Chapter 2 - Summary Music in Theory and Practice 9th Edition PDF

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Summary

These are the chapter notes for Chapter 2...

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MUSC 121 Chapter 2 Notes Things highlighted in yellow is what I think is important. Other colors are for things that refer to each other. All pictures are either from the textbook Music in Theory and Practice 9th Edition, high school notes, or notes that I hand wrote.

Chapter 2 Important Concepts -

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Scales - A scale is a collection of pitches in an ascending and descending order - Scales are used as an useful way to show the notes used in a melody or harmony Pitch Class - Contains all the notes of the same name regardless of octave - E.G. all the Cs - The caret (^) above the number indicates the scale degree, or the position of the note within the scale Diatonic Scales - Diatonic scales are scales that are mixed with half, whole, and sometimes even step and a half - Each tone plays a role - Literally means across the tones - The first tone of the scale is called the tonic - It’s the most stable and is the “point of rest” - Tones lead either away or towards it, creating different levels of tensions or relaxation - Diatonic melodies usually end on the tonic note because it’s the most stable note Scale Degree Names - Each scale degree has a name that represents its function - The major scale and all three forms of the minor scale uses these terms

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Major Scale - Scale of seven different pitch classes - Most of pitches are separated by whole steps besides the third to fourth pitch and the seventh to eighth pitch, which are both half steps. - Eighth pitch is the same letter name as the first - It’s treated as a duplication - All other keys are a half step apart

Tetrachord - Means a group of four pitches - A major scale has two tetrachords - Both are arranged in the same way: two whole steps and then a half step Transposition - Rewriting the major scale pattern onto another pitch is called transposition Key Signature - Found at the beginning of the staff, the key signature shows the necessary accidentals - The tonic is either five scale degrees above or four scale degrees below another tonic - Every scale degree above, a sharp is added to the key signature - Every scale degree below, a flat is added to the key signature -

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Minor Scale - Another diatonic scale that is more varied in pitch material - Natural Minor Scale - Seven different pitches with whole steps in between each tone, besides the second to third pitch and the fifth and sixth pitch, where half steps separate them.

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The natural minor scale can be thought as a major scale from the sixth degree to the next sixth degree above it. Harmonic Minor Scale - The harmonic minor scale has a raised seventh degree - The raised seventh gives a more “melodic thrust” to the tonic - This creates a step and a half between the sixth and seventh degree, and a half step between the seventh and eighth degree. - There are no accidentals in the key signature to show the raised seventh degree Melodic Minor Scale - Appears both ascending form and descending form - In the ascending form, the second and third pitch has a half step and the seventh and eighth scale has a half step - The descending form is the same as the natural minor - Composers found that they liked the raised seventh in the harmonic minor, but found that the harmonic minor was too harsh, so melodic minor was their answer

Scale Relationships - It’s important to compare the patterns between the major and minor scales. - There are two major patterns are called relative and parallel relationships - Relative Relationship - When a major scale and a minor scale have the same key signature

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On a major scale, the sixth degree is the tonic for the relative minor - On a minor scale, the third degree is the tonic for the relative major Parallel Relationship - A major scale and a minor scale that start on the same tonic are in a parallel relationship. - They do not have have the same key signature.

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Circle of Fifths - A very useful graph that shows the relationship between the major scales and the relative minor

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Tonality - An organized systems of pitches where one emerges as the tonic - E.G. the tones of a major scale - The tonic becomes the central point and the other tones are related to it - The tonic will be the tone of complete relaxation, and all the other tones will lead to it Key - The tonal system based on the major and minor scales - This is the most common tonal system - Tonality can be present in music without being based on the major and minor scale Other Scales - Pentatonic Scale - A five-tone scale, hence the name Pentatonic - An example of a gapped scale - A gap is an interval of more than a step between the adjacent pitches - Nondiatonic Scales - A scale that doesn't follow the interval pattern of a diatonic and pentatonic scale - Usually doesn’t have an identifiable tonic - Chromatic Scale - A scale of half steps only - Chromatic scale can appear in diatonic music, but the

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tonal characteristics are still there Whole-Tone Scale - A scale of whole steps only - The whole-tone scale has six tones Blues Scale - A major scale that has a flat third and a flat seventh - The two flat notes alternates with normal third and normal seventh Octatonic/Diminished Scales - A scale of alternating whole and half steps - Called diminished scale by jazz musicians

History - Modal Scales - Mode is a series of pitches within an octave that makes up the basic material of a composition - Church Modes - Basis for almost all Western music - Solfeggio Syllables - The use of syllables to indicate the scale degrees - The syllables are do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, and do - Guido d’Arezzo invented the movable-do and fixed-do systems - Tonal Scales - Created in early baroque period - Took over church modes’ influence in music - The major/minor keys were the basis for classical music, but in the romantic period, chromaticism began to threaten it - Expanded Scale Use - By the twentieth century, major keys still were the prefered, but many other scales were becoming more common Pitch Inventory - Scalewise list of tones in a composition - The ability to know what pitch a note is by hearing it.

Ionian - secular (major) Dorian - sacred Phrygian - sacred Lydian - sacred Mixolydian - sacred Aeolian - secular (natural minor) Locrian...