Exploring Music Class Notebook - Casey Rubin PDF

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Mandatory Class Video and Reading Assignments...

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Lesson 1: Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics, Timbre ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Pitch - highness or lowness of a sound Rhythm - the relative duration of a sound Dynamics - the relative loudness or softness of a sound Timbre - the tone color or quality of a song Frequency - passage of regular intervals of oscillating sound waves Hertz (Hz) - number of vibrating cycles per second Define pitch - has a specific, regular, and identifiable frequency Interval - distance from one musical tone to the other. Dissonant interval - when a musical interval sounds jarring, clashing, or unstable Octaves - notes that share a letter name Indefinite pitch - sound created through the production of irregular vibrations

"What is Pitch?" by Christopher Wright 1) All sounds are created by vibrations. 2) When a vibration occurs at a fairly consistent frequency, we perceive them as musical tones. 3) Indefinite pitch is also known as noise. 4) How does size affect pitch? The larger the instrument, the lower the pitch. 5) What happens to our ability to hear pitch range as we age? The older we get, the pitch range we can hear decreases. ●

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Rhythm - the relative length of time one pitch is held in relation to that of the pitches immediately before and after it; how long or short of a duration an individual pitch is held in relation to the beat Beat - steady, constant pulse in music that helps drive the music forward Tempo - the speed of the beat

"What is Rhythm and the Beat?"  by Christopher Wright 1) What is the difference between beat and rhythm? Beat is a steady and regular pulse that we hear in music. It is equally spaced and usually doesn’t change. Rhythm is the actual flow of music through time. Rhythm is built upon the beat and doesn’t have to be equally spaced. 2) Which one is steady, regular, and evenly spaced: beat or rhythm? Beat

3) In the sentence example given in the video, the flow of the words is the rhythm, while the underlying pulse is the beat. ● ● ● ● ● ●

Dynamic level - the relative loudness or softness (of a song) Forte - loud Piano - soft Mezzo - in the middle (of loud and soft) Crescendo - gradual increase in volume Decrescendo - gradual decrease in volume

"Dynamics" by Christopher Wright 1) What does fortissimo mean? Very loud 2) How is pianissimo abbreviated? pp 3) What is added to the abbreviation ff t o make it even louder? ffffff 4) What are the abbreviation and the musical symbol for a crescendo? cresc. < 5) A decrescendo is also known as a diminuendo. ●

Tone color or timbre - musical element that allows us to recognize that a violin sounds different from a trumpet, even when they play the same pitch in the same rhythm and dynamic level.

"What is Tone Color"  by Christopher Wright 1) How do you pronounce "timbre"? tam-bur 2) True or false: different tone colors, such as that produced by a trumpet and that produced by a violin, can be blended together to create a unique timbre. True 3) Why are orchestras often the preferred ensemble for film scores? The orchestra has been and continues to be a favorite medium for composers to express their musical ideas. The orchestra is capable of producing an almost unlimited range of tone colors and does it with the highest fidelity. ● ● ● ● ●

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Musical texture - the number and function of musical layers (layers = melody + harmony) Musical meter - the number of beats in a musical meter Instrumentation - which musical instruments to use to create specific timbral effects Melody - the memorable part of music that naturally attracts our ear Harmony - other musical sounds of definite pitch we hear that are not melody; vertical aspect of music; often created by combining multiple pitches simultaneously in what is called a chord Types of musical texture - monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic, and heterophonic

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Monophonic - one melody, no harmony Homophonic - one melody, there is harmony Polyphonic - two or more melodies, harmony is optional Heterophonic - one melody + a simultaneous different version of that melody, harmony is optional

