Music short essay
MUS 100 02
Class #6 9/21/2017
Assignment • Moodle Test #1 (80 pts) & Essay #1 (20pts) available
today – Both open at 4:00 p.m. today (9/21) – available until 11:55
p.m. on Sunday (9/24). – You will have 90 minutes & 2 attempts – Moodle tests are called “Quizzes” in Moodle – Essays are called “Assignments” in Moodle
• Problems with Moodle tests and/or essays – Do a browser check first (available on Moodle login page) – 5% of you will probably have some trouble with the
technology especially if it is your first time with Moodle quizzes
• A"er taking test, click on “next” – There you can see if you answered all ques<ons – Your choice will be to “return to a?empt” to answer anything you might have missed… OR…….
– Click on “submit and finish” – Then you should see your final score
• The essay is not “cut off” at the deadline, but you may lose points from your TA for lateness…
• h#p://moodle.umass.edu
Renaissance (1425 -1600) Compared to Middle Ages • Melody: more use of disjunct motion (more like modern melodies)
divided into sections by phrases and cadences (more modern)
• Rhythm: Church music...smooth, flowing rhythm (as before) Secular music...metrically structured
Harmony: Byproduct of polyphony .. Still conceived horizontally as before
• Texture: polyphonic…imitative counterpoint Renaissance sometimes called “The Age of Polyphony”
• Timbre: – no real distinction between vocal & instrumental (as before) – however… a growing variety of instruments come on the scene
• Form: – based on repetition, variation or contrast (as before) – primarily sectional; (e.g.- binary form for dance music = 2 parts or AB
• Word/music relationship: word painting or text painting
VIDEO: Renaissance Music Band - Epiphany Vespers • Epiphany (Jan. – after Christmas); Vespers (evening
service) • Polyphony • No distinction between instrumental & vocal
– Instruments are doubling the voice parts – In the 15th & 16th centuries, an instrument might have taken a
part not being sung (depending on who was available) • Rhythm - sounds free but really in duple meter • Harmony - really something called counterpoint • Instruments: sackbuts, lute, harpsichord, shawm (ancestor
to the oboe), small harp, etc. • Invention of printing press
– Printing using movable metal type – Printed music became widespread – available to many… – Christian church music began to really change… – NEW FORMS such as Motets, madrigals (sacred & secular)
Renaissance Chorus & accompanying band Epiphany Vespers
VIDEO: Renaissance Dance • Creates the mood, grace & elegance of an
afternoon at a Renaissance court (castle) • Music notation used - playable today • Secular dance music • Strong meter -- for dancing • Recorders, viola da gamba, harpsichord,
tambourine-like percussion instrument • Dance music was common both in court, and in
the peasant villages… – But the dances were very different – Here, you will see several different court dances
Peasant Music from the Renaissance
• Instrumental music was similar to court music- usually 1 or 2 musicians (probably an imitation of what was seen and heard in the castle)
• Dancing less sophisticated - - Line dancing - not unlike dancing to country music - Circle dancing - square dancing probably related
• Renaissance Fairs Common in many communities (museums/art galleries) Music, dance, theater, food, jousting, acrobats, etc.
The Sahara Desert – North Africa • Buffer between north & south/central Africa • Tuareg(twareg) clans lived on edge of desert - still do..
– Controlled all trade between south & north – Camel caravans - 5 routes through the desert – Carried salt, gold, slaves (to Europe & Middle East) – Slaves came from Sub Saharan Africa
• Early 20th century - Europeans built railroads across the desert - and some primitive roads - – Tuaregs still operate camel caravans - but no longer
dominate trade in the Sahara • One of the Tuareg clans: Berbers -
– In 711, they were in the forefront of the invasion of Spain – Fierce soldiers – Tuareg fighters are involved in a civil war in Mali right now
• Video gives a glimpse of their lives & musical culture
Tinariwen - “Desert Blues” • A contemporary rock band of nomadic Taureg
musicians from the southern edge of the Sahara • Modern music instruments & amplifers • Traditional tribal rhythms • Pentatonic scale (universal 5-note scale - folk music) • Texts (lyrics) related to Taureg history/culture
– Cultural context (not just pop music) – Songs about persecution & killing – Oppression from Greeks….Romans…and later on … France
• Tinariwen performs and records what has been described as “Desert Blues” (style….not the form)
• They have several videos on YouTube.com
Tinariwen – Live at Womad
Get out your i>Clickers
• You s<ll do not need to get the right answer for these. Just make sure you ‘click in’ on all ques<ons, and get used to the process. However, some of these ques<ons might very well be on future tests.
1. Which of the following best describes ternary form?
A. AABA B. ABAB C. ABA D. Duple meter
2. The Church dominated intellectual and cultural life in the Middle Ages
True or False
3. The Middle Ages was known as the age of:
A. Tough love B. Courtly love C. Agape love D. Reckless love
4. Metered rhythm is:
A. Carefully <med so that the worship service does not run too long
B. Rhythm without structure C. Used in music that requires a conductor D. Rhythm structured around a fixed metrical pa?ern
5. The term “a cappella” refers to:
A. men taking their hats off in church B. singing in a hushed manner in church C. any form of music appropriate for worship D. singing without an instrumental accompaniment
6. “Desert Blues” is a label given to a contemporary band of Taureg musicians using electric guitars mixed with “traditional” music instruments, melodic material, & rhythms. They are called ___________
A. The Bamboo Orchestra B. Tinariwen C. Mokoomba D. The Master Musicians
7. The norm for Renaissance music in general was____________
A. Homophony B. Monophony C. Polyphony D. Heterophony
8. Music that imitates, describes or conjures images of the text being sung is called _________
A. Call and Response B. Word painting C. Rhyme singing D. Ternary form
9. The Renaissance may be described as an age of:
A. Human crea<vity, explora<on, individualism B. Wars (Crusades) and extreme cruelty C. Orchestras touring extensively in Europe D. Total domina<on by the Roman Catholic Church
10. A physical & cultural “buffer” between North Africa and Central/South Africa was caused by:
A. Religious persecution B. Changing weather patterns C. The Sahara Desert D. Control by Taureg nomads