1. FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS Listening to Music
SURVEY OF MUSIC
FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS
Listening to Music
2 Lectures

2. FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
Rhythm
Pitch
Timbre
Texture
Dynamics
(Form)

3. RHYTHM Rhythm: The organization of time in music
We listen for regular beats
We listen for accents among the beats to define meter and measure
We listen for strength of accents to determine phrase
CD Icon = Wright, Intro CD, Track #5 – Hearing Meters
Rhythm – Wright 14 / Meter – Wright 16
Example from poetry = ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
4/4 = Yes, Owner of a Lonely Heart (CD track 1) // Irregular = Yes, Changes (CD track 4)

4. RHYTHM Tempo governs the rhythm’s pace or speed
Tempo may be steady or uneven (rubato)
Syncopation is accenting weak beats rather than strong
Rhythm can be dominant or subtle – implicit or explicit
RUBATO = Bach Cello Suites, disk 1, track 11
SYNCOPATION = Jupiter (Media Player) at 7:39
IMPLICIT/EXPLICIT = Peter Gabriel, Mercy Street (CD track 6)

5. RHYTHM
Time Signatures
Rhythmic notation

6. Music’s Rhythm Code

7. Music’s Rhythm Code
Everything lines up vertically (the TIME axis)

8. PITCH Pitch: The highness or lowness of a tone in music
Most instruments, including the human voice, are designed to produce various pitches
Pitches in rhythm are called notes
A sequence of notes in music is a melody
Pitch – Wright 20 / Melody – Wright 20
Tuning Fork

9. PITCH Two or more pitches sounding together create harmony
Pitches perceived to sound good together are consonant
Pitches perceived to sound bad together are dissonant
Harmony = Take 6 When You Wish Upon a Star
Explain ratios to help describe consonance and dissonance

10. PITCH: KEYS
Pitches are organized in musical scales, and scales define keys
In Western music we have 12 major and 12 minor keys
Within each key, there are positions: some at rest and some in tension
Explain how each position holds tension or rests
Play Twinkle Twinkle, don’t resolve

11. PITCH: KEYS Positions within keys are: Tonic Supertonic Mediant
Sub-Dominant
Dominant
Sub-Mediant, and
Leading Tone
What they need to know = Tonic & Dominant

12. PITCH: KEYS Key Signatures Modes: Ionian Dorian Phrygian Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian
The names of the church modes are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian, and they match geographic or ethnic regions in ancient Greece. The philosophy writings of both Plato and Aristotle (approx 350 BCE) include large sections that describe the effect of different musical modes on mood and on character formation. For example, this quote from Aristotle's "Politics":
"The musical modes differ essentially from one another, and those who hear them are differently affected by each. Some of them make men sad and grave, like the so called Mixolydian; others enfeeble the mind, like the relaxed modes; another, again, produces a moderate or settled temper, which appears to be the peculiar effect of the Dorian; and the Phrygian inspires enthusiasm." Both Plato and Aristotle believed that the modes to which a person listened molded the person's character. The modes even made the person more or less fit for certain jobs. The effect of modes on character and mood was called the 'ethos of music.'... So concepts like "Rock 'n roll can rot your mind" aren't really that new after all.

13. Music’s Pitch Code Clefs anchor the note locations on the staff
This is how performers know what note is supposed to be produced.
Explain that the Treble clef is the G Clef, circling the note G

14. Music’s Pitch Code Everything lines up horizontally (the PITCH axis)
Review pitch and rhythm in this example

15. TIMBRE Timbre: The characteristics of the sound itself
We often use terms from the visual arts to describe musical timbre
Timbres often hold strong associations in our minds
CD Icon = Wright, Intro CD, Track #10-13 – Instruments of the Orchestra
Wynton Marsalis, Silent Night with Kathleen Battle
Also called “tone color”
Windows Media Player – Bars & Waves: Ocean Mist – to see spectrum of frequencies for Intro CD tracks 10-13
English association = Gabriel plays a trumpet (Handel) / German association = Gabriel plays a trombone (Mozart)

16. TIMBRE
The sound of solo or section instruments is also an aspect of timbre
Certain composers were so good at creating and combining tone colors, we say their “instrument” was the orchestra
Play Berlioz, Beethoven, or Richard Strauss

17. TEXTURE Texture: The consistency of musical sounds
Monophonic texture means only one line of music sounding alone
Homophonic means one line leads and the others support it
Multiple independent lines happening together is called polyphonic texture
CD Icon #1= Wright, Intro CD, Track #20 – Hearing Musical Textures
CD Icon #2= Wright, Intro CD, Track #19 – Handel: Messiah
Monophonic = Chant
Homophonic = Hymns
Polyphonic = Rounds

18. FORM Form: The structure of a musical composition
The primary elements of form are repetition, contrast, and variation
Forms range in scale from very small to very large
Contrast and Variation = Content (music) and Key (pitch level)
Scale = Twinkle Twinkle to a Mahler Symphony

19. FORM Eight Basic Categories of Form: Strophic Binary Ternary Rondo
Theme & Variations
Sonata
Fugue
Through-composed
Strophic Form = Repeated over and over (hymns and jazz tunes: Nutville)
Binary Form = A / B = Contrast is in key area (art music)
Ternary Form = also called “Song” form = A / B / A = B contrasts in music & key (Tchaik: Nutcracker on intro cd)
Rondo Form = A / B / A / C / A / B / A (see picture on Wright, p.64)
Theme & Variations = A primary theme and then some number of variations of style, key, treatment, etc.
Sonata Form = Theme A (in tonic key) – Theme B (other key) / Theme A (other keys) – Theme B (tonic key)
Fugue = Imitative contrapuntal form in which all voices (parts) enter sequentially in opposing keys, then develop.
Through-composed = no formal constraints

20. DYNAMICS Dynamics: The volume or loudness of the music
This may refer to contrast among sections of a piece, the mix within a piece, or the overall presentation

21. FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
Rhythm
Pitch
Timbre
Texture
Dynamics
(Form)