"Melody vs. Harmony" by Alisha Nypaver 1) What is a musical phrase? Smaller sections of the melody 2) In the song "One Dance," which instrument plays the harmony? The piano 3) When three or more pitches are played at the same time, they form a chord. 4) Are drums melody or harmony? Why? Neither. The drums are instruments of indefinite pitch, and as such do not play melody or harmony. "Musical Texture" by Alisha Nypaver 1) What does "mono" mean? one 2) True or false: monophonic texture will always have only one singer or one instrument. False 3) If two people are singing the same melody in octaves, what is the texture? Thick monophonic texture 4) How do the presence of drums affect the musical texture? Drums are neither the melody or harmony, but are a rhythmic layer. They are generally not considered when determining texture type. 5) Most popular music is which type of musical texture? Homophonic 6) Even though there is only one instrument playing the example at 2:07, why is the texture homophonic, not monophonic? Because the instrument was playing a melody and a harmony. 7) True or false: in polyphonic texture, the melodies are always sung, not played by instruments. False, melodies can be played by an instrument too. 8) In addition to simultaneous musical melodies, how can polyphony be created if there is only one melodic line used? You can take the same melody but start it at different times, this is called intervals. 9) Heterophony is very common in non-western music.

10) Which musical textures are present in the last musical example, "Come on Eileen"? Monophonic, Homophonic, Polyphonic ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Meter - beat groupings Accented - stressed Unaccented - unstressed The first beat in a typical western meter is usually accented and is called the downbeat, or beat one Chordophones - produces sound by vibrations of a string Aerophones - producing sound by causing air to vibrate Membranophones - characterized by vibrating skin which is stretched over a frame Idiophones - creates sound when a solid unit of an instrument or the entire instrument vibrates against the air Electrophones - describes anything with an electric charge or using electronic means to operate

Lesson 2: Music and Sound "Transforming Sound Into Music" by composer Jackson Jhin

1) What variable element of music is changed to make the sticks sound more interesting? Pitch 2) According to Jhin, music is the balance between predictability and variability. 3) Which modern composer is used as an example of highly repetitive music? Philip Glass 4) Which modern composer is used as an example of highly unpredictable music, and how is that piece of music created? John Cage 5) How does Jhin change the "noise" of the alarm clock sound to make it more musical? He changes the pitch of the sound, and then he changes the rhythm. 6) What are some of the frameworks people use to help categorize music? Genre, culture, era 7) According to Jhin, when you hear unfamiliar music that isn't appealing right away, what should you focus on to help you give it a chance? Don’t press skip, give it a chance. Focus on the balance of predictability and variability.

Lesson 3: Music and Sound Watch the excerpt (40:35 - 46:03) from the following video: "The Dark Ages," a production of the History Channel. As you watch, look for the answers to the following questions and write them in your class notebook. You will need these answers for your third listening journal assignment. 1. At the turn of the 7th century, what was the European continent's economy was dependent on? Agriculture 2. According to the documentary, what prevented the people in the Middle Ages from making life better for themselves? People were in communities isolated from the rest of the world. People didn’t know what threats were coming at them from the outside world due to their little knowledge of the outside word. There wasn’t a significant enough population necessary to have a critical mass of ideas that eventually lead humans to have better lives. The wilderness was an endless sense of fear. 3. What kind of work patterns did people during the Dark Ages follow, and why? You would work according to seasonal patterns - winter sometimes consisted of periods of doing absolutely nothing for months, while there were other periods of time of frantic activity during harvest season when people were sewing crops and working dawn to dusk. Everyone old enough to walk would work this rigorous regime. 4. Approximately what percentage of children died before reaching adulthood? Half of children die before reaching adolescence. A quarter of all newborns die. Another quarter die before 10 or 12. 5. What were some of the most wealthy and important centers of commerce and political authority during the Dark Ages? Monasteries 6. How were classical writings (Greek and Roman) preserved during the Middle Ages? In manuscripts copied by Christian monks in the Middle Ages. 7. During the Dark Ages, who were virtually the only people in Europe who were literate (i.e. could read and write)? The clergy Chapter 3 Notes Plainchant Allelluia, “Caro mea” “Caro mea” - ca. 1275 - chant for the Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi - chorus responds to a solo singer - do not know identity of composer but it was probably written by a monk or priest - integrated in every service in the Medieval church - elements “ordinary” are unchanging and “propers” change accordingly - foreshadows words Jesus would have said at the Last Supper, the night before his crucifixion - musical

structure of chanting can have positive physiological impact, lower BP, reduces anxiety depression, helps release hormone DHEA - enhances prayer, meditation, and devotion Timbre: soloist and chorus - responsorial chant - call and response Texture: monophony - no matter how many voices, never more than one melodic line unison of men’s voices Melody: floating, projects well across large spaces of church, opening word “Alleluia” sung four times; first by soloist, then by chorus, then soloist again, and chorus again; middle portion is two biblical verses that transmit to Christ’s words; melodically contrasting section Word-music relationships: singing lengthens and extends each syllable; melisma - a singer can sing many notes to one syllable and can further embellish their words and emphasize expression Solo passages: priest, one of his assistants, leader of chorus, member of chorus Still used today? Some churches on occasions, Vatican choir uses on regularly basis

