Music Midterm: Vocab

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Pitch

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describes the frequency of the note (frequency low sounds are longer and slower waves, high sounds are shorter and faster waves).

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Melody

Back 2

singable part (the tune)

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Harmony

Back 3

two or more tones sounded simultaneously.

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Textures

Back 4

Texture describes the particular combination of sounds, voices, instruments. thinness or thickness of sound.

Performer or Composer decides what the texture will be.

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polyphony

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two or more different parts. poly means more than one.
if two different voices/instruments are singing/playing different melodies. (opera)

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homophony

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two or more similar parts. not the same note but parallel. the density of sparseness of the music.

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monophony

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Unison, one voice or one part. (happy birthday) not about amount of people singing but how they are singing. solo voice or instrument. can be many voices at once but has to be the same.

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heterophony

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two or more parts, almost together, but with slight variation. Hetero means different. Example: Nusrat ataf ali khan.

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Homorythmic

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texture in which all voices move together rhythmically. one melody with harmony layered on it with the same melody.

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Dynamics

Back 10

how quietly or how loudly you hear something. Dramatic component... greater purpose for dynamics.

how loud or how soft the volume is, creating textures through the amount of sound that the composer chooses to have. dynamics werent used much in the renaissance-moreso the baroque era because composers werent as concerned with the replication of the performance. in baroque they wanted it to sound similar every time.

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Melisma

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a single syllable of text sung to many pitches. single syllable of text sung to many different pitches. the longer there melisma the longer we have to wait between individual syllables. Example: Leonin Alleluia pascha nostrum (hallelujah our passover) c. 1200 (medieval)

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SATB

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Soprano, Alto, Tener, Bass

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Timbre

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tone quality of voice or instrument. Raspy:
Clear, Nasal, Falsetto, Tense, Relaxed

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Tempo

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speed (fast or slow)

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Rhythm/Meter

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How sound is organized in time.

Rhythm: rhythm is what moves music forward in time.

Meter: groupings of pulses with one pulse repeatedly accented, creating strong and weak beats. “one two three” grouping beats changes the emphasis.
-duple/triple (2/3)
-complex (5,7, etc)
-polymeter: dealing with a duple meter and a triple meter at the same time.

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Mass

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Central service of the Roman Catholic Church.

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Renaissance motet (Latin Text)

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religious accapela music. motet is a type of song poem. Usually 3 or more voices. Melody would often be based on cantos firmus. religious in nature. text in Latin. written for 3 or more voices. sometimes based on chant or other CF. many in praise of Virgin Mary.

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Madrigal (Italian and English)

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Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem; also popular in England.

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Opera

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Opera: Music drama that is generally sung throughout, combining the resources of vocal and instrumental music with poetry and drama, acting and pantomime, scenery and costumes.

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Cantata (sacred)

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Vocal genre for solo singers, chorus, and instrumentalists based on a lyric or dramatic poetic narrative. It generally consists of several movements including recitatives, arias, and ensemble numbers.

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Oratorio

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Oratorio: is a large-scale dramatic genre with a sacred text performed by solo voices, chorus, and orchestra; it is not staged or costumed.

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Clavichord

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stringed keyboard instrument popular in the Renaissance and Baroque that is capable of unique expressive devices not possible on the harpsichord.

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Harpsichord

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Early Baroque keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked by quills instead of being struck with hammers like the piano. two layers of keyboard

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organ

Back 24

Wind instrument in which air is fed to the pipes by mechanical means; the pipes are controlled by two or more keyboards and a set of pedals. This familiar theme features the pipe organ's keyboards (usually two or more) and pedals (for low pitches, played with the feet).

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-solo concerto (solo with tutti)

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tutti: "All"; the opposite of solo.
Solo Concerto: is a concerto in which a single soloist is accompanied by an orchestra.

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-concerto grosso (concertino with tutti)

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Baroque concerto type based on the opposition between a small group of solo instruments (the concertino) and orchestra (the ripieno).

