Unit 1 Flashcards
What is a pitch?
A blend of a fundamental pitch and a partial
What is the difference between a fundamental pitch and a partial?
A Partial, Harmonic or Overtone is a considerably fainter sound that comes from the vibration and usually accopanies the pitch. A Fundemental pitch is a projected musical sound determined by the length of the vibrating column of string or other material.
What is a melody?
A succession of several pitches into a particular shape, or musically satisfying series
How many possible melodies could be written?
A seemingly endless amount
What is an interval?
The distance between any two pitches
What is the difference between a half step and a whole step?
A semitone is the smallest interval commonly used in Western music. It occurs between the third and fourth pitches, and between the seventh and eighth.
A whole tone contains 2 half steps and occur elsewhere in the scale
What is a scale?
When you isolate a basic pitch and then build an ascending series of pitches in an octave
What are the main types of scales?
The main types of scles are major (12 of them) and minor (12 of them)
What are the differences between rhythm, tempo, and meter?
Rythm is the succession of sound durrations
Tempo is the basic pace of music
Meter is regular beat patterns
What are the three primary types of musical textures, and what distinguishes them?
Monophonic - (one voice) One musician performs a single line of music, or several musicians perform a single line of music in unison.
Polyphonic - (many voices) involves multiple sounding lines
Homophonic - (similar voices) usually in the form of cords
What are the three types of meter, and what distinguishes them?
- Duple meter, with two beats per measure
- Triple meter, with three beats per measure
- Compound meter, which subdivide beats into smaller groupings of three.
- Quadruple meter,common variant of duple meter
What is a chord, and what role does it play in harmony?
Combinations of three or more pitches that sound simultaneously as the counterpoint in harmony
What role do dynamics play in music?
The relative loudness or softness of a pitch, they are not absolute, and can gradually change louder or softer
What is timbre, and why is it important to our understanding of music?
(Tone color) The quality of sound that differentiates one instrument from another. A composer’s selection of a particular instrument can influence our perception of a piece in profound ways. In addition, blending different instruments together allows composers to explore a range of musical colors.
What are two common ways of classifying musical instruments?
By Family - Idiophones - Membranophones - Aerophones - Chordophones - Electrophones By Category - Woodwind - Brass - String - Percussion
What is your favorite instrument, and why? How would you describe its range?
Harp because it sounds so beautiful. It has a very wide range just like the piano.
Or the Recorder because it sounds so bad. Tt has a range of like 2 octives or 16 notes
How do ensembles differ in classical music from jazz or rock? In what ways are they
similar?
Jazz ensembles generally divide into a reed section, a brass section, and a rhythm section
Rock music, on the other hand, tends to use smaller ensembles, with amplified guitars, percussion, and synthesized keyboard.
What is form, and how does it function in different arts?
The overarching plan that holds a piece together. Music flows over time, and when we look at a notated score, we can see the shape of what occurs during a performance.
Painting- visual paterns and compasition
Building- blueprints
What basic principle underlies musical form?
The competiting needs of unity and veriety
Compare and contrast binary from, ternary form, and theme and variations.
Bianary: AB
Ternary:ABA1
Theme and variations: A1A2A3A4…
How can the form of a piece of music emphasize its meaning? Explain using “My Shot”
as an example.
The refrain “I am not throwin away my shot” is a point of reference that the piece references and returns to throughout the piece. The base line forms a foundation for the song and unifies it throughout. It follows a refrain and variations that help the listener understand the drama and revolution.
How does the context of a piece of music add to its significance?
Context can help us have a deeper uderstanding of the music and what its meaning is. For example we can undertand through context that Hamiltion is meant to be a metephor for ongoing revelution that started in with the founding fathers and is still going on today.
