Midterm Definitions

Tonic

home note of a key, heard as the goal or place of rest - The first note (degree) of any diatonic scale.

Troubadour

A medieval poet and musician who traveled from place to place, entertaining people with songs of courtly love

Madrigal

A secular song for 2 or 3 unaccompanied voices (renaissance) - Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem; also popular in England - Not sacred choral; for the king; secular choral - Language: Italian (Vernacular!) - Locus of power shifts; patronage comes from the powerful Italian families - Texture: polyphonic (imitative; just like the motet) - Word painting - Written in big books; Monteverdi had 5 or 6 books of dozens and dozens of the madrigals - 2 female singers; 2 male; 2 high/2 low; entertainment and secular

Tablature

A system of notation for stringed instruments. The notes are indicated by the finger positions. - a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches

Ritornello

In Italian, refrain; a repeated section of music usually played by the full orchestra, or tutti, in baroque compositions. a recurrent musical section that alternates with different episodes of contrasting material. The repetition can be exact or varied to a greater or lesser extent. In the concerto grosso the full orchestra (tutti) has the ritornello; the solo group (concertino) has the contrasting episodes.

3 pillars of Music Hum

Individualism, Genre, Patronage

Canso

Troubadour love song - consists of five seven-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme aaaabab, followed by a final couplet sung to the same music of the last two lines of the preceding stanzas.

Oratorio

a musical composition for voices and orchestra based on a religious text An oratorio is a large-scale musical work for orchestra and voices, typically a narrative on a religious theme (i.e. a sacred music drama), performed without the use of costumes, scenery, or action. While, like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, and various distinguishable characters, many composers looked more so to church-music and ceremonial works for inspiration.

Non-imitative polyphony

a polyphonic musical texture in which the melodic lines are essentially different from one another - occurs when the melodies are different from one another - Example: a NOLA jazz band

Motet

a short piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic and unaccompanied. - Polyphonic vocal composition - Still latin and still sacred - But this one breaks the rules → moments of homophony - Emerged during the Renaissance - Taken from the Gregorian chant that we already know, so this is a paraphrase (Didn't make from scratch) Characteristics: - Sacred choral - Latin - Polyphonic

What is the special character of an octave?

- If successive pitches are sounded one after another, there comes a point at which a pitch seems to "duplicate" and earlier pitch, but at a higher level - This new pitch does not sound identical to the old one but they sound very similar and blend extremely well - Why does this happen? Remember, when strings vibrate they do so not only at their full length but also in halves and other fractions. A vibrating string that is exactly half as long as another will reinforce the longer string's strongest overtone → duplication effect of octaves - So, because of octaves, the full continuous range of pitches that we can hear falls into a series of "duplicating" segments; we divide these octave segments into smaller intervals, thereby creating scales

Rhythm vs Meter

- In most western music, duple or triple meter serves as the regular background against which we perceive the music's actual rhythms - So, rhythm can coincide with meter, cut across it independently, and even contradict it → meter is background; rhythm is foreground - in Eminem's Lose Yourself for example, the rhythm of the lyrics changes frequently; the words that are in between beats encompasses the rhythm - to emphasize words you might have a lyric that comes on the beat - so, "rhythm" encompasses music in between and on the beats - Rhythm is what is happening in between each of those beats; it is fast, slow, consistent? - Rhythm of voice is constantly changing; but beat can stay the same (and therefore tempo)

Texture

- the overall sonic effect in a musical passage of the number and types of instruments and voices, and the ways their rhythms, pitch ranges, melodies, and chords sound together - Refers to the way the various sounds and melodic lines occurring simultaneously in music interact or blend with one another - How the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition

Diatonic scale

- the scale originally used in Western music; a set of 7 pitches within the octave (represented by the white notes of the piano, within one octave) - When the first of 7 pitches is repeated at a higher duplicating pitch, the total is 8 (hence "octave" = "eight span") - The series do re mi fa sol la ti do is a series in the diatonic scale - Any stepwise arrangement of the seven "natural" pitches (scale degrees) forming an octave without altering the established pattern of a key or mode—in particular, the major and natural minor scales. - A diatonic scale is best understood as one which moves through pitch letter names in sequence, without skipping any letters, applying accents to certain pitches so as to create a pattern of whole steps and half steps.

