Elements of Music

Timbre Refers to the quality of sound –Banjo sounds different than a guitar –Everyone’s voice has a different timbre –Timbre makes instruments/voices sound different from each other

Rhythm The way music paces itself and moves through time –Similar to a stream (can flow smooth, slow, fast, choppy, etc) –Rhythm is totally dependant on the mood that a composer wants to express.

Tempo Aspect of rhythm; pace at which the rhythm moves –Largo- very slow –Adagio- slow –Andante- moderately slow –Allegretto- moderately fast –Allegro- fast –Presto- very fast

Renaissance Music

Counterpoint Dominant musical technique before Renaissance was plainchant (Gregorian Chant) Counterpoint refers to many things going on in a musical piece at once Precursor to the fugue and jazz music

Palestrina ( ) Most famous piece is Pope Marcellus Mass Regarded as “savior of church music” Saved use of counterpoint

Baroque Music

Changes from Renaissance Composers wrote for specific voices and instruments Music was big, grand, ornate (typical of any artistic creation in the Baroque Era) Modern music language began to develop

Fugue Based on Interwoven melodies Master of fugue is Johann S. Bach 3 voices (motif, subject, exposition)

Johann Sebastian Bach ( ) Born in Germany Stopped composing church music around 1730 Wrote several arias, fugues, and sonatas

Antonio Vivaldi ( ) Most famous composition is The Four Seasons Favorite music type was the concerto Wrote 94 operas in his life

“Classical” (Enlightenment) Music

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( ) Musical genius; 5 yrs. old; from a musical family Most famous piece is Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Many opera for Frederick the Great

Franz Joseph Haydn ( ) Developed the symphony Best friends with Mozart Most famous writing is Symphony No. 94 in G Major

Ludwig Von Beethoven ( ) Studied under Mozart, Haydn, and Salieri Most famous piece is Symphony No. 5 Came from a musical family Totally deaf by 1820; diagnosed 1790

Romantic Music

Richard Wagner ( ) Wrote 13 operas; helped people understand German culture Also wrote book concerning opera theory Famous opera is the Ring Cycle

Peter I. Tchaikovsky ( ) Professor of Moscow Conservatory Music noted for beautiful yet blue melodies Most famous composition is 1812 Overture

Impressionist Music

Claude Debussy ( ) Music depends heavily on imbedded visual images Most famous piece is Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun

Maurice Ravel ( ) Liked abstract, logical structure Associated with Debussy because of the type of music Worked with Russian ballet choreographers

Modern Music 1900-present

Folk Music Music with which the people of a nation or ethnic group specifically identify themselves Taught through performance Most commonly the music of social and economic lower classes and of rural populations

Popular Music Music produced and sold to a broad audience (country, jazz, soul, rock, movie music, and musical comedies) Shaped by social, economic, and technological forces Closely linked to social identity of its performers and audience

Jazz Music Developed by African-Americans in late 1800s early 1900s in New Orleans, LA Characterized by heavy improvisation (no 2 performances are exactly alike when live) Heavy syncopation

Duke Ellington ( ) Jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist Greatest composer of jazz music

Duke Ellington ( ) Personally created the pieces his band members played and designed his pieces for specific players. Composed about 2000 works Most famous piece is It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing); swing dancing became an obsession in the USA

Duke Ellington ( ) Expanded his jazz orchestra size from members over time. 18 is the accepted number in a jazz band now. Characteristics of Ellington’s music: 1. Muted brass instruments 2. High, wailing clarinets 3. His unique piano playing

Igor Stravinsky ( ) Studied law at Univ. of St. Petersburg Influenced by Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov Russian Composer

Igor Stravinsky ( ) Wrote for the Ballet Russes of Sergei Diaghilev His music for The Firebird won immediate success for its orchestration and use of Russian folk song melodies The music for The Rite of Spring was not well received by the audience or the dancers

Igor Stravinsky ( ) The effects of WWI on Russia and the influence of jazz music can be heard in his compositions Rag-time and Piano Rag-Music Came to Hollywood, CA in 1939 where he wrote Circus Polka which was to be dance by circus elephants Believed if a person only wrote one type of music they were going “backwards.”

George Gershwin ( ) Born in Brooklyn American composer Bridged gaps between jazz and classical music Pianist and song promoter for publishing company at 16 yrs. old

George Gershwin ( ) Paul Whitehead asked him to write a song. He wrote Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz band. Wrote a tone poem called An American In Paris Also published a political satire titled Of Thee I Sing which was the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize

George Gershwin ( ) Wrote an opera titled Porgy and Bess that heavily draws on the idioms of black folk music, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and classical music to produce a work of unique character that is Gershwin’s masterpiece

Aaron Copland ( ) Originally influenced by French Impressionist composers Switched to his folk music style around the 1930s

Aaron Copland ( ) In the 1930s, he began to include more melodic and lyrical music, often drawing on American folk music Most famous piece is Appalachian Spring. Wrote this for a ballet of the same title for Martha Graham

Aaron Copland ( ) Other compositions: – Lincoln Portrait – Billy the Kid – Rodeo – El salon Mexico – Fanfare for the Common Man – Music for movie Of Mice and Men based on book by John Steinbeck