Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Music

Reggae Music: Origins and Characteristics

Reggae Sound Characteristics

• Slow, chilled-out tempo with a distinctive offbeat feel.
• Strong emphasis on the backbeat (beats 2 and 4).
• Other percussion instruments play syncopated rhythms.
• The electric guitar plays short, choppy chords (known as the skank).
• The bass guitar provides highly syncopated, prominent riffs.
• Simple harmonic structure, often repeating only two or three chords per song.
• Frequent use of call and response vocal patterns.

Lyrical Themes

• Themes include poverty, politics, social beliefs, and religion.
• Strongly influenced by the Rastafarian religion, originating in Jamaica.

Ska Music

• Originated in Jamaica in the 1960s.
• A fusion of traditional Caribbean mento and American Jazz/R&B.
• Features a

The Spanish Golden Age

The Spanish Golden Age was the period between the second half of the 16th century and the late 17th century.

Literature

Miguel de Cervantes wrote his great novel Don Quixote. Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderón de la Barca wrote famous plays. Luis de Cangora and Francisco de Quevedo were the poets of the time.

Architecture

Architecture was characterized by the use of simple materials, such as bricks on stone, which are covered by ornate decoration. Many buildings were religious, but civil buildings were also constructed. The building of city squares (or squares was a characteristic feature of the Spanish Baroque period.

The Churriguera brothers were the outstanding Baroque architects. They built their own style, which was called... Continue reading "Spanish Golden Age: Literature, Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting" »

Renaissance

The foremost characteristic of the Renaissance is the rebirth of the classics (Greece and Rome).

If during the Middle Ages God was at the center of everything, now it is the contrary. Humans are at the center of everything (anthropocentrism).

Reasoning, not faith, is what guides life.

Art is seen as an end in itself (not something to please God) and its goal is to achieve the ideal form of beauty based on the harmony and proportions found in nature.

All artistic expressions found inspiration in old Rome. The only exception was music, which had to find its own style far from medieval music.

Melody

• It refers to the way notes are written horizontally on the score, how they are performed one after the other.

Harmony

• It refers to the way notes

String Instruments

These instruments produce sound through the vibration of one or more strings.

Depending on the vibration technique, we distinguish bowed, plucked, and struck strings.

Bowed String

Sound is produced by rubbing the strings with a bow. They typically have four strings and a similar shape.

• Violin: Smallest, highest pitch.
• Viola: Slightly larger than the violin, middle pitch.
• Violoncello: Larger, lower register, played sitting with an endpin.
• Double Bass: Largest, very low register, played standing.

Plucked String

Sound is produced by plucking the strings with fingers, a pick, or a plectrum.

• Harp: Has 47 strings.
• Guitar: Has six strings and a fretted neck.

Struck String

Sound is produced by striking the strings with hammers activated by a keyboard.... Continue reading "Musical Instrument Families: Strings, Winds, and Percussion" »

Ancient Music: Foundations and Theory (BC to 500 AD)

What are the approximate years of the Ancient Music period?

The Ancient Music period spans approximately BC to 500 AD.

How did music develop over time?

As technology and culture changed, so did music.

What do we know about ancient Greek music?

Our knowledge comes primarily from art (vases) and writings.

Do we know exactly how ancient Greek music sounded?

No, we do not have any recordings.

Describe the ancient Greek culture.

The ancient Greeks were an advanced society in many aspects, including:

• Architecture
• Mathematics
• Philosophy
• Music

Who was Pythagoras and what was his role in music?

Pythagoras was a Greek mathematician who connected math with music, laying the groundwork for musical intervals and tuning.... Continue reading "Ancient and Medieval Music History: Key Concepts" »

Tragedy:

a serious drama or other literary work in which conflict between a protagonist and a superior force (often fate) concludes in disaster for the protagonist.

Comedy:

the genre of dramatic literature that deals with the light or the amusing or with the serious and profound in a light, familiar, or satiric manner.

Tragicomedy:

a drama combining the qualities of tragedy and comedy.

Tragic Flaw:

a flaw that brings about a hero’s downfall.

Farce:

a light, comic work using improbable situations, stereotyped characters, horseplay, and exaggeration.

Satire:

in drama, the use of ridicule, irony, or sarcasm to hold up to ridicule and contempt vices, follies, abuses, and so forth.

Melodrama:

a genre characterized by stereotypical characters, implausible plots,... Continue reading "Exploring Drama and Theatre Concepts" »

Athenian Rule in the 5th Century BCE

• 490 BCE: Athens defeats Persians at Marathon
• 404 BCE: Athens is defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War
• Between these two events, Athens enjoys cultural and political supremacy.

Dramatic Festivals

• In honor of Dionysus, son of Zeus and Semele.
• Dionysus was reared by satyrs, killed, dismembered, and resurrected.
• In Attica, four annual festivals were held: Rural Dionysia, Lenaia, Anthesteria, and City Dionysia.

Origins of Tragedy

• Various hypotheses for the meaning of TRAGOIDIA or “goat song”.
• Aristotle’s Poetics: from improvisations by leaders of the DITHYRAMBS.
• Other hypotheses: recited stories, sung poetry, and narrative dance.
• First recorded author of tragedies: THESPIS.
• Thespis started dialogue between himself

The Baroque Era in Music (1600–1750)

The Baroque era is characterized by its extravagant and sometimes bizarre qualities in music, as noted by historians. It was a period of significant innovation and development in musical forms and styles.

Key Characteristics and Forms

• Opera: The most important new genre of the Baroque era. Unlike Greek drama which features spoken dialogue, opera is entirely sung. The emergence of homophony, with its clear melody and accompaniment, was crucial to the development of opera.
• Bar Form: A musical structure consisting of an opening phrase (A) moving to a contrasting phrase (B), often followed by a return to or variation of the opening phrase (AAB).
• Overture: An instrumental piece played at the beginning of an opera

Idiophones

Idiophone instruments are those in which the sound is produced by the vibration of the instrument itself. They are classified considering the way the sound is produced, that is, how they are played. They can make sounds when hit, concussed, shaken, plucked, scraped, or even rubbed.

Percussion Idiophones

They can be pitched like bar instruments and those we can find in sets like the temple block. They can also be unpitched like the triangle, the gong, the woodblock, or the cajón flamenco.

Concussion Idiophones

Castanets, claves, and cymbals.

Shaken Idiophones

Maracas and rattles.

Plucked Idiophones

The berimbau and the sansa.

Scraped Idiophones

The güiro, the washboard, or the ratchet.

Friction Idiophones

Musical glasses, the glass harmonica,... Continue reading "Musical Instrument Classification: Types and Examples" »