1. UNDERSTANDING MUSIC Dennis Raymond P. Maturan College of the Holy Spirit-Manila 2010

2. What is Music? From the Greek word mousike, meaning art of “Muse”, one of the nine sister goddesses of song and poetry and of the arts and sciences. It is the art of combining and regulating sounds of varying pitch to produce melodious harmony expressive of various ideas and emotions. Is the art of combining sounds or tones for reproduction by voice or by various kinds of musical instruments in rhythmical, melodic and harmonic form so as to affect the emotions.

3. What is Music? It is the art of combining tones into a purposeful expression, using melody, harmony and rhythm. It is composed of tones and silences organized in such a manner as to convey the emotions and ideas conceived by the composer. Basically, it is the union of pitch, force, quality and duration arranged according to the laws of melody and harmony. It is the combination and succession of tones following the recognized laws of musical composition.

4. What is Music? Scientifically, it is the system of vibrations which must be regular, systematic and organized, otherwise, it is mere noise. To the musician, it is the relationship between the ear and the instrument or voice, it is the organization of sounds towards beauty, it is the manipulation of three individuals: the composer, the instrument maker and the interpretative musician. Musicology – the scientific study of music.

5. Four Groups of Musical Composition: 1.Vocal Music – is composed primarily to be sung. The voice or voices are generally accompanied by one or more instruments. 2. Instrumental Music – music of this kind is written for instruments of four general types: Keyboard (piano, organ, etc.); stringed (violin, cello, guitar, etc.); wind (flute, clarinet, etc.); brass winds (trumpet, tuba, etc.) and percussion ( drums, xylophone, etc.)

6. Four Groups of Musical Composition: 3. Music Combined with Other Arts A. Opera – a drama set to music and is mostly or entirely sung with orchestral accompaniment and is spectacularly staged with accomplished singers, elaborate scenery and costumes. B. Operetta and Musical Comedy – this is also drama set to music but is light, popular romantic and often humorous or comic. Operettas use spoken dialogue instead of recitative.

7. Four Groups of Musical Composition: C. Oratorio and Cantata – are sacred musical drama in concert form and are made up of recited parts (recitative), arias and choruses with orchestral accompaniment. No action, sets and costumes are used and oratorios are usually based on Biblical themes. 4. Other Forms – are ballet music and background music for motion pictures of soundtracks.

8. The Purposes of Creating Music

9. Why do people create music? Ceremonial Reasons ♪ Music is created or performed for rituals or celebrations.  Patriotic music  Music for worship

10. Why do people create music? Recreational Reasons ♪ Music is entertainment. Music for…  PLAY  GAME SONGS  DANCES  SOCIAL EVENTS  PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES  HOBBY

11. Why do people create music? Artistic Reasons  Music is created with the intent to express and communicate one’s emotions, feelings, and experiences.  Music is created and performed in a concert setting for an audience.

12. What is Sound? Generally, it is any vibration that can be heard or detected by the ear. Precisely, it is the sensation caused in the brain by vibrations. It is also a term in acoustics for tones resulting from regular vibrations.

13. WHAT IS NOISE? Any loud, discordant, disagreeable, irritable or unwelcome sound; a jumble of irregular frequencies. Irregular vibrations such as knocking, scraping, etc.

14. What is Tone? Regular vibrations such as singing, instrumental sounds, etc. A musical sound.

15. What is Acoustics? It is the science of sound. A branch of physics that is concerned with sound. It may also be the architectural properties or characteristics of a concert hall, room or auditorium or any place that enable speech and music to be heard as they affect the sound of music played in it without the sounds being distorted

16. Other Sound Terms: Sound Source – the vibrating system of some sort such as vocal cords in the larynx, stretched string or air in an enclosed pipe. Sound Propagation – the process, by which sound vibrations are carried through air or another medium.

17. Nota Bene: A sound which has a defined pitch and duration; or a musical sound which has a regular constant frequency. A single sound of specific duration and pitch. These are marks or symbols of different shapes placed on the staff indicating tones to be sounded. They take the name of the line or space (A through G) on which they are placed.

18. Tone Characteristics: 1) Pitch The sensation produced by regular vibrations. The location of a tone in the musical scale in relation to high or low, thus referring to the highness or lowness of a tone. It is the result of the frequency of vibrations: the faster the vibrations (the “higher” the frequency), the higher the pitch. The slower the vibrations, the lower the tones.

19. Tone Characteristics: 2) Timbre (Tone Quality or Tone Color) Analogous to color in painting and is a fascinating element, not only because of its vast resources but also because of its amazing possibilities. It is the quality of sound produced by a particular medium of tone production. It is the quality which enables us to distinguish one sound from another, an instrument from another, a friend’s voice or singer’s voice from that of another.

