempo?
vivace
melody
is used to describe a tune in music. Melodies are heard as a cohesive thought, similar to the way that we hear the words of a sentence. If a melody is performed alongside another melody at the same time, the second melody is called a countermelody. ex)Joy to the world
Which of the following is a genre?
song, symphony
What word or phrase best describes the excerpt heard here, from the beginning section of the piece?Britten, Young Person's Guide
statement of the main theme
Which term describes the characteristic way a musical piece is presented and the creator's personal manner of expression?
style
What is the term for the property of sound that gives instruments and voices their unique tone color?
timbre
What members of the brass family are featured playing solos in the twelfth variation?Britten, Young Person's Guide
trombones and tuba
GENRES
It's important to differentiate between genre and form. A genre is a category that refers to the character of the work as well as its function. For example, song is a genre, as is symphony. The form designation of each work refers to its structure. As an example look at the piece Simple Gifts. The genre of this work is "song" and the form of this work is ternary (ABA).
MELODY AND HARMONY
Melody and harmony are two of the essential building blocks of musical composition.
Put the following historical style periods in chronological order.
Middle Ages Renaissance Baroque Classical Romantic
METER AND RHYTHM
Music is propelled forward by rhythm, the movement of music in time. Each individual note has a length, or duration. Meter organizes the flow of rhythm in music.
POLYPHONY
Polyphony is a texture in which there are two or more musical lines present at the same time, each with equal value. The technique of harmoniously setting one musical line against another is called counterpoint. ex)bach:jesu
CHROMATIC SCALE
The chromatic scale is made up of all twelve half steps, while a diatonic scale consists of seven whole and half steps whose patterns form major and minor scales.
TIMBRE
A fourth property of sound besides pitch, duration, and volume is timbre, or tone color. Timbre refers to the striking differences in the sound quality of musical instruments, which are in essence mechanisms that generate vibrations and launch them into the air. It's what makes a trumpet sound altogether different from a guitar or a clarinet. Each voice type and instrument has a limited melodic range (the distance from the lowest to the highest note) and dynamic range.
DISSONANCE
As music moves in time, we feel moments of tension and release. The tension results from dissonance, a combination of notes that sounds unstable, sometimes harsh, and in need of resolution. Dissonance introduces conflict into music in the same way that suspense creates tension in drama. ex)In this example, from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, listen to the harmony and notice how the dissonant chords cause a sense of tension.
BRASS
Brass instruments (aerophones) include the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba. All these instruments consist of cup-shaped mouthpieces attached to a length of metal tubing that flares at the end into a bell. The column of air within the tube is set vibrating by the lips of the player, which are buzzed together. Going from one pitch to another involves not only mechanical means, such as a slide or valves, but also muscular control to vary the pressure of the lips and breath.
APPLY
Composers use dynamics to create a contrast in music. Directions to change the dynamics, either suddenly or gradually, are also indicated by words or signs: crescendo (<): growing louderdecrescendo or diminuendo (>): growing softer
CONSONANCE
Dissonance resolves in consonance, an agreeable-sounding combination of notes that provides a sense of relaxation and fulfillment. Each complements the other, and each is a necessary part of the artistic whole. In this excerpt of Stephen Foster's Camptown Races, the harmony is mostly consonant and there is little sense of tension in the chords.
CONTOUR
Each melody can also be described in terms of its contour - the way the notes move up and down Ex of descending contour)Joy to the World Ex pf wavelike contour) Beethoven Ode to joy
Range
Each melody can be described in terms of its range. Range describes the distance between the lowest and highest notes. Ranges can be very narrow, very wide, or somewhere in between. Ex of narrow range)America traditional Ex wide range)Wagner:Ride
THE VOICE
Each person's voice displays a particular quality (or character) and range. A mixed choir is typically made up of four vocal ranges, as demonstrated in the following excerpt from "For unto Us" from Handel's Messiah. Each voice type and instrument has a limited melodic range (the distance from the lowest to the highest note) and dynamic range.
Aerophones
produce sound by using air. Instruments in this category include flutes, whistles, and horns—in short, any wind instrument. Listen to the following example of an aerophone. This common folk tune from the British Isles, "Will You Go to Berwick, Johnny," is played on the Scottish smallpipes, a type of bagpipe:
Which of the following indicate gradual changes in the tempo?
ritardando accelerando
What is the term for music that is composed for religious purposes?
sacred
Which terms represent the functions of music?
sacred, secular
Which describes the overall tempo of this excerpt?Fauré: Libera Me, from Requiem
very slow
The Star Spangled Banner is
wavelike contour wide range
HARMONY
Harmony occurs when two or more notes are sounded simultaneously. Harmony is described in terms of intervals and chords. Intervals, the distance between any two notes, can occur successively or simultaneously. When three or more notes are sounded together, a chord is produced. It is the progression of harmony in a musical work that creates a feeling of order and unity.