Codifying music

- writing it down; little dots = first form of music notation that monks used to write this music - Before the 800s when Gregory I started codifying it, all the music being sung was being passed down like how you would pass down stories; no written codification - But after Pope Gregory I, all the churches in the Holy Roman Empire could use the same text → unified message; power was cultivated as all churches see the same text and write them down and disseminate them from one to the next - Not necessarily easier to read; but Holy Roman Church can now control what liturgical text used in each church → coalesce centralized power where it was decentralized before - Everyone could look at it and follow along

Strophic

A musical structure in which the same music is used for each stanza of a ballad, song, or hymn. - strophic (also called strophic form) refers to music in which every verse or chorus is sung to the same refrain. This is also called "verse-repeating" or "chorus form". Most modern pop songs are strophic, following a common A A A B verse/chorus repeating refrain.

Tone color and timbre

At whatever pitch, musical sounds differ in their general quality, depending on the instruments or voices that produce them; Tone color and timbre are terms for this quality - Sound-producing bodies vibrate not only along their total length but also in half-lengths, quarters, eighths, and so on --> musicians call these fraction vibrations overtones - overtones are lower in amplitude than the main vibrations so we hear them not as distinct pitches but as part of the string's basic pitch - the amount and mixture of overtones gives a sound its characteristic tone color, so a flute has few overtones while a trumpet has many overtone

Basso continuo

Baroque accompaniment made up of a bass part usually played by two instruments: a keyboard plus a low melodic instrument. - Instrument that supplies the background beat! - Accompaniment in the background Basso Continuo is a method of thickening musical textures by augmenting the bass line. It is sometimes called "figured bass," "thoroughbass," or simply "continuo." The use of the basso continuo is confined, for the most part, to music of the Baroque era. So widespread was the use of the basso continuo that some people used to refer to the Baroque period as the "basso continuo era." Continuo groups are employed in vocal and instrumental ensembles ranging from three musicians to larger groups

Concerto grosso

Baroque concerto type based on the opposition between a small group of solo instruments (the concertino) and orchestra (the ripieno). Concerto by itself: genre of music where you have a soloist vs an ensemble - Very obvious who the soloist is; there is a back and forth - Genre of western music Concerto grosso: two or more soloists and ensemble material is passed between a small group of soloists and full orchestra

Conjunct vs Disjunct

Conjunct motion, which proceeds by step from one scale degree to the next and disjunct motion, which proceeds by leaps and is more difficult to sing Two notes: are they far away or close? - If play the notes in between, and there are a lot, then they are far apart; one sounds a lot higher than the other --> Disjunct interval = wide; lots of notes in between - Conjunct interval: no notes in between; JAWS is conjunct, as the two pitches sound like they are right next to each other - easier to sing when conjunct!

Consonant vs Dissonant

Consonant intervals are usually described as pleasant and agreeable. Dissonant intervals are those that cause tension and desire to be resolved to consonant intervals.

Dynamics

Degrees of loudness or softness in music - the level of sound; the variation in loudness between notes or phrases - musicians use subtle dynamic gradations from very soft to very loud, but they have never worked out a calibrated scale of dynamics as they have for pitch; thus the terms used are only approximate and require interpretation by the performer depending on the musical context. - Piano: simple soft - Forte: simple loud - Crescendo: "growing" → a soft passage swells into a loud one - Decrescendo: "diminishing" → a powerful blare fades into quietness - Mezzo: "medium" - In scientific terminology, amplitude is the level of strength of sound vibrations (the amount of energy they contain and convey) - Changes in dynamics can be sudden (subito) or they can be gradual - a soft passage swells into a loud one (crescendo, "growing") or a powerful blare fades into quietness (decrescendo or diminuendo, "diminishing")

simple meter

Grouping of rhythms in which the beat is subdivided into two, as in duple, triple, and quadruple meters. - Meter divisible by 2 i.e. 2/4, 2/2, 2/8, etc

Duration

Length of time for a note, phrase, or whole piece - an amount of time or how long or short a note, phrase, section, or composition lasts. - "Duration is the length of time a pitch, or tone, is sounded." - A note may last less than a second, while a symphony may last more than an hour. - The concept of duration can be further broken down into those of beat and meter, where beat is seen as (usually, but certainly not always) a 'constant', and rhythm being longer, shorter or the same length as the beat.

