How Music Works - Melody

This group of discussion forums is a place for you to reflect upon the course subject matter interactively with your fellow students. As you may remember, the SLOs for this class are

1. Identify the emotions, moods, feelings, or ideas expressed in a piece of music by using a vocabulary of "expressive" terminology.

2. Identify the musical devices and techniques used to create expressive values in a piece of music upon listening and, when appropriate, demonstrate a rudimentary understanding of the related musical forms, genres, and styles of the musical selection.

This assignment embraces both of the aims of those SLOs.

For the assignment, which lasts for the whole semester, your job is to complete each of the week-long activities and participate in each of the open discussions. Every week, a new discussion will open and be available for your comments. After the week, the discussion will close and a new one will open. Simply scroll down the page to find each activity and then submit your replies sometime within its prescribed time limit. In total, your scores on these activities will make up 10% of your overall course grade.

The amount of credit given for each discussion assignment will be based upon the quality of your combined replies, with a maximum potential score of 100 points. In order to get full credit for these discussions, you should include the following content:

· Each original reply to the assignment must have a minimum of 350 words.

· You must reply to the posts of at least 2 other students, and the reply must have at least 100 words.

· Replies must reflect your personal engagement with the subject matter of the assignment.

· Replies must demonstrate the use of clear and correct english.

· Replies must be substantial in their content. Here are some examples:

Typical good reply:

Having the orchestra play the instruments at once as a whole is amazing in itself. But having them break down the melody in the individual groups shows the amount of work and dedication it takes to make everything flow as one. When the woodwinds began, and the flutes played, it sounded so light and delicate but was still able to hold up to the melody. Transitioning from the piccolos, oboes, and to the clarinets it seemed as though the sound got deeper which I enjoyed very much. It showed that the different pitches and volumes these instruments can execute, really balanced each other out. The string instruments caught my interest the most. I get confused between the violins and the violas because not only do they somewhat look alike, but they sound the same too (to me at least). Having them play back to back though helped me distinguish them in sound. The violins carried a fast tune with fast strumming and seemed to be more higher in pitch. The violas however carried a slower and much mellow tune. The cello and double bass then carried out the melody and watching them play intrigued me because they way they used their hands to shake the strings using that vibrato was fun to watch. Completely natural and in sync with each other makes me want to learn how to play. The harp then came was was the perfect contrast. I was taken back by how one individual instrument played by only one person alone can make a big impact on the melody itself. The harp and the way the harpist plucked it over and over again from moderate pitch to high was magical. When the brass started to play it reminded me of my school’s marching band because it was accompanied by the drums. The trumpets and trombone were so low compared to the woodwinds in the beginning. Listening to everyone play at the same time shows that there is no such thing as a “little instrument” that has a small part. Even the triangle adds a little something to its entirety. It now makes sense to me every instrument's role and how the different variations and capabilities these instruments have, and how meticulous each part is shows the sophistication and commitment it takes to have a good sounding orchestra.