HOMOPHONY
Homophony is a texture in which there is one main melody and the accompanying lines are subordinate Listen to this example of homophony. Do you hear that there is a single main melody and that, unlike in polyphony, the other lines or voices are subordinate? (Remember that melodic lines are referred to as "voices" even if the melody is played by an instrument or instruments.) ex) battle hymn
KEYBOARDS
Keyboard instruments, such as the piano and organ, do not fit neatly into the classification system.
STRUCTURE
Melodies, like sentences, are often comprised of smaller parts, or phrases, with endings known as cadences. If the phrase ending is only a pause, like a comma in a sentence, you will hear the cadence as incomplete. A phrase ending that sounds like a period at the end of a sentence is a complete cadence. In a song, for instance, the phrases of the text will usually align with the phrases of the melody. The phrase endings are indicated and described in the following example.
Which instrument groups are heard in los jilacatas
aerophone, membranophone
Flutes, whistles, and bagpipes fall into what instrument classification?
aerophones
Membranophones
are drum-type instruments that are sounded from tightly stretched membranes. They too can be struck, plucked, rubbed, or even sung into, to set the skin in vibration.
TEXTURE
Texture describes the way in which a melody either is presented alone, interacts with another melody (or melodies), or interacts with the harmony. Melodies can be vocal or instrumental and each individual melody is often referred to as a "voice" even if it is instrumental.
STRINGS
The string family, all chordophones, includes two types of instruments: those that are bowed and those that are plucked. In the bowed-string family, there are four principal members: violin, viola, violoncello, and double bass, each with four strings (double basses sometimes have five) that are set vibrating by drawing a bow across them.
Piano
The strings of the piano are struck with hammers controlled by a keyboard mechanism. Most pianos come equipped with a sustain pedal, which prevents the dampers from lowering until the pedal is released, thereby extending the "life" of the sound.
Which of the following describes the harmony in this excerpt?Tavener, 2 Hymns to the Mother of God
mostly dissonant
What meter is used in the song "Tonight," from Bernstein's West Side Story?
duple or quadruple
INSTRUMENTS
Throughout the ages, the human voice has served as a model for instrument builders, composers, and players who have sought to duplicate its lyric beauty, expressiveness, and ability to produce vibrato (a vibrating effect) on their instruments. There are so many different types of instruments that it would be impossible to list them all here. Specialists have devised a method of classifying instruments into four categories (aerophone, chordophone, idiophone, membranophone) based solely on the way their sound is generated.
The solo instruments heard in the third variation in Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra are clarinets.Britten, Young Person's Guide
True
Which statement describes the dynamics of this excerpt?Beethoven, Ode to Joy
begins paino and suddenyl beocmes fortissimo
In this example, each member of the brass family is featured. In what order are they featured?Britten, Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
french horns trumpets trombones/tuba
What word or phrase best describes the excerpt heard here, which begins a little after the thirteen minute mark of the entire piece?Britten, Young Person's Guide
fugue
An blankis the distance between two pitches. A melody that moves by small intervals is described as blank, and a melody that moves by large intervals is described as blank.
interval conjunct disjunct
Which term describes the scale used in this excerpt?Haydn, Symphony No. 94
major
In , there are Josquin:Inviolata multiple blank lines, each set against the other and each having blank importance. This is an example of a blank texture.
melodic equal polyphonic
In Amazing Grace, the solo soprano sings the main blank while the piano provides the harmonic blank . This is an example of a blanktexture.
melody accompaniment homophonic
In Kyrie, there is a single blank with no blank. This is an example of a blank texture.
melody accompaniment monophonic
THE TONIC
Within each major scale are certain relationships based on tension and resolution. One of the most important tension-creating tones (or "tendency" tones) is the seventh pitch, which propels forward to the eighth (ti resolving to do). Similarly, we feel resolution when re, another tendency tone, moves to do. Do is called the tonic and is the "home base" for the scale.
WOODWINDS
Woodwind instruments (aerophones) include the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone. Woodwind instruments produce sound with a column of air vibrating within a pipe that has finger holes along its length. When one or another of these holes is opened or closed, the length of the vibrating air column is changed. Woodwind players are capable of remarkable agility on their instruments by means of an intricate mechanism of keys arranged to suit the natural position of the fingers. Today not all woodwind instruments are made out of wood.
Listen to the excerpts, then click on the corresponding cards in the order in which they appear in the Fugue section of Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
X W Z Y
"Tonight" from the musical West Side Story is what range of melody
wide
The La Marseillaise is
wide range wavelike contour
Secular music
written for entertainment and other non-religious activities. Secular music can have words or be strictly instrumental. Listen to this example of secular music, an excerpt from Handel's Alla Hornpipe, a dance-inspired movement from Water Music.
Chordophones
produce sound from a vibrating string stretched between two points. The string may be set in motion by bowing, as on a violin; by plucking, as on a guitar or a Chinese pipa; or by striking, as on a hammered dulcimer. Listen to this guitar, a chordophone, playing Greensleeves:
Idiophones
produce sound from the substance itself. They may be struck, as are steel drums from Trinidad; scraped or shaken, as are African rattles; or plucked, as is the mbira, or African "thumb piano." The variety of idiophones around the world is staggering.