Organum

Medieval polyphony that consists of Gregorian chant and one or more additional melodic lines - an early type of non-imitative polyphony used to embellish Gregorian chant. - There are two styles of organum: sustained-note organum (or pure organum) in which the lowest voice sings the chant at a very slow pace while newly composed voices sing at a much quicker pace above it; discant style in which the bottom voice sings at a faster pace, matching the speed of the upper voices.

Block-chord (homorhythm) vs melody and accompaniment

Melody and accompaniment: Clear melody with purely supporting harmonic parts Block-chord: a homophonic texture in which the chordal accompaniment moves in the same rhythm as the main melody. If a bunch of people are singing the same thing but it sounds like different notes and pitches → homorhythm - If a singer is accompanied on the guitar or the piano, the resulting texture is usually homophonic. - If the chords move together with the melody, with the same rhythm in all voices, the resulting sound is a type of homophony that is called homorhythmic. This is the texture of church hymns. Homorhythmic homophony may be performed by singers only or by singers together with instrumentalists, as long as the rhythm of the main melody is maintained in the accompanying parts.

compound meter

Meter in which each beat is subdivided into three rather than two. - so you would have two or three main beats and six or nine quicker ones

Rhythmic modes

System of six durational patterns (for example, mode 1, long-short) used in POLYPHONY of the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, used as the basis of the rhythmic NOTATION of the Notre Dame composers. - In medieval music, the rhythmic modes were set patterns of long and short durations (or rhythms). The value of each note is not determined by the form of the written note (as is the case with more recent European musical notation), but rather by its position within a group of notes written as a single figure called a "ligature", and by the position of the ligature relative to other ligatures

Colloquial vs Technical Definitions of Beat

Technical: - Regular unit of time with the same duration in between each pulse/tap - Equal duration between pulses we can feel Colloquial: - "It has a good beat" → how likable the song is; subjective - Encompassing term for the production of the song minus the lyrics Note: - Beat is just a consistent duration of time; so a song can't technically "lack" beat - but beat can be irregular, so perhaps we do not perceive it in the same sense - if it is irregular, it means the meter is irregular

Diatonic vs. Chromatic Scale

The chromatic scale consists exclusively of half steps; the diatonic scale includes both half steps and whole steps

Rhythm

The pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of strong and weak melodic and harmonic beats. - Sequence of events in musical time, or pattern of note durations, generally with respect to beat and meter. - the arrangement of durations - long and short notes - in a particular melody or some other musical passage; generally, though, the way music unfolds in time - The systematic patterning of sound in terms of timing, accent, and grouping. Both speech and music are characterized by systematic temporal, accentual, and phrasal patterning. - a rhythm = the particular arrangements of long and short notes in a musical passage - Rhythm in music is characterized by a repeating sequence of stressed and unstressed beats (often called "strong" and "weak") and divided into bars organized by time signature and tempo indications. - In most of contexts, "rhythm" denotes periodicity, in other words, a pattern repeating regularly in time. Although periodicity is an important aspect of rhythm, it is crucial to distinguish between the two concepts. The crux of the matter is simply this: Although all periodic patterns are rhythmic, not all rhythmic patterns are periodic.

Opera

a dramatic work in one or more acts, set to music for singers and instrumentalists. - "work" - Idea came out of ancient greek plays (just like the intellectuals) → lots of plays in town square in ancient greek times, but this practice died out in medieval ages; Monteverdi wanted to revive this - so they put it on the stage and added music (they didn't know if greek plays had music, but wanted to mix together idea of madrigal with the greek tragedy)

Melisma

a group of notes sung to one syllable of text - the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, in which each syllable of text is matched to a single note. An informal term for melisma is a vocal run.

Homorhythm

a kind of homophony where all the voices or lines move together in the same rhythm -a homophonic texture in which the chordal accompaniment moves in the same rhythm as the main melody.

