Mus 210

MUS 210
Music Appreciation
Lectured by::
Joy Hakmeh
Notre Dame University
Louaize
Course Objectives:
Demonstrate the ability to notes reading,
identification and naming.
Recognize and identify the elements of music:
rhythm, melody and harmony.
Learn musical forms and structures.
Identify scales.
Appraise the music history and styles.
Learn the history of instruments and their
classification (Organology), their families and
utilization.
Introduction to Music Appreciation
How is Music an appreciation?
It is a vital part of human society: provides entertainment
and emotional release.
Available on demand to everyone: discography, internet,
radio, live shows, concerts…
It is a source of pleasure for performers and listeners
(audience).
Evaluation of a live performance:
- background knowledge of music vs. alert, live listening.
- Perceptive listening (knowledge of musical elements)
enhances the enjoyment.
Chapter 1
Melody: Musical Line
 Elements of sound: pitch, dynamics, tone color
and duration.
- Pitch: highness and lowness of the sound.
- Determined by frequency of vibration: slow
vibration= low pitch, fast vibration= high pitch.
E.G: violin sounds higher than the cello (shorter
strings=faster vibrations)
- General tuning standard for musical pitch is the A4
(above the middle C): 440 Hz.
Chapter 1
Notating pitch:
Staff: 5 lines and 4 spaces (holds the notes)

Treble clef :
Bass clef:
Chapter 1
Name and placement of notes
English: C D E F G A B
French: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si
Chapter 1
-Dynamics: relative loudness of the sound (volume).
 Italian terms used to indicate dynamics:
pp – pianissimo- very soft
p – piano – soft
mp – mezzo piano – moderately soft
mf – mezzo forte – moderately loud
f – forte – loud
ff - fortissimo – very loud
Vid: dynam1vid
dynam2vid
- Tone color (timbre): quality of the sound.

Could be dark, mellow, bright…
- Duration: the length of time a musical sound lasts.
- CW: writing notes.
Chapter 1
Melody: the line or tune in music. It is a
succession of pitches.
Interval: the distance between any two
pitches.
a- small intervals: conjunct
b- large intervals: disjunct
Chapter 1
Phrase: the units that make up the melody
Cadence: the conclusion or resolution of
the phrase (ends the phrase). The cadence
can be complete or incomplete.
Chapter 2:
Rhythm and Meter: Musical Time
Rhythm: a repeated pattern of durations of sounds and
silences (the movement of music with time). Each note
has a length or duration.
 Notating Rhythm: length of tone in relation to other tones
in the piece.
Chapter 2:
 Whole note= 4 beats
 Half note= 2 beats
 Quarter note= 1 beat
 Eighth note= ½ beat
 Sixteenth note= ¼ beat
Rests: notated silence.
CW: writing notes with length
Chapter 2:
Beat: the speed at which a piece of music is played, or
a recurrent pulsation. Some beats are stronger than the
others (accented beats)
(vid:beatvid)
Chapter 2:
Downbeat: the first accented beat of each pattern.
- Duple meter:
- Triple meter:
- Quadruple meter:
Chapter 2:
Meter: grouping of beats (in measures). Each
measure contains a fixed number of beats.
Notating meter:
- Time signature: indicates the meter at the
beginning of the piece.
- E.g: 2 How many beats/measure
4 What type of note counts
one beat.
- E.g of time signatures: 2 3 6
4 4 8
Chapter 2:
Vid: quadvid
Simple meters: duple, triple, quadruple.
Compound meters: (sextuple meter).
Syncopation: the accent falls on the weak beat instead
of the strong beat. (offbeat, upbeat)
Vid: syncvid
Chapter 3:
Harmony: Musical Depth
Harmony: describes the vertical aspects of
music, or how notes (pitches) sound
together. (melody is up, harmony is down).
Chapter 3:
Vid: harvid
Chord: three or more pitches sounded together.
Chapter 3:
Scale: a set of successive tones that build
music and harmony. The tones of the scale
are ordered according to their pitch.
E.g: Scale of C (Do)
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Scale of D (Re)
Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do Re
Chapter 3:
Chapter 3:
 Triad: most common chord, made up of 3 pitches.
 Tonic: the central pitch (note) around which the melody and
harmony are built. (Also around which the scale is built).
CW: Identify the tonic in the scales.
CW: Build up triads on the following notes : Re, Sol, La.
 Tonality: the organization of the pitches or the key. (Major and
minor).
Chapter 3:
Dissonance: created by unstable combination of
pitches (tension).
Consonance: occurs with a resolution of dissonance,
producing a stable sound. (Stable, relaxed).
Vid: consdisvid
Vid: disvid
Vid: consdisvid2
Chapter 4:
The Organization of Musical Sounds
Octave: an interval spanning eight notes of
the scale. ( e.g: Do-Do, Mi-Mi..)
- Divided into 12 equal semi tones or
halfsteps.
Chapter 4:
Chromatic scale: made up to the 12
halfsteps.
Diatonic scale: made up of 7 whole and half

steps making up the major and minor scales.
Chapter 4:
Sharp: raises the note by half a step.
Flat: l llowers the note by half a step.
Major scale: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do
Do: Tonic, Sol: Dominant.

