Lesson 1

Okay...first of all...I know that the table of contents in your book looks a bit scary. 75 chapters!! Ack!! But you know...it?s okay. The chapters are fairly short. And besides, it?s a great book. It?s broken up into parts, which are then broken up into units, which are then broken up into chapters. You have the book, so I will simply be touching on some of the topics. You will be expected to READ the book. And you will be tested on what you read.

As you can see, we have a LOT to cover in a short amount of time. But we?ll do it. It?ll be great, and you?ll get to listen to some incredible music. Since there are eight parts to the textbook, we will cover one part each week. Some parts are longer and more complex than others, and some are really short, so just know that ahead of time. I?m here for you and your fellow online students are here for you. We?ll get through this together. And in the end, you?re going to be able to talk about classical music with authority and all of your friends will think you?re BRILLIANT!! You?ll be the toast of dinner parties! People will whisper about you as you walk by...."Have you talked to [your name here]? Amazing! I?ve never met anyone so smart in my life!!"

And now....(drum roll)...on to the first lecture!

I think you all understand how important music is to our lives. We use music for so many things. Not only do you listen to music for your own enjoyment, but it?s used in places of business to soothe or stimulate customers and it?s used to sell merchandise. We are constantly listening to music!

But how much do you understand about music except what it makes you feel when you listen to it? Well, in Unit 1, you will be learning a bit about the mechanics of music.

The prelude to Unit 1 talks about some practical suggestions for studying music and also some guidelines to attending concerts. Personally, I love the section on "concert etiquette". I just want to say...this does not only apply to going to musical concerts. It applies to the theatre and the cinema. It?s amazing how rude audiences are today!! Please copy the Summary at the top of page 10 and carry it in your wallet. Next time you go to a theatre or concert or to the movies...READ IT!

What makes a piece of music memorable to us? What is it that we hum? Right...the "melody." It?s the heart of the song. So let?s look at that a little more.

Remember that old question you learned in grade school...if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, as you probably remember, that discussion was followed by examining vibrations and how integral they are to what we hear. In fact, have any of you seen "Children of a Lesser God"? In that, they find that the deaf students can dance if they feel the vibrations coming from the music played.

As your text says on page 14, we perceive the pitches as an entire thought. Not just a bunch of notes that come right after the other. An "entire thought." Isn?t that a great way to put it? And the thought is then sometimes repeated. What do you think that means? Why would a melody line be repeated? Does it change the thought or enhance it? What about when the melody line is repeated but with a slight change? Say...the last note is different? How does that make you feel? How does that change the thought? You see how melody is so important? It helps to manipulate our feelings about the piece.

Melodies are made up of phrases. Phrases are basically sentences. Phrases are punctuated in our language by commas or periods. In music they?re punctuated by notes that create a cadence. A cadence is what makes the phrase sound final...like a sentence. Check out the bottom of page 16. Look at the makeup of "Amazing Grace." We all know the tune. Sing along as you read it. Do you see how there are similarities between phrases 2 and 4? Look at the notes of those two phrases. They look the same on the staff, don?t they? What?s different? That?s right...the last note. Now, as you sing the song, and you get to "wretch like me"...can you end it there? It would be really weird, wouldn?t it? It doesn?t sound final. But the fourth phrase does. Just one note...that?s all it took to make it sound final. Pretty "amazing", huh? (Get it? "Amazing" like the song? Get it? Okay, so I?m not so funny.)

Some songs have simultaneous melodies. This is called countermelody. It?s also sometimes referred to as counterpoint.

There are songs that just make me want to dance. Aren?t there songs like that for you as well? Why is that? Because of the RHYTHM. It propels us.

Meter is the actual measurement of music in time. There are several types of meters. Let?s discuss some of them from your book:

Now, the first accented beat is the downbeat. As your text says on page 2, the simplest of all meters is the duple meter. This is a strong accent followed by a weaker. For those of you who?ve watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", remember "Oom-pah, oom-pah, oom-pidee-dooh"? Well the "oom" is in duple meter. "Oom" has a stronger accent than "pah."

A triple meter has three beats in a measure "Oom pah pah" Waltz time.

A quadruple meter is also known as common time. There are four beats per measure and the second and fourth get the stronger accent. "Oom pah Oom pah."

Looking at your text book on page 19, meters can get pretty complicated. I?m not going to go into all of the compound meters. Read the book and look at the examples. But one word I do want to talk a little about is syncopation. Syncopation is really cool and makes music interesting. It?s common in jazz. Instead of an accent on the strong beat of a measure, it falls on the weaker beat or between beats.

Harmony is what adds the lush qualities to a piece of music. If someone sings or plays a melody line and that?s all you hear, it?s still beautiful. But when you add the harmony....ah, isn?t it still more beautiful? And as it says in the book in page 24, melody and harmony do not function without the other. The harmony supports the melody.

