2. MUSIC VOCABULARY
• Staff: five horizontal lines and four spaces where music notation is
placed.
• Bar lines: separates the staff into measures.
• Clefs: is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written
notes.
• This symbol is the treble clef which is placed on the staff
– For high or treble voices or instruments.
• This symbol is the bass clef which is placed on the staff
– For low or bass voices or instruments.
• Interval: the distances between two pitches.
• Diatonic: using only the seven tones of a standard scale.
• Chromatic: the sharpening or flattening of notes on a scale.
• Enharmonic: tones that are identical in pitch but written
differently (example: A sharp is also B flat).
3. MUSIC VOCABULARY
• Chord: three or more notes played together.
• Tetrachord: a series of four diatonic tones that make the interval
of a perfect fourth.
• Note: the symbol that represents a pitch on a staff.
• Pitch: the frequency of a note.
• Rhythm: the steady pulse of music.
• Time Signature: the number of beats in each measure.
• Tempo: the speed at which the music is performed.
• Dynamics: the loudness or softness of the music.
• Phrase: a complete melodic idea.
• Form: the shape and organization of a piece of music.
• Timbre: the quality of a tone.
• Texture: results from the way that melodies and harmonies are
used and combined.
4. MUSIC VOCABULARY
Monophonic: the texture of a single, melodic line. Example: Gregorian chants
Polyphonic: the texture of more than one melodic line. Example: madrigals & motets
Homophonic: the texture in which two or more parts are moving together in harmony.
Example: Renaissance Masses by Palestrina
A capella: singing without accompaniment. Example: Gregorian chants & madrigals.
Melismatic: singing many notes per syllable in words.
Syllabic: singing one note per syllable in words.
Theme: a short melody.
Variation: means to disguise or change.
Theme & Variation: a musical form that presents a theme and then changes it slightly
many times over. Example: Mozart’s Theme & Variations of Twinkle, Twinkle Little
Star.
Sonata form: created during the Classical Period of music; has an A-B-A structure.
Example: Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata
Fugue: a form where a short melody or phrase is introduced by one part of the music
and then developed in other parts. Example: Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D minor
Concerto: a music composition in three movements for solo instrument & orchestra.
5. MUSIC IN ANCIENT GREECE
Philosophy of “ethos” – Greek word meaning disposition or character;
applied to music – the type of music you like determines your ethos.
One’s moral character The word “ethical” is derived from ethos.
Greek philosophers views on music:
• Aristotle: music arouses passions in the listener, therefore stimulating
•
undesirable attitudes must be avoided – impacts your “ethos”.
• Plato: music is important in education.
• Phythagorus: discovered how to tune a string & the ratio of intervals.
Muses: nine sister goddesses that Greeks believed inspired creativity in people.
Instruments:
• Lyre : stringed instrument with a small U-shaped harp with strings fixed to a
cross-bar.
• Aulos: a single or double reed pipe.
• Kithara: 3 to 12 stringed instrument with a wooden soundboard & boxshaped body from which extend two hollow arms connected by a crossbar.
Listening: Epitah of Seikilos
6. MUSIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES
(MEDIEVAL ERA – Fall of the Roman Empire to 1450)
• Catholic Church: main source of laws, power and money therefore most
music created during this time was sacred music for the church.
• Gregorian chant, plainchant or chant: a sacred, monophonic vocal form
made of a single, melodic line that is sung a capella in Latin. The chanting
is usually syllabic or melismatic, based on the church modal scales and was
used in Catholic Church services and monasteries.
• Liturgy: services or ceremonies of the Catholic Church.
– Mass
• Proper of the Mass: Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory
• Ordinary of the Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
– Office
• hours of prayer
• Used in monasteries (for monks) and convents (for nuns)
Listening: “Laudate Deum” (a Gregorian chant sung a capella and is
melismatic in style.)
7. MUSIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES
• Secular music: music that is NOT sacred; for the people.
– Roving minstrels who performed secular music and wrote
poetry in their own language (vernacular) during this time
were:
• Troubadours & Trouveres (France)
• Minnesingers (Germany)
• Goliards (ALL)….the group that wrote baudy poetry in
Latin, usually defrocked monks; the Latin lyrics of the
Carmina Burana comes from this group.
• Cantigas (Spain)….these songs are usually SACRED.
• Organum: early form of polyphony….more than one melodic
line…started as parallel organum (2 melodies moving together)
Organum began in Paris….in the Cathedral of Notre Dame
Early composer of organum: Machaut
Example of paralell organum: “Alleluia Justus et Palma”
8. MUSIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES
• Ars Nova: (new art) a musical style which flourished in France and the
Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages.
