Performing Media: Voices and Instruments

 Singing most widespread and familiar way of making music.  Differences in cultural tastes the tone color will vary.  Until the 1600s most music in the western culture was vocal before accompaniment was incorporated.  Singing vs. Speaking  Use a wider range of pitch and volume  Vowels are also held longer  Greater breath control  Pitch is controlled by the tension of vocal chords.

 Range is determined by training and physical makeup.  Professionals – 2 or more octaves  Untrained – 1 to 1.5 octaves  Men’s vocal chords are longer and thicker  Lower range of pitches  Classification of voice ranges:

 Musical Instrument: Any device that produces musical sounds.  Western Music Classifications :  1. String  2. Woodwind  3. Brass  4. Percussion  5. Keyboard  6. Electronic  Average range: 3 – 4 octaves  Can be up to 6 – 7 octaves  Instruments often made in different sizes to command different ranges  Tone colors can change in different registers of a single instrument.

 Instruments provide entertainment as well as accompany singing, dancing, religious rites, and drama.  Magical Powers  Used for communication  Status Symbols  Popularity changes with the times.

 Violin, viola, cello (violonvello), and double bass (bass)  Symphony string section  Played with a bow, but can also be plucked with the finger.

Violin – solo instrument and 2 sections in the symphony Viola- 2 inches longer making the range lower and the tone color darker Cello- wider range is registers Bass- heavy tone Harp- 47 strings with 6 octaves Guitar- 6 strings

 Greatest versatility and expressive range  Ability to control tone  Sound created by vibration of strings  Bow in right hand  Stroke controls dynamics and tone color  Pizzicato – musician plucks the string with the right hand

 Double Stop – two notes played at once  Triple Stop – three notes played at once  Quadruple Stop – four notes can be sounded almost together, by quickly going across all strings.  Vibrato – expressive tone created by rocking the left hand while pressing on string (causing pitch fluctuations).  Tremolo- rapidly repeating tone with up and down strokes of the bow.  Harmonics – high pitched tones produced when the musician lightly touches certain points on the strong.

 Named because sound is produced by vibrations of air within a tube of wood.  20 th century brought metal and plastic instruments.  Little holes change the length of the vibrating air column and the pitch.

 Tone color much wider within family  Sound produced in different ways:  Flute – blow across the mouthpiece hole  Recorder – blow through the instrument  Clarinet, Saxophone, Oboe, Bassoon – Use a reed  Reed – very thin piece of can that vibrates  Single-reed  Doule-reed

 Sound is created by the vibration of the musicians lips.  Pitch is regulated by lip tension and/or slide and valve position.  Alter tone color with the use of mutes

 Most are struck by hand with sticks or hammers.  Vibrations created by the stretching of membranes or vibration of plates and bars. Definite PitchIndefinite Pitch TimpaniSnare drum GlockenspielBass Drum XylophoneTambourine CelestaTriangle ChimesCymbals Gong (tam-tam)

 Piano, harpsichord, organ and accordion  Play several tones at once  Keyboard Instruments:  Piano- hammer on string now  Harpsichord – plucking of string –  Organ – vibrating of an air column –  Accordion – free steel reeds vibrated by air pressure  20 th Century music made the piano even more of a soloist instrument.  3 pedals – damper, una corda pedal, sostenuto pedal

 Sound is produced through an amplified sound  Invented as early as 1904 – significant impact in 1950  Tape Studio – main tool of composers of electronic music in 1950 (anyone can at home now.) Not a precise art until the 1960s  Synthesizers – electronic components that generate, modify and control sound – played like a keyboard. Invention in mid 1950s  Analog synthesis – uses a mixture of complex sounds that are shaped by filtering  Digital frequency modulation synthesis – patented by Yamaha- points on sound waves  Effect devices – reverberators, echo devices, stereo splitters.  Sampling – brief digital recordings of live sounds under the control of a synthesizer keyboards  Musical Instrument Digital Interface – keyboards that look and feel real

 Genre: symphony  Musical Characteristics:  Theme – melody used as the basis for a musical composition.  Variations – varied repetitions of the theme  Range of dynamics  sectionalized  Instruments: piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, Chinese block, xylophone, castanets, gong, whip, harp, violin, viola, cello, and bass

 Genre: march  Musical Characteristics: dynamic contrast, articulate and flowing segements  Instruments: piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bass saxophone, cornet, trumpet, French horn, baritone, euphonium, trombone, tuba, bass, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals