Music Bibliography
ethboi
ElementsofMusic18.pdf
Laura Moore Pruett, Merrimack College
Edition 1.1
The Elements of Music
1 The elements of music are directly related to the elements of sound. Sound travels in waves. Elements of Music
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The elements of music are directly related to the elements of sound. Sound travels in waves that vary according to a number of variables, including the object, instrument, person, or animal mak- ing the sound; how loud the sound is, how long it lasts, and the fre- quency at which the sound is vibrating. There are four elements of sound we can listen for and discuss; they are frequency, ampli- tude, duration, and wave form. Duration is simply how long the sound lasts: is it a quick “blip” lasting less than a second, or does it blare on and on like an emergency siren? The following image will help you understand amplitude and frequency.
The top wave represents a typical sound wave vibrating at a cer- tain amplitude (its height) and frequency (how many peaks and troughs there are in a certain amount of time).
The second wave has the same frequency as the Girst wave (the same number of peaks and troughs) but twice the amplitude (it's twice as high). A sound wave like this would be about twice as loud as the Girst wave but the same pitch.
The third wave has half the frequency of the second wave (half the number of peaks and troughs) but the same amplitude (it's exactly the same height). A sound wave like this would sound deeper (lower pitched) than the sec- ond wave, about as loud as the second wave, and twice as loud as the Girst wave.
The fourth or lowest wave has twice the frequency of waves 1 and 2 and four times the frequency of wave 3, so it would sound much higher in pitch than the other waves. It has the same amplitude as waves 2 and 3, so it would sound just about as loud.
Notice how all the waves in the image look pretty similar in their regular up-and-down motion? Sounds that are made by machines, like synthesizers, might look this “clean,” but when a real person or instrument makes a sound it looks very different, more like this image.
Section 1
Elements of Music
Image from Explain that Stuff published under a Creative Commons License. http://www.explainthatstuff.com/sound.html
Representations of Sound Waves
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That is because sounds are affected by the kinds of materials the instrument is made of. That includes people, too – our vocal cords
are all slightly different from one another’s, which is why we can tell the difference be- tween the voices of Louis Armstrong and Mariah Carey just by using our ears! These differences give different sounds their unique wave forms.
Now, all music is sound, but not all sounds are musical.
When we discuss music we use a special set of terms to describe the speciGic kinds of elements we hear in mu- sical sounds. The elements of music at their simplest or highest levels corre- spond directly to the four elements of sound as fol- lows:
Elements of Sound Elements of Music
Duration Duration
Frequency Pitch
Amplitude Dynamics
Wave Form Timbre or Tone Color
Duration in music can relate to the length of time we hear a par- ticular note, how long a phrase lasts, or the entire length of a song or a symphony. In the chapter on Rhythm we will explore this in more detail. We hear frequencies in music as pitches, and we often use words like “low” or “high” to describe what we are hearing. The faster the frequency at which the musical sound or note is vi- brating, the higher we hear its pitch; slow-frequency sounds pro- duce lower pitches. On a piano, lower pitches are to the left of the keyboard, while higher pitches are on the right. Here is a link to a great online virtual keyboard for you to explore!
http://virtualpiano.net/
(You can use your mouse, tracker pad, or keys on a laptop or desk- top computer; for a good iPad app click here instead.) We’ll talk more about Pitch, speciGically how musical pitches become melo- dies and harmonies, in Chapter 3.
Dynamics is the word used to describe levels of loudness and soft- ness in music. Again, this can be something we hear in terms of
INTERACTIVE 1.1
Louis Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWzrABouyeE
Image from Go Media: http://s3.gomedia.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/07 /GoMediaArsenal_WireframeSoundwaves_08.jpg ?_ga=1.101070337.1870448255.1472218931.
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one single musical note, which might be affected by how hard we strike the piano key or pluck the guitar string, or at a larger level of the entire piece. The Wikipedia article on dynamics gives a good list of Italian terms and indications often used in classical mu- sic notation, like piano and forte (actually, this is the reason the in- strument called “the piano” got its name!). You can use these spe- ciGic terms in your musical analysis, or stick to directly describing what you hear: “The song starts out loud, but then gets softer about a minute later.” A bit more on Dynamics is covered in Chap- ter 5.