• Cantus firmus: an existing melody used as the basis for a polyphonic
composition. Used in polyphonic Mass cycles.
• Polyphonic Mass Cycles: combining all parts of the of the Mass-Kyrie,
Gloria, etc.- together as one unified composition.
• Motet: a short piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic and
unaccompanied (sung a capella). Example: La Messe De Nostre Dame:
Kyrie by Machaut.
• Madrigal: a secular song for two or three unaccompanied voices,
developed in Italy during the late 13th and early 14th centuries (late
Middle Ages!) Added another voice part during the Renaissance (4).
• Canon: a piece of music in which two or more voices (or instrumental
parts) sing or play the same music starting at different time. Example:
“Sumer is Icumen In”
9. MUSIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES
• Composers of the Middle Ages
– Guillaume Machaut
– Josquin des Prez
– Jean de Ockeghem
– John Dunstable
• Instruments of the Middle Ages:
recorder
lute
drum
shawm
sackbut
serpent
bagpipe
horn
cymbals
harp
hurdy-gurdy
viol
• Secular song forms of the Middle Ages:
madrigal
chanson
virelai
rondeau
ballata
caccia
ballade
canon
10. MUSIC IN THE RENAISSANCE (1450-1600)
• Renaissance: means “rebirth”.
• Florence, Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance
• Medici: Powerful, wealthy family who ruled Florence and were
patrons of great Renaissance artists and musicians.
• Madrigal: A polyphonic song using a vernacular text and written
for four to six voices, developed in Italy in the 16th century and
popular in England in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Example:
“Fair Phyllis”.
• Word painting: Musical depiction of words in text. Using the
device of word painting, the music tries to imitate the emotion,
action, or natural sounds as described in the text. Example: “Fair
Phyllis” – up and down section of madrigal when the music goes
up and down!
• Through-composed: having different music for each verse: a
through-composed song.
11. MUSIC IN THE RENAISSANCE
(1450-1600)
• Tablature: any of various systems of music notation using letters,
numbers, or other signs to indicate the strings, frets, keys, etc., to be
played.
• Lute: A stringed instrument having a body shaped like a pear sliced
lengthwise and a neck with a fretted fingerboard that is usually bent
just below the tuning pegs.
• Villancico: a Spanish part-song resembling the madrigal.
• Consort: a set of musical instruments of the same family..i.e. viols
• Lute song: a generic form of music in the late Renaissance and very
early Baroque eras, generally consisting of a singer accompanying
himself on a lute.
• Reformation: the 16th-century religious movement that led to the
establishment of the Protestant churches; begun by Martin Luther.
• Chorale: a hymn tune, especially. in the Lutheran service, with a simple
melody and rhythm in four-part harmony. Example: “A Mighty Fortress
is Our God” by Martin Luther.
12. MUSIC IN THE RENAISSANCE
1450-1600
• COMPOSERS
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Palestrina (Masses)
Josquin des Prez
Du Fay
Peri (first Opera)
Monteverdi (developed opera)
De Lassus
Byrd (English madrigals)
Dowland (lute songs)
Martin Luther (chorales)
13. MUSIC IN THE BAROQUE PERIOD
1600-1750
• Affectations: states of mind, such as sadness or joy, etc.
• Concerto: composition for solo instrument plus orchestra.
• Opera: drama with continuous music, staged with scenery, costumes,
soloists, chorus, orchestra and plenty of action.
• Pastoral drama: play in verse with incidental music and song; source
for early opera.
• Oratorio: a large-scale musical work for orchestra and voices, typically
a narrative on a religious theme, performed without the use of costumes,
scenery, or action. Well-known examples include Bach's Christmas
Oratorio and Handel's Messiah.
• Monody: the musical texture of solo singing accompanied by one or
more instruments.
• Basso continuo: system of notation where an instrumental bass line is
written for one or more players of keyboard, lute, or viol carry a melodic
bass line.
• Continuo instruments: instruments used to realize basso continuo, such
as keyboard, organ or lute.
14. MUSIC IN THE BAROQUE PERIOD
1600-1750
• Tonality: the system by which a piece of music is organized around a
tonic note, chord and key.
• Aria: Lyrical monologue in an opera or other vocal works.
• Libretto: literary text for an opera.
• Recitative: a type of vocal singing that is similar to speech.
• Intermedio: musical interlude between or after the acts of a comdey or
tragedy.
• Florentine Camerata: a group of humanists, musicians, poets and
intellectuals who gathered to discuss and guide trends in music and drama
in Florence, Italy.
• Cantata: a medium-length narrative piece of music for voices with
instrumental accompaniment, typically with solos, chorus, and orchestra
• Counterpoint: the art or technique of setting, writing, or playing a melody
or melodies in conjunction with another, according to fixed rules.