Vid: majorvid
majorvid2
Chapter 4:
Minor scale: Do Re Mib Fa Sol Lab Sib Do
Vid: minorvid
Chapter 4:
Other scales: pentatonic or five-note scale.
It is often used in some African, Asian and
Native American music.
Vid: pentavid
Chapter 4:
Microtones: intervals smaller than half
steps. E.g: the blue note in jazz, which is a
note played at a slightly different pitch than
standard.
Tonic chord: built on the first scale note
(Do-Mi-Sol).
Active chords: dominant (built on the 5th,
Sol-Si-Re) and subdominant (built of the 4 th
Fa-La-Do).
Chapter 4:
Modulation: Change of key during the
work (piece).
Transposition: shift of the pitch (key) of
the entire work.
Vid: modulvid
Chapter 5:
Musical Texture
Texture: the intertwining of the melodic lines with
the harmony.
Types of texture:
- monophony: a single voice (line), (vocal or
instrumental line), without any accompaniment.
- E.g: Gregorian and Islamic chants.
- Gregorian chant: church music sung as a single
vocal line without musical accompaniment.
- Vid: gregvid
islamvid
Chapter 5:
Musical Texture
- heterophony: several musicians sing
or play the same melodic line, but each
line varies in an element (rhythm or
pitch). This results in the melodic lines
being “out of sync”.
- Vid: heterovid
Chapter 5:
Musical Texture
- polyphony: two or more different melodic
lines are combined (many voices). It is also
based on counterpoint, where one musical
line is set against another.
- Vid: polyphonvid
- homophony: one melodic voice is prominent
over the accompanying lines or voices (e.g,
the right hand plays the melody while the left
the accompaniment on the piano).
Chapter 5:
Musical Texture
Imitation: when a melodic idea is
presented in one voice and then restated in
another. E.g, canon and round.
Vid: imitvid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
Form: refers to the musical work’s
structure or shape.
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
 The building blocks of forms:
- Theme: a melodic idea in a large-scale work. It can be
broken down into smaller components or fragments
(motives).
- Motive: the smallest recurrent musical idea possessing a
thematic identity. (beethoven symph, no.5)
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
- Phrase: made up of one or more motives. The
phrase ends with a cadence.
- Sequence: when the motive or idea is repeated at a
higher or lower pitch.
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
- Sentence: usually made up of 8 bars (measures).
1st part sounds unfinished, and the 2nd part completes
the statement.
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
Ostinato: the repetition of a short melodic,
rhythmic or harmonic pattern.
Vid: pachelbelvid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
- Types of forms:
- - Strophic form: the same melody is repeated with each text.
E.g, Silent Night.
- Binary form: (A-B) or (AA-BB)
It’s a complete structure , based on a statement and a departure,
without a return to the opening section.
It resembles a question (A) and answer (B) in speech.
Vid: binaryvid
- Ternary form: (A-B-A)
Based on a statement, departure then it goes back to the
statement (resembles a sandwich).
Vid: ternaryvid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
Forms based on dances:
- Suite: an instrumental composition made up of a
chain of dances. (Baroque era).
- The 4 most prominent types of dances in the
Baroque eras were Johann Sebastian Bach’s
Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue.
- Vid: suitevid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
Other forms:
- Rondo: a piece of music where the musical material at the beginning
keeps returning. (E.g, Beethoven’s sonata Pathetique, 3d movement).
(ABACABA)
Vid: rondovid
- Sonata: an instrumental composition for one or more solo performers
with several movements. (began in17th and early 18th centuries, but was
mostly prominent in mid 18th century with Mozart, Haydn and
Beethoven in the Classical era).
The sonata form is divided into 3 parts: exposition, development,
recapitulation.
(e.g: Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, divided into three movements:
Adagio Sostenuto, Allegretto, Presto agitato)
Vid: sonatavid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
- Concerto: a piece usually composed of 3 movements, in
which one solo instrument (piano, violin, cello or flute) is
accompanied by an orchestra. (Baroque and Classical eras).
- - Cadenza: improvisation done by the soloist in a concerto.
- It can also be a double concerto (2 solo instruments), triple
