Musical Periods and Styles

Question 1

When did Baroque music originate?

Answer 1

Baroque music comes from the period between approximately 1600 and 1750.

Question 2

How is Baroque music recognised?

Answer 2

Baroque music is recognised for its use of:

-repetition
-scales
-sequences

Question 2

How are melodies usually played in a piece Baroque music?

Answer 2

They are played alongside each other to create polyphonic music that contains contrapuntal phrases. These phrases weave in and out of the music as melodies are passed around from player to player. The result sounds as if the instruments are imitating each other. This will sometimes happen through the complete piece, sometimes only for part of it.

Question 3

What instruments are common in Baroque Music?

Answer 3

-strings - violin, viola, cello and double bass
-woodwind - recorder or wooden flute, oboe, and bassoon
-brass - sometimes trumpet and/or horns
-percussion - timpani (kettledrums)
-key - harpsicord

Question 4

What is common in Baroque Music?

Answer 4

Ornaments, e.g trills

Question 5

What is a Concerto?

Answer 5

A common type of instrumental music found in this period is the concerto - a piece of music for a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra.

Baroque concertos were called concerto gross - or great concertos - as the music would often be written for more than one solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra.

Question 6

What was Baroque music mainly written for?

Answer 6

Church and Royalty

Question 7

When did Classical music originate?

Answer 7

The classical music era is usually seen as the years between approximately 1750 and 1820.

Question 8

How is Classical Music recognised?

Answer 8

Classical music is recognised for:

-beautiful melodies
-homophonic
accompaniments

Question 9

What is common in Classical Music?

Answer 9

Alberti bass and ornaments.

Question 10

What instruments are common in Classical music?

Answer 10

-strings - violin, viola, cello, double bass, and sometimes guitar
-woodwind - recorder or wooden flute, oboe, bassoon and clarinet
-brass - trumpet, horns (with valves by the end of the period)
-percussion - timpani (kettledrums) and sometimes triangle, hand cymbals and bass drum
-key - fortepiano

Question 11

What is a symphony?

Answer 11

A symphony is a large piece of work with four movements. Each movement has a different tempo and mood.

Question 12

What is a cadenza?

Answer 12

A cadenza consists of themes and melodies from the concerto arranged to display the technical virtuosity of the soloist. Some performers were so confident in their musical talent that they would improvise their cadenza rather than play a piece they had practiced.

Question 13

What is Binary form?

Answer 13

AB) - where the music has two clear sections.

Question 15

What is ternary form?

Answer 15

(ABA) - where the music has two sections then returns to the first section again

Question 16

What is Rondo form?

Answer 16

(ABACA) - where the music has one section which keeps returning and is sandwiched between lots of different sections

Question 17

What is a coda?

Answer 17

A coda is the final section in a piece of music, often 8 or 16 bars long.

Some composers would use a loud coda that was full of repetition. This would create a dramatic finish that made it clear to the listener that the piece was about to end.

Question 18

When did Romantic music origonate?

Answer 18

Romantic music developed directly from the classical period. There is no clear date as to when classical ended and romantic began but the period was approximately from 1780 to 1910.

Question 19

What is the purpose of Romantic music?

Answer 19

Romantic music focuses on provoking emotion and passion. Music was used to evoke stories, places or events.

Question 20

What can Romantic music be recognised for?

Answer 20

-larger orchestras
-use of rubato- slight speeding up and slowing down of the music
-adventurous harmonies and modulations

Question 21

What Instruments are common in Romantic music?

Answer 21

-strings - larger string section
-woodwind - flutes and piccolo, oboes and clarinets, bassoon and double bassoons
-brass - trumpets, trombones and French horns (tuba added later in the period)
-percussion - full percussion section
-key - piano

Question 22

When did minimalist music develop?

Answer 22

Minimalist music developed in America in the 1960s at the same time as a similar movement in the art world.

Question 23

Why did minimalist music emmerge?

Answer 23

Minimalists wanted to strip art and music back to their basics in response to the large, emotional works of the Romantic and Modern eras.

Question 25

How can minimalist music be recognised?

Answer 25

-compositions based on short ostinatos and patterns
-ostinatos looped in sequences to create almost hypnotic effects
-beats that shift to create tension in the music

Question 26

What are uses for minimalist music?

Answer 26

Minimalist music is often used for film and television scores due to the fact it can be very dramatic.

Question 27

What is opera?

Answer 27

An opera is a musical play performed on stage with costumes, scenery and props.

Question 28

What parts comprise an SATB choir

Answer 28

Soprano
Mezzo-Soprano
(Contr)alto
Tenor
Baritone
Bass

Question 29

What is melismatic?

Answer 29

Melismatic word setting is when a composer uses more than one note per syllable in order to make the word last longer so as to highlight a word for dramatic effect.

Question 30

What is syllabic?

Answer 30

Syllabic word setting is when a composer uses one note per syllable in order to make a word sound confident and clear.

Question 31

What is a musical?

Answer 31

A musical is a play performed on stage with costumes, scenery, dancing and props. Musicals are a development from the comic operas and mini operettas of the 18th Century.

Question 32

What is an Aria?

Answer 32

A self-contained piece for solo voice, usually accompanied by orchestra.

Question 33

What is a chorus in opera?

Answer 33

A group of singers with more than one person singing each part

Question 34

What is recitative?

Answer 34

A recitative a type of singing that is closer to speech than song

Question 35

What is Alberti Bass?

Answer 35

Alberti bass is a kind of broken chord or arpeggiated accompaniment, where the notes of the chord are presented in the order lowest, highest, middle, highest.

Question 36

What is an inverted pedal?

Answer 36

An inverted pedal is a pedal that is not in the bass (and often is the highest part.)

Question 37

What is a pedal?

Answer 37

A pedal point is a note that is held through changing harmonies, starting as a chord tone before becoming a non-chord tone.