Handout 1&2 Flashcards
“The many who hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov’d with the sweet concord of sounds, Is fit for treason, stratagems and spoils.”
Shakespeare
Sophisticated, refined concert music rooted in the traditions of art or the ecclesiastical.
Western Classical Music
Form in which a basic musical idea (the theme/melody) is repeated over and over and is changed each time in melody, rhythm, harmony, dynamic, or tone color. Used in independent piece or as one movement. Mozart’s “Variations on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”
Theme and Variations Form
The quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts to mind or spirit.
Beauty
The creation of works of beauty. Human skill and work as opposed to nature
Art
An orchestra composition usually in 4 movements exploiting the tone color and dynamics of an orchestra.
Symphony
A complete work of music.
Composition
A piece that sounds fairly complete and independent but is or can be part of a larger composition.
Movement
TXT a series of single notes that add up to a recognizable whole. The horizontal aspect of music. A coherent succession of musical pitches.
Melody
Instrumental music having no intended association with a story, poem, idea or scene: non-programatic music (pure music)
Absolute Music
Instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene, often found in the romantic period. Rossini’s “Wilhelm Tell Overture”
Program Music
Music that includes folk songs, dances, legends or other national material in a composition to associate it with the composer’s homeland
Nationalism
Brief melodies appealing to the masses and distinct form of western classical music.
Pop Music
Drama that is sung to orchestral accompaniment, usually a large-scale composition employing vocal soloist, chorus, orchestra, costumes, and scenery. (sung drama)
Opera
Music rooted in improvisation and characterized by syncopated rhythm, a steady beat, and distinctive tone colors and performance techniques.
Jazz
“Image Writing”
Iconography
Earliest Musical Instruments Outside of The Human Voice
Flute: “Mankind’s Melodic Musical Instrument”
Found in China & Slovenia
Celebrated the rebirth of crops at their temples with music and singing; marked this as the beginning of their year.
The Sumerians
A horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes.
A Shofar
in the Bible
The “power of God” is represented by
The Trumpet
in the Bible
First Music Therapy
King David cures Saul’s melancholy by playing the harp.
In the Bible
Adhan is sung. The Islamic call to prayer announced five times a day.
Islamic Call to Worship
in Islam
Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy and Music: Pythagoras discovers the mathematical relationship of music sounds to numbers.
The Mathematical Quadrivium
in Greek Antiquities
(In Greek Antiquities)
Greek armies sang before and after battles.
(In Greek Antiquities)
Alexander the Great, the Greek king of Macedon had trumpets played to disturb the enemy forces.
An art based on the organization of sounds in time.
Music
Plato stresses importance of education including music
Music and the State
Music, Scientific Thought & Education
Effect of music on the soul and behavior could purify the mind
Doctrine of Ethos
Music, Scientific Thought & Education
Greeks borrowed concept from the Egyptians. Inaudible to human ears.
Paul McCartney credits his gifts to this.
Music of the Spheres
Music and the Cosmos
Clarify of form, purify & objectivity of expression. Instrument: lyre/harp
Apollonian Cult
Greek Cults
Ecstasy, passion, sensuality & subjectivity.
Instrument: aulos (woodwind oboe-like)
Dionysian Cult
Greek Cults
Oldest complete piece of music. Written on a tombstone.
Document (Epitaph) of Seikilos
Nero played the Kithara (Lyre) while Rome burned. Died in AD 69 saying “What an artist the world in losing!” Roman battlefield music function: battlefield signals and deception
Roman Music