Finally, those differences in wave form stemming from the various materials making up the sound producer (Muscle and tendons? Wood and strings? Metal?) give each instrument and voice its unique timbre (pronounced tam-ber), also known as tone color. We will consider this further in the Scoring and Instrumentation chapter. As a Ginal link, here’s the “Intermission” from Disney’s 1940 animated Gilm Fantasia, featuring the hand-painted “Sound- track” illustrating the sounds of various instruments.
The below image and all other unattributed images are used under the Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike License. More information can viewed at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution- ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License
2 Rhythm is made up of the patterns of movement of sound through time. Rhythm
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Historians, anthropologists, and ethnomusicologists have specu- lated that music originated in the beating of rhythms that were used to accompany ritual. In some cultures, music still focuses pre- dominantly on rhythms, often very complicated ones. At times, in these cultures and even in our own, rhythmic patterns are played alone, with no accompanying melody. For example, the rhythmic patterns of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” can be clapped without singing the melodic patterns. In most Western music (including much of the mu- sic we will study this semester) rhythmic pat- terns are wed- ded so closely to melody as to be nearly insepara- ble.
In its broadest sense, rhythm is a term that refers to the organiza- tion of sounds in time. All music has rhythm (this includes the si- lence that is also a part of music!). Composers and songwriters create patterns of long and short durations to generate a rhythmic impulse, or energy, that is imparted to the music. There are vari- ous levels of rhythm in music, from the length of a single note, to a musical phrase or section, to an entire song or composition. To un- derstand rhythm, we need to understand beat, accent, syncopa- tion, and meter.
The beat is the basic unit for the measurement of time in music. The words “beat” and “pulse” are often used somewhat inter- changeably; and it’s worth noting that both have very clear connec- tions to the functions and patterns present in the human body (such as the heartbeat or the pulsing of our blood). The pulse is usually easily identiGiable in most music; it’s the steady beat we hear and respond to by nodding our heads, tapping our Gingers or feet, clapping our hands, or dancing. When a beat is divided into two smaller units (or a multiple of two), this is called a even subdi- vision. When a beat is divided into three smaller units, this is called uneven subdivision, and so on. Rock songs often use an even subdivision, while swing and blues songs more often exhibit uneven subdivision.
In some music, when rhythms based on different subdivisions of the beat are heard at the same time, “polyrhythms” are created.
Section 1
Rhythm
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Just remember that “poly-“ means “many”; therefore, the term means “many rhythms.” If there is no discernible beat in a piece or section of a piece, this is described as free rhythm.
Meter can be deGined as a pattern of accented and unaccented beats. Your ear naturally groups these beats into patterns – you hear “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” in “three”, because each accented beat marks off a set of three equal beats. This is called triple me- ter. “Twinkle, Twinkle” is “in two”, because each accented beat marks off a set of two equal beats. This is called duple meter. Most rock tunes, jazz pieces, and polkas are in duple meters; waltzes are in triple meters.
Most of the music with which Western listeners are familiar is in either a duple or triple meter. However, some music is in other me- ters, like 5 or 7. Since these grouping cannot be divided evenly into subgroups of two or three, they are called asym- metrical or mixed meters. Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” in a meter of Give, is a good ex- ample. Many examples from other cultural backgrounds also have asymmetrical me- ters.
Syncopation is the presence of accents that conGlict with the beat rather than lining up with the beat. If a large number of the ac- cents fall “in-between” the main beats, the music is highly syncopated. The horn interlude of James Brown’s “I Feel Good” is an excellent example of syncopation. Another example is the title phrase of Van Halen's "Runnin' with the Devil." Tempo can be deGined as the speed or rate with which beats fol- low one another. A “fast” piece has a rapid tempo. When the beats proceed at a regular rate, the tempo is constant, as in the ticking of a clock. If the time between beats gets faster and slower, the tempo is said to be rubato. If the beats get progressively faster, the tempo is accelerating. If they get progressively slower, the tempo is decelerating. Here’s one of my favorite examples of a piece of music that includes a very noticeable acceleration of tempo that begins about 2:30” into the song. INTERACTIVE 2.1 Dave
Brubeck Quartet, “Take Five”
INTERACTIVE 2.2 Dexy’s Midnight Runners, “Come On Eileen”
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REVIEW 2.1 Meter
Check Answer
Question 1 of 3 What is the meter of the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”?