concerto (3 solo instruments) and concerto grosso (4 or
more solo instruments with an orchestra).
- E.g: Vivaldi, Four Seasons (4 violin concerti).
- Antonio Vivaldi was a composer of the baroque era.
- Vid: concertovid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
- Symphony: an extended musical composition
for a full orchestra. (Classical era). Made up of
many movements (usually 4 movements). The first
movement is in most of the time a sonata form
(exposition, development, recapitulation).
- E.g: Beethoven’s Eroica, Symphony no.3. Also
symphony no.5…
- Vid: symphonyvid (symph 5)
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
- Overture: an instrumental composition which
serves to introduce (open) an opera, oratorio or
similar work. (early 17th century).
- French overture: 2 sections, slow and quick.
e.g: Handel’s overture to the Messiah.
Vid: overturevid1
- Italian overture: 3 sections, quick, slow, quick.
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
Vocal forms:
- Opera: a dramatic work in one or more acts, written
for singers, actors, choreographers and orchestra.
- - libretto: text or script written for an opera (scenario)
- aria: a long accompanied song for a solo voice,
typically taken form an opera or oratorio.
Vid: ariavid
- recitative: a speech-like vocal style based on a text of
a narrative nature. (it usually comes before the aria).
Vid: recitativevid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
- Lied: ( first associated with the German Romantic
period), is a song in German based on a poetry with a
piano accompaniment.
Vid: liedvid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
Electronic music: music that utilizes electronic
musical instruments (producing sound through
electronic circuits and digital devices). Such
instruments are plugged into an amplifier.
- Developed at the end of the 19th century.
E.g: keyboard, electric piano, electric guitar, bass,
electronic drums.
E,g of electronic music: electronic dance music,
experimental art music…
Vid: electromusicvid
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
Programme music: a type of music composition which
attempts to narrate a story.
E.g: Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, tells the story of
an artist’s self-destructive passion for a woman. The
symphony tells us about his obsession and dreams,
ecstasy, and visions of suicide.
Symphonic poem: a kind of programme music. It is a
programmic orchestral composition made up of one
movement in a freely adapted sonata form.
Home assignment: listen to Symphonie Fantastique on
youtube.
Chapter 6:
Musical Form
Jazz music: music genre that originated in the late 19 th and
early 20th centuries in New Orleans, US. It was originated
by the Black Americans. It is characterized by syncopation,
improvisation and the use of emotive effects such as the
blue note (a pitch which is in the crack between 2 adjacent
notes on the keyboard) check blue note on youtube.Jazz
music later on spread to white Americans, becoming a
worldwide music phenomenon.
Vid: jazzvid1
Jazzvid2
Jazzvid3
More listening in musical form file (videos)
Chapter 7: Musical Expressions: Tempo
and Dynamics
Tempo: is the rate of speed of music.
- Italian terms to designate tempo:
Grave: very very slow
Largo: very slow
Adagio or lento: quite slow
Andante: a walking pace
Moderato: moderate
Allegro: fast
Vivace: lively
Presto: very fast
and Dynamics
Dynamics: the volume, or how loud and soft the
music is played.
- Italian terms to designate dynamics:
pp: pianissimo: very soft
p: piano: soft
mp: mezzo piano: moderately soft
mf: mezzo forte: moderately loud
f: forte: loud
ff: fortissimo: very loud
and Dynamics
Crescendo: growing louder
Diminuendo: growing softer
The 6 eras in Western Music History
Medieval
Renaissance
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
Modern
 Medieval:
- Period from 500 A.C TO 1400
Characteristics and highlights of this era:
- Religion had a strong influence on the medieval era in general and on its
music.
- The first musical notation was for the church.
- Plainchant: unaccompanied church music sung in unison and in free
rhythm.
- Plainchant and music became an integral part in liturgy, and thus were
used during the Mass.
- Vid: plainvid
- Gregorian chant: central tradition of the plainchant. It is a
monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic
Church.
- The earliest sources of monophony were found in that era.
- Sacred music, slow development of movement and
rhythmic independence.
- In the 11th century, music in the courts started, as an