• Fugue: a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase is
introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed
by interweaving the parts.
15. MUSIC IN THE BAROQUE PERIOD
1600-1750
• Musical Forms
– Concerto
– Symphony
– String quartets
– String quintets
– Fugue
– Opera
– Cantata
– Oratorio
Composers:
J.S. Bach
Monteverdi
Peri
Vivaldi
Handel
16. MUSIC IN THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
1730-1815
• Requiem: a religious ceremony, usually a Mass performed for the
dead
• Piano concerto: a concerto written for a piano accompanied by an
orchestra or other large ensemble.
• Cadenza: a virtuoso solo passage inserted into a movement in a
concerto or other work, typically near the end.
• Emfindsam style: ( German: “sensitive style”) important
movement occurring in northern German instrumental music
during the mid-18th century and characterized by an emphasis
upon the expression of a variety of deeply felt emotions within a
musical work.
• Keyboard sonata: A composition for one or more solo instruments,
one of which is usually a keyboard instrument, usually consisting of
three or four independent movements
17. MUSIC IN THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
1730-1815
• Symphonic form: an elaborate instrumental composition in three or
more movements, similar in form to a sonata but written for an
orchestra and usually of far grander proportions. In the Classical
Period, this form is:
– First Movement: Allegro tempo (fast)
• Exposition (theme)
• Development
• Recapitulation
– Second Movement: Adagio tempo (slow)
• Minuet and Trio
Third Movement: Presto tempo (faster)
Sonata form: A-B-A : closes symphonic work
18. MUSIC IN THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
1730-1815
• Improvisation: To improvise means to make something up on the
spot, or figure it out as you go.
• Concerto: a musical composition for a solo instrument or
instruments accompanied by an orchestra, esp. one conceived on a
relatively large scale.
• Chamber music: instrumental music played by a small ensemble,
with one player to a part, the most important form being the string
quartet which developed in the 18th century
• String quartet:a chamber music ensemble consisting of first and
second violins, viola, and cello.
• Strum und Drang: (storm and stress) a literary and artistic
movement in Germany in the late 18th century, influenced by JeanJacques Rousseau and characterized by the expression of emotional
unrest and a rejection of neoclassical literary norms; turbulent
emotion or stress.
19. MUSIC IN THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
1730-1815
• Major Composers:
– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (wrote in every style,
form and for all insturments)
– Franz Josef Haydn (developed the symphonic
form)
– Ludwig von Beethoven (Symphonies 1-3)
20. MUSIC IN THE ROMANTIC PERIOD
1820-1900
• Romantic: Term applied to music of the nineteenth
century. Romantic music had looser and more extended
FORMS, greater experimentation with HARMONY
and TEXTURE, richly expressive and memorable
MELODIES, improved musical instruments, an interest
in musical NATIONALISM, and a view of music as a
moral force, in which there was a link between the
artists' inner lives and the world around them.
21. MUSIC IN THE ROMANTIC PERIOD
1820-1900
• Art song: a song written to be sung in recital, typically with piano
accompaniment and often set to a poem.
• Song cycle: a set of related songs, often on a romantic theme,
intended to form a single musical entity
• Lieder: a type of German song, esp. of the Romantic period,
typically for solo voice with piano accompaniment.
• Ballad:a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas.
Traditional ballads are typically of unknown authorship, having
been passed on orally from one generation to the next as part of the
folk culture.
• Grand opera: A serious or tragic opera for which the entire text is
set to music. 2. A lavishly produced opera.
22. MUSIC IN THE ROMANTIC PERIOD
1820-1900
• Singspiel: a form of German light opera, typically with spoken
dialogue, popular esp. in the late 18th century.
• Program Music: music that is intended to evoke images or
convey the impression of events. Music that is a story.
• Symphonic poem: a musical composition for symphony
orchestra, usually in one movement and based on a
literary, historical, or other nonmusical subject.
• Ballet: an artistic dance form performed to music using precise
and highly formalized set steps and gestures. Classical
ballet, which originated in Renaissance Italy and established its
present form during the 19th century, is characterized by
light, graceful, fluid movements and the use of pointe shoes.
• Lullaby: a quiet, gentle song sung to send a child to sleep.
23. MUSIC IN THE ROMANTIC PERIOD
1820-1900
• Composers:
– Beethoven
– Schubert
– Schumann (Robert & Clara)
– Chopin
– Berlioz
– Liszt
– Smetana
– Dvorak
– Mendelsohnn
Brahms
Verdi
Puccini
Wagner
Mahler
Tchaikovsky