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MUSIC 201 Study Guide
pitch |
frequency of vibration, the relative highness or lowness of sound |
Pitch |
The position of a sound on a range from very low to very high, determined by the frequency of its sound waves. |
register |
range- high, medium, low |
Register |
The range of a pitch or series of pitches, usually described as high, middle, or low. |
register |
range |
interval |
distance in pitch between two notes (unison same pitch, octave eight notes difference) |
scale |
a system of pitch organization - a series of whole and half steps |
Scale |
A series of notes that provide the essential
pitch building blocks of a melody. |
scale |
system of pitch organization |
melody |
horizontal organization of pitches - notes sound one after the other |
Melody |
A single line of notes heard in succession as a coherent unit. |
harmony |
vertical organization of pitch - 2 or more notes sound at the same time |
Harmony |
The sound created by multiple voices playing or singing together. |
tonic (I) |
1st scale degree |
Tonic |
The note that establishes a key, based on its distinctive relationship with a particular set of harmonies or other notes in the underlying scale. Also, the chord based on the first scale degree. |
dominant (V) |
5th scale degree |
subdominant (IV) |
4th scale degree |
cadences |
ending patterns/end of the piece |
Cadence |
A point of arrival signaling the end of a musical unit. |
cadence |
brief stopping point at which music pauses |
duration |
(time) the length of notes and rests (can be silences too) |
duration |
length of notes and rests (time) |
tempo |
rate of speed of music |
changes in tempo |
accelerando, ritardando, rubato |
largo-adagio |
slow |
andante - moderato |
moderate |
allegro, vivace, presto |
fast |
meter |
organization of the beat into groups - patterns of strong and weak beats |
Meter |
An underlying pattern of beats. |
meter |
organization of the beat into groups |
dynamics |
level of loudness (piano to forte) |
Dynamics |
Th volume of sound, determined by the size (amplitude) of each sound wave. |
dynamics |
level of loudness |
dynamics |
indicates volume of sound |
timbre |
(quality of sound) tone color, can tell the difference in voices |
Timbre |
The character or quality of a sound. |
timbre |
quality of sound |
form |
shape, structure of piece of music |
genre |
type or category of music |
Genre |
The category of a work, determined by a combination of its performance medium and its social function. |
notation |
the use of written or printed symbols to indicate musical sound |
treble staff |
(g-clef) starts on the G line, the right hand, high pitch |
bass staff |
(f clef) starts on the f line, left hand (low pitch) |
A capella |
Sung without instrumental accompaniment of any kind. |
Acoustics |
The science of sound: how it is produced, transmitted and received. |
Amplitude |
The size of a sound wave; determines volume. |
Ballad |
A poem or a song that tells a story. |
Chord |
Three or more notes played or sung at the same time. |
Conjunct motion |
Melodic motion of pitches by step. |
Consonance |
The sound of notes together that our ear finds naturally right. Like dissonance, consonance is a relative concept that can change over long periods of time. |
Cornetto |
A wind instrument of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, a forerunner of the trumpet. |
Courtly love |
A code of behavior in medieval courts in which the knight worshipped the lady from afar. |
courtly love |
highly stylized form of love where knight declares himself a servant of the woman he's wooing |
Dissonance |
The sound of notes that clash, either harmonically or melodically. |
Drone bass |
A single long note held underneath the melodic line. |
Duple meter |
An underlying pattern of rhythm in which each unit (measure) consists of one accented (strong) beat followed by a weak beat. |
Frequency |
The number of sound- wavelengths in one second. |
Gospel music |
Religious-themed music that borrows from R&B, blues, and other popular styles in its vocal and instrumental styles. |
gospel music |
religious themed music that borrows from other styles in its vocal/instrument styles |
Gregorian Chant |
Monophonic vocal music in the Medieval church, designed to project religious texts. So called because it was alleged to have been written by Pope Gregory I, in the late 16th century. |
Gregorian chant |
oldest continuously performed music in western tradition |
Half step |
The smallest distance between two adjacent notes on a piano. (White to Black key) |