A. duple
B. triple
C. asymmetrical
D. none of the above
3 Along with lyrics, melody is the most memorable element of music. Harmony is the architectural foundation that most Western music is built upon. Both fall under the umbrella of the musical element of pitch. Pitch Melody and Harmony
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When we consider the element of frequency in music, we gener- ally use the term pitch to describe the differences that we are hear- ing. You’re probably somewhat familiar with the concept of “high” and “low” in relationship to music: if I play for you the following pattern, you should be able to describe what you are hearing:
Were you right? The higher a note is pitched, the faster the fre- quency at which it is vibrating. Lower notes have slower frequen- cies. There are important mathematical relationships among the frequencies of certain notes; more on that in a while. For now, though, if you can differentiate between high and low pitches, you’re right on track.
Section 1
Pitch
INTERACTIVE 3.1 Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, mvt. 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elWQLxoXav4. The excerpt begins at 28 seconds into the video.
REVIEW 3.1 Pitch
Check Answer
How do the pitches of this excerpt gen- erally move?
A. from lower to higher
B. from higher to lower
C. both
D. neither
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It’s worth considering how to create high and low pitches on a va- riety of different instruments, too. On a piano, for example, when you sit at the keyboard the higher pitches will be under your right hand, getting higher the further you play towards the right side of the keyboard. The lowest pitches are of course towards the left side of the key- board, and pi- anists usually play them with their left hand.
On a guitar, things work a little differently: there are usually Give or six strings on a guitar, and the LOWEST-pitched string is at the TOP of the instrument, closest to the player’s head, while the HIGHEST-pitched string is physically the lowest one, closest to the ground. To make any of the strings play higher pitches the guitar- ist uses her Gingers on the frets to shorten the length of the string, thereby increasing the frequency at which it will naturally vibrate and giving it a higher pitch.
On many wind and brass instruments, using the buttons, keys, or holes closer to the player’s mouth gives a higher pitch and those nearer the far end of the instrument will sound a lower pitch. This has to do with the length of the tubing (whether it’s metal, wood, or plastic) through which the air travels and vibrates before it
reaches an outlet; the longer the tube, the lower the pitch. Con- sider the digeridoo as a great example of a long, low-pitched wind instrument!
Pitch functions in music in two different ways. When we combine pitches of different frequencies in succession, that is, one after an- other, we can create a melody. When we combine pitches in a stack and make them sound simultaneously, that is, at the same time, we create harmony. The notes on the staff shown on the next page represent a melo- dy - a succession of tones used in a meaningful way. Melody is usu- ally the Girst thing we Westerners (i.e., North and South Americans and Europeans) listen for in a piece of music. It is also the “tune” that will be remembered long after the tune is over. Melodic lines may be characterized by upward or downward movement, by both, or by hardly any movement at all. A melody in which there
LOWER HIGHER
Lower pitches
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are large distances between successive tones is called a disjunct melody. Such melodies often call for great dexterity in perform- ance – think about how much difGiculty many people experience when singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” because of the rela- tively large distance between many of its pitches (resulting in a wide range of melody and requiring a wide vocal range to sing it).
A melody that moves in small steps is called a conjunct melody. Such melodies are gen- erally much easier to sing than disjunct ones. “The First Noel” is a familiar example. In tradi- tional Western music, in a very
general sense, disjunct melodies tend to impart drama and energy, while conjunct melodies are capable of sweeter, more lyrical ef- fects.
Melodies are often described as having a contour or shape; the main types of melodic contours are ascending (the pitches of the melody become progressively higher), descending (become lower), undulating (pitches move alternately above and below a central tone), terraced (sudden shifts from one pitch level to an- other) and static (speech-like: little or no melodic motion at all, as in many rap tunes or the recitatives heard in operas).