Pitch (or note)

a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency; how high or low a sound is on the musical scale - the musical term for the rate of sound vibration quality of sound (whereas the scientific term for the rate of sound vibration is frequency) - Low pitches (low frequencies) result from long vibrating elements, and high pitches from short ones - A perceptual property of sounds that allows their ordering on a frequency-related scale; the quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies. - Pitch can be determined only in sounds that have a frequency that is clear and stable enough to distinguish from noise; noises, with their complex, unfocused vibrations, do not have pitch.

Downbeat

first beat of a measure - the first beat in each grouping of beats of a meter; in notated music, the first beat of a measure - The first beat of a rhythmic cycle that is heard; in other words, a specially strong beat (as in Western music) - most important beat of all the ones we hear; usually hear them every 2 or 4 beats

Whole-step:

interval of two half steps C to D, D to E, E to F sharp, and so on

Metronome

mechanical or electronic device to indicate tempo, in terms of the number of beats per minute. - a device used by musicians that marks time at a selected rate by giving a regular tick

Tree/pyramid hierarchy:

melody at the top, then tune (more memorable, can sing), then one more below that called a motif (also a series of pitches but not the same as tune) - All 3 of these things show up in every piece of music

Tune

melody that is easy to recognize, memorize, and sing - something that can be whistled satisfactorily and pleasingly - Tune is complete in of itself → has a beginning, middle and end; thus it is a song

Heterophony

multiple performers playing simultaneous variations of the same line of music - multiple voices elaborating the same melody at the same time - Occurs when two or more version of the same melody happening at the same time; usually one has more notes than the other and/or a slightly different rhythmic pattern - characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time in multiple voices, each of which plays the melody differently, either in a different rhythm or tempo, or with various embellishments and elaborations. - not in Western music much

Melody

series of single tones that add up to a recognizable whole - an organized series of pitches; can be built from any scale - a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. - when you remember a series of pitches, it becomes something you get attached to --> a melody! You create associations in your brain with the pitches that are happening in time

Paraphrase

the appropriation of a phrase, melody, section, or entire piece for use in another

Declamation

the expressive reading of a text, usually poetry, to musical accompaniment, generally the piano. - Occasionally, declamation with music is included in operas and dramatic plays.Melodramas are stage works based entirely on declamation with music. In the 18th century the melodrama gave rise to the independent declamation with music, which was intended for concertperformances and usually consisted of ballad-like texts.

Frequency

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time; the scientific term for the rate of sound vibration - The number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time - in one second, we might have 4 cycles → 4 Hz

Melodic contour

the shape of a melodic phrase; rising or falling in pitch - Contour refers to the sequence of motions between notes of a melody. In other words, contour is a measurement of how a melody moves between individual notes.

Tempo

the speed of musical beat or pulse, often given as a metronome marking, indicating the number of beats per minute - it is the rate at which the basic, regular beats of the meter follow one another - overall speed of the piece; if fast tempo, beats go by quickly - Presto: "Quickly"; rapid tempo - Allegro: "Cheerful"; fast tempo - Andante: moderately slow, "walking" tempo - Adagio: In a slow tempo, usually considered to be slower than andante but faster than larghetto - Largo: a very slow tempo - Accelerando: gradually faster pace - Ritardando: with a gradual slackening in tempo; gradually slower pace

Recitative

vocal line that imitates the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech Is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech.

What is the difference between Melody and Harmony?

• Melody is the linear succession of musical notes and tones and is a combination of pitch and rhythm. Harmony is the use of simultaneous tones, notes or chords. • When listening to a song, melody is what captures one's attention first. Harmony complements melody. • Harmony is defined as the vertical aspect of music whereas the melodic line is described as the horizontal aspect. • Melody can exist without harmony. However, harmony needs a melody. • Melody incorporates shape, range, and movement. Harmony, rather than incorporating several aspects, is created by different standards. They are either subordinate or coordinate. • Harmony is mostly used in Western and European music. South Asian music does not put a lot of importance on harmony. However, melody is important to both. Any melody can be harmonized in different ways using different chords, and the overall effect of the music depends greatly on the nature of these chords, or the harmony in general.

