Chapter 2: The Nature of Music:Vocabulary for listening

and Understanding.
Definitions of music (pg. 20)
What is music?
Music is sound that is pleasing to the ear.

Most of us respond well to sounds that we like.

This definition excludes a lot of music.
What sounds good to you is subjective.

Music is sound and silence organized in time.

This definition is objective, and avoids the subjective.

At the same time, we cannot really describe music without being subjective.

Music is the sound that you want to hear as music

Music that isnt organized into time... likely is not music.

However, sounds that do not sound anything like music, have been organized into music.
what you think is noise, someone else may think is music.
Be open minded.

Music as a Science (pgs. 20-21)

*Acoustics*

Acoustic Principals are applied to:

construction of musical instruments

audio equipment
auditoriums
recording studios
homes
office
medical technology through sonar diagnostics and treatment

Acoustic engineers design rooms according to certain principles.

Good acoustics means....
The degree of resonance and reverberation is suited to the rooms purposes.
Porous materials- absorb sound waves- dead acoustics.
Hard materials- bounce sound waves- live acoustics

Technology assists engineers in designing a spaces acoustical properties.

Expressive and Functional Qualities of Music (pg. 21-23)

Music is a science, but is also an art.
Music can be used to communicate.
Music is functional.
Music is sound and silence

Silence is an important part of music.

Silence is an important compositional technique with its own aesthetic and dramatic effects.
Music moves through time

Music is an active art form .

Much music moves forward in a predictable way.
Other music moves through time with less noticeable forward energy.
Music is an art

For the 80th time, music is an art.

Music exists on a wide continuum, from folk music (music for the masses), to classical music (music for the
connoisseur).
Much music has characteristics from both of these genres.
The best music of any tradition lasts.
Good music warrants repeated listening, performance, and study.
Creating good music is integral for our civilization.

Expressive and Functional Qualities of Music (pg. 21-23)

Music is a means of expression

Music can be used to communicate feelings

Aesthetics
Aesthetic responses may transcend cultural boundaries or be unique to a certain culture.
Music can also communicate physical reactions.
Music can be functional.

Music sometimes serves a function.

Ceremonial and ritual
Music therapy and therapists
They use music to alter peoples feelings and attitudes
They help people who are physically or mentally challenged.
They work in mental health clinics and hospitals, schools, or practices.

Music helps us feel less lonely.

elevator music
passive listening
Music is a changing art.

Just as our society evolves, so does music.

New instruments or sources of sound.
New ways of creating music
Artists grow musically as well, further evolving music.

The Creative, Performing, and Listening Experiences (pg. 23-25)

Music would not exist without the three following groups:

Creators
Performers
listeners
Score
Notation
Improvisation
Anyone who performs music relies on an audience to listen to that music.

Music can be simple or sophisticated.

Music may or may not be notated.
Making music is an an interpretive process.
Listening can be...

active
passive

Participating in Active Listening (pgs. 25-26)

Perceptive listening skills
How to develop your perceptive listening skills:

Be an active listener
Concentrate when listening.
Listen attentively in an attempt to understand the musical processes and structure that give the music its
characteristic qualities.

Develop curiosity and a desire to know why music came to be, what its purpose is, how it serves the people
who listen to or otherwise use it, and what you need to know to understand it better.

Think about what you are hear, and use words to describe what you hear.
Write your reactions down.
Describe how any of the pieces we listen to hear are similar to or different from the music you already know
and like.

Musical skills are not necessary to understand music.

The Elements of Music (pgs. 26-30)

All Music has...

Pitch
Duration
Loudness
Tone Quality
When you combine these elements, you get:

Melody
Harmony
Rhythm
To create music, you organize all these elements together.
A complete piece of music can be characterized by:

Texture
Form

The Elements of Music (pgs. 26-30)

Pitch

A single tone.
Melodies are made up of individual pitches, pieced together.
We register other sounds by their register- the area on the sound spectrum where they fall.
White noise
Melody

Music moves through time, therefore it moves horizontally.

Melody is sometimes thought of as tune.
It has contour.
Most melodies are derived from scales.
They establish the concept of tonality- the home tone or tonal center of a key or scale.
Harmony

Music that is organized vertically and then performed, pitches are heard simultaneously.
Three or more simultaneous sounds are called chords.