Musical notation indicates speciGic pitches or tones by notes, or symbols arranged on a kind of linear ladder called a staff. The im- age on the previous page is an example. In Western music, the twelve equally-spaced pitches within a single octave, as found on a piano keyboard, are the basis of our pitch system. When played one after another in succession, these pitches constitute the chro- matic scale (from which other musical scales are derived). The “white key” pitches are given letter names: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G (see keyboard on previous pages). The “black key” pitches derive their names from either the white key directly above or below. They are the “sharps” and Glats”. Therefore, the pitch directly above C and directly below D can be called “C sharp” or D Glat". Although there are twelve available pitches per octave, most mu- sic in the West is based on one of two types of 7-pitch scales. The best-known patterns in Western music are the major and minor scales. Unlike the chromatic scale, in which all the intervals are the same, the major and minor scales are built on speciGic succes- sions of pitches that have both smaller and larger intervals. The
REVIEW 3.2 Question 1 of 2
Do you know the lyrics that go with this melody?
A. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
B. The First Noel
C. Happy Birthday To You
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small intervals are called semitones and the larger ones are called whole tones. In most general terms, we say that pieces built on major scales (i.e., pieces in major keys) tend to sound bright and happy, while piece built on minor scales (in minor keys) tend to sound dark, brooding, or sad. Also worth mention is the pentatonic scale, a Give-tone scale very often heard in folk tunes (especially many of the Irish tunes that made their way to the United States). This YouTube channel is devoted to switching well-known songs from major to minor keys or vice versa. Blues, jazz, and rock musicians characteristically alter the stan- dard pitch sequence of major and minor scales in ways that give a distinctive “bluesy” sound to their music. The altered pitches which produce this effect are called blue notes, and the musical scale produced when blue notes are incorporated is often referred to as the blues scale. When two different pitches are sung together, we become less aware of their individual sounds. A composite, blended sound is heard. The nature of the sound de- pends on the relationship of the two tones, the distance, or interval, be- tween them. When three or more tones are sounded together, they form a chord. The creation and use of chords in music creates harmony.
Harmony is the vertical or simultaneous aspect of pitch in music, whereas we can think of melody as the horizontal aspect of pitch. Stacking pitches on top of one another, we create chords; one chord after another creates harmony.
Chords in which all the different pitches seem to Git together nicely, creating a “pleasant” or “settled” effect, are said to be consonant. Those chords that are jarring, create tension, or seem to need resolution are called dissonant. (NOTE: The distinctions between consonance and dissonance are generally culturally based. In other words, one should be careful in using these terms to apply to ALL music, noting that conceptions of consonance and dissonance have more to do with culturally-grounded expecta- tions than with “absolute” or “universal” standards of aesthetic judgment).
A chord progression is the sequence of chords in a piece of music. In Western music, the most important chords are usually built on the 1st, 4th, and 5th degrees of the scale on which the piece is based. A chord built on the Girst scale degree is known as the “I” (one) or tonic chord, is usually the Girst and last chord heard in a piece. The “V” (Give) chord is called the dominant, be- cause of its dominant role in creating tension that can only be re- solved by the tonic. The “IV” (four) chord is called the subdomi- nant – it tends to lead to the arrival of the dominant chord.
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The most common standardized chord progression in blues, jazz, and rock and roll music is found in the musical form of the “12- bar” blues. The progression can be notated as below.
Harmony is common to most of the music we listen to, but can be difGicult to analyze accurately. For now, try to practice listening for major or minor keys, consonance versus dissonance, and simply determining whether a piece has harmony or not. Individual chord recognition may be something you practice further on in the semester.
By Hyacinth at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30598771. Ac- cess audio files at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-bar_blues.
GALLERY 3.1 The most common or standard 12- bar blues progressions variations, in C.Benward & Saker (2003), p. 186.
