9 3 2015 Chapter 3 I How music works Part 1 rhythm p 33 43 Word of the day Masha Danki Thank you Every sound we hear in a piece of music is defined by four basic properties A The four basic properties of tones 1 Duration relates to how long or short a tone is It is the basis of rhythm in 2 Frequency becomes manifest in music as pitch corresponds to high or low a 3 Amplitude relates to loud or soft tones are the volume o The relative loudness to softness of different tones with silence at one extreme of the loudness to softness continuum are what define dynamics in music 4 Timbre is the actual sound quality or tone color of tones to what they sound music tone is like o Ex Tones played on a trumpet are timbrally distinct from tones played on a saxophone even if they are played at the same frequency pitch for the same duration rhythm and same amplitude dynamic level B Musical correlate 1 Rhythm how the sounds and silences of music are organized in time o Note an individual musical tone o Rest a pause between notes 2 Pitch 3 Dynamics 4 Tone color sound quality Rhythm The Alphabet Song p 35 o Music is set up with note values o o Eighth notes a b c d medium speed notes o 16th notes l m n o the faster moving notes o Quarter notes p v the slower notes How many quarter notes are in a half note o Rests meaning they don t play Beat o Beats are the lengths of the different notes are organized in relation to a steady underlying pulse known as the beat o The beat is what you tap your foot to when you listen to a song or what you move your feet to when you dance o The beat in the Alphabet Song is defined by a steady stream of quarter o It provides the foundation upon which all other rhythmic aspects of the note pulses music are organized Subdivision o Subdivision occurs in most music the individual beats are divided into smaller rhythmic units resulting in subdivisions Duple two evenly spaced notes per beat o This is what we hear in the Alphabet Song with the letters a b they divide the first beat and then c d divide the second beat triple 3 evenly spaced notes per beat o Ex Would be the Row Row Row Boat with the Mer ri ly Quadruple 4 evenly spaced notes per beat o Meters are individual beats can be grouped together to form larger units o such a grouping of beats is called a measure or a bar the number of beats Meter in a measure defines the music s meter o measure how we divide the beat pattern Duple triple complex Ex The Alphabet Song is in a meter of four o For longer types of meters we speak of metric cycles when describing how the beats are grouped and organized Syncopation Accents o accents are the notes of rhythm that are given special emphasis and a little extra oomph during a musical performance o syncopation are the accented notes that fall between the beats o syncopation can change where we change the strong S and weak beats w Ex Bhangra CD 1 22 By placing the HEY on the different beats it adds another feeling Placement of accents not necessarily on the strong beats Tempo the rate at which the beats pass in music o We measure tempo beats per minute Zorba CD 1 23 where the beat dramatically increases o Side note Marchers beat 120beats min o Tempos may be constant meaning they are steady and unchanging o Tempos may be variable meaning they speed up or slow down They may accelerate or decelerate suddenly or gradually A gradual acceleration in tempo is used as a device to heighten musical excitement Free rhythm non metric don t have a metric structure that they abide by South India CD 1 24 9 8 2015 Chapter 4 Word of the day Bodhran traditional Irish percussion instrument I Pitch Pitch pertains to the highness lowness of musical tones o flute high pitches tuba low pitches different pitch ranges o pitches are used to create melodies Pitch is directly related to frequency Because sounds result from vibrations that create sound waves The rate of vibration in a sound wave varies from one tone to the other Tones with many vibrations per sound have high frequencies Those with fewer vibrations per second have lower frequencies Melody particular sequence of pitches that unfolds as a song progresses Ever melody has its own distinctive features Our example we will use to explain these terms is Mary Had a Little Lamb o Melodic range distance in pitch between the highest note and the lowest note in the melody In our example there is a limited or narrow melodic range between the highest pitch and the lowest pitch The sounds are not strung all through the instrument piano o Melodic direction whether it is going up ascending or downward descending from transitioning from note to note The starting pitch of our example is descending then it starts to ascend o Melodic contour essentially all the different directions of the melodies overall shape of the melody Due to the continuous of ascending then descending melodic directions in our example it has both an ascending an descending melodic contour Eagle Dance CD 1 25 o What are the distinctive features of this melody We have three phrases of a descending melody is direction o Read discussion and see figure photo p 46 47 A The western music pitch system Determinate pitches piano guitar flute trumpet voice where you hear a particular note and can distinguish the pitch of the note on that particular instrument Indeterminate pitches cymbal shaker most drums you can hear the sound being made but can t identify the type of sound to be made Rather than being dominated by just one pitch the individual tones they produce generate many different pitches that compete for the ear s attention all at once When we walk about different notes scales and chords in music we are dealing with determinate pitch Notes names o The white keys are labeled C D E F G A B C They are repetitive over the all 52 white keys of the piano This octave consists of 7 different pitches Between an octave there are 12 half steps or 8 whole steps scale 7 different pitches create the major scale o Octaves go from one letter all the way through to the next time that letter repeats itself For example C to C D to D etc o Each C note is the same pitch but x amount of octaves apart This is why men and women can sing together on the same pitch at different ocatve ranges o There are also some pitches that fall in between the ones with just plain letter names These are the black keys C D F G A or Db Eb Gb Each one of …
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