A couple of words to think about...consonance and dissonance. Consonance is an agreeable combination of notes. Dissonant notes sound like they don?t belong together. Although they can sometimes sound ugly, they are really beautiful. They cause the tension in a piece and when you finally have that resolution...it?s even more satisfying.

Texture:

• Monophony

• Polyphony
• Heterophony
• Homophony
• Homorhythm

Look at the Examples of Musical Texture on page 29.

Contrapuntal:

• Imitation
• Inversion
• Retrograde
• Retrograde Inversion
• Augmentation
• Diminution

Check out the Contrapuntal Devices on page 30.

I?m sure that in some English class during middle or high school, you studied poetry in an English class. Remember studying forms? A-B-A-B, etc? You looked at the stanzas of a poem and examined its form. Maybe it was A-B-C-A or other variations? Music is like that. Chapter six explains the different forms that music uses.

The idea of theme is explained really well on bottom of page 35 and the top of 36.

Are you bored or tired yet? I know...this is a lot, but we?re halfway through. Come on, you can do it!! Besides, we just have to get all of this stuff out of the way so we can start studying different types of music...that?ll be a lot of fun!

As chapter six discusses, the tempo and dynamics of a song are integral to how the piece makes us feel. Think of a song you really love. What is the tempo of that song? Is it fast? Does it make your heart race? Is it slow? Does it make your heart grow bigger? What about the dynamics of the song? You know how in a romantic movie, the music swells right when the two lovers finally kiss? That swell is there to take us on that romantic journey with the characters.

What would happen if you took a certain song that?s always sung/played a certain way and changed the tempo? Wouldn?t it change the whole feeling? I?ll give you an example. Have any of you heard of the old Gershwin song "Don?t Get Around Much Anymore"? I?ve always heard it played as this big swing number at a fast tempo and although I heard the lyrics, I didn?t really HEAR them, you know? I was going through the sheet music one day and really looked at the lyrics and noticed that the tempo on this particular sheet music marked it to be played slowly. Well, that REALLY changed everything! Look at the lyrics:

Missed the Saturday dance.

Heard they crowded the floor.

Couldn?t bear it without you.

Don?t get around much anymore.

What a sad song!! It made me wonder why people ever play it as a fast tempo. It really kills the meaning of the song. However, the melody is really groovy and when played fast, it?s great to dance to. But what a change, right?

Dynamics can do the same thing. What would happen if you took "Silent Night" and played it really loud?

I know a lot of people will say, "Oh, I can?t sing". You know what? That?s baloney. The ability to sing is innate in us, but throughout the centuries, we?ve gotten away from it as a rite. But we all still love singing...which is why so many of us do it in the shower or in the car or whatever. C?mon....admit it. You sing when you get the chance.

Each of us have different registers in which we are stronger or feel comfortable singing. A woman who has a high range is a soprano. A woman with a strong mid-register is a mezzo-soprano. A woman with a low register is an alto. The male versions of these ranges are the tenor, baritone, and bass respectively. This gets really complicated when you get into the world of boy sopranos, counter-tenors, and the myriad of voice labels within the Opera world.

Musical instruments have different classifications as well. You?ve got the aerophones that use air to make sound. Chordophones use strings for sound. Idiophones produce sound from the substance of the instrument itself. And last, but not least, membranophones produce sound from tightly stretched membranes (that sounds kind of gross, doesn?t it?).

There are four basic families of musical instruments: Strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Chapter eight goes into detail about the specific instruments of each group.

I?m hoping you get a chance to see a choral or instrumental concert very soon, if you haven?t already. It?s a pretty amazing thing to hear so many people utilizing their talents together to create one beautiful work of art. (Unless they?re bad, or course.)

As explained on pages 55 and 56, there are lots of types of choral groups. When I was in high school, I was in several. There was the "Chorale", which was made up of everyone in every choir, plus a bunch of people who signed up for choir for the easy grade but didn?t audition. There was the Girl?s Ensemble and the Boy?s Choir, which were auditioned choirs of mostly freshman and sophomores. And if you read the top of page 55, you?ll know that meant they were homogeneous choirs. Then there was the Concert Choir. That was an auditioned choir that was larger in number. Concert Choir sang songs that were better suited for a larger choir, like spirituals and other songs that sound best with more voices. Now, the choir that we all wanted in the most was the Chamber Choir. It was a smaller number...around 16, so it was competitive to get into. We sang madrigal songs and other songs suited for fewer voices. People in the Chamber Choir were allowed to audition for the Boys? or Girls? Quartet. Those two groups would sing barbershop or other types of songs. I was a big choir geek and I loved all of that. In college, I was also in a Jazz Choir.