4 Why, exactly, can we hear the differences between a guitar, a trombone, a synthesizer, and a flute so quickly? The answer is timbre. Scoring and Instrumentation
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As mentioned in chapter 1, the terms timbre and tone color are interchangeable; they mean the same thing. What exactly is the “color” of a “tone”? Say I played for you the same frequency (or pitch), with the same intensity (loudness) and for the same length of time (duration), on
1) a piano 2) an electric guitar 3) a trombone 4) a cello
Would you be able to hear the differences be- tween those four musi- cal sounds, those four tones? Of course you would. Perhaps you wouldn’t be able to tell me exactly which instrument you are hearing, but you deGinitely wouldn’t mistake a piano for a trombone. This quality is what de- termines timbre, and it’s one of the most important elements of music. Imagine for a moment that all the music on your favorite playlist was all performed on one kind of instrument – say, Glute.
Wouldn’t that be pretty boring? The combination of different types of instruments and voices are what makes each musical style so distinctive and recognizable.
We love classic country music for the twangy, nasal vocal style; we relish the screams and growls of heavy metal. We like the string- heavy sound of bluegrass and the brass-focused energy of a pep band. We enjoy the sound of a classical solo piano sonata and a massive orchestra playing a symphony. All timbres have their place, and the endless possible combinations give music a special impact; think of tone color as similar to an artist’s palette. The col- ors are beautiful by themselves but also make great blends when mixed.
So what exactly do you need to know about tone color? A good place to begin is learning how to recognize and identify the sounds that different instruments make. Classifying instruments into categories according to some special characteristics is a use- ful way of starting to focus your listening. There are two different methods used for classifying instruments. The Girst and older method is the one used in a classical orchestra. When you see a photo or video of an orchestra playing, you might notice that simi- lar types of instruments sit in groups or near one another. These groups are the four families of the classical orchestra. They are as follows:
Section 1
Scoring and Instrumentation
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1) strings 2) woodwinds 3) brass 4) percussion
Click here for a good list, with images and sound clips, of all the in- struments that make up the various families. If you played in high school band or orchestra these should be familiar to you. But in my opinion there are a few problems with this system. For one, how come all the woodwinds aren’t made of wood? In fact, most Glutes have no wood in them whatsoever. Also, where does a piano Git in? Or an electric bass? Because this system is dated and style- speciGic to classical music, it is not particularly useful for other kinds of musics, whether popular, folk, or from other geographical areas or time periods.
Enter the Hornbostel-Sachs system of classifying instruments! This system was invented by two ethnomusicologists, who got tired of trying to “Git” Chinese and African and Brazilian instru- ments into the classical families. The H-S system (as it can be ab- breviated) uses two criteria to organize all the instruments of the world into a set of groups. These criteria are:
1) how the instrument is played 2) what is vibrating in or on the instrument to make the sound
Remember learning about frequency and sound waves? Sound waves are produced by vibrations, and we can look at instruments to Gigure out what is vibrating on each one to create those sounds. Often instruments also include some kind of sound ampliGier to in- crease the loudness of the sound.
Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs realized that there are basically four different things that could be vibrating to pro- duce the sound of an instrument:
1) a column of air moving inside/through the instrument 2) a string (or many strings) 3) a membrane 4) the body of the instrument itself
This led to the creation of the four basic categories of the Hornbostel-Sachs system: aerophones, chordophones, membra- nophones, and idiophones. The names of these categories derive from the Greek language, and once you notice the roots of the words they should be easy to remember!
The word “aero-phone” means “air-sound”. In the aerophone cate- gory, sound is produced by air being pushed or blown through the center of the instrument. This category therefore includes all the instruments in the woodwinds family as well as all the instru-
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ments in the brass family. Aerophones are played by either blow- ing or otherwise forcing air through the instrument.
The word “chordo-phone” means “string-sound.” All chordo- phones make sounds when strings are activated in some way, thus causing the strings themselves to vibrate. The strings can be plucked, as on a banjo, strummed, like a guitar, or bowed, like a Giddle or cello. Some chor- dophones have just one string, while oth- ers have more than twenty! Most chordo- phones also have
some kind of ampliGier, most commonly some type of hollow body behind or near the strings so that the sound can enter this hollow chamber, bounce around inside, and come out much louder. The body of an acoustic guitar is a great example. AmpliGiers are made of all sorts of interesting materials, though, including armadillo shells and gourds.
