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    Jimmie Smith
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    Advanced placement music theory chapter 1

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    Advanced placement music theory chapter 1

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    63 Ansichten13 Seiten

    AP Theory 1

    Hochgeladen von

    Jimmie Smith
    Advanced placement music theory chapter 1

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Als PDF herunterladen oder online auf Scribd lesen
    Markieren Sie unangemessene Inhalte
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    Music Fundamentals CHAPTER + Aspects of Sound * Clefs Pitch—Wavelength G Clef Dynamic—Wave Height “Treble Clef Timbre—-Waveform F Clef Articulation-Envelope Bass Clef Duration C Clef + Piano Keyboard Alto Clef ‘Octave Designation Tenor Clef Half Step Neutral Clef ‘Whole Step * Grand Staff Chromatic * Notation Enharmonic ‘Accidental * Accidental Note Head Flat Stem Sharp Flag ‘Natural Beam Double Sharp Bar Line Double Flat Double Bar Line Cautionary Accidental Final Bar Line Ledger Lines Measure Staff Staves System ASPECTS OF SOUND cs begin by defining the aspects of sound—properties that are fundamental to ithe elements of sound and music. Most of these elements have two labels. The first (shown in bold in the following box) is familiar to us in music; the second (underlined) is the scientific term studied in physics. AP Music Theory Sound has: * PITCH (also known as FREQUENCY) = WAVELENGTH * DYNAMIC (also known as AMPLITUDE) = WAVE HEIGHT * TIMBRE (also known as TONE COLOR) = WAVEFORM * ARTICULATION = ENVELOPE * DURATION Pitch-Frequency—Wavelength In physics there are two useful measurements that tell you something about the sound wave. One measurement is the distance between one wave and the next. This is the wavelength, which is related to the frequency and the pitch of the sound. Frequency is the rate of vibration measured in “times per second,” called Hertz. When a violinist plays her A string, the string vibrates back and forth 440 times per second, or 440 Hercz (Hz). The higher the frequency, the higher the pitch and the shorter the wavelength. But musical sounds dontt have just one frequency. Sounds that have only one frequency are not very interesting or pretty. They have no more musical “color” than the beeping of an alarm clock. On the other hand, sounds that have too many frequencies, like the sound of glass breaking or thunder crashing, may be interesting or even frightening, but they don't have a particular pitch, so they usually aren't considered musical notes. Dynamics—Amplitude-Wave Height ‘The éther measurement is the size of each individual wave: its “height” or “inten- sity” rather than its length. This is the amplitude of the wave, and it determines the loudness of the sound. In the study of music, wave height is referred to as dynamic. Amplitude Timbre-Tone Color-Waveform ‘Waveform refers to the shape and form of the sound wave as it moves in distance and frequency. The shape of the waveform produces unique qualities of sound called timbre. Timbre (pronounced “TAM-ber”) is made up of more than one fre- Music Fundamentals quency, often involving harmonics or overtones, We hear each mixture of frequencies and overtones not as separate sounds but as the unique coloring or character of each voice or musical instrument. The basic frequency and its overtones determine the timbre of a sound, When someone plays or sings a note, only a very particular set of frequencies is heard. Imagine that each note that comes out of the instrument is a smooth mixture of many different pitches. These different pitches are called over- tones, and are too weak to be heard as individual pitches. Instead, the overtones give the note its color, What is the “color” of a sound? The difference in the sound between an oboe and a flute playing the same note at the same volume is the color, or timbre, of the note. Like a color you see, the color of a sound can be bright and bold or deep and rich: Some other words that musicians use to describe the timbre of a sound are reedy, brassy, piercing, mellow, thin, hollow, focused, breathy, warm, and full. The overtones are usually multiples of the frequency of the fundamental. There are many combinations of notes that are low members of the same overtone seties that are considered consonant because they sound pleasant together. Other combinations ate considered distonant when they really clash or are simply “our of tune” with each other. The scales and chords of most of the world’s music are based con these physical facts. Articulation-Envelope An envelope of sound is composed of a sound's attack, sustain, and release. We know this as articulation; it is che manner in which we begin the note, sustain it, and end the note. Decay sustain This is how sound is engaged. 