Aproximación a la teoría musical; formas melódicas y armonía simple

Período de tiempo: (time frame)

Tono

Timbre

Tiempo amplitud

1.- En la música litúrgica del Líber Usualis, que es un compendio de la misma, podemos encontrar
el concepto de melodía como “un número limitado de tonos que establecen una identidad sonora
(modos) éstos pueden cambiar en cuanto a su rol y función dentro del contexto musical. Cada uno
de ellos puede ser tomado como punto de referencia para el análisis de una frase melódica.

*Análisis destructivo: Es una forma de estudiar las formas melódicas, de manera que sustrayendo
ciertos elementos, se pueden descubrir cuales son sus funciones. Dentro de ellas podemos
encontrar las notas ornamentales, las notas vecinas y de paso.

Notas Ornamentales: son notas jerárquicamente inferiores pero, cruciales en la belleza de toda la
estética melódica.

Notas vecinas: están a un paso arriba o debajo de la nota central y retornan inmediatamente.

Notas de resolución: Último tono de una melodía. (cuando cambiamos aspectos de la melodía,
podemos esperar cambios en la expectativa de resolución y tensión)

Notas de paso: Nota utilizada entre dos que son más importantes estructuralmente en la melodía.
Normalmente puede aparecer una sola vez, según el contexto musical.

En síntesis, el contexto determina el rol o función de las notas.

2.- Cadencias

Para el estudio, simplificaremos en tres tipos generales de cadencias.

Cadencia: progresión de notas que se detienen o finalizan en un momento determinado para dar
paso a una repetición o nuevo tema.

Cadencia completa: cuando una nota parece finalizar en el contexto de otras notas.

Media cadencia: cuando finaliza en una nota que parece continuar o que no es una para finalizar.

Como dato para el ejercicio melódico, mientras que las notas de un modo están más abajo del
centro tonal, liberan la tensión (hay menos energía en los tonos más graves), mientras que tonos
más arriba de él, generan más y más tensión, en relación a la serie de armónicos. (hay más ondas)
Leaps vs Steps (Case Study, blue in green)

Leaps (saltos) es un termino técnico para definir aquellas distancias entre notas que no es al
unísono ni de medio tono o de un tono. Es importante tenerlos en cuenta porque definen la
dirección y energía de una melodía (además de la expresión) Otro corolario es que esta sensación
de hipo o salto es similar a un acento o énfasis, tanto en la nota que saltó como en la nota hacia la
que saltó.

Actividad.

1) Try to come up with a melody that is all steps except for one leap.

Not only will the leap stand out, but you will be able to remember the note leapt to much more
easily than most other notes of the piece.

Go ahead, try.

 Just sing.

 Don't try to write anything down.

 Just sing!

 Notice the difference between leaps and steps.

Ironically, the opposite is also true: if you construct a melody made up entirely of large jagged
leaps and then put in one tiny linear segment, you will be able to remember that little stepwise
line and the pitches associated with it better than any other part of the piece.

2) Next, improvise a piece that is mostly leaps and then insert one little stepwise motion.

 This is a little harder to sing, but try!

 Don't write anything down . . . yet.

 Can you hear how the one little stepwise motion sticks out?

3) Now that you've sung it, try to connect this to your visual understanding.

 Write down, but very, very, very approximately, the two different contrasting
improvisations you just made up.

 As you see the bits that stick out from the rest of each short piece, can you identify that
same sensation of contrast you perceived when you sang it?

If you need to, you can download and use the following blank music sheet template to write down
your improvisations:
Finally, if you're interested, read this article that just begins to address some of the human
perception around this issue.

Steps and leaps in human memory for melodies: The ef- fect of pitch interval magnitude in a
melodic contour dis- crimination task

Distancia entre tonos y semitonos.

En la melodía analizada, los semitonos nos orientan, nos cuentan en que modo nos encontramos.
Una escala de tonos enteros es simétrica, es imposible diferenciar un paso de otro. Por lo tanto, el
centro tonal desaparece. Cualquier nota puede ser el centro tonal, pero al sumar un semitono,
podemos orientar la melodía hacia un centro.

No es necesario comprender teóricamente el funcionamiento de una escala de tonos enteros, sino

más bien percibir el fenómeno para comprender su funcionamiento.

Some lesson learned

Some Lessons Learned

Here are some lessons learned:

 Notes can have different functions.

 Notes in and of themselves have no function but what is shaped by context.

 Writing melodies with a limited number of notes or a mode can help clarify music. In other
words, it gives the music a clearer orientation that helps us identify its parts.

 Notes can be structural and/or ornamental.

  There are different kinds of structural functions: common notes, intermediary final notes,
and more final sounding final notes.

 There are different kinds of ornamental functions: neighbors and passing tones

 Anywhere that music pauses is called a cadence.

 There are different kinds of cadences.

 Almost all kinds of music from oral traditions are in simple, limited modes.

 Some modes have asymmetries that let you know instantly where you are in the mode.

 There are many different ways to notate music and all are imperfect and somewhat
frustrating.

Actividad.

Listen to this later piece, titled Antiphon, O quam mirabilis est by Hildegarde on Spotify. It was
written at least a few hundred years after our Psalm 148. It is also an Antiphon, so the basic
melody repeats several times.

While listening, write down your observations in response to the following questions:

1. What do you notice about the phrases?

2. How many different notes does she cadence on? (in order to figure that out, try singing
any pitch she stops on and hold it all the way till the next cadence. That way you can tell if
it is the same note or not)

3. What do you notice about the step right above the cadence?

4. Can you hear any other instances of that step?

5. What does that mean about the contrast between this mode and the mode of Psalm 148?

6. Are there another hierarchically important notes?

7. Do you hear passing notes, and can you describe where they are?

8. In what way is this perhaps wilder or more extravagant than the Psalm 148 tune?
Teacher observations

 I notice that the phrases are longer, that there are two different cadence notes, with the
melody departing from the original cadence note to a new one, and then returning to the
first one.

 I notice that this is not a mode that has a half-step above the last final note, and that that
makes it sound . . . like it’s in a different mode.

 I notice that there are lots of whole-steps, and that while it is difficult to hear other
hierarchically important notes, the expressive high notes sure stand out beautifully.

 I notice that there are ornamental or passing notes surrounding other notes that are
repeated slightly more or are cadenced on.

 I notice that this just has more notes and a much bigger range than our Psalm 148 and that
that makes it a bit more wild.

 I’m sure you noticed different things than I do. I think that that is cool!