20. Tone Characteristics: Timbre also results from the physical qualities of the object which vibrates (the vibrator), tits thickness, length and tautness with which it is stretched, as well as the physical characteristics of the resonator; thus it depends upon the source of the tone.

21. Tone Characteristics: 3) Intensity, Volume or Dynamics It refers to the degree of loudness or softness of a sound. It results form the pressure or force or percussive effects as a result of which the tone strikes us as being loud (forte) or soft (piano), and is used to cause the vibrations that produce a sound.

22. Tone Characteristics: 4) Duration The property of sound that depends on the length of time over which vibration in maintained; tones are not only high or low but also short and long. Not truly a characteristic, but vital in music; it is the length of a tone – short or long. This refers to the length of time which sound occupies – how long a sound is heard.

23. Characteristics or Elements of Music: 1)Rhythm It is the organization of sounds in time and is defined by Plato as “an order of movement”. It is the movement through time of tones and silences of varying duration. It refers to the distribution of notes in time – that is, the arrangement of long and short notes, and their accentuation.

24. Characteristics or Elements of Music: Rhythm is the overall movement or swing and is considered the most basic or essential element and the beginning of music. It is a pattern of sounds conforming to a regularity of pulses of beats. The pattern is created by accented and weaker beats. It is associated in the imagination with physical motion.

25. Characteristics or Elements of Music: 2) Melody Any successive series of tones having a contour or outline and a rhythmic pattern. It is the succession of musical sounds or tones in an orderly manner. It is the pitch added to rhythm and is synonymous with the terms tune, air, theme, motif and melodic line.

26. Characteristics or Elements of Music: Melody consists of a series of tones of varying pitches sounded in succession. It is associated with mental motion and is sometimes called the memory element because it is what the listener remembers. It is the horizontal aspect of music. Two or more melodies sounding together is called counterpoint or harmony.

27. Qualities of A Good Melody: 1.Satisfying Proportions – it must give a sense of completeness and of inevitability, a feeling of integrity; that is, that it could not have been articulated in any other way. 2.Melodic Line – must be long and flowing, with high and low points of interest and a climactic moment which musicians call “la grande ligne” or long line, and provides music with a sense of continuity. 3.Expressive Quality – the quality which arouses as emotional response and is the most unpredictable element because no guiding rules exist for this.

28. Characteristics or Elements of Music: 3) Harmony It is the science or study of chords (the sounding together of separate tones) and their relationships. This is the simultaneous sounding or combining of two or more tones or melodies sung or played against each other and is called counterpoint or polyphony.

29. Characteristics or Elements of Music: Harmony is when two or more sounds of different pitch are played together and form a chord; and several chords in succession produce harmony. The most sophisticated of the musical elements since it is an intellectual conception and is a more recent element than rhythm and melody. It is the vertical aspect of music.

30. Characteristics or Elements of Music: 4) Texture This refers to the number of tones one is expected to apprehend simultaneously. It is the melodic and harmonic relationship of musical factors. It is analogous to a piece of cloth which consists of warp and woof threads woven together.

31. Four Types of Texture a. Monophonic – results when only one melody is sung or played with no accompaniment whatsoever such as Plainsong or Gregorian Chants. b. Homophonic – when a single melody is played with a subordinate harmonic accompaniment such as a song accompanied with guitar or piano chords or one singing soprano or first voice and another one as alto or second voice.

32. Four Types of Texture c. Polyphonic - results when two or more melodies are played together and is known more as contrapuntal music and is produced when at least two or more melodies are sung or played at the same time such as soprano, alto, tenor and bass altogether. d. Non-melodic – is created for special effects in which harmonic sounds obscure or partly exclude the melodic content of a composition and occurs in contemporary and modern music.

33. Characteristics or Elements of Music: 5) Style – this refers to the composer’s or singer’s way of doing his part and is the result of his temperament, outlook in life and training. 6) Color – this is the result of the difference in timbre or quality of tone in a variety of voices and instruments.

34. Characteristics or Elements of Music: 7)Form – the plan or the structure of music when a composer assembles his materials on the basis of an overall plan or design which is called musical structure or musical form. 8)Tempo – an Italian word which literally means time and in music, refers to the rate of speed or pace of the music and may be fast, moderate or slow and in varying degrees.

35. Characteristics or Elements of Music: 9) Tonality – it is an element of music which creates a sense of gravitation toward a key or tonal center, where one tone assumes greater importance than the rest. 10) Interval – the distance or difference in pitch, between any two sounds, and the smallest interval in modern music is called the semitone. 11) Dynamic Marks – these are word abbreviations and signs that are used to indicate relative loudness and softness of tones.

