Chapter 2

The Elements of Music

2/1/2013

Harmony: Melody plus Accompaniment

Keynote: melody is dominated by one particular note. For example, if keynote is C:

Melody usually ends on this note. Gives a sense that the melody is completed. Keynote is also called the tonic. In the key of C the tonic is C.

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Harmony: Key and Scales

Called by the main note of the Tonic. If tonic is C, then the piece is in the key of C. Based on the scale that starts on the tonic. Scale = group of notes arranged in ascending or descending order.

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Harmony: Key and Scales

Two main types of scales

major minor

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Harmony: Major and Minor Scales

Name of scale is determined by the first note in the sequence. Type of scale is determined by the sequence of half and whole steps in the scale.
Major scale = whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. Minor scale = whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole.

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Piano Keyboard

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Modulation

Changing keys during the course of a composition

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Scales--Other Types

Chromatic scale = series of half steps from tonic to octave higher or lower.
Pentatonic scale = a scale with only five notes. Often used in Asian music.

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Harmony: Related Keys

Keys with the same number of sharps and flats (the key signature) are called related. Each major scale has a relative minor. Each minor scale has a relative major. These scales share the same key signature. When a piece is in a certain key, the notes in that piece are taken from the scale of that key.
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Harmony: Chords

Chord = three or more notes played together. Triad = most common type of chord. Consists of one primary note (the root) and a third and fifth above it.

Can be major or minor.

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Harmony: Chords

Chord = three or more notes played together. Triad = most common type of chord. Consists of one primary note (the root) and a third and fifth above it.

Can be major or minor.

If notes in a chord are sounded one after the other instead of together, its called an arpeggio. Chord built on tonic (tonic chord) establishes the key.
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Harmony: Chords

Dominant chord = a triad built on the fifth note (degree) of the scale.

Second most important chord in a key.

Subdominant chord = a triad built on the fourth note (degree) of the scale. Third most important chord in a key.

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Harmony: Chords

Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant = Primary Chords in a key. Chord progression = movement of harmony from one chord to the next.

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Harmony: Cadences

Definition: stopping points in the music.

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Texture

Definition: the way in which musical sounds are combined.

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Types of Texture

Monophony = melody with no accompaniment. Homophony = melody with accompaniment; melody predominates. Also called song texture.

Polyphony = two or more distinct musical lines played at once.

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Texture

Counterpoint: Musical lines are particularly clear and stay independent more or less throughout the piece or section of the piece. Round = a special kind of counterpoint in which one line of music is sung at staggered intervals to produce interweaving lines (e.g., Row, Row, Row Your Boat).
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Listen .

Textbook, pp. 30-31 Handel, Allegro from the Water Music

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Musical Form

Definition: the structural organization of a piece of music. Involves repetition, variation, and contrast.

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Musical Genre

A class or category of artistic work; a type of musical piece

a minuet a symphony a ballad etc.

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Musical Style

Term used to describe the way in which the elements of music are used to create music.
Describes characteristics that set apart the music of one historical period from another. Describes the individual characteristics of the music written by a single composer.

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Musical Style

Certain elements can sound like the music from a particular era These give us clues as to what type of music we are hearing.

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THM sorting question

Musical periods

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Style Periods in the History of Western Music

Middle Ages Renaissance Baroque Classic Romantic Twentieth Century

400 - 1400 A.D. 1400 - 1600 A.D. 1600 - 1750 A.D. 1750 - 1800 A.D. 1800 - 1900 A.D. 1900 - 2000 A.D.

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