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Baroque dance suite

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The suite is a type of instrumental dance music that emerged during the Renaissance and was further developed during the Baroque Period. It consists of several movements or short pieces in the same key and functions as dance music or dinner music during social gatherings.

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Fugue

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A main theme (subject) is presented in various voices at different moments in a particular composition. The subject is then imitated by another voice (countersubject).

Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which one or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint.
Fuga =flight in latin
A fugue is a complex composition in which the theme (called the subject) is developed by imitative counterpoint. In this example, the first imitation of the subject is heard overlapping the initial idea.

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dissonance

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opposite of consonance. when a listener doesn’t like it-some people like it... like the combo of peanut butter and pickles. Haunting sounding.

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diatonic

Back 30

Melody or harmony built from the seven tones of a major or minor scale. A diatonic scale encompasses patterns of seven whole tones and semitones. Combination of tones that sounds discordant and unstable, in need of resolution.

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chromaticism

Back 31

Ever since the Baroque Period, almost all music had been written in one of two kinds of scales: major or minor. By the end of the Romantic Period, however, these scale systems were growing tired. The increasingly intense emotions of the time could not be captured by using just the seven availible tones of a given key. Increasingly, composers began to use notes from the chromatic scale to create a greater sense of emotion and tension.

The chromatic scale includes all 12 tones of the octave, whereas the major and minor scales only use seven of the twelve. By using the tones that are not "supposed" to be in a certain key, composers were able to create stronger and more effective dissonances. In turn, the exaggered dissonance created more tension, which gave a greater sense of relief when the music arrived at a moment of release. Alternatively, the moment of release could be delayed using chromatic harmonies, so that the listener is constantly pulled forward, waiting for the resolution. This can be heard in the operas of Richard Wagner, where the melodies seem to drag on forever.

As composers used more and more chromatic tones, the sense of key was gradually weakened. This is because the old tonal system was designed to gravitate around its key center. Chromaticism served to dilute this effect with the added "outside" notes. Eventually, this lack of tonal focus grew to the point of atonality, where there was no longer any indentifiable tonal center.

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Scale

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arrangement of pitches with a total interval of an octave.

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Range

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register/ low, high

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Tonality

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Major, minor. (minor is sad dark major is lighter/happier)

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Overtones

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when sound hits your ear its not a simple wave of sound, the combo of frequencies that come together to make a voice unique. Each instrument makes their own special combo of tones that hit your ear. sound frequency that is layered over another sound frequency.

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Beat/pulse

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essential “heartbeat” of music

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Measures/bars

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groupings of beats

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Syncopation

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accenting “typically” weaker beats

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Idiophone

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self sounding. (a triangle, tapping a chair with a pen).

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Membranophone

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(Snare drum)

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Chordophone:

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Any kind of string instrument.

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Aerophone

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Air going through it, Organ, Trumpet, bag pipe, accordion, harmonica

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Corpophone

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playing on your body.

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Electrophone

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synthesizer. cannot produce sound without electricity to make sound.

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Falsetto

Back 45

singers with lower vocal registers singing in a high pitch (not their normal voice)

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Monophonic gregorian chant

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Monophony, a capella religious singing

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basic major triad

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3 notes

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major triad

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1,3,5 (happy upbeat)

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two or more players

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chamber music

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The renaissance

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1450-1600. Preceding this time was the middle ages. Medieval ages: bubonic plague.
More scientific exploration, realism, move away from religion—towards “rationalism”
Emphasis on individual achievements
Ideas reflected in all arts
Art made for secular purposes to a greater extent
Musicians in Renaissance had patrons such as church, city, state, royalty. Frequent use of cantos firmus: fixed song. Man/humans were central to thought and intelligence rather than it coming from above. humanism emerged as the dominant belief of the renaissance. how to be more expressive in music in the renaissance: Clear articulation of the words (musica reservata) and the developing concept that the music should reflect and intensify the actual meaning of the words, (word painting or tone painting). Education- the rise of secular power meant the rise of secular education. Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan. Protestant reformation and martin luther. 1450- printing press. info to move more quickly and cheaply. Literal copying of roman and classical art.

