How Music Works Chapters 3-6

The Four Basic Properties of Tones Property of Tone Musical Correlate Duration Frequency Amplitude Timbre Rhythm Pitch Dynamics Tone color, sound quality

Rhythm: “The Alphabet Song” and More (Chapter 3) Eighth notes (“a b c d”) Sixteenth notes (“l-m-n-o”) Quarter notes (“p” “v”) Beat Subdivsion Duple, triple, quadruple Meter (measure) Duple, triple, complex (e.g., 5, 7 – CD 1-21 – Roma), metric cycles Syncopation (Bhangra ex. CD 1-22) Tempo (“Zorba” CD 1-23) Free rhythm (South India--CD 1-24)

Pitch – Chapter 4 Pitch: highness/lowness of tones Flute = high pitches, tuba = low pitches (different pitch ranges) Melody: particular sequence of pitches that unfolds as a song progresses. Distinctive features of a melody (e.g., “Mary Had a Little Lamb”): Melodic range Melodic direction Melodic contour “Eagle Dance” (CD 1-25) Read discussion and see figure/photo, pp. 46-47 What are the distinctive features of this melody?

The Western Music Pitch System Determinate pitches (piano, guitar, flute, trumpet, voice) Indeterminate pitches (cymbal, shaker, most drums) When we talk about different notes, scales, and chords in music, we are dealing with determinate pitch. Note names—”white keys”: C D E F G A B (C) “C to C” = an octave (or D to D, etc.) “black keys”—C# D# F# G# A# or Db Eb Gb Ab Bb (See piano keyboard diagram, Fig 4.4, p. 48 [or next slide])

Labeled Piano Keyboard

Scales Western types: Major Pentatonic (i.e., major pentatonic) Minor C-major – “white key” scale “Happy” sounding (cultural meaning?) Tonic note, key Pentatonic (i.e., major pentatonic) “Black key” pentatonic (starting on F#/Gb) Minor Lowered third degree = minor third interval Melodic minor scale (different ascending/descending) Harmonic minor scale (distinctive augmented 2nd interval near top) Blues scale Combines elements of major, minor, and pentatonic scales as well as traditional African scales C Eb* F (F#)* G Bb* C -- * = blue notes (CD 1-19 Charles Atkins)

Pitch and Scales in Non-Western Musics Arab classical music: 24 pitches per octave (quarter-tones) – OMI 11 CD 1-26 Egyptian quarter-tone accordion Also note ornamentation and articulation (staccato, legato) Indonesian gamelan Slendro (5 per octave) Pelog (7 per octave) OMI 10 Indian classical music 22 pitches per octave (microtones) Scale vs. mode?

Scales “Upside Down”: ’Are’are Music, Micronesia Concept of ascending and descending pitches reversed Instrument classification: ‘au = “bamboo” (but does it?) Hugo Zemp (ethnomusicologist) CD 1-32 (traditional) https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=FMspIsLEOvY (contemporary)

Chords and Harmony Chord = two or more pitches sounded simultaneously* *In an arpeggio, notes of chord are sounded in sequence rather than at the same time (CD 1-28 – flamenco) Harmony = a chord that “makes sense” in the context of its musical style Chord progression = a sequence of chords (CD 1-27 – bossa nova) Harmonization (in this text): each note of a melody becomes basis of a chord (CD 1-11 – Fijian church hymn) Consonance vs. dissonance CD 1-4 (Japanese gagaku) – consonant or dissonant? Modulation = changing from one key to another (e.g., same chord progression, different key) Beyonce – “Baby, It’s You” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob7vObnFUJc

Dynamics, Timbre, and Instruments – Chapter 5 Dynamics – loudness, softness Absolute (amplitude/decibels) Relative (heavy metal band vs. string quartet) Dynamic levels Dynamic range Crescendo vs. decrescendo Terraced dynamics

Timbre The character or quality of a musical sound – what it “sounds like” Trumpet vs. flute, Bob Dylan vs. Louis Armstrong, orchestra (CD 1-2) vs. steel band (CD 1-30) – Describe the timbres Scientifically, product of relationship between fundamental pitch and its overtones (harmonics) CD 1-31 (“Axis” – didgeridoo duet) CD 1-6 (Mongolian khoomii) Metaphorical language “tone color”

Music Instruments Why not “musical instruments”? Music instrument = any sound-generating medium used to produce tones in the making of music. OMI 16 (sound illustrations of 10 world music instruments) Hornbostel-Sachs Classification System (1914) Chordophones (sound activation – vibration of string[s]) Aerophones (air passing through tube/resonator vibrates) Mebranophones (stretched “membrane” vibrates) Idiophones (“self-sounders”—body of instrument vibrates)

Electronophones and More Extension of the Hornbostel-Sachs system (fifth category) ”Pure” vs. “hybrid” electronophones Digital sampling vs. digital synthesis Sound generator vs. sound modifier GAMES Model – Bakan et al. 1990 Recording (Edison phonograph, 1877) Multitrack recording, overdubbing

Combination Instruments Piano? Tambourine? Electric guitar (vs. acoustic guitar)? Mbira? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdw5IoqUOhs

Texture and Form – Chapter 6 Texture = Relationships between the notes, rhythms, melodies, patterns, and vocal and instrumental parts that emerge and evolve in a musical work. Form = the large-scale dimensions of musical organization; how musical works and performances develop and take shape from start to finish, phrase by phrase and section by section.

Types of Textures Single-line texture, aka monophonic texture Unison Polyphonic textures Melody-plus-drone (CD 1-16) Harmonized (CD 1-11) Multiple-melody (CD 2-3) Polyrhythmic (CD 2-5) – Ethnocentric term? Interlocking (CD 2-6 Siku Andean panpipes) Balinese kotekan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y771-AxrFA Call-and Response Beatles “Money” (That’s What I Want) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_awAH-JJx1k

Types of Forms Through-composed forms Forms based on repetition and patterns Ostinato-based forms CD 2-8 (“Xai” [Elephants]) Qwii people, Kalahari Desert Nkokwane (hunting/musical bow) Note varied ostinatos Layered ostinatos (CD 2-9 “Oye Como Va”) Cyclic forms 12-bar blues (CD 1-19) Forms with contrasting sections Verse-chorus (Ramadu, “Ingculaza (AIDS)” – CD 2-10 follow form chart, p. 82)