MUSC 103-002 The Parts That Bring Music Together Jonathan Good Part l
Rhythm
Rhythm is a pattern in music that keeps the music alive just like a human heart does to keep
humans alive. Rhythm is the order durations of sound and silences. Without rhythm it would be
hard to keep beat, meter, accent and syncopation, and tempo. Rhythm is the flow of music
through time. Musical time is like a time that has endless variety and can change in different
types of speeds and intensities as well. Although there is a different between rhythm and real
life. In music we can control the passage of time, but in life we can not control time
unfortunately.
Meter
In music we find a pattern that repeats itself from a strong beat plus and then a weaker beat.
The beats that form into regular groups are called meters, and if there is a group containing a
fix
number of beats that is called a measure or a bar in music. There are six types of meters in
music, there is duple, triple, quadruple, and sextuple, quintuple, and septuple meter. These
types of meters give you your time signature which is found at the beginning of a piece of
music. Meters can also be categorized as simple. Compound, or complex, all three of theses
categories can explain all rhythmic patterns in western music.
Melody
A melody is a series of single tones that add up to a recognizable whole. To me the melody the
most important part of a song. A good melody can make an ok song into a really good song. A
melody begins, moves, and ends and it has direction, shape, and continuity. A melody moves by
small internals called steps or it make bug moves and that’s called leaps. Melodies that are
written for instruments tend to have a wider range then melodies used for voices. There are
two
types of tones that are performed in a melody that are played or sung in a smooth or
connected
style which is called legato. The other style is where they may perform in a short, detached
manner called staccato.
Harmony
Harmony refers to the way chords are constructed and how they follow each other. Without
having chords in a harmony, the harmony would be very boring to listen to. Lucky, to make the
harmony non-boring we can use triads, arpeggios, consonance, and dissonance to spice things
up on the harmony. All four of these musical elements can help blend in chords to make the
harmony be stronger. Harmony is the most emphasized and most highly developed element in
Western music and can be the subject of an entire course on music theory.
Form
The word from is associated with shape, structure, organization, and coherence. Form is also
use as an organization musical element in time. The techniques that create music forms are
repetition, contrast, and variation. If you didn’t have any of these three ingredients your music
would be bland, and nobody would want to listen to it. There is also ternary form and a binary
form. The ternary form is a three-part form which includes the A B A format this form can be
represented as a statement (A) contrast or departure (B), return (A). The Binary is a two part
form A B composition made up. The two part gives a sense of statement (A) and
counterstatement (B).
MUSC 103-002 Non-Western Music Jonathan Good Part Vll
Nonwestern Music
Nonwestern Music reflects and expresses the diversity of the world’s languages, religions,
geographical conditions, values, beliefs, and ways of life. Nonwestern societies differ in their
range of musical styles from folk music to complex classical music. Nonwestern traditions were
an important source of inspiration for western music of the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries. There are four characteristics for nonwestern music such as Oral Tradition,
Improvisation, Voices, and Instruments. In Oral Tradition music is most often transmitted orally
from parent to child or frim teacher to student. Improvisation is important in a lot of
nonwestern music. It takes years of training to develop the highly disciplined art called
improvisation. Voices used for an important way to make music for singing in the vast majority
of nonwestern cultures. Then you have Instruments that produce sounds and comes in a wide
variety of sizes, shapes, and materials. There are four types of instruments used in the non-
western such as 1. Chordophones, 2. Aerophones, 3. Membranophones, and 4. Idiophones.
Music in Sub-Saharan Africa
The music of sub-Saharan Africa is diverse as its people. Most of it features complex rhythms
and polyrhythms, percussive sounds, and wide variety of instrumental ensembles comes from
there diverse of people. Music in Africa is a big part of there life’s and so is dancing. African
music and are a big part of their lives they have combined the two arts. Also, in Africa making
music is a social activity in where everyone participates. In Africa music there are four elements
they use to make music. The first one is Rhythm and Percussion, they use more complex
polyrhythms and several different rhythmic patterns. The second element is Vocal Music,
African singers use a wide variety of vocal sounds. Most of the African singers use a style known
as call and response when they perform. What a call and response is where a phrase is
repeatedly answered by the chorus. Lastly, they use texture elements such as voice parts may
sing the same melody at different pitch levels, occasionally producing a series of parallel chords.
The African Instruments that they use are Idiophones which is a common instrument in Africa
such as bells, rattles, scrapers etc. Another instrument they use is a Membranophones which is
a drum that is stretched with skins or other membranes. The most common instruments are the
Aerophones and Chordophones. The Aerophines are flutes, whistles, horns and trumpets. The
Chordophones are plucked or struck which African musicians prefer for more of a percussive
sound.
Classical Music of India
The musical traditions of India, which includes folk and popular music that dates back more
than 3,000 years which is the oldest music in the world. Improvisation has an important role in
Indian music. The improviser is a guided by complex melodic and rhythmic systems that govern
the choice of tones, ornaments, and rhythms. The elements of Indian Classical Music are based
on the human voice so much that the pitch range of all Indian music is restricted to less than
four octaves. Indian Melodies are almost always accompanied by a drone instrument that plays
the tonic and dominant notes throughout the performance. The main drone instrument is the
tambura which is a long neck lute with four metal strings that are plucked. There are five
instruments that the Indian culture uses to make music with. The sitar is the most popular
chordophone of north India. The vina is the most ancient plucked string instrument of south
India. The sarod is a north Indian string instrument plucked with a plectrum of ivory or coconut
shell. The mridangam is a two headed barrel drum popular in south India. The north Indian
counterpart of the mridangam is the table a pair of single headed drums played by one
performer.
