1. Music: An Appreciation, Brief, 8th edition | Roger Kamien
Part i: Elements

2. Music: vital part of human society
Provides entertainment and emotional release; accompanies activities
Heard everywhere in modern life
Recorded music is a 20th-century innovation
Internet access
Portable audio
Live performance: special excitement
Experience affected by emotional state of both performer and audience
Evaluating music performances
Background music vs. active listening
Perceptive listening enhances enjoyment
Knowledge of musical elements enhances perception

3. SOUND: pitch, dynamics, tone color
Our world is filled with sounds
Sounds can be pleasant or unpleasant
Humans are able to focus on specific sounds
We can ignore sounds that do not interest us
Sound
Begins as a result of vibrating object
Transmitted through a medium: air
Causes our eardrums to vibrate
Impulses sent to brain for processing
MUSIC: organization of sounds in time
Four main categories of musical sounds
• pitch • dynamics • tone color • duration

4. pitch: highness or lowness of sound
Determined by frequency of vibration
Fast vibration = high pitch; slow vibration = low pitch
Generally, smaller vibrating objects = higher pitches
In music, definite pitch is a tone
Tones have specific frequencies
e.g., 440 cycles (vibrations) per second = A)
Irregular vibrations create sounds of indefinite pitch
Interval: distance between 2 tones
Octave: doubling/halving of frequency
Tones an octave apart seem to blend together
Western music divides octave into 12 tones
Nonwestern music may divide into different number
Range: distance between voice or instrument’s highest & lowest possible tones

5. dynamics Relative loudness of a sound
Related to amplitude of vibration producing sound
Changes in dynamics may be sudden or gradual
Accent: tone played louder than tones near it
Italian terms used to indicate dynamics
Extremes: ppp, pppp, fff, ffff
Crescendo: gradually louder
Decrescendo (diminuendo):
gradually softer

6. tone color (timbre) Quality that identifies an instrument’s sound
Can be bright, dark, mellow, etc.
Changes in tone color create variety and contrast
Tone colors add a sense of continuity
Specific melodies with specific tone colors
Unlimited variety of tone colors
Composers frequently blend sounds of instruments to create new tone colors
Modern electronic technique create new tone colors

7. listening outlines, vocal music guides, and properties of sound
Helps focus attention on musical events as they occur
Preceded by description of the music’s main features
Listening Outline: points out notable musical sounds
Vocal Music Guide: helps the listener follow the thought, story, or drama
*Suggestion: While listening to one passage, look ahead to what is next

8. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Note:
Tone colors through instrumentation
Dynamic contrasts
LISTENING
The Firebird, scene 2 (1910)
Igor Stravinsky

9. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Listen for:
Tone colors
Repeated note melody
Improvised solos
Muted brass instruments
LISTENING
C-Jam Blues (1942)
Duke Ellington

10. PERFORMING MEDIA: voices and instruments
Voices: unique ability to fuse words & musical tones
Voice range is based on physical makeup & training
Voice classifications
Female Male
soprano (highest) tenor
mezzo-soprano baritone
alto bass (lowest)
Vocal music is frequently performed with instrumental accompaniment

11. Musical instruments: any mechanism (other than voice) that produces musical sounds
Western instruments: 6 broad categories
string percussion
woodwind keyboard
brass electronic
Made in different sizes for range variety
Tone color may vary with the register
Provide entertainment; used for accompaniment
Instruments’ popularity rises and falls with changing musical tastes

12. string instruments Sound produced by vibrating tight cable
shorter the string and tighter the tension, higher the pitch
(& vice versa)
Orchestral bowed instruments
• violin • viola
• cello (violoncellon)
• bass (double bass)
Common playing techniques
• pizzicato • vibrato • tremolo
• double stop • harmonics • mute
Some string instruments not played with bow
Guitar & harp use plectrum (small wedge; pick)

13. woodwind instruments Traditionally, woodwinds were made of wood
In the 20th century, metal & plastic became common
The longer the tube, the lower the pitch
Holes along instrument change the length of the tube
Main orchestral woodwinds and ranges:
Woodwinds: single note instrument
Sounds produced by blowing (player’s breath)
• “whistle mouthpiece” • single reed • double reed
• saxophone: single reed instrument; common in jazz

14. brass instruments Orchestral brasses (in order of range)
trumpet, french horn, trombone, tuba
cornet, baritone horn, & euphonium used mainly in concert and in marching bands
Sound produced by blowing into mouthpiece
Vibration of player’s lips produces sound
Sound exits through flared end called bell
Pitch changed in 2 ways:
Pressure of player’s lips (together and against mouthpiece)
Lengthening the instrument via slide or valves
Trombone uses sliding tubes
Others use valves connected to additional tubing
Generally, the longer the tube, the lower the pitch
Tone color is altered by inserting mute into bell
Brass provides power and emphasis in music

15. percussion instruments
Sound (generally) produced by striking, shaking, or rubbing the instrument
Instruments of definite pitch produce tones
Those of indefinite pitch produce noise-like sounds
Membranes, pieces of wood or metal vibrate
Percussionists must play many instruments
Percussion traditionally emphasizes rhythm
20th-century music: greater use of percussion

