Music Appreciation Flashcards
What instruments do you hear in this clip?
Brass
Unity in musical form can be represented by: A A B A (T/F)
False
The letters A B represent a binary form (T/F)
True
What happens in a ternary musical form that makes it different from a piece in binary form?
The beginning section (A) is repeated at the end of the piece.
The meter of this excerpt is:
triple
The meter of this excerpt is:
duple
aerophone
instruments that use columns of air to produce a sound
chordophone
instruments with strings
membranophones
instruments with tautly stretched membranes that produce sound when struck
idiophones
instruments made of solid materials that produce sound when struck or shaken
pitch
how high or low a musical sound is
clef
a symbol that appears at the beginning of a staff to help identify the note names
interval
the distance between any 2 pitches
dissonance
a combination of pitches that we perceive as tense or harsh-sounding
scale
a collection of the pitches in a composition, arranged in ascending order
rhythm
the succession of sound durations
tempo
the basic pace (speed) of the music
meter
beats that are organized into regular patterns of strong and weak emphasis
crescendo
gradually louder
syncopation
a rhythmic device in which normally un-emphasized beats are accented.
timbre
the quality of sound that differentiates one instrument from another
range
how high or low a particular instrument or voice can play/sing
binary
music comprised of two different (contrasting) sections
ternary
music comprised of three sections, the last of which is essentially a repetition of the first
theme and veriations
the music is repeated, but with a change in some aspect
melody
A recognizable succession of musical pitches.
Western composers typically organize melodies around a prominent recurring pitch called the…
Tonic
motet
a type of sacred polyphonic vocal composition
sacred
refers to music composed for the Church
secular
refers to music not intended to be used in a church service
church modes
a type of scale used in music of the Middle Ages and also by the ancient Greeks
melisma
describes several notes sung per syllable of text
monophonic
singing in unison
Refering to the rituals of the Catholic church, the ordinary is:
The sections of a larger worship service that remain constant throughout the year, regardless of the time of year.
Refering to the rituals of the Catholic church, the Proper is:
The sections of a larger worship service that vary depending on holidays, festivals, or seasons
Referring to rituals of the Catholic church, the Mass is:
A complex ritual that was and is a symbolic recreation of Christ’s Last Supper - it is the principle worship service of the Roman Catholic Church.
Referring to rituals of the Catholic church, the Divine Office is:
Extended series of services beginning about 4 a.m. and continuing at regular intervals throughou the day and evening.
Guillaume de Machaut wrote hundreds of secular poems in Latin. (T/F)
False
Secular medieval music was primarily transmitted by oral tradition or improvised as needed, rather than being written down and preserved. (T/F)
True
Since authorship was a largely unfamiliar concept, very few names of musicians associated with Gregorian chants have come down to us
True
What are the years included in the “Middle Ages”?
Roughly 5th to 15th century.
What is the term for the new musical style that became popular in the 14th century?
Ars Nova
The first steps toward the development of polyphony were taken sometime between the years 700 and 900 C.E., when …
monks in monastery choirs began to add a second musical line to Gregorian chant.
Listen to this excerpt from Machaut’s Puis qu’en oubli sui de vous—what word best describes the way in which the upper voice sings multiple notes on one syllable?
melisma
You know this excerpt is an example of Gregorian chant because of these characteristics
monophonic, no notated rhythms, notes from the church modes
Why is Hildegard of Bingen so important in the history of medieval music?
Hildegard of Bingen was important to the history of medieval music because of the influences from the other accomplishments in her life and because of her influence on leaders of the time. Besides composing melodies for use on the Divine Office and Mass, Hildegard was a poet and wrote about issues of social justice, helping the poor and mankind’s duty to preserve the natural world. Her writings almost necessarily would have influenced her musical compositions as well. The social and ecological issues that were the subject of many of her writing would have influenced her musical compositions in some way, no matter how subtly. This could have truly been the microscopic beginning of a turn towards secularism. Additionally, Hildegard was a woman and may have helped pave the way for other women in this style of music.
William Byrd
An English composer at the court of Elizabeth I, he was a Roman Catholic at a time when that was illegal
Josquin Desprez
He combined several different textures in his music. Martin Luther called him “the master of the notes”
Guillaume Dufay
A Franco-Flemish composer, he wrote love songs as well as sacred music. In one famous composition, he combined the two by using one of his popular songs as the basis for a Mass.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
An Italian composer who receives credit for writing complex polyphonic church music that does not obscure the words.
Thomas Weelkes
An English madrigalist who wrote an homage to Queen Elizabeth that is filled with word-painting.
Which texture is demonstrated here?
imitative counterpoint
This is an excerpt from Josquin’s “Ave Maria”. Which texture is demonstrated here?
pairings of voices
Which texture is demonstrated here?
block chords, which is homophonic texture
First, music from the Middle Ages; and here is music from the Renaissance
Write a paragraph about each. Use the terms modal, monophonic, polyphonic (as appropriate).
The music of the middle ages uses a bass tone I believe to hold the composition together. The modular nature of the music is such that a long held bass voice provides support for the other tenor alto and soprano voices. The voices sing different but very similar melodic lines of music that vary but support each other so I feel this is a beginning polyphonic piece but still sounds very monophonic. The music starts with one voice and then the other layers of voices join in.
The music of Renaissance have much more variation. There are more voices, creating a richer texture. We have definite polyphonic texture in the Renaissance piece. I hear a more developed thytm in this poece. All of the musical parts are sung together rather than starting with one voice and adding others in.
This music is an example of…
a ground-bass (basso ostinato) aria
This music is an example of…
a fugue subject
This music is an example of…
program music (music that tells a story)
This music is an example of…
a famous chorus from an oratorio
Listen to this excerpt from the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor. Beethoven didn’t really tell us what it means, but many have conjectured that it refers to Beethoven’s own struggles. What do these notes represent.?
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Listen to this brief excerpt from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Which instrument has the principal theme (the important part!) in this section?
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This is one of the Variations from the second movement of Haydn’s “Surprise “ Symphony. Variations means something has changed: How is this section different from the first time we hear it at the beginning of the movement?
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This excerpt is an illustration of which of the important forms you have studied in this unit?
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Listen to this short piano introduction from Schubert’s song The Erlking. What is being depicted by the piano part?
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In each part of The Erlking the music changes in some way so that you can tell which of the characters is singing that section, even though it’s in fact all the same singer. Which of the characters in the poem is portrayed in this part?
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This melody from Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique….
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This is a section of Pictures at an Exhibition, originally a piano piece. Which instrument families do you hear?
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What is the TEXTURE of the music in this excerpt, also from West Side Story?
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