"What is a Cadence?" by The Listener's Guide. As you watch, look for the answers to the following questions and write them in your class notebook. 1. "Cadence" comes from the Latin word cadere, which means “to fall”. 2. What are cadences, and how are they like commas? Spoken words start low, rise toward the middle, and fall again to indicate completion. The final downward step to the last note in a phrase of a melody is called the cadence. 3. Is the melodic example used for this video (Kyrie Eleison) in conjunct or disjunct motion? Why/how do you know? It is conjunct because each successive note is one step away from one the previous. 4. Which ancient Greek philosopher's research served as an inspiration for medieval plainchant composers? Pythagoras

Chapter 4: Francesco Landini, "Behold, Spring" 1. Even though all musical lines in "Behold, Spring" are equally important, which line tends to draw our ears more, and why? The upper and lower voices are of equal importance, while our ear is drawn to the upper line for acoustical reasons (higher pitches always tend to stand out more). The lower line is every bit as melodious. 2. What does unison mean? Both voices sing exactly the same note. 3. What does it mean to say that "Behold, Spring" is in ABAA form in terms of how the music sounds? He varies the combination of repetition, variation, and contrast to create the basic musical form. H  e contrasts 1/A by presenting both a new text and new music in 2/B. He varies 1/A by presenting the same music with a new text in 3/A. He repeats both the text and music of 1/A in strophe 4/A. Chapter 4 Notes Francesco Landini, “Behold, Spring”: 1350-1397 Illustrates polyphony - two voices singing independent and equally important lines poets inspired to write love poetry - composers set those poems to music to make them more moving - “Behold, Spring” is a ballata for two voices - Balatta was one of many genres of secular song in Middle Ages - origins of the genre in dance - captures feeling of bodies in motion - age of courtly love, a highly stylized form of love in which a knight declares himself as the servant of the lady he is wooing - all his heroic deeds are done in her honor and his love for her ennobles him, even if she rejects his advances - some songs describe the lady’s beauty, others the knight’s suffering, and still others the pleasures of love - earliest polyphonic works around the eighth or ninth century were created by adding new lines above or below existing plainchant melodies to embellish what was already present, and church authorities sanctioned this new kind of music on the grounds that it provided, in effect, a gloss or commentary on a well-known passage of text and music Texture: contrast between the melodies of the two voices, one high, one low. Here, the upper and lower voices are of equal importance, and while our ear is drawn to the upper line for acoustical reasons, the lower line is every bit as melodious Rhythm: Feel the regular pulse of three beats, with the first accented; steady pattern of triple meter, the lengths of individual notes vary but the music falls into consistent units of three beats

Melody: Listen for the stepwise motion in both voices, and notice the brief stopping points that break the melody into smaller units; the mostly conjunct melodic lines are subdivided into smaller units, each of which ends with a cadence, a brief stopping point at which the music pauses (or in the case of the final cadence, ends); Cadences are to music as punctuation is to verbal expression, when we are writing, we indicate the end of individual units of thought with a comma, semicolon, period, or other end mark, and when we speak, we make correspondingly briefer or longer pauses; by breaking our speech into units (clauses and sentences) we make it easier for listeners to understand what we are saying; Landini inserts a brief cadence at the end of the second and fourth lines in each four-line unit of the poetry; Landini always cadences on the unison - that is, both voices sing exactly the same note; the rhythms of the two voices also emphasize the arrival on each cadence; at times the two voices move in the same rhythmic pattern whereas at other times their rhythms diverge, but the rhythms always coincide just before each cadence Form: Listen for the repetition of large-scale units; poetry consists of three verses, known as strophes (or stanzas) with the first repeated at the end; music of second strophe contrasts with others; ABAA; Once an idea is presented (the text and music of the first strophe, 1/A) only one of three things can happen: it can be repeated, varied, or contrasted through the introduction of a new idea. He contrasts 1/A by presenting both a new text and new music in 2/B. He varies 1/A by presenting the same music with a new text in 3/A. He repeats both the text and music of 1/A in strophe 4/A. Word-Music Relationships: Notice the largely syllabic text setting - one note per syllable, and listen for the occasional melismatic setting - multiple notes sung to a single syllable; sets the text in a manner that is largely syllabic or one note per syllable, occasionally uses melisma which means multiple notes per syllable Some of the earliest works of polyphony were based on existing plainchant melody 12th century cleric named Perotin, who worked at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, wrote immensely long and intricate works known as organum (used plainchant melodies in long note values in the lowest voice, with faster-moving voices layered above the plainchant) Francesco Landini (1325-1397) ● Blinded by smallpox at young age ● Most famous and prolific Italian composer of the 14th century