1. Attack: Sound begins at A and reaches its peak at level B. 2, Sustain: The sound drops slightly in level (decay at B) and remains steady until C. 3. Release: When the sound source is removed at C, the sound decays to a point of silence at D. 4 AP Music Theory Duration Duration is the length of time sound and silence lasts. We will tackle the issues of note lengths and rhythm in the next chapter. Sound, whether itis consonant or dis- sonant, musical or noise, has a proportional relarionship between note lengths as well as note pitch. A siren lasting fifteen seconds has an understandable duration when marked in units of seconds. A birdcall, on the other hand, may be said to be three short sounds followed by one long sound. How short? How long? Are the three short sounds the same length? How much longer is the long sound compared to the three shorter sounds? One way to determine duration isto listen to how it compares with other sounds around it. In its simplest terms a musical note has two aspects of sound: pitch and duration. ‘An X¥-graph of proportional notation demonstrates these elements in relation to the firs note. ? 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | — se 8 —_— “Mary Had a Little Lamb" In relation to the first pitch, the second pitch is lower but the same length as note 1. Notes 5, 6, and 7 are the same pitch as note 1, but note 7 is twice as long as notes 1, 5, and 6. In listening to music we are constantly asking our ear to hear duration and pitch, and almost always in relation to something specific. ‘When we look at music we see all five aspects of sound notated on the musical score. We are very specific about how we notate pitch and duration, but there is a considerable amount of interpretation involved in articulation, dynamics, and, often, timbre, THE STAFF AND CLEFS Most music is written on a staff (plural, staves) of five lines and four spaces. The lines and spaces are numbered from the bottom to the top in order to indicate their place on the staff Music Fundamentals Each line or space is named for a letter of the alphabet using only letters A through G. Once you arrive at G you start over again with A. The names of the lines and spaces are determined by the clef that is used. Clefs originally conformed to vocal ranges: * Soprano (highest female voice) * Mezzo soprano (moderately high female voice) * Alto (low female voice) * Tenor (high male voice) * Baritone (low male voice) There is one clef sign, the C clef (which looks like 2), that is used for all of these vocal ranges, but is moved from line to line to show where middle C is located. The purpose of moving the clef is to eliminate excessive ledger lines. For the high female voice, middle C is going to be low on the staff because most of the soprano’s range is above middle C. For the low male voice, the clef is placed on the top line, indi- cating that most of the baritone voice notes are below middle C. Because this clef locates middle C and moves around from line to line to designate range, it is called the movable C clef. SOPRANO: MEzz0-SoPRANO ALTO ‘TENOR cLEF CLEF cLEF CLEF BARITONE, CLEF B = EC 8B ‘The alto and tenor clefs are still used today by some instruments. The viola plays in alto clef and the bassoon and trombone frequently use the tenor clef. Both of these clefs are utilized in AP questions. ‘When the C clef placed on the tid lin of the ——— Alto def _| sca icbecomes the Alto clef The dhe ne of thestaffismiddle Cor Ct 18 cctets ‘When the C clef placed on che fourth line of he —— «Tenor clef | of ibecomes the Tenor let The fouth ine of thesia middle Cor When music was mostly a single line of melody (monophonic), this system of notation of vocal ranges worked just fine; however, when music became increasingly more complex, using more layers of music with multiple lines being sung or played at the same time (polyphonic), one clef for all female voices above middle C and one lef for all male voices below middle C evolved. The upper voice clef symbol still moved from line to line—this time indicating where G above middle C (commonly considered the middle of the female voice range) was located. The clef began as a 5 AP Music Theory stylized or fancy cursive G, When the “G” clef is placed on the second line of the staff (the clef curls around the second line), it is then referred to as the treble clef. 5 ‘reble clef _ | When the G clefis placed on the second line of the 8 cae Ga teat (encanta rete Likewise, the lower voice clef symbol also moved from line to line and indicated where F below middle C (commonly considered the middle of the male voice range) was located. It began as.a fancy cursive letter F, and when placed on the fourth line of the staff (with the two dots above and below the fourth line), it is then referred to as the bass clef. ‘When ce F cles placed onde fourth lin of he prot SS = Bass clef _| (of i becomes che Bass cle The out ine Fbelow mide C oF. The Grand Staff ‘The Grand Staff combines both treble and bass clefs and is used by the piano as well as for notating both female voices (treble clef) and male voices (bass clef) in chorale or hymn style. When multiple staves are connected together by bar lines, a bracket, or a brace, itis called a system. Staves within a system may utilize differ- enc clef. Tegan va waarmee eepolf blefl e becuase ce Minot C OCTAVE DESIGNATION Another way to label the notes of the grand staff is relared to where they occur on the piano keyboard. There are eight Cs on the piano; each C begins a new octave. All pitches within that octave are labeled with the same number. The lowest C on the piano is C!, middle C is C4, and the last note on the piano is C®. The first rwo notes on the far left are simply labeled A and B. The following illustration indicates octave designation on the piano keyboard as it relates to location on the grand staff. 