Terms cont’d.

Harmony, Texture, and Form

Readings

• pp. 8-10 (harmony)

• pp. 45; 24, 42, 55, 61, 67, 74, 89 (texture)

• pp. 56; 33, 45, 56 (form)

Harmony

• Two or more pitches played at the same time

Harmony

• Key/Tonality - the idea of building a piece of music around a central or “home sound”

Harmony

• Consonance - stability. Pitch combinations that sound pleasant or stable

• Dissonance - instability. Pitch combinations that sound unpleasant or unstable

Harmony

• Scale - a series of pitches played in order from low to high or high to low.

• Major Scale - do re mi fa sol la ti do.The most common musical "menu" from which to choose pitches.

• Minor Scale - The scale with a darker quality, often times more emotional.

Harmony

• Drone - one repeated pitch among other changing pitches - more of a "folksy" quality.

Texture

• The interweaving of melody and harmony

Texture

• The interweaving of melody and harmony

• Monophonic - one unaccompanied melody • Homophonic - one melody with some type of

accompaniment (most common texture) • Polyphonic - two or more melodies at the same

time.May be with or without accompaniment. This is "the crowning achievement of Western Music".

Form

• Musical structure and design

Form

• Form. = formula; format = recipe.

Form

• Form can be followed by identifying repetition, variation, and contrast.

• Repetition - literal repeats of the same material. • Contrast - completely new material from the first

musical idea • Variation - when the original material is slightly

changed to create interest • The above three methods used in conjunction are

the methods used in achieving musical interest.

Form

• Theme - the tune in classical music.Not just repeated, but expanded and "developed"

Form

• Thematic development - when a theme is fragmented and used in different ways.

• Motive - a fragment of a melody.Very little piece that is recognizable, but not as long as a phrase.

• Sequence - the repetition of a motive at a higher or lower pitch.

• Ostinato - a short musical pattern that is repeated over and over as the basis of a musical composition.

Classic vs. Romantic

• Classic - form, symmetry, balance, emotional detachment.

• Adoration of the Magi by Botticelli• Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David

Adoration of the Magi

Death of Socrates

Classic vs. Romantic

• Romantic - freedom, emotion, drama, individual

• Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek by Peter Paul Rubens

• Traveler Looking Over A Sea of Fog by Caspar David

Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek

Traveler Looking Over A Sea of Fog

Common Practice Period

• 1600-1900

• Composers use the common language of “tonality”

• Music is written using a central key or “home sound”

• Can be both Classic and/or Romantic