Humanism in music

- In the 15th and 16th centuries, humanism was not inherently opposed to religious faith or other such institutional authorities. But, rather than scholasticism, humanism revived an interest in ancient Greek and Roman thought, vernacular, and writing. - Renaissance ushered in secularism, rationality, individualism - Between the aesthetic and the historical - Subscribing to the worldview in which men and women are the measure of all things, rather than a deity - Often characterized as anti religious, but not really. Coexisted. - Shift that Wendy Heller talks about b/w idea of Greek mathematics from idea of rhetoric during the Renaissance; music becomes a branch of rhetoric rather than mathematics → inspire the same violent emotions that might lead to the catharsis or sooth wild beasts - Music was serving the purpose of God and coalescing power of the Pope during 1600s; but different in ancient times - New expressive ends during the Renaissance

Beat in the Patel Reading

- People have difficulty following a beat that is faster than every 200 ms and slower than every 1.2 seconds. - - Within this range, there is a preference for beats that occur roughly every 500-700 ms (we can comfortably tap music within this range; sweet spot in terms of beat perception) Note: - 84 bpm is walking speed - 144 bpm is a fast walk - with Lose Yourself from Eminem and My Shot from Hamilton have the same bpm, which is why you can overlay the lyrics from one on to the beat from the other and they match well

Syncopation

- Rhythmic effect of shifted emphasis, when a strong note occurs on a normally weak beat of a measure. - Counter-evidence in the form of accented events at non-beat locations and absent or weak events at beat locations - Syncopation involves a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. - More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur" - One way of obtaining striking effects in music is to move the accents in a foreground rhythm away from their normal position on the beats of the background meter; so, in syncopation, accents can be displayed so they go one TWO | one TWO (weak STRONG | weak STRONG) instead of (STRONG weak | STRONG weak) It can also occur when an accent is placed in between beats ONE and two

Homophony vs Polyphony

- The biggest question faced by the student of musical texture is this: "When is the accompaniment truly subordinate and when is it independent enough to qualify as polyphony?" Homophony can be thought of as occupying a middle ground on the continuum between the poles of monophony (a single line of musical tones) and polyphony (several lines or melodies). Like all middle grounds, it is less firmly bounded and less subject to easy or fixed definition than are the poles it lies between. - Homophony may also characterize a chorus singing homorhythmically, which is at the same time accompanied by an orchestra playing semi-independently, creating a polyphonic texture between the homophonic voices and polyphonic orchestra - Sometimes the boundary between homophony and polyphony is blurred if the accompaniment seems especially rich or detailed, or carries important rhythmic motives.

Bar or Measure

- a music segment that represents each instance of the meter - a cycle of beats articulated by an accent pattern that usually emphasizes the first beat (downbeat) of the cycle - 3 beats in a measure is a triple meter; 2 beats in a measure are a duple meter

Whole-tone scale

- a scale build only of whole steps - six consecutive whole steps within the range of an octave - a scale consisting entirely of intervals of a tone, with no semitones; a six-note scale each pitch of which is a whole tone away from the next

Chromatic scale

- a scale made up of all 12 pitches of the Western style, all a half step apart - Five more pitches were added between certain of the 7 pitches of the diatonic scale, making a total of 12 It is thus represented by the complete set of white and black keys on a keyboard

Motif

- a small set of pitches; a tune might have 20 pitches in a row, but a motif always have very few pitches (2-3 notes) - a short musical phrase, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition: "The motive is the smallest structural unit possessing thematic identity". - It is used a lot in a piece; like a calling card and recognizable ex) JAWS theme song: two notes go back and forth; we recognize just from the start that it is a motif that carries on throughout the whole piece; it is very short (two notes) so it is a motif

Imitative polyphony

- a type of polyphony in which each of the voices' or instruments' melodies is of more of less of equal importance, and in which voices imitate each other in succession (often at different pitch levels) - Results when the various lines sounding together use the same or fairly similar melodies, with one coming in shortly after another - technique in which each phrase of a composition is addressed by all the voices, which enter successively in imitation of each other - A musical texture featuring two or more equally prominent, simultaneous melodic lines, those lines being similar in shape and sound.