7 ‘Music Fundamentals 3 aTaqyyy a Fe) pe) o o G ? OULU UL She ddVLG GNVUS) 8 AP Music Theory LEDGER LINES When you are reading one staff only, the notes that are above or below the staff require the use of ledger lines. These small lines extend the staff while still keeping the 5 lines and 4 spaces intact. In this way the treble and bass clefs actually overlap. Itis important to note when reading in the treble clef that notes that use ledger lines below middle C could also be written in the bass clef, and those reading above middle C in the bass clef could also be written in the treble clef. B Dé isthe same as PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS You will be looking at music that includes the use of all these clefs. For example, when looking at a score to a string quartet you will see che viola part written in alto def. Analyzing the notes and understanding che chord members will require knowing the clefs to be able to identify pitch. In many vocal scores, the tenor part will be written in treble clef, an octave higher than itis to be sung. This is done to eliminate the use of ledger lines. You will see a small number 8 ar the bottom of the treble clef to indicate it is to be performed an octave lower than written. _$ The neutral clef is used for rhythm only, or for pitchless or untuned instruments, such as eymbals, claves, or triangle used in percussion. This clef may be used with a staff of only one line, or with as many lines as needed. Each line of the staff can represent a specific percussion instrument within a set. NEUTRAL CLEF at———+4 ACCIDENTALS Notice that in our diagram of the piano keyboard on page 7 there are only two sets of letcers that have been labeled: B and C, and E and F. These are distinctive because there is no black note between them. On the piano keyboard the smallest space or Music Fundamentals distance between two notes (known as interval) is called a half step. There is an interval of a half step between E and F, and B and C. Between every adjacent note on the piano keyboard there isa half step, or in other words, between every two notes that are next to each other there isa half step. Therefore, there is a half step between C and the black note to its right, That note isa half step higher than C, or Ct. A sharp (#) raises the pitch one half step above its natural pitch. A flat (b) added to the note means the pitch is one half step lower. Now let's identify che sharps and flats and see where they are located on the piano keyboard. “The pch thats onehalfstep higher han Fis “The ich that isonehaEsep lower than Gis GP ‘Thepitch chacisone halsep higher than Cis. ‘The pitch thatisone half step higher than Ais A ‘Thepitch thatisone halésep lower han Disb. “Thepitch thai one halfsceplower than BisBb, Keyboard illustration courtesy of Mary Elizabeth. Notice that each of these pairs of pitches (C4 / Db, Fé / Gb, Ai / BY) are the same kkey on the piano. They sound alike but have two different names. Af is the enharmonic equivalent of Bb. If we are referring to the pitch that is one half step higher than A, itis AB. If we refer to a pitch that is one half step lower than B, it is Bs, The same thing applies to E-F and B-C, the pitches that have no black keys between them. The pitch that is a half step higher than E is Et. Looking at the diagram of the keyboard we see that the note a half step higher than E is F; there- fore, Ef and F are enharmonic equivalents. Other enharmonic equivalents are Bt = C, Cb = B, and Fo = E. Two half steps equal one whole step. Two white notes that do have a black note between them are one whole step apart. ‘The music symbol that means to raise a pitch by two half steps is the double sharp (x). The double flat (#) lowers the pitch by two half steps. We use a double sharp to raise a note one half step if that note is already sharp, and a double flat to lower a note that is already flat without changing the letter name, The musical symbol that cancels out a flat or a sharp is a natural (t). 10 AP Music Theory + NOTATION As previously discussed, a note is a musical symbol that represents pitch and dura- tion, The note head is the body of the note. The stem is pare of a note that is common to all note types shorter in duration than the whole note. The flag is part of the note that is common to all note types shorter in duration than a quarter note. The more flags on the note stem, the shorter the duration of the nore. ‘A note head placed below she middle line of the musical staff has the stem going up and is attached to the right of the note head. Likewise, a note head placed on the third line or above on the musical staff has the stem going down, attached to the left of the note head. Stem Fiacvown, Stem a x ad as FLAG uP, ¢ Note nean

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