entertainment.
- In the late 11th century, troubadours (poets who wrote
verses to music, coming from the Area of Southern
France. Most of them came from low social origins but
later on became respected troubadours), began to flourish.
- Vid: troubadourvid
- Musico-poet art began with the troubadours.
- Music in that era was mostly used at the Church, and as
Court entertainment (weddings, when nobles met for
diplomatic meetings…)
- Very little instrumental music.
- Many manuscripts.
- Notating rhythm began in the late 12th century.
- The motet (short piece of sacred choral music)
developed in the early 13th century. At first, motets were
written for only 2 voices. Later on, they developed into
three, four or more voices.
- Vid: motetvid
The Medieval Era Instruments:
Harp, pipe, trumpet, portative organ (small), positive
organ (big), bells…
Some famous composers in that Era:
Adam de la Halle, Guillaume Du Fay…
 Renaissance: (rebirth)
Ranged from 14th to 17th centuries.
Catholic Reformation (change from Roman Church to Catholic
Church).
- Music played an important part.
- The first major operas were Euridice by each of Giulio Caccini
and Jacopo Peri, and Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi.
- - Protestant music:
- Martin Luther (professor of theology, composer and monk), was a
great music-lover. He encouraged the use of polyphony in Church
services, but added the singing of hymns through chorales.
- Polyphony was written over a cantus firmus (a melody used
as a basis for a polyphonic composition).
- Vid: cantusvid
- Complicated and broader harmonic and contrapuntal
structures.
- Psalms from the Bible were translated into French by many
poets.
- New devotional musical genres arose: madrigals (a polyphonic,
unaccompanied vocal music composition of the Renaissance and
early Baroque) and chansons (a secular polyphonic French song).
- Vid: madrigalvid
- chansonvid
- Court music was prominent.
- The first whole book of printed music by Ottaviano
Petrucci was published in Italy in 1501.
- Entertainment at weddings were made through music
and drama.
- Frotolla: a form of Italian comic song suited to
performance by 4 voices or one voice and a lute.
- Vid: frotollavid
- The Renaissace Era instruments:
- Lute and keyboard instruments (harpsichord, organ…)
Famous composers in that era:
Alexander Agricola, Adriano Banchieri, Maddalena
Casulana…
Baroque
Era between 1600-1750
Characteristics and highlights:
- Vastness, rich counterpoint and highly ornamented melodies.
- Extravagance and ornamentation.
- Aria da capo: ABA form.
- Vid: dacapovid (Ha was despised by Handel).
- Oratorio: an unstaged religious opera.
- Vid: oratorioariavid (thus saith the Lord)
- The principle of contrast: between dynamics, musical texture
and musical technique between harmonies.
- Opera started to spread in that era, and the plots were
mostly drawn from either mythology or history.
- The first recitatives were at the beginning of the 16th
century.
- Creator of the opera (opera started with Monteverdi).
- Vid: handelrecvid
- The development of new aria forms throughout the
middle and late 17th century.
- Operas at first were performed for small invited
audiences at wealthy courts.
- The first public opera theatre opened in Venice in 1637.
- The English Mask and the French Ballet du cour were
prominent back then. However, their plots were mainly
in attempt to glorify the ruling class.
- Fugues (imitation of each voice), sonatas and suites
started to develop.
- Vid: fuguevid
- The evolution of new forms: the sonata, concerto,
symphony and overtures.
- By the beginning of the 18th century, most of the
principal European cities imported opera from
Italy, where the Italian operatic style would be
modified to suit the taste of local audiences.
- In northern Germany, Italian opera intermingled
with the French style established in Paris by Jean-
Baptiste Lully for his tragedies lyriques (a kind of
French opera).
France started to ignore the Italian operatic form in
favour of the tragedie lyrique with its significant use of
ballet which resulted in the opera-ballet.
- Throughout the 18th century, the Italian castrato
(Farinelli for example) reigned supreme in many
European Opera houses such as Vienna, Prague,
London…
-Vid: castratovid
-The opera seria (serious opera) and opera buffa (comic
opera).
- Famous composers in that era:
- Johann Sebastian Bach (german), George Frideric
Handel (german), Domenico Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi
(Italian), Henry Purcell.
- Johann Sebastian Bach: was born in 1685 and died in