Harmony

- choice of chords and their relationship to each other - Simultaneous sounding of different pitches; the sound of two or more notes heard simultaneously - Also a hierarchy: harmony, chords, triads

Triad

- chord composed of 3 different pitches, generally 3 non-successive notes of a scale such as 1, 3, 5 - A set of three notes that can be stacked vertically on the musical scale

Chord

- collection of 3 or more pitches sounded together to produce a pleasing sound - Standard groupings of simultaneous pitches that work well together in combination - Changing chords provide a constantly shifting sound in the background for the melody - any harmonic set of pitches consisting of multiple notes

Half-step:

- distance between the notes E and F, and B and C (or between any adjacent keys on the piano) in Western music - The smallest interval is the half step, or semitone, which is the distance between any two successive notes of the chromatic scale (so, on a keyboard, the interval between the closest adjacent notes, white or black)

Pentatonic scale

- five-note scale with no half steps, and that can be produced with all piano black keys, or by leaving out the fourth and seventh notes of a major scale

Scale

- in music, any graduated sequence of notes, tones, or intervals dividing what is called an octave. - arrangement of notes, usually adjacent and in ascending or descending order, that serves as the material for melodies and harmonies - a series/hierarchy of pitches that go up and down; musicians and composers use it to select notes from - the major and minor scales are those most frequently used - Music draws on a limited number of fixed pitches, which can be assembled into a collection called a scale - A scale is essentially a pool of pitches available for making music - From scales, musicians build and infinite array of melodies and other musical structures - a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Some scales contain different pitches when ascending than when descending, for example, the melodic minor scale.

Homophony

- musical texture in which all voices move in the same rhythm; homophonic - When there is only one melody of real interest and it is combined with other, less prominent sounds; a harmonized melody is an example, like when one person sings the tune of a song while playing chords on guitar - when a melody is supported by a harmony; consisting of one melody and an accompaniment that supports it. - A tight, smooth texture - occurs when one melodic voice is prominent over the accompanying lines or voices - ONE single "path" that is clear, and everything else supports that path - Simple homophonic: melody (voice) and harmony (guitar) - One layer grabs the attention while the other layer hangs out in the background - Most pop music is homophonic

Monophony

- musical texture in which one of more of the instruments perform a single melody in unison; phonic - Simplest texture, a single unaccompanied melody - single-line texture, or melody without accompaniment - One layer: a melody - With monophony: it doesn't matter how many instruments and/or voices are present as long as they are all singing or playing the same thing at the same time; it also doesn't matter if the voices or instruments are on the exact same frequency or if they are singing in octaves (As long as playing at the same frequency (like a bunch of people singing the same thing but all sounding the same), can still be a monophony. So it is all about the sound! If sound sounds like the same melody → monophonic) - Octave: the distance between two musical pitches that sound almost the same, but one is higher and one is lower - Thick monophonic texture: voices and instruments in octaves - It also doesn't matter if drums are present or not

Polyphony

- musical texture made up of a web of independent melodic lines; polyphonic - Music with two or more melodies blended together. - two totally separate melodies occurring simultaneously - the melodies are felt to be independent and of approximately equal interest; but the whole is more than the sum of the parts - Automatically has a harmony - Rough fabric in which strands are all perceptible

Octave

- relationship (interval) between two pitches with the same letter name, one vibrating exactly twice as fast as the other - An octave is a type of interval that has special character - An interval whose higher note has a sound-wave frequency of vibration twice that of its lower note. - Thus the international standard pitch A above middle C vibrates at 440 hertz; the octave above this A vibrates at 880 hertz, while the octave below it vibrates at 220 hertz.