16. electronic instruments
Produce or amplify sound using electronics
Invented ~1904, significant impact only after 1950
Modern technology blurs lines between instrument types, recording, computer, and hybrid devices
Tape studio: main electronic tool of 1950s
Synthesizers came into use in 1960s
Huge machines first built in mid-1950s
Analog synthesis dominated until ~1980
Digital (FM) synthesis came to forefront in 1980s
Effects devices were integrated into digital synthesizers
Sampling technology advanced in 1990s
MIDI (1983) allowed connection of devices
Small computers develop in 1970s & 80s
Modern composers connect these devices, use software, and write new types of music

17. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Listen for:
Themes, variations
Contrast
Repetition
Various orchestral instruments
LISTENING
The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34 (1946)
Benjamin Britten

18. RHYTHM BEAT METER ACCENT and SYNCOPATION Flow of music through time
Particular arrangement of note lengths
BEAT
Recurrent pulsation
Divides music into equal units of time
METER
Grouping of beats
2s and 3s; strong and weak beats
ACCENT and SYNCOPATION
Accent: note is emphasized
Syncopation: emphasis placed on an unexpected note or beat

19. tempo The speed of the beat; the pace
associated with emotional effect
Tempo indicated at beginning of piece
As with dynamics, Italian terms are used
Molto, non troppo, accelerando, ritardando
Metronome: indicates exact tempo

20. MUSIC NOTATION Notating pitch Written music stores information
Allows composer to communicate their ideas to others
Notating pitch
Letter names: A B C D E F G
Staff
Grand Staff
G Clef or Treble
F Clef or Bass

21. notating pitch
Keyboard note names with notation

22. notating rhythm Notating Silence
music notation indicates length of tone in relation to other tones in the piece
How note looks indicates
duration
Notating Silence
Rests indicate
notated silence

23. notating meter The Score
Time signature indicates the meter of a piece of music
Appears at beginning of piece
Appears again whenever meter changes
Written as two numbers, one above other
3 top number: how many beats per measure
bottom number: what type note counts 1 beat
Common and cut time; duple and triple meter
The Score
Includes music for every instrument
Can include 20+ lines of music at once

24. MELODY
A series of single notes that add up to a recognizable whole
Begins, moves, ends
Tension and release
Stepwise vs. leap motion
Climax
Legato vs. staccato
Made of phrases (parts)
Sequence within melodies
Cadence: complete vs. incomplete
LISTENING
Over the Rainbow (1938)
Harold Arlen
Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC

25. HARMONY Consonance and Dissonance
The way chords are constructed and how they follow each other
Chord: three or more tones sounded at once
chord is simultaneous tones
Melody is a series of individual tones
Progression: how chords follow each other
Consonance and Dissonance
Stable, restful chords (consonant)
Unstable, tense chords (dissonant)
degree of dissonance—more and less dissonant
Resolution: movement away from a dissonance, towards consonance

26. the triad Broken Chords (Arpeggios) Simplest, most basic chord
Made up of three notes
Notated on 3 adjacent lines or spaces
Tonic: triad built on 1st scale note
Most stable, restful chord
Pieces usually begin and end on this chord
Dominant: triad built on 5th scale note
Most unstable, tense chord
Dominant to tonic movement feels conclusive
Broken Chords (Arpeggios)
Chord tones sounded in series

27. KEY The Major Scale The Minor Scale
Centering of a melody or harmony around a central note
The Major Scale
Whole steps and half steps occurring in a predetermined order
bright, happy sound
The Minor Scale
Whole steps and half steps occurring in a different predetermined order
dark, sad sound

28. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Note:
Harmony for variety and movement
LISTENING
Prelude in e minor for piano, Op. 28, No. 4 (1839)
Frédéric Chopin

29. key signature The Chromatic Scale Pieces using major scales—major key
Pieces using minor scales—minor key
Number of sharps or flats played determines scale and key
Also determines key signature
Key signature notated at beginning of piece between clef sign and time signature
The Chromatic Scale
Utilizes all 12 notes within the octave
Includes both black and white piano keys
This scale does not define a key

30. modulation: change of key
Provides contrast within longer piece
Modulation like temporary shift in gravity
new tone and key becomes “home”
Tonic Key
The main key of a piece
Modulations away to different keys usually return to the tonic key
Return to tonic creates feeling of resolution and conclusion
return to tonic usually occurs near end of piece

31. MUSICAL TEXTURE Monophonic Texture Polyphonic Texture
Layering of sound, how layers relate
Monophonic Texture
Single, unaccompanied melody literally “one sound”
Polyphonic Texture
Two or more equally important melodies sounding simultaneously
Homophonic Texture
One melody with chordal accompaniment
Changes of Texture
Within a piece, creates variety and contrast

32. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Note:
Contrasting textures
LISTENING
Farandole from L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2 (1879)
Georges Bizet

33. MUSICAL FORM Techniques that create musical form Types of Musical Form
Organization of musical elements in time
Techniques that create musical form
Repetition—restating musical ideas
Contrast—avoiding monotony with new ideas
Variation—reworking ideas to keep them new
Types of Musical Form
Ternary
simple
subdivided

34. Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Note:
Ternary form
LISTENING
Dance of the Reed Pipes from Nutcracker Suite (1892)
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

35. types of musical form Binary LISTENING A B A A B A B B A A B B
Listen, then follow the listening outline to this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Bourée from Suite in e minor for lute (1710)
Johann Sebastian Bach

36. MUSICAL STYLE
Characteristic way of using melody, rhythm, tone, color, dynamics, harmony, texture, and form
Western art music can be divided into:
Middle Ages,
Renaissance,
Baroque,
Classical,
Romantic,
20th Century to 1945
1945 to present
Shaped by political, economic, social, and intellectual developments