● Organist at church in Florence for many years ● Won renown as a poet ● Believed to have written more than 150 secular songs which together represent about ⅓ of all italian music that has survived from the 14th century ● Crowned with laurel by His Illustrious and Noble Majesty the King of Cyprus in the same way that poets were once crowned by the Emperors of Rome ● Manuscript: handwritten ● Parchment: codex consists of more than 216 leaves of parchment, the prepared skin of a sheep or goat, cleaned, dried, and stretched to form a smooth surface for writing ● Gold lead: many of the painted miniatures within the codex are decorated with gold leaf, actually pieces of gold beaten very thin ● Miniature portraits: All 146 of Landini’s works in the Squarcialupi Codex appear in one continuous section with his portrait at the beginning We know the Squarcialupi Codex was made at the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence but we do not know who commissioned it or paid for it ● Music is secular, not sacred, and was probably commissioned by an affluent individual ● Came into possession of the Florentine organist Antonio Squarcialupi (1416-1480) after whom it is now named ● No market for a manuscript like this, it was created for, funded, and enjoyed by a single individual

Chapter 5: Guillaume de Machaut, "No More than One Man Could Count the Stars" 1. What does it mean to say that "No More than One Man Could Count the Stars" is in AAB form? The music of the opening two lines is repeated for the second two lines, meaning 2/A is a variation of 1/A. The last 3 lines contrast the opening strophe, so the last stanza is 3/B giving a total form of AAB. 2. Why do some of the singers on this recording sound almost like female voices, even though they are male? The 2 lower voices move in the same range and at a similar speed, so it can be difficult to distinguish between them.

Chapter 5 Notes Guillaume de Machaut, “No More than One Man Could Count the Stars”: 1350 ● Illustrates expansion of polyphonic texture from 2-3 voices ● Gives voice to medieval art of courtly love, in which knight praises the beauty and virtue of a noblewoman who is (or pretends to be) indifferent to him ● By forging ahead in spite of woman’s indifference, the singer could demonstrate his zeal and devotion ● Particular song plays on the age-old idea that the poet cannot express his love any more than he could count the stars in the sky, drops of rain, waves in the sea, or the grains of the sand on the shore ● Texture: polyphonic work for 3 equally important voices; contrast in speed between the faster uppermost voice and the slightly slower two voices below ○ Each of 3 voices presents a melodic line completely different from the other two ○ Uppermost voice is easiest to hear, it is the highest, the most rhythmically active and fluid ○ The two lower voices move at a slightly slower speed and sing slightly longer and fewer notes ○ It can be difficult to distinguish clearly between the two lower voices because they move in the same range and at a similar speed ● Melody: Cadences - points of rest in the music - within the melody ○ Points of cadence - points of arrival, coupled with a brief pause in the forward motion - within the course of the upper voice’s melody ○ Occur at the end of each important phrase in the poetry and of course at the very end of this first verse ○ Entire verse consists of a single sentence and in performance runs a little over two-and-a-half minutes, so it is essential that its phrases stand out clearly from one another ● Form: repetition of large units of music; music of opening section is repeated to new words, and the closing section presents a contrasting melodic idea ○ AAB form ○ Music is seven lines ○ Music for the opening two lines (A) is repeated for the second set of two lines as w...