1750.
- Vid: bachvid1 (prelude)
- Vid: domenicoscarlattivid
- Vid: vivaldivid1
- vid: purcellvid (cold song, from King Arthur)
The Baroque Era instruments:
Cello, Clarinet, Double bass, Harpsichord, Trumpet and
Horn, Clarinet…
Classical
This era ranged from 1730 to 1820.
Characteristics and highlights:
- Greater emphasis on clarity with more melodic expression
and clarity of instrumental color.
- Music was simple, harmonious and proportioned.
- The Enlightenment (rationalism and scepticism) fought the
superstition and mysticism of the Church. This resulted in
the change in Opera librettos. The enlightenment operas
became based on direct, everyday human drama about
ordinary people, gained ground over serious, heroic Italian
operas. (example, Mozart’s Magic Flute Opera).
- The classical era in music officially began with Haydn
(Austrian) in the mid 1770-s, and lasted till Beethoven’s death
in 1827 (German).
- Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies. He became deaf,
and he was in the transition period between Classical and
Romantic.
- Modulation, rich contrapuntal elements and development of
sonata form and symphonies.
- Vienna was a particular magnet to musicians, especially in the
era of Emperor Joseph II, where many musicians around Europe
came to try their fortune. The three greatest composers who left
their impact back then were Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
- Concertos, sonatas and operas developed in importance
thanks to Haydn and Mozart.
- The centres of the development of Opera were Vienna,
Venice, Naples, Paris and London.
- The centre of orchestral music was Mannheim.
- Sturm und Drang ( “Storm and Stress”, was a
contradiction to the “enlightenment”, where it focused
on the emotional, passionate and the terrifying). This
was revealed in Haydn’s symphonies where he used a lot
of minor keys and passion in tone.
- Vid: sturmunddrang (Haydn symphony 39 in G minor).
- Development of the oratorio by Haydn and Mozart.
- The use of the da capo aria in oratorios and operas.
- The Early Sonata : in the Classical era, the sonata was
generally in 3 movements (fast-slow-fast).
- The Classical Sonata: more complex themes and richer
texture. Mozart’s sonatas where elegant and simple, in
contrast to Clementi’s, which displayed a more sharp
style.
- The string quartet was prevalent in that era (violin,
viola, cello and double bass).
- The string quintet (2 violins, 2 violas and a cello).
- The classical symphony, opera buffa, opera seria
and classical orchestra were all prominent in that
era.
- The famous classical era composers:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Josef Haydn, James
Hook, Giovanni Battista Martini, Pietro Metastasio
and Ludwig Van Beethoven
- The Classical era instruments:
- Clarinet, Pianoforte, French horn,…
Vid: haydnvid1 (concerto for cello 3d mvmt).
Vid: beethovenvid1 (symphony no 7 2nd mvmt)
Vid: mozartvid1 (papageno papagena, magic flute)
Vid: mozartvid2 (requiem, confutatis/lacrimosa)
Research Term Paper and PPT Presentation
Group 1: Hebrews (biblical period)
Group 2: Gregorians
Group 3: Egyptians
Group 4: Chinese
Group 5: India
Group 6: Islam
Group 7: Africa
Group 8: Mongolians
Group 9: Brazil
Romantic
Period from 1780-1910
- Sentiment and imagination.
- Freedom of expression.
- Contradiction between classicists who were protectors of
tradition, and the Romantics, who sought realism and
modernity in their arts.
- The first French music journal La revue musicale was
founded, and the following year saw the premiere of the first
grand opera, La muette de Portici by Daniel-Francois-Esprit.
- Foreign composers and virtuosos came to Paris, the new
capital of music, including Franz Liszt, Frederic
Chopin (polish), Gaetano Donizetti and Richard
Wagner.
- Ludwig Van Beethoven was in the transitional period
between Classical and Romantic, and this is revealed in
his last symphony (9th symphony) where he embodies
growth in the orchestra. Besides, this symphony is twice
in length in comparison to his previous symphonies.
- Operas included more choruses, soloists and
instrumentalists.
- More modulations and unresolved dissonances.
- More expression in opera, song and instrumental
pieces.
- Italian opera continued to dominate Europe, but
alongside it, German opera started to evoke.
- Operas were sending political messages through their
librettos.
- London became the financial and commercial capital
of the world in the first half of the nineteenth century.
And thus, a lot of concerts started taking place.