Think about today?s popular boy or girl bands. We call N?SYNC a "boy band", but they?re basically a choral ensemble. And they sing a certain type of music, suited to the number of singers they?re made up of and what kind of singers they are. Do you think they could sing Mozart?s Requiem? No...not only because they?re only made up of males, but because Mozart?s Requiem was written to be sung by many voices. What should a larger group of voices NOT sing?

Page 57 does a great job explaining the different standard chamber ensembles. Have any of you seen a chamber ensemble perform? Have you seen an orchestra perform? What was the difference from your perspective? Did you get a different feeling? Which touched you more? Which did you enjoy more?

As you can see on pages 58 and 59, there is a science to how an orchestra is organized. What would happen if the strings were behind the brass? What if the percussion was in front of the woodwinds?

When I was a young girl and I?d watch a conductor conduct an orchestra, I never understood their role. They seemed superfluous. Why were they up there? It didn?t look like any of the players were looking at them anyway! They were just waving their arms about and I didn?t understand why they got all the credit for the orchestra?s playing. I didn?t understand how important they are until I was "conducted."

Think of it this way: The director of a play reads the playwright?s work and interprets it. This director has a vision of what he wants the play to say to the audience. The actors come in and help the director create his or her vision, but they do so by taking care of their own smaller part in that vision. Take the movie, "Chicago." Rob Marshall, the director, decided to make the musical stage version into a movie. He had a definite vision for the film version. He knew what he wanted it to sound like, look like, and say. He wanted the audience to walk away with a certain image and feeling. He hired actors (and designers and technicians and production staff) to help him create that vision. A conductor does the same thing. One conductor?s version won?t sound exactly like someone else?s. And that?s a beautiful thing.

Look at the key points at the beginning of the chapter on page 65. Think about these points. Pay special attention to the first one. How important is music to our different religious and secular rituals? We have the National Anthem sung at the beginning of sporting events. During the holidays, the airwaves and the muzak in elevators and department stores are dominated with Christmas songs. Regardless of the style, genre or medium of the music, we are constantly surrounded by it. It?s an aspect of our everyday lives.

And this wraps up Part 1. Was it so bad? ?Course not. You learned something. And now, I?m going to learn something from you when you keep reading this page, find the discussion questions, and contribute your own thoughts.

But first...look over the material and the "stuff to remember" below and take the quiz. Please take the quiz before you answer the discussion questions.

Stuff to Remember:

1. Sound is produced by vibrations perceived by the ear.

2. A tone (sound) is defined by its pitch and duration.

3. Pitch is the highness or lowness of a sound.

4. Frequency is the the number of vibrations per second.

5. Duration is the length of time a vibration continues.

6. Melody is a coherent succession of single pitches.

7. An Interval is the distance between two pitches.

8. Range is the distance between the lowest and highest notes.

9. A Phrase denotes a unit of meaning within a larger structure.

10. Rhythm organizes movement in time.

11. A Beat is the unit used to measure time (a regular pulsation).

12. Meter is the measurement of time.

13. An Accent is a stronger emphasis on a certain beat.

14. Measures contain a fixed number of beats.

15. Dissonance is a combination of tones that sound discordant and in need of resolution.

16. Monophonic means one melodic line with no accompaniment.

17. Polyphonic means two independent melodies combined.

18. Homophonic means one melody with accompaniment.

19. Homorhythmic means four voices moving together.

20. Heterophonic means two or more voices simultaneously elaborating the same melody.

21. Grave means solemn (very, very slow).

22. Largo means broad (very slow).

23. Adagio means quite slow.

24. Andante means a walking pace.

25. Moderato means moderate.

26. Allegro means fast (cheerful).

27. Vivace means lively.

28. Presto means very fast.

29. Pianissimo means very soft.

30. Piano means soft.

31. Mezzo Piano means moderately soft.

32. Mezzo Forte means moderately loud.

33. Forte means loud.

34. Fortissimo means very loud.

35. Crescendo means growing louder.

36. Decrescendo means growing softer.

37. Timbre is the tone color.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Read Cultural Perspective 1 on pages 6 and 7. Remember the big hullabaloo about Napster a couple of years ago? What do you think about that? How do you feel about copyright laws?

2. You know the jingle for the network, NBC? It?s just three notes...N - B - C. It?s very recognizable to us. Very simple, but very marketable, obviously. Think of some other melodies that are used in commercials or for television shows that are immediately recognizable to us. Why do you think that is? What is it about that particular melody that gets us?

3. I want to hear your thoughts about the different ensemble songs you listened to for chapter nine. What was different about hearing a chorus and hearing a madrigal choir? What was different about hearing a string chamber ensemble and a classical orchestra? What did you think of the jazz band, Chinese ensemble, African ensemble, and Cajun band? What songs did you like best? Why?