The Elements of Music (pgs. 26-30)

Tempo

Music moves through time.

Any sound event, a single pitch or a piece of music, can be short or long.
Tempo
Duration of pitches creates rhythm.
Rhythm can be simple or complex.
Pulse
Rhythm is one of the most powerful forces in music.
The pulse of most music is grouped into two categories:
duple

triple
Nonmetric has no pulse, or a weak pulse.
Mixed meter has a clear pulse but the strong beats occur in different patterns.
Syncopation is when you place emphasis on weak beats.
We split music into bars based on what their meter. The downbeat is the first beat of that bar.

The Elements of Music (pgs. 26-30)

Loudness

How loud or soft music is- also known as dynamics.

More intensity- louder sound.
Less intensity- soft sound.
Technology allows us to adjust sound with the turn of a knob.
Accents in music
Tone Quality

Also known as timbre

How do instruments sound different from each other?
In Western music, instruments are grouped in families together based on timbre.
Sometimes, these classifications are not useful when discussing sounds from other cultures.

All these elements work together to create a common piece of

music.

To Create a Musical Style (pages 30-32)

Western Music incorporates some aspects of:

Variety
Return
Repetition gives musical patterns unity, gives the piece of music unity, and provides familiarity.
Music has a sense of forward motion.
Forward energy
Tension and release
Resolution
Tension

Dissonance- instability
Consonance- stability
Modulation
Texture

Basically, how thick or thin sound is.

Music can be a single line played or sung by a soloist, or it can be performed by an orchestra.
Texture can also involve how musical lines are combined.

To Create a Musical Style (pages 30-32)

Genre and forms
Genre- a type or category of music.
Form- shape or structure of a piece.
We label different types of forms by using letters.

A is always the main theme.

B is a contrasting theme, and is different than A
C is a second contrasting theme.
Patterns of departure and return are important to establishing a musical form.
Some form templates:
32-bar song form (A A B A)- very common form derived from western European traditions.
Verse and Chorus- Popular in American songs.
Twelve bar blues- very commonly used in jazz and pop.
Melodic Growth and Character
Melody is not a solitary entity. It exists with other musical factors.

A melody is made up of phrases.

Cadences are the ends of phrases, where the music either contains forward energy or releases tension.
Melodies begin with motives, and grow on these motives.

Goals for listening (page 32-33)

Melody- character and range

Rhythm- pulse, tempo, downbeats, and meter
Harmony- Chord changes, chord progression
Loudness- How do the dynamics vary?
Tone production- What instruments perform this piece?
Form- What pattern does this piece follow? What style is this piece
performed in?

Sylvie (pg. 33-35, CD1, Track 1)

Composer: Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly)
Performer: Sweet Honey in the Rock
Genre: Folk Music
Context
Leadbelly wrote many of his songs in prison.
His songs were about the struggles of poor farm workers and black immigrants in cities.
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an a cappella ensemble of Black women who have gospel music roots,
but perform in other styles as well.
What to listen for:
Is the melody complex, or simple?
What is the form of this piece? ABACABA? AABA? Verse-Chorus? What parts of this piece repeat?
Is this in duple or triple meter?
Do the chords change a lot?
Who is performing?

Body and Soul pgs. 35-36, CD 1, Track 2

Performers: Benny Goodman, Clarinet; Teddy Wilson, piano; Gene Krupa, drums.
Context: Recorded in 1935 in New York City
Genre: Combo jazz from the swing era
What to listen for:
What does the clarinet sound like?
Do you think theyre playing music that was carefully notated?
Whats the pulse like in this piece? Why is it easy to keep, despite everything else
going on?
What is the piano doing when it plays by itself?

String Quartet, op. 33, no. 2 (the Joke) (Il. Scherzo) pgs. 36-38 CD1, Track 3

Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn

Performer: Tatrai Quartet
Genre: Classical chamber music
Background:
Op. is the number of the complete work. No. 2 refers to this as the second piece in
this group of works.
Scherzo means joke.
What to listen for:
What meter is this in?
What instruments are in a quartet?
What shape does the melody take?
How are dynamics used here?

Nkende yamuyayu CD1, Track 4

Performer: Plays on a four holed, v-notched flute made of bamboo
Genre- Traditional african music from Uganda
What to listen for:
What is the meter here?
What is the common theme here?
Who is all performing this music?