- During the nineteenth century, women of the middle and
upper classes were taught music privately and some attended
small private music schools.
- Italian Opera:
- By the beginning of the nineteenth century, opera seria and
opera buffa had come closer together and resulted in a hybrid
opera genre: the semiseria.
- In 1813, Italian opera found a new identity in the works of
Gioachino Rossini. The bel canto (beautiful singing- a
lyrical style of operatic singing using full voice and rich
tone) started to flourish. The bel canto melodic line was
underpinned by a simple but strong harmonic structure.
- Opera singers had the freedom to add ornamentation to the vocal
melodic line. An example to that is Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia:
Vid: figarovid
- The three masters of Bel Canto were Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano
Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini (all Italians)
- Donizetti and Bellini continued on developing the bel canto style.
Bellini was known for his long and elegant melodies, such as the
aria “Casta Diva” from Norma, and Donizetti was known for his
effortlessly appealing tunes, but also brought a more complex sense
of drama in his operas, such as in his Lucia di Lammermoore,
where “madness” is revealed in a major scene.
- Vid: bellinivid1
- Vid: donizettivid1
French comic opera:
- Most of the French comic operas in the 1820s and 1830s
were clearly influenced by Rossini’s style and works.
- They were tuneful and light.
- Emphasis was mainly on the choruses and ensembles rather
than on the solo arias.
- French Grand Opera:
- It was characterized by the fusion of the different elements of
opera into a grandiose whole: it featured large casts of
soloists and several choruses, spectacular scenery and
effects, and varied musical forms.
- Vid: rossinivid (sombre foret, guillaume tell)
German opera:
- The use of recurrent motives.
- Emphasis on the orchestra.
- The use of a lot of brass instruments and low
strings and woodwinds.
More highlights of the Romantic era:
- Focus on the orchestration.
- Development of the Programme Music (music that has
a narrative or descriptive element), such as Berlioz’s
Symphonie Fantastique.
- Development of violin and clarinet concertos
(Paganini’s violin concertos were famous).
- Development of the piano concertos by Beethoven and
Frederic Chopin. The latter’s main focus was on the
piano soloist in his concertos. Franz Liszt focused
more on the pianist’s virtuosity.
Vid: chopinvid 1
Vid: lisztvid 1 (hungarian rhapsody).
- Development of the string quartet.
- Richard Wagner was one of the most influential
composers. He wrote the texts and the music of 13
operas. He focused a lot on the orchestration, the
harmonies and elaborated the use of leitmotifs.
- Vid: wagnervid 1 (Tannhauser)
- Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian operatic composer, who
dominated the Italian opera after the era of Rossini,
Donizetti and Bellini.
- He wrote over 28 operas.
- He started to avoid the bel canto style in his operas.
- He was a Dramatic composer (he sought an expressive
voice that would bring the role and the character to
life). An example to that is his opera La Traviata.
- Vid: verdivid1
Verismo :
- A new style of singing that was considered as a major
adversary of Bel Canto.
- It focused on realism.
- Major Verismo composers were Gioacomo Puccini
and Pietro Mascagni.
- Vid: puccinivid (Tosca, E lucevan le stelle)
- The major composers of the Romantic era:
- Ludwig Van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin,
Gaetano Donizetti ,Richard Wagner, Nicola Paganini,
Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi…
- The romantic era instruments:
- Pianoforte, Clarinet, oboe, bassoon, french horn, harp,
xylophone, saxophone…
The Modern Era
Modern era: 1890-1975 (20th century)
Contemporary era: 1900-2000
Post modern era: 1975-present (21st century)
Characteristics and highlights of the Modern era:
- The use of imagism (a movement in the early 20th
century that supported precision of imagery and
clear sharp language) in poetry and in Opera.
- Before 1914, the followers/supporters of Wagner’s
music used a lot of chromaticism in music, in order to
increase emotion. The corresponding artistic
movement was called expressionism. Examples to
that are Richard Strauss’ operas Salome and Elektra,
and Alban Berg’s Wozzeck.
- The previously mentioned operas contained
dissonance, rhythmic unpredictability and extreme
registers.
- Vid: salomevid
- Vid: wozzeckvid
Arnold Shoenberg created the 12-note system
