Music For Voices Flashcards
What is a choir usually made up of
A choir is usually made up of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses.
Works for choir
Choral works include the mass, oratorio, cantata and anthem. These pieces are often set to religious texts and performed in a church or cathedral.
Large-scale choral works often include?
A number of choruses (for the whole choir) and arias (for soloist)
Solo songs
Classical solo songs are often accompanied by piano. They are usually performed in a small concept hall or recital room.
What is the Lied
The Lied (plural Leider) is a populate type of solo song from the Romantic period, set to German poetry. Lieder are usually quite short, but can sometime be joined together to form a longer song cycle
Opera
An opera is a staged drama in who all of the action is expressed through music. In this sense an opera is similar to a musical, except that operas are based on a classical rather than popular style.
Who performs the opera
An opera is usually performed by a vocal soloists and a chorus, who are accompanied by an orchestra.
Types of voice FEMALE
Soprano= high
Mezzo soprano= medium
Alto= low
Types of voices MALE
Treble= a boys high voice- equivalent to a soprano Countertenor= a male alto Tenor= high Baritone= median Bass= low
Vocal techniques
These include falsetto and vibrato (vibrato is nearly always used by solo singers, particularly in opera, but is less common in a choir)
Structure
Three forms specific to songs are strophic, through/composed and the da capo aria, although songs can also use different types of structure, such as binary or tenant form.
Text setting and word painting
A musical technique that attempts to illustrate a word or phrase in the text is called word painting. E.g. A rising phrase for the word ‘ascending’, held notes for words that describes stillness and calm, major chords to suggest triumph and happiness, jumping, chromatic lines for words that depict suffering and pain.
