Lecture 3 Flashcards
Music's Material
when ask about the quality of a music example, what should you provide?
what instruments were played in the song, for example, aerophone, drums etc
whether it is a large or small ensemble
what is the meaning of vocal timbre?
whether the performer is male or female
what is a small ensemble?
vocal duet or instrumental trio
what is a large ensemble?
an orchestra or choir
what does any fundamental pitch consist of?
fundamental series of harmonics called overtones
what is an aerophone?
a wind instrument
what is a chordophone?
string instrument
what is an idiophone?
vibration of the instrument itself like xylophone
what is a membranophone?
the vibration of a membrane
when asked about the rhythm of a musical example, what should you provide?
classify whether it is metric, polyrhythm or free rhythm
what is the rhytmic pattern of maqsum?
widely used rhythmic pattern in Arab
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
D T - T D - T -
what the rhytmic pattern of masmudi saghir?
masmudi saghir (baladi)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
D D - T D - T -
what the rhytmic pattern of sa’idi?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
D T - D D - T -
* equivalent to a Western 4/4 rhythm
what are takks in maqsum?
drumming ornaments in triplets
what is free rhythm?
no sense of predictability of the rhythmic pattern
what is polyrhythm?
multiple rhythmic patterns played at the same time
what is pitch?
how high or low a sound is
what do faster vibrations of sound result in?
a higher pitch
what do slower vibrations of sound result in?
a lower pitch
what is a halfstep?
the smallest interval in European art music
what is a whole step?
two half steps
what is an octave?
when a pitch is doubled or halved
what are microtones smaller than? what are microtones also called?
tones smaller than semitones called quarter tones
how many quarter steps is a whole step in Arab music?
4
what is the tuning system?
the entire collection of notes used in a musical tradition
what is the basis for most tuning systems around the world?
the octave
what do listeners accustomed to one music system often perceive a different set of intervals in an unfamiliar music tradition?
as sounding out of tune
what is the octave divided into in the Arab maqam?
24 parts
what is a scale?
a set of pitches used in a particular performance
what is a pentatonic scale? which countries is the pentatonic scale used in?
5 notes per octave
used in East Asian and African countries
what is a heptatonic scale? which countries is the heptatonic scale used in?
7 notes per octave
used in Middle East, North India, and Europe
what is range? how is range described?
overall amount of pitches an instrument can produce
describe as being wide or narrow
what is harmony?
a combination of notes to produce a chord
when asked about the melody of a musical example, what should you provide?
which instrument is playing the main melody
what is ornamentation? why does ornamentation exist?
embellishments added to a melody to make it sound more interesting
what is text setting?
combining music and words
what does syllabic mean?
each syllable of a text corresponds to one word
what does melismatic mean?
several pitches are sounded for a single syllable of text
when asked about the intensity of a music example, what should you provide?
describe how loud or soft the sound is
what is cresendo?
gradual increase in sound
what is decresendo?
a gradual decrease in sound
when asked about the texture of a musical example, what should you provide?
Monophony, biphony etc
what does biphonic mean?
elaborate melody with a drone
what does monophonic mean?
music with a single melody line or a song sung in unison
what does homophonic mean?
melody supported with different parts with different pitches but sung on the same rhythm
what does polyphonic mean?
serveral melodies performed at the same time but different rhythms
what does heterophonic mean?
several voices producing similar but slightly different melodies
how many half-notes does an octave contain?
12 half notes