(dodecaphony or serial system) in his compositions.
This technique ensures that all 12 notes of the
chromatic scale are sounded equally, and that no note
is given more importance than the others. Anton
Webern also used this technique after Shoenberg.
Vid: shoenbergvid
- Modern technology led to new ways to produce
sounds.
- Modern composers sought new sounds and often
favoured the use of percussion instruments .
- Erik Satie was known for his anti-emotional music.
Vid: satievid
- Paul Hindemith, also a modern era composer, desired to
compose music that could be more easily understood by
people.
- In the 19th century, composers were using folk music.
This continued in the 20th century, particularly in Spain
and Latin America. Famous composers back then were
Isaac Albeniz and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
- Vid: villalobosvid1
- Vid: villalobosvid2
- Other composers who were well known for using folk music were
Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly and Leos Janacek.
- More characteristics and styles of the Modern Era:
- Atonality: notes/pitches are organized without a reference note or
tonic (no tonality).
- Microtonal music: it made use of intervals smaller than semi tones.
- The 12-note technique
- Jazz music.
- Impressionism: music focused a lot on the atmosphere, tone color
and fluidity. The composers who mainly used this technique were:
Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky.
- Vid: bolerovid
- Famous composers of the Modern Era:
- Bela Bartok, Alban Berg, Leonard Bernstein, Claude
Debussy, George Gershwin, Arnold Shoenberg, Igor
Stravinsky…
- Listen to Summertime on youtube
- The Modern Era instruments:
- Guitar, Synthesizer, Timpani, Snare Drum, Piano…
Chapter 9: Voices and Instrument Families
Register: the melodic range, or the distance from the
lowest to highest note of an instrument or a person’s
voice.
- Female voice types: Alto, Mezzo Soprano, Soprano.
- Male voice types: Bass, Baritone, Tenor.
- Vid: sopvid (Donna Summer)
- Vid: mezzovid (whitney houston)
- Vid: jazzvid3 (Alto, Diana Krall)
- Vid: tenorvid
- Vid: baritonevid
- Vid: bassvid (check youtube,leonard cohen)
Chapter 9: Voices and Instrument Families
The world instrument classification system is divided
into:
- Aerophones: instruments that produce sound using air
(flutes, horns…)
- Chordophones: produce sound from a vibrating string
stretched between 2 points. The techniques used are either
bowing (violin, cello) or plucking (guitar, harp).
- Idiophones: produce sound from the substance itself (bells
or cymbals).
- Membranophones: drum-type instruments that are
sounded from tightly stretched membranes. They can be
struck, plucked, rubbed or sung into.
Chapter 10: Western Musical Instruments
The 4 families of Western instruments are:
- Strings
- Woodwinds
- Brass
- Percussion
1- String Instruments:
- All string instruments are chordophones, and are
divided into 2 types: bowed and plucked.
- Bowed-string family:
Violin, viola (alto), cello, doublebass (counterbass)
- The order of these 4 instruments, from the one possessing
the highest pitch to the one possessing the lowest is: violin,
viola, cello, doublebass.
- Vid: stringvid
- The shorter the length of the string, the higher its pitch.
- The techniques that these instruments can play are: legato
(where notes are smoothly connected), staccato (notes are
detached), pizzicato (plucked), vibrato (slight throbbing),
glissando (sliding), tremolo (the rapid repetition of a note).
- Vid: pizzicatovid
- String instruments can play several notes together, thus
producing harmony.
- Plucked-string family:
Harp and guitar.
- The harp has 7 pedals (used to change pitches) and
47 strings. Chords and arpeggios (broken chords)
can be played on it.
- Vid: harpvid
- The guitar can either be acoustic or electric.
Related to the guitar are the banjo and mandolin.
Vid:la cathedrale on youtube or guitarvid
Vid: tomandjerryorchvid
2- Woodwind instruments:
-These instruments are aerophones, where they produce
sound with a small column of air vibrating within a
pipe that has fingerholes along its length.
- The methods used to set up vibration: blowing across a
mouth hole (flute), blowing into a mouthpiece that has
a single reed (clarinet and saxophone), or blowing into
a mouthpiece fitted with a double reed (oboe and
bassoon).
- The flute is the soprano voice of the woodwind
family. Its tone is cool and velvety in the upper
register, and expressive in the low register.
- Vid: flutepicvid
- The piccolo is the highest pitched instrument in the