36. The Elements of Music

37. Sound: Pitch, Dynamics, and Tone Color Pitch- The high or low quality of sound Dynamics- The loud or soft quality of music Tone color- Also known as timbre, refers to the unique quality of sound

38. Dynamics Forte--f,ff,fff-loud Piano--p,pp,ppp-very soft Mezzo---mf,mp--medium Crescendo--gradually louder Decrescendo,diminuendo--gradually softer

39. Voices Women’s Voices –Soprano –Mezzo-soprano –Alto Men’s Voices –Tenor –Baritone –Bass

40. Orchestral Instruments: Strings pictures on p. 13-14 Violin- highest pitched of string family Viola- medium pitched, takes role of supporting actor Cello- larger and lower pitched than viola, held between knees Bass- largest and lowest pitched of string family, played while standing Harp-47 strings and 7 foot pedals

41. Orchestral Instruments: Woodwinds pictures on p. 17-19 Piccolo- highest pitched Flute- blown across tone hole Oboe- highest pitched of double reeds

42. Orchestral Instruments: Woodwinds English horn- low oboe sound Clarinet- single reed Bassoon- lowest pitched of the double reed instruments, aka “clown” of the orchestra. Produces deep, nasal tone Saxophone- made of brass, single reed

43. Orchestral Instruments: Brass pictured on page 21 Trumpet- highest pitched of the brass family French horn-not as bright as a trumpet, consists of coiled tubing and is often used for hunting calls Trombone- incorporates a movable slide to change pitches Tuba- the lowest pitched of the brass instruments

44. Orchestral Instruments: percussion pictured on pp. 22-23 Pitched percussion instruments –Timpani: large kettle drums –Glockenspiel: metal bars hit struck with mallets –Xylophone: wooden bars struck with mallets, producing a dry brittle sound –Celesta: small upright piano that sounds like a glockenspiel –Chimes: a set of metal tubes hung from a frame which are struck by a hammer

45. Orchestral Instruments: Percussion pictured on pp. 23-24 Unpitched percussion instruments –Bass drum –Snare drum –Cymbals –Gong –Triangle –Tambourine

46. Orchestral Instruments: Keyboards Pictured on pp. 26-27 Piano: keys activate hammers that hit strings Harpsichord: keys activate plectra which pluck the strings Pipe organ: keys control valves that channel air through various pipes

47. Rhythm The flow of music through time; the pattern of durations of notes and silences in music Beat - the pulse of music Meter- the grouping of beats Tempo - the speed of the beat (pg. 34) Accent - a pitch that is played more loudly, held longer or is higher in pitch than the nearby notes Syncopation- When an accented note comes where we would normally not expect it

48. Tempo Markings Molto-much Non troppo-not too much (fast or slow) Accelerando- gradually faster Ritardando- gradually slower

49. Music Notation Notating pitch –Staff: the five lines and four spaces on which music is written –Note: an oval which represents a specific pitch –Clef: placed at the beginning of the staff, the clef assigns pitch names to the lines and spaces (pg. 36)

50. Music Notation (cont.) Notating Rhythm –Durations: the color of the note and the presence of stems or flags and beams and dots affect the duration of a note (pg. 37) –Rests:symbols for pauses with specific durations (pg. 36)

51. Music Notation (cont.) Notating meter –Time signature: placed next to the clef, the top number of the time signature indicates the grouping of beats and the bottom number indicates what kind of note will receive one beat.

52. Melody A succession of pitches which add up to a recognizable whole Intervals: the distance between two pitches Sequence: the repetition of a melodic pattern at a higher or lower pitch Cadence: a resting spot

53. Harmony the vertical aspect of music Chord: a combination of three or more notes sounded simultaneously Consonance: harmony that is stable and restful to the ear Dissonance:tense and unstable harmony that demands onward motion to stable harmony (resolution)

54. Key - Tonality the homing instinct of music Major scale: a succession of eight pitches arranged from low to high, based on the intervals of the white keys of a piano (pg. 46) Minor scale: a succession of eight pitches arranged from low to high, based on a specific pattern of whole and half steps which results in a dark quality of melody and harmony

55. Key-Tonality (cont.) Chromatic scale: a series of 12 pitches based on the black and white keys of the piano Modulation: the shifting from one key to another

56. Texture layers of sound Monophonic: a single unaccompanied melody line Polyphonic: two or more independent melody lines happening simultaneously Homophonic: melody plus accompaniment

57. Musical Form the shape, structure and organization of music Binary form: AB Ternary form: ABA Rondo: ABACAD… Theme and Variations:A A’ A’’ A’’’ A’’’’… Ballad form: AABA Strophic:stanzas or verses Call and response