Whole step |
Two half steps. |
Homophonic Texture (homophony) |
A musical texture in which a melody is performed with a supporting accompaniment. |
Humanism |
An early- Renaissance intellectual and cultural movement that explored human interest and values through the pursuit of science, philosophy, literature, painting, sculpture, and music, particularly vocal music. |
humanism |
emphasizes human values through pursuit of science, philosophy, lit, painting, music... |
Imitation |
A shortened form of the term "imitative counterpoint": the same theme introduced by different instruments or voices in succession. |
Imitative |
A particular type of counterpoint in which one voice introduces a new them and is answered by other voices that enter in succession shortly afterwards, even as the first voice continues to sing or play. |
Counterpoint |
A style of writing in which every voice is a melody and all voices work together. |
Interval key |
The distance between two pitches. |
Madrigal |
A musical setting of a text in a single stripe (stanza). |
madrigal |
musical setting of a text in a single strophe |
Major mode |
A type of scale produced by singing "do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do" often described as bright or happy. |
Measure |
A rhythmic unit, indicated by bar lines in notated music, that presents one complete statement of the meter. |
Melisma |
A syllable of text sung to many notes. |
melismas |
more than one note per syllable |
Melismatic |
A style of setting a text to music so that there is more than one note per syllable. |
Minor mode |
Scale from A to A on piano. sound is described as "dark" or "sad". |
Monophonic |
A single texture consisting of a single melodic line. |
Motet |
In the Renaissance, a sacred choral work for the Roman Catholic Church. |
Octave |
The interval between two pitches of the same name. The frequency of the higher pitch is 2X that of the lower pitch. |
Oral tradition |
One passed down without the aid of written words or notated music. |
Oral tradition |
music is learned and transmitted by memory rather than by notated, printed music |
Pentatonic |
A scale consisting of 5 tones. |
Percussion instrument |
An instrument that produces sound when it is struck. |
Phrase |
A brief musical statement. |
Plainchant |
Monophonic vocal music in the medieval church designed to project religious texts. |
plainchant |
way to sing sacred texts with great clarity- daily church services |
Polyphonic |
A musical texture consisting of multiple lines of equal performance. |
Recorder |
A wind instrument widely used until ca. 1750, similar to a flute but blown into one end rather from the side. |
Refrain |
The same words with same basic melody recurring at regular intervals over the course of a work. |
refrain |
bringing back the same words with basic melody at regular intervals over the course of a work |
Responsorial chant |
A type of plainchant in which a soloist's passage is followed by a response from the chorus. |
responsorial chant |
plainchant in which a soloist's passage is followed by response from chorus |
Sackbut |
A wind instrument of the Renaissance, a forerunner of the modern trombone. |
Sound |
The vibration through the air that produces sound |
Wave |
The distance between peaks of sound waves. |
Stanza |
A verse of poetry, or the music corresponding to that verse. |
Strophe |
A verse of poetry, or the music corresponding to that verse. |
Syallabic |
A style of setting a text to music so that there is one note per accented syllable. |
Texture |
The number and vernal relationship of musical lines or voices to one another. |
Triple Meter |
1-2-3, 1-2-3. |
triple meter |
1 strong beat, 2 weak ones
ONE-two-three |
Unison |
More than one performer playing or singing the same pitch at the same time. |
Heterophonic texture (heterophony) |
The simultaneous playing or singing of two or more versions of a melody. |
pitch (frequency) |
relative highness or lowness of a sound |
rhythm |
combinations of patterns of duration |
organum |
when see this, means music is from the middle ages |
organums |
plainchant melodies in long note values in the lowest voice with faster moving voices layered above plainchant |
medieval secular music |
latin and vernacular languages |
carmina burana |
Music containing large collection of Latin and German secular songs assembled at the Benedictine Monastery |
Medieval devotional music |
2 important manuscripts -
1. Catalonia
2. Cantigas de Santa Maria |
Guillaume de Machaut |