orchestra.
-
- The oboe is played when the player blows directly into a
double reed. The oboe’s timbre is described as nasal and
reedy. It traditionally sounds the tuning note A for the other
instruments in the orchestra.
- The English horn is an alto oboe. Its wooden tube is wider

and longer than the oboe’s and ends in a pear-shaped opening
called bell.
- Vid: oboevid (check gabriel’s oboe youtube)
- Vid: englishhornvid
- The clarinet uses a single reed. The instrument’s tone is
smooth and liquid.
- The bass clarinet is one octave lower in range than the
clarinet. It has a rich dark tone and a wide dynamic
range.
- The bassoon is a double-reed instrument. It sounds
weighty in the low register, and intense in the upper
register.
- The contrabassoon produces the lowest tone of the
woodwinds.
- The saxophone: soprano sax, alto, tenor and baritone.
Vid: clarinetvid
Vid: bassoonvid
Vid: saxvid
3- Brass instruments:
- These instruments are aerophones.
- The main instruments of this family are the
trumpet, the French horn, trombone and tuba.
- Going from one pitch to another requires muscular
control to vary the pressure of the lips and the
breath.
- The trumpet possesses the highest pitch in the
brass family.
- The French horn has a mellow resonance that can
be remote and mysterious in soft passages and
sonorous in loud ones.
- The trombone (in Italian: large trumpet), offers a full
and rich sound in the tenor range.
- The tuba is the bass instrument in the brass family. It
adds depth to the orchestral tone and a dark resonance
ranging from velvety softness to rumbling growl.
- Vid: trumpetvid (from movie/musical “Singing in the
rain”).
- Vid: frenchhornvid (Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony)
- Vid: trombonevid (Charlie Daniel’s “Sweet Louisiana”)
- Vid: tubavid
4- Percussion instruments:
- The percussion instruments of the orchestra accentuate the
rhythm and add color to the orchestral sound.
- This family is made up of idiophones and membranophones.
- Some of these instruments produce definite pitches while
other produce indefinite pitches.
- The ones that produce definite pitches:
- The timpani is played with 2 padded sticks. Its dynamics
range extends from a mysterious rumble to a thunderous
roll.
- Vid: timpanivid
- The xylophone family: instruments of this family are used in
Africa, Southern Asia and throughout America.
- The xylophone consists of tuned blocks of wood laid out in the
shape of a keyboard.
- Vid: xylophonevid
- The marimba is a type of xylophone but produces a more
mellow sound.
- Vid: marimbavid
- The vibraphone is another type. It is mostly used in jazz, and
it combines the principle of the xylophone with resonators
operated by electric motors that produce an exaggerated vibrato.
- Vid: vibraphonevid
- The glockenspiel consists of a series of horizontal
tuned steel bars of various sizes, which when struck
produce a bright, metallic, bell-like sound.
- The celesta is also a type of glockenspiel that is
operated by means of a keyboard. It resembles a
miniature upright piano.
- Chimes are a set of tuned metal tubes of various
lengths suspended from a frame and struck with a
hammer.
- The ones that do not produce definite pitches:
- Snare drums: a small cylindrical drum with 2 heads (top and
bottom) stretched over a shell of wood or metal and played with 2
drumsticks.
- The bass drum is played with a large, soft-headed stick and
produces a low, heavy sound.
- The tom-tom is a name given to Native American or African
drums of indefinite pitch.
- The tambourine is a round, hand-held drum with jingles (little
metal plates).
- Vid: tambourinevid
- Castanets are little wood clappers mounted on wooden boards.
- Vid: castanetsvid
- The triangle is a slender rod of steel bent into a 3
cornered shape. It is struck with a steel beater.
- The cymbals consist of 2 large circular brass plates
of equal size. When struck against each other, the
produce a shattering sound.
- The gong and the tam-tam are both broad circular
disks of metal, suspended to a frame so as to hang
freely.
- Keyboard instruments:
Piano, Organ (pipe organ), Harpsichord.
Chapter 11: Musical Ensembles
- Choral groups:
- Choral music is sung around the world, both for
religious purposes (sacred music) and for non-
spiritual (secular) occasions.
- A chorus is a large body of singers who perform
together. Their music is sung in several voices
(polyphony).
- Vid: choirvid
- A choir is a smaller group. It is often connected with
a church or with the performance of sacred music.
- The standard voice types in both choruses and choirs is
according to the following:
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
- A cappella: singing without musical accompaniment
- Vid: a cappella vid2 (pentatonix, bohemian rhapsody)
- Vid: a cappella vid3.
- Chamber music: ensemble music for small groups, with
one player per part.
- Chamber ensemble can be for a group of 2 to about a dozen
players, with only one player to a part.
- Types of chamber ensembles:
- String quartet: 2 violins, viola, cello.
- Duo sonata: soloist with piano.
- Piano trio, piano quartet, piano quintet, each made up of a
piano and string instruments.
- Vid: pianoduo
- The string quintet, sextet, septet and octet.
- The woodwind and brass quintets.
- Vid: brassquintetvid (bohemian rhapsody)
-
- The orchestra:
The largest family of instruments. It is made up of
strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. It is
directed by a conductor.
- The distribution:
- The strings are in front of the conductor, (middle
and both sides), so are the gentle woodwinds. The
louder brass and percussion are at the back.
- Vid: orchestravid (Karajan rehearsing Beethoven’s
9th symphony)
- The role of the conductor:
- The conductor beats time in standard metric patterns to help
the performers keep the same tempo.
- Most of the conductors use a thin stick known as the baton.
- The conductor also plays a very important role in
interpreting the music for the group. He/she decides the
precise tempo and the dynamics.
- Conductors also rehearse ensembles in practice sessions,
helping musicians to learn their individual parts.
- String players depend on the conductor or sometimes the
concertmaster (the first chair violinist).
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQDoN40-_C4 (pavane)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QtT48Ex4ao (pavane)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL0YgMAlWS4 (pavarotti
vocal range)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJKy8E4JKA8 (callas vocal
range)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AElgGuUSSKE (bartoli
vocal range)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MBIK7F7QYk (belting)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk (suzan
boyle)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHiH1NytwjM

Mus 210

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MUS 210

Staff: 5 lines and 4 spaces (holds the notes)

- Tone color (timbre): quality of the sound.

Diatonic scale: made up of 7 whole and half

Flat: l llowers the note by half a step.

Major scale: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do

Do: Tonic, Sol: Dominant.

- The piccolo is the highest pitched instrument in the

- The English horn is an alto oboe. Its wooden tube is wider

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