Minor scale

- seven note scale (again, the 8th is the octave) whose character comes from the half steps between the second and third notes and the 7th and 8th notes - half steps denote a sense of sadness or unease - ascending pattern of steps as follows: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole - Reminds me of the mood leaving church; placid; reflection; somber

Major scale

- seven-note scale (the 8th note is the octave) whose character comes from the raised third scale degree, two whole steps above the tonic - Series of seven different tones within an octave, with an eighth tone repeating the first tone an octave higher, consisting of a specific pattern of whole and half steps; the whole step between the second and third tones is characteristic. - Moods: happy, cheerful

Beat

- the basic/regular unit of musical time with the same duration in between each pulse/tap; also called the pulse (a regularly repeating event); usually in the range from 40-200 per minute. - beats provide the basic unit of measurement for time in music; musical time is measured in beats - note, however, that giving beats accents is really what enables us to beat time; we alternate accented (strong) and unaccented (weak) beats in patterns like ONE two | ONE two - To "beat time" is to both measure time according to a regular pulse and also to organize it into at least simple two- and three-beat patterns - The beat is often defined as the rhythm that listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a piece of music, or the numbers a musician counts while performing, though in practice this may be technically incorrect (often the first multiple level). Beats are related to and distinguished from the pulse, rhythm (grouping), and meter: - Meter is the measurement of the number of pulses between more or less regularly recurring accents. Therefore, in order for the meter to exist, some of the pulses in a series must be accented—marked for consciousness—relative to others. When pulses are thus counted within a metric context, they are referred to as beats. BEATS ARE ALWAYS CONSISTENT AND REGULAR

Cadence

- the close of a musical phrase or statement - A progression of (at least) two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music. Note: tunes fall natural into small sections, called phrases - In songs, phrases tend to coincide with poetic lines; the natural tendency to breath is at the end of phrases when singing - so cadences are the interim stopping or pausing places on a tune; when music stops or pauses at points earlier than the stopping point after retaliation occurs after the climax. - In Western musical theory, a cadence is "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music - a set of sounds that feel like they are resolving to something - Cadence is basically what gives rise to order; it is a resting spot - Cadence is the idea of getting to a resting spot; usually at the end but can also be at places where the melody generally seems to finish/be complete - "Arriving at a cadence/resting spot" - Moment of most order; melody seems to be complete Social harmony (traditional framework) but also individual expression that deviates from that

Interval

- the distance, or difference in highness and lowness, between any two pitches - Distance between two musical pitches, also thought of as the relationship between pitches; basic building block of melody and harmony Consonance = the quality of intervals that sound well together Dissonance = the quality of intervals that sound harsh

Gregorian chant (plainchant)

Monophonic texture. Melodies set to Latin text. The official music of the Roman Catholic Church. - A monophonic, unaccompanied style of liturgical singing that takes its name from Pope Gregory the Great - Gregorian chant is a type of unaccompanied, monophonic chant used in the early Roman Catholic church; the music does not have a meter and follows the rhythm of the text - Plainsong is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. Though the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches did not split until long after the origin of plainsong, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong - Ancient form of song and prayer; one of the earliest forms of expression that we have written - Typical associated with Pope Gregory I as the originator of the movement of creating chants for Roman literature; but unlikely that he had any direct involvement with it - the music itself developed some generations after Pope Gregory I; possibly Pope Gregory II, 100 years later, had more of a hand in forming this body of chants - Other music has a consistent beat and regular pattern; but this is mysterious and takes you in different directions; melody → shape of beautiful curving melody that we have come to know as Gregorian prayerful style; elaborate and involved melodically; PURE MELODY - Sense of soaring up to Heaven; sending human heart up to God Characteristics: - Latin - Monophony - Sacred religious text

Responsorial

Pertaining to a manner of performing CHANT in which a soloist alternates with a group. - (of a psalm or liturgical chant) recited in parts with a congregational response between each part

Melody vs Pitch

Pitches are frequencies, but how do we organize them? - When you have a bunch in a row happening in time, no longer a bunch of separate pitches but becomes a MELODY

Fugue

Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which one or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint. - a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts. - From a musical side, having the one voice and then another voice copy it in another pitch → makes it a fugue - Fugue in latin means running away - Melody that is running away; runs away from one voice to another to another voice - The Fugue has an imitative polyphony texture, since the same melody is imitative among the voices In music, a fugue is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition. It is not to be confused with a fuguing tune, which is a style of song popularized by and mostly limited to early American music and West Gallery music. - One main thing, then episode/ritornello; then another main thing - Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus

Imitative vs non-imitative polyphony

Polyphony is usually divided into two main types: imitative and non-imitative. - Either the various melodic lines in a polyphonic passage may sound similar to one another, or they may be completely independent in their rhythm and contour. - If the individual lines are similar in their shapes and sounds, the polyphony is termed imitative; but if the strands show little or no resemblance to each other, it is non-imitative. - Each of these types may also mix with or succeed one other in a musical passage.

