Section I: Introduction to Music and Art History Flashcards
What is required to make music?
a time frame, sound, and a cognizant mind to perceive and interpret the sounds
What is music?
sound organized in time
What is a composer?
a person who first imagines the music and has performers make the sounds, and records and reproduces this music
What is sound?
a wave of energy
What are 2 attributes of sound waves that vary between each one?
amplitude and frequency
What does amplitude affect?
the decibel level, or how loud/soft a sound is
What does frequency affect?
the pitch
What is pitch?
the highness or lowness of a sound
When a wave is between 20 and 20,000 cycles per second, what do we hear it as?
a single, sustained tone
What does Hz represent?
cycles per second
What frequency do musicians in the U.S. typically tune their instruments to?
440 Hz or A-440
What are the 2 types of musical sounds?
pitched and non-pitched
What type of instruments typically provide non-pitched sounds in music?
percussion instruments
Who are scholars that study the music of other cultures called?
ethnomusicologists
Curt Sachs and Erich von Hornbostel created which 4 groups of instrument categories?
chordophones, aerophones, membranophones, and idiophones
What fifth category was later added to the Sachs and Hornbostel classification of instruments?
electrophones
What are examples of chordophones?
string instruments, like violins, guitars, and harps
What are examples of aerophones?
brass and woodwind instruments, like horns and flutes
What are membranophones?
instruments that have a skin or other type of membrane that vibrates when struck
What are examples of idiophones?
bells, woodblocks, and xylophones
What are the instrument families?
brass, woodwinds, strings, percussion, and sometimes keyboards
When did electronic instruments first begin to appear?
the early 20th century
What is one of the best-known early electronic instruments?
the theremin
A single musical sound has which 4 properties?
pitch, duration, volume, and timbre
What is the distance between any 2 adjacent keys on the keyboard of a piano called?
a half-step or semitone
What is the distance between every other piano key called?
a whole step
What are the white keys of a piano keyboard typically called?
the natural keys
What is the distance between any 2 pitches called?
an interval
Intervals can be performed so that it is _______ or ________.
harmonic or melodic
What are the 3 types of minor scales?
natural/pure minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor
What is a melody?
a series of successive pitches perceived to form a coherent whole
What is rhythm?
the way music is organized in time
What is a beat?
a steady pulse that underlies most music
What is the speed of a beat called?
the tempo
What does Allegro mean?
cheerful
What is a ritardando?
when the music slows down
What is an accelerando?
when the music speeds up
What is gradually slowing or speeding up the tempo in music written as?
poco apoco
What is suddenly slowing or speeding up the tempo in music written as?
subito
What is it called when music has no beat?
unmetered
What is slowing down or speeding up the tempo for expressive effect called?
rubato
Which beat of each measure is typically the strongest?
the first beat
What is the first beat of a measure called?
the downbeat
What is the longest note symbol used today?
the whole note
What does a dot after a note do to the note value?
it increases it by 1/2
What are ties?
curved lines that connect notes of the same pitch to tie or add up their values together
What are symbols for silence called in music?
rests
What is harmony?
2 or more tones occurring simultaneously