administrator, poet, and composer, court musician famous for his secular song |
The Renaissance |
Copying what Greeks and Romans did |
Renaissance |
rebirth |
Liber Usualis |
book of most common chants from both the office and the mass composers |
folk music |
traditional music that grows out of the folk culture of a nation, region, or ethnic group |
folk music |
a body of repertoire comprised of traditional songs and dances, derived from an oral tradition |
field recording |
recorded traditional folk songs away from studio |
psalm singing |
brought by English Pilgrim and Puritan colonists in New England |
Psalters |
books containing the psalms, sometimes with musical settings |
psalter |
plucked string instrument |
Lining out |
method of singing psalms for people who cannot read music |
singing schools |
way to help people learn to read music, learn hymn tunes, and thus be able to sing from notated music books |
William Billings |
5 collections of hymns, anthems, fuguing tunes |
Isaac Watts |
"Hymns and Spiritual Songs" |
Charles Wesley |
6500 hymns |
Gospel |
hymns and songs relating to the gospels rather than the psalms |
Spirituals |
religious songs created by slaves |
black gospel |
grows out of tradition of spirituals |
minstrel shows |
white actors in burnt cork or black face |
burlesque |
originally spoof of a story you already knew - supposed to be funny |
variety shows |
dirty shows with "waiter girls" became vaudeville |
Ned Harrigan and Tony Hart |
employed black performers |
the Little Tycoon |
first American operetta |
Building of the Hippodrome |
largest playhouse in the world |
Palace Theater on Broadway |
apex of Vaudeville |
Show Boat |
musical which tackled racial prejudice |
Quadruple meter |
common time, 4 beats- primary accent on first beat, secondary on third ONE-two-THREE-four |
time signature |
two numerals stacked. Top- how many beats in the bar, bottom- note value rep 1 beat |
pianissimo |
very soft |
piano |
soft |
mezzopiano |
medium soft |
mezzo forte |
medium loud |
forte |
loud |
fortissimo |
very loud |
crescendo |
louder |
descendo |
softer |
sacred spaces |
music played in churches, cathedrals |
sacred music |
enhanced texts to inspire worshippers |
minstrels |
poets, singers, jesters passing town to town |
Poet composers who sang songs about love, heroism, pastoral life |
troubadours (Fr), trouveres (North), minnesingers (Germ) |
manuscripts |
handwritten, time consuming, not always accurate |
manuscript |
handwritten music, very unique |
neumes |
early forms of notes |
Hildegard |
-had visions for music/lyrics
-channel for HS through prose, poetry, music |
Hildegard |
Play of virtues |
monophony |
single/multiple voices singing same line of music in unison |
morality plays |
dramatized allegory of good and evil struggling |
syllabic |
one note per syllable |
Perotin |
Middle Ages
wrote long, intricate organums |
parchment |
animal skin, cleaned, dried, stretched to form smooth writing surface |
gold leaf |
actual pieces of gold beaten very thin; decorates manuscripts |
Machaut |
Middle Ages
poet/composer
secular courtly love songs |
pygmalion myth |
statue so beautiful, artist fell in love. Aphrodite brought to life, have kids |
3 voice texture |
3 voices present each diff from the others |
AAB form |
First 2 lines have same music, diff for 3rd line |
Mass
|
ritual reenactment of Christ's last supper (communion) |
Kyrie |
prayer for mercy to God and Christ |
Gloria |
declaration of praise |
credo |
declaration of articles of faith |
sanctus |
blessing of bread and wine |
agnus dei |
prayer of redemption from Lamb of God |
Alfonso el Sabio |
Songs of Virgin Mary (Cantigas de Santa Maria) |
Shwam |
double reed instrument like oboe |
heterophony |
2 voices singing same melody simultaneously but with different embellishments |
drone |
long note held underneath melodic line |
bagpipe |
animal bladder (air) squeezed through pipes |
vielle |
like violin, wider/flatter |
lute |
used pick to pluck strings |
castanets |
percussion, sharp sound |
Protestant reformation |
Martin Luther, splits Christianity: Catholic, Protestan |
Renaissance man |
cultivated in knowledge/expertise in full range of arts and language |
Josquin des Prez |
considered greatest composer
Ren |
word painting |
technique where composers illustrate word/phrase through music that reflects its meaning |
word painting |
music that illustrates a word/phrase |
William Byrd |
-Greatest Eng. composer of Ren
-Most imp publisher at his time
-Catholic |
anthem (Eng)/motet (Rom. Cath) |
sacred choral work |