Meter (duple vs. triple)

Rhythmic pattern created from the pairing together of beats (how we arrange the beats) - Duple = 2 beats per bar - Triple = 3 beats per bar - the regular grouping of beats; in classical music and folk music of the western European tradition, it is most commonly duple (i.e. groups of two beats) or triple (i.e. groups of three beats) - any recurring pattern of strong and weak beats, such as ONE two and ONE two three is called a meter - Meter is a strong/weak pattern repeated again and again - Each occurrence of this repeated pattern, consisting of a principal strong beat and one or more weaker beats, is called a measure or bar --> so a 3 min song that is 60 beat/min will have 180 beats, but we structure the beat into measures (which are every 2 or every 3 beats); thus if we split it into 60 measures, then 3 beats per measure - The regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bars and beats. - The meters of Western music are dominated by organization in terms of multiples of two and three in terms of how many beats constitute a basic unit (the measure), and how many subdivisions of each beat there are. - Meter typically has at least one level of subdivision below the beat, in addition to periodicity above the beat created by the temporal patterning of strong beats - Duple = meter that is made up of two-beat (or four-beat) groupings; beat one is the strong beat and beat two is the weak beat - Triple = meter that is made up of three-beat groupings

Pythagoras (music)

Thousands of years before the notion of singing during services, Pythagoras was already finding ways to come up with very specific intervals and strings that could actually play these pitches (in church, they relied on voice, not instruments) - Tied music to mathematics - Pythagoras is the father of mathematics and music - Pluck a string; divide in half; pluck again → same tone but one octave higher; Has a ratio of 2:1 To Pythagoras music was one of the dependencies of the divine science of mathematics, and its harmonies were inflexibly controlled by mathematical proportions. The Pythagoreans averred that mathematics demonstrated the exact method by which the good established and maintained its universe. Number therefore preceded harmony, since it was the immutable law that governs all harmonic proportions. After discovering these harmonic ratios, Pythagoras gradually initiated his disciples into this, the supreme arcanum of his Mysteries. He divided the multitudinous parts of creation into a vast number of planes or spheres, to each of which he assigned a tone, a harmonic interval, a number, a name, a color, and a form. He then proceeded to prove the accuracy of his deductions by demonstrating them upon the different planes of intelligence and substance ranging from the most abstract logical premise to the most concrete geometrical solid. From the common agreement of these diversified methods of proof he established the indisputable existence of certain natural laws.

So we can play a few notes that go up and down in time, but how does that then form into something memorable, like a tune or motif and eventually a song?

When you limit the number of notes that you use, you brain gets more used to it; thus it has to do with each note's distance from one another on the musical scale

Word painting concept

Word painting is the musical technique of composing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song's lyrics. For example, ascending scales would accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music would accompany lyrics about death.

Is there music that doesn't have beats (which create the structure of the music)?

Yes! For example, we cannot discern any duration between beats in a piece by Farid El-Atrash playing the oud - he is improvising; free; there is nothing in the background to "ground" him

Syllabic vs. Melismatic

one pitch per syllable vs multiple pitches per syllable - Syllabic: every sound that you are making has its own pitch - Melismatic: several pitches on each sound Melismatic takes more time to say that word; why would you want to harp on that particular word?

Aria

operatic solo; a song sung by one person in an opera or oratorio - have the singer who is showing all of his or her emotions; normally one or two people; not really anything happening with the plot in that moment → most of the text is about how they FEEL - Different than what we have seen before - a lot of the text didn't have to do with how someone feels, but more so related to a theme - In an opera, we have the opportunity to describe one person's emotions and how they feel; Vulnerable! This is a game changer