Are you beginning to understand how these categories work? The word “membrano-phone” means “membrane-sound.” Membrano- phones make sounds when a membrane of some kind is stretched tightly across a resonating chamber and struck to make it vibrate. Most drums fall into this category. Membranes can be made of ani- mal skins or synthetic materials, and the resonating chambers are all sorts of things – gourds, wooden boxes, metal drum shells, or clay overlaid with shell, as in the case of the Turkish darabouka here.
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Finally, the “idio-phones” are not made of idiots. :) Rather, the pre- Gix “idio” means “of itself,” so idiophones are instruments in which the sound is created through the vibration of the instrument’s ma- terial itself. Many of the “toys” of the percussion family in the clas- sical orchestra are idiophones: sleigh bells, xylophones, slapsticks, etc. Every culture around the world has idiophones made of what- ever materials are handy and make interesting sounds. Jawbones have teeth that rattle; old trash barrels are excellent bases for steel drums (which are NOT membranophones as they have no membrane!); guiros are made of all kinds of materials, boxes or old plastic tubs are great for subway-stop breakdance sessions.
These four categories worked well to classify all musical instru- ments for many years, until it became clear that a new type of sound-maker was taking over the scene in the 1970s and 80s. So, a new category was added to the H-S system: the electrono- phones. These instruments make sounds that are electronically
generated and/or ampliGied. Within this group we Gind electric gui- tars and basses, electric keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines, computers, and a whole host of other electrically-augmented in- struments.
REVIEW 4.1 Instrument Classifications
Check Answer
Question 1 of 5 For each instrument, choose the correct classifica- tion.
1) FLUTE
A. Aerophone
B. Membranophone
C. Chordophone
D. Idiophone
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5 When you take melody and pitch, rhythm and instrumentation, and put them all together to create a piece of music, form and texture are the results. Dynamics, Texture, and Form
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To review a bit from Chapter 1, the term dynamics refers to how loud or soft a piece, a section of a piece, of a particular note is. Therefore, the volume of a piece of music, a section of a piece of music, or a speciGic musical note determines its dynamic level. Terms in classical music are Italian (piano, forte, mezzo-piano, for- tissimo, etc.).
Dynamic contrasts are sudden or gradual changes in the dynam- ics. For example, the term crescendo means gradually getting louder. Decrescendo (or diminuendo) means gradually getting softer. When you describe dynamics in the music you hear, you should feel free to use whichever terms you are most comfortable with - simply “loud” and “soft” or, if you want to get more speciGic, the Italian terms seen in the following table.
So far we have covered Give elements of music: scoring/ instrumentation, dynamics, rhythm, melody, and harmony. Now we’re at a point when these discrete and separate elements start to come together, to combine in various ways and create total sound worlds in the songs and compositions we listen to each day. When a melody is accompanied by chords, the result is an inter- weaving of sound. Melody is the horizontal strand; the chordal har- monies are the vertical strands. This interweaving of sounds is called texture. As Gine or coarse threads in cloth are woven to- gether with different techniques, so can melodies and harmonies be arranged to produce widely contrasting results.
Section 1
Dynamics, Texture, and Form
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We can certainly discuss texture in subjective ways: “That song has a rich, full texture,” or “That string quartet has a very thin tex- ture.” But we can also get more objective about exactly what’s go- ing on with the melodies and/or harmonies that are actually pre- sent in the piece. There are several different kinds of texture that correspond to different melody/harmony combinations in music. We will deGine all four, but you should take note of the fact that for the most part in this course, we won’t be listening to much hetero- phonic texture. Monophony (muh-NAW-fuh-nee, single melody) The simplest kind of musical texture, monophonic texture, consists of a single melodic line without accompaniment. Sing any melody you know, without playing an instrument along, and the result is monophony. Vocal solos, as well as solo works for instruments such as violin and Glute, demon- strate artistic uses of monophony, as does much of the music of China and Japan. NOTE! Monophony does NOT have to be performed by one person alone. If a group of peo- ple sing and/or play the SAME melody (that is, the same set of pitches going up and down at the same time), they are per-
forming monophony. Most renditions of “Happy Birthday” are at least *trying* to be monophonic. The Girst 30 seconds of P!nk’s song “So What” is monophonic: the bass and P!nk are performing the same notes at the same time.