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Sacred Music

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a capella only. Religious or spiritual music, for church or devotional use.

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Secular music

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a capella, voice + instrument OR instrumental. non religious.

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Cantus Firmus:

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fixed song. is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition, often set apart by being played in long notes.

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Imitative polyphony

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one voice is imitated by at least one other voice. (row row row your boat)

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The protestant reformation

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led by Martin Luther.

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Isorhythmic

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Medieval and early Renaissance motet based on a repeating rhythmic pattern throughout one or more voices.

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Form

Back 57

how is the piece of music organized

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loud and outdoor were synonymous and soft and indoor were synonymous.

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.

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Baroque Era

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1600-1750. 1750: year Bach died.
Baroque came from the word Barroco, meaning irregular shaped pearl in Portuguese. Barroco also means strange in Italian. The Baroque Spirit: Turbulent changes in vulture (enlightenment) politics (revolution) and art. Louis XIV, Galileo/Newton, Harvey, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, El Greco. Religious wars between Protestants and Catholics (Holland, Scandinavia, North Germany, England vs Italy, France, Spain). Rise of middle class (collegium musicum). New World exploration (internationalism and exoticism). Rich detail in art, tons of ornamentation in architecture, everything was very ornate. Doctrine of the Affections-one mood for entire section. Women as professional singers and instrumentalists.

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Monody

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Vocal style established in the Baroque, with a solo singer and instrumental accompaniment.

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basso continuo

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Italian for "continuous bass." See figured bass. Also refers to performance group with a bass, chordal instrument (harpsichord, organ), and one bass melody instrument (cello, bassoon).

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Castrato

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Male singer who was castrated during boyhood to preserve the soprano or alto vocal register, prominent in seventeenth-and early eighteenth-century opera.

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Figured Bass

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Baroque practice consisting of an independent bass line that often includes numerals indicating the harmony to be supplied by the performer. Also thorough-bass. It is a shorthand system for indicating the harmonies that occur above a given bass note or string of bass notes.

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Da Capo Aria

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Lyric song in ternary, or A-B-A, form, commonly found in operas, cantatas, and oratorios. It is a musical form that was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and oratorio. A da capo aria is in ternary form, meaning it is composed of three sections.

Front 65

Cantata

Back 65

is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.

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Da capo

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An indication to return to the beginning of a piece.

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down beat

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First beat of the measure, the strongest in any meter.

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Aria

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Lyric song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment, generally expressing intense emotion; found in opera, cantata, and oratorio.

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Recitative

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Solo vocal declamation that follows the inflections of the text, often resulting in a disjunct vocal style; found in opera, cantata, and oratorio.

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chorale

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Baroque congregational hymn of the German Lutheran church.

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Orchestra

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An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments.

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Concerto

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Instrumental genre in several movements for solo instrument (or instrumental group) and orchestra.

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Orchestral overture

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(introduction played by the orchestra), solo arias (within an opera it is a solo piece that highlights some part of the story usually with the most talented singer performing), recitatives (talking with a singing voice)

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Monteverdi

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(father of opera)- The Coronation of Poppea

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Sonata

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a sonata is a multi movement work, written for 1-8 instruments . The favored combo being two violins and continuo (cello or bassoon and organ or harpsichord)-also called trio sonata

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Baroque Suite

Back 76

In the Baroque era the suite was more precisely defined, with the pieces unified by key, and consisting of dances usually preceded by a prelude or overture. The suite was also known as Suite de danses, Ordre (the term favored by François Couperin) or Partita. AABB or ABA form with a moving from the tonic to dominant and B resolving to the tonic.

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Water Music

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To be performed on water

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Allegro

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Fast, cheerful.

This march moves along at a regular, fast pace.

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Largo

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Broad; very slow.

The pace of this mournful piano work is very slow.

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Protestant Reformation

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.

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Counter Reformation

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.