Which of the following instrument groups are heard in this mariachi ensemble? El Cihualteco
strings, brass
Listen to the second movement of Haydn's Surprise Symphony and determine why the work is nicknamed "surprise."Haydn: Symphony No. 94, II
the unexpected loud chord
In this excerpt, which instruments are most prominent? Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries
trumpets, violins
FUNCTION
We can distinguish in most cultures between sacred music, for religious purposes, and secular music, for entertainment. These two terms, sacred and secular, describe the work's function. Most often, sacred music is set to religious texts
Amazing grace has how many cadences
4
CONJUNCT/DISJUNCT
Another way to describe a melody is to examine the distance from one note to the next. That distance is called an interval. Melodies that move by small intervals are described as conjunct. Melodies that span larger intervals are described as disjunct. Melodies can shift from conjunct to disjunct within a piece, and sometimes even within a phrase Ex of conjunct melody)America traditional Ex of disjunct melody)Wagner:Ride
DYNAMICS
Dynamics denote the volume (degree of loudness or softness) at which music is played. Like tempo, dynamics can affect our emotional response. The main dynamic indications, listed below, are based on the Italian words for soft (piano) and loud (forte).
METRICAL PATTERNS
In music you will hear regularly recurring patterns. The first accented beat of a pattern is known as a downbeat. As in poetry these patterns, or meters, depend upon regular accents. Consider this well-known stanza by the poet Robert Frost. Notice how it has a meter, and that the pattern of accented (') and unaccented (-) syllables results in the sound of a strong beat followed by a weak beat. The ẃoods are lóve-ly, dárk and déep.But Í have próm-is-és to kéep,And miĺes to ǵo be-fóre I sléep,And miĺes to ǵo be-fóre I sléep,
Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra has an eight-measure theme in D minor based on a tune by Baroque composer Henry blank. After the theme is heard blank times in various instrument families, a set of thirteen blank follow. The piece ends with a blank where each instrument family is again featured in succession.
Purcell six variations fugue
QUADRUPLE METER
Quadruple meter contains four beats to the measure, with a primary accent on the first beat and a secondary accent on the third beat. Although it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between duple and quadruple meter, quadruple meter usually has a broader feeling. Ex)Battle Hymn
TEMPO
Tempo is the rate of speed, or pace, of the music. Italian terms are often used to designate musical tempo. grave: solemn (very, very slow)moderato: moderatelargo: broad (very slow)allegro: fastadagio: quite slowvivace: livelyandante: a walking pacepresto: very fast
Harpsichord
The harpsichord, often heard in music of the Baroque era, contains quills that pluck at the metal strings.
MAJOR SCALE
The major scale is the most familiar sequence of pitches. You can produce a C major scale (do- re- mi- fa- sol- la- ti- do) by playing only the white keys on the piano from one C to the next C. Looking at the keyboard in the previous slide, you will see that there is no black key between E and F (mi-fa) or between B and C (ti-do). These notes are a half step apart, while the other white keys are a whole step apart. Consequently, a major scale is created by a specific pattern of whole (W) and half (H) steps—(W-W-H-W-W-W-H)—and can be built with this pattern starting on any pitch, even a black key
MINOR SCALE
The minor scale sounds quite different from the major. Minor-key pieces can sound sadder, or maybe even a bit foreboding. The intervals of the minor scale (W-H-W-W-H-W-W) are shown in the table below
Organ
The organ, one of the earliest keyboard instruments, is also a type of wind instrument. The airflow to each of its many pipes is controlled by the organist from a console containing two or more keyboards and a pedal keyboard played by the feet.
PERCUSSION
The percussion family (encompassing a wide array of idiophones and membranophones) is divided into two categories: instruments capable of producing definite pitches, and those that produce an indefinite pitch.
Which of the following statements correctly describe Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra?
The tonality shifts between major and minor., The meter and tempo change.
What members of the woodwind family are featured playing solos in the fourth variation?Britten, Young Person's Guide
bassoons
What is the term for three or more tones sounded together?
chord
What instrument group is heard mikor a penze elfogyott
chordophone
Which of the following describes the harmony in this excerpt?Handel Messiah, Halleujah
completely consonant
Is Star Spangled Banner disjunct or conjunct
disjunct
Create a C major scale by dragging the syllable to its corresponding note on the keyboard:
do re mi fa sol la ti do
What is the classification of an instrument that makes sound from the substance itself?
idiophone
Match the following instruments to their classifications.
idiophone, steel drums membranophone, tabla aerophone, bagpipe, flute, whistle chordophone, guitar,violin
Label the excerpts in the correct order in which they appear in the Exposition, a.k.a. the "theme" section, of Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by dragging over the numbers.
percussion 4th brass 2nd strings 3rd woodwinds 1st
A melodic blank ends in a resting place, or blank. A cadence punctuates the music the same way that a comma or blank punctuates a sentence.
phrase cadence period
What are the 6 dynamics
pianissimo (pp): very soft piano (p): soft mezzo piano (mp): moderately soft mezzo forte (mf): moderately loud forte (f): loud fortissimo (ff): very loud
Which of the following indicate female vocal ranges
soprano alto mezzo-soprano