Homophony (huh-MAW-fuh-nee, melody with accompaniment) More common to our listening experience is homophonic texture, or one melody accompanied by chords. In homophony, the melody is often heard in the highest voice, but it can appear in lower voices or be taken up by different voices in turn. While we tend to listen for the melody, the chordal activity in non-melodic voices is also important. After P!nk’s monophonic beginning to “So What,” the song immediately shifts to a homophonic texture. This is the most common texture we hear in popular music, in Western classi- cal music like that by Mozart and Beethoven, and in folk music, such as a singer accompanying herself on acoustic guitar.
Keep in mind that you are still hearing homophonic texture during an electric guitar solo in a performance by a rock band. Imagine it: the lead guitar acts as the principal melody instrument, while the “rhythm” guitar and/or keyboard provide(s) harmonic accompani- ment by playing the chord progression, the electric bass guitar also adds to the harmonic foundation by playing the “root” or tonic note of each chord in the chord progression, and the drums provide the rhythmic foundation. In all of this awesomeness, there is still only ONE melody - that of the solo / lead guitar.
INTERACTIVE 5.1 P!nk, “So What”
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Heterophony (heh-teh-RAW-fuh-nee, melody plus variation) Of the four possible musical textures, heterophony is the one you are least likely to encounter in Western musical styles. Het- erophony is characterized by the simultaneous variation of a sin- gle melodic line. That is to say, generally with heterophonic tex- tures, there are several people performing at the same time, and playing the general outlines of the same melody, but each one is “doing their own thing” with that melody, adding embellishments, variations, different rhythms or tempos, and so on. Here’s an exam- ple of Gaelic psalmody, in which each person in the congregation is singing the psalm as an act of worship, each in their own unique way. Polyphony (puh-LIH-fuh-nee, two or more independent melodies) In many cultures, especially in the Western world, a number of dif- ferent ways of combining two or more voices or parts have been developed. We call music with two or more distinct vocal and/or instrumental parts polyphonic. Within a polyphonic piece, two or more melodies are not only being performed at the same time, they are also equal in importance. This is the main distinction to recognize when deciding between homophonic and polyphonic texture: in homophony, ONE melody is the main attraction, and everything else is supporting / accompanying that melody. In true polyphony, the two or three or four melodies are all equally inter- esting and attention-grabbing. One great example from popular
music appears at the end of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.” Jason and the choir sing two very different melodies simultaneously, and you can switch your attention from one to the other easily. This song is an example of non- imitative polyphony, meaning that the two melodies are not the same. Imitative polyphony, on the other hand, features mul- tiple performances of the same melody but starting at different times. We know this kind of po- lyphony as a canon, such as the children’s song “Frere Jacques” or “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Check it out in the widget below!
INTERACTIVE 5.2 This interactive tool allows you to visualize and hear the three most common textures applied to a familiar song, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Take some time to play with this in- credible piece of software, constructed by Merrimack students in the Computer Science department!
INTERACTIVE 5.3 Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours”
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Musical Form The large-scale organization of a piece of music, whether a song or a symphony, is its formal structure. Music needs two things to maintain a listener’s attention: repetition and contrast. If it repeats too much, it will get boring; if it is too changing and doesn’t ever repeat, a listener isn’t able to maintain focus. Musical forms usu- ally involve dividing the piece into some types of parts or sections; often these will recur over the course of a piece of music.
Standard forms of mainstream Western music that you may en- counter in this class include (but are not limited to) the following:
Verse-chorus form - the standard form of most pop tunes. The lyrics for the verse are different, while the lyrics for the chorus are the same. The chorus usually the catchy part that stays in your head, the part you can’t keep from humming in the shower.
12-bar blues form - the blues chord progression outlined above is repeated over and over throughout the piece. Each repetition of the 12-bar sequence is called a “blues chorus.”
Strophic - a song that contains only verses, no choruses.
Ostinato form – a short pattern of melody/harmony/rhythm is repeated over and over throughout the piece, usually acting as a constant underpinning to a main melody or recited text. Ostinato forms are very common in rap tunes and in much non-Western music. They are also frequent in jazz, Baroque music, and many other styles.
AABA song form – most common in older-style popular songs (such as Broadway show tunes, many of which have become jazz “standards”). The contrasting “B” section is usually called the bridge. Each “A” section has the same melody and chords, but dif- ferent lyrics. Contemporary swing tunes often have this form.
There are many, many other kinds of formal structures used in Western music, especially in classical music genres. Depending on your course area of focus, you may encounter more complex forms over the rest of the semester. But the primary and basic con- cept of the combination of repetition and contrast will always re- main the same. Keep that in mind and you should eventually be able to follow and outline the form of any musical composition, no matter how long or complicated it may be!
Aerophones Instruments in which sound is produced by air being pushed or blown through the cen- ter of the instrument.
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Amplitude The height of a sound wave.
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Beat The steady pulse that underlies the rhythm of most music.
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Chord Three or more musical pitches played simultaneously, that is, at the same time.
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Chord progression The specific sequence of chords in a piece of music.
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Chordophones Instruments that make sounds when strings are activated in some way, thus causing the strings themselves to vibrate. The strings can be plucked, as on a banjo, strummed, like a guitar, or bowed, like a fiddle or cello.
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Conjunct A melody that moves in small steps, with the pitches very close together.
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Consonance The effect when several pitches played together create a pleasing, enjoyable sound.
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Disjunct A melody in which there are large distances between successive tones.
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Dissonance The effect when several pitches played together create a jarring, tense effect.
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Duration The length of time a note, phrase, or musical composition lasts.
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Dynamics The term used to describe the levels of loudness and softness in music.
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Electronophones Instruments that make sounds which are electronically generated and/or amplified.
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Frequency The rate at which a sound wave vibrates.
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Harmony The use of simultaneous pitches in music. The vertical aspect of musical pitch.
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Heterophony Texture consisting of one melody combined with simultaneous variation of itself. Not common in Western popular, classical, or folk musics.
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Homophony Texture consisting of one melody with harmonic accompaniment in the form of chords.
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Idiophones Instruments in which the sound is created through the vibration of the instrument’s ma- terial itself.
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Interval The distance between two pitches.
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Melody A sequence of notes that has identifiable shape and meaning. The horizontal aspect of musical pitch.
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Membranophones Instruments that make sounds when a membrane of some kind is stretched tightly across a resonating chamber and struck to make it vibrate. Most drums fall into this category.
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Meter A pattern of accented and unaccented beats in a piece of music.
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Monophony Texture consisting of one melody with no harmonic accompaniment.
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Pitch The highness or lowness of a musical tone. Related to the element of sound, fre- quency.
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Polyphony Texture consisting of multiple melodies occurring in one musical composition simultane- ously. The melodies can be in imitation with one another (as in a canon) or can con- trast with one another.
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Rhythm A general term for the organization of sounds in time.
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Rubato Speeding and/or slowing of the tempo during a piece of music.
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Scale A sequence of pitches within one octave used as the basis of a musical composition.
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Semitone The distance between one key on a piano keyboard and the immediate next key (i.e., usually white to black or black to white). The smallest interval in Western music.
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Syncopation The presence of accents that conflict with the beat rather than lining up with the beat.
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Tempo The speed or rate with which beats follow one another.
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Texture The interweaving of melody and harmony to create a fabric of sound.
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Timbre The quality of a musical note, sound, or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production (i.e., what is making the sound).
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Tone color A synonym for timbre.
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Whole tone The interval consisting of two semitones. Usually movement from one white key to the next white key on a piano, or black to black.
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