Chapter 2: Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony

Rhythm• Rhythm: the organization of time in music– Gives shape or profile to the melody

– Provides vitality and definition to a melody

– Divides long spans of time into smaller, more easily comprehendible units

• Rhythm is the most fundamental element of music

• Watch Christopher Walken in action

Elements of Rhythm• Beat: a regularly recurring sound that divides the

passing to time into equal units; the basic pulse of music

• Tempo: speed at which the beat sounds– Allegro, Presto; Lento, Grave

– Accelerando: speeding up

– Ritardando (Ritard): slowing down

• Meter: organizing beats into groups– Measure: each group of beats

– Downbeat: first beat in each unit

– Accent: emphasis or stress places on a beat

Rhythmic Notation• Music notation began in 13th-century Paris

Meter/Time Signatures

• Duple (2/4) meter: two beats per measure

Meter/Time Signatures

• Duple (3/4) meter: two beats per measure

Hearing Meters

• Tap your foot on the downbeat

• Practice your conducting:

Syncopation• Syncopation: when the accent is on the weak beat or

between beats– Creates a feeling of being “off beat”

– Often heard in jazz, Latin music, and hip-hop

Melody• Melody: a series of notes arranged in order to form a

distinctive, recognizable musical unit; the “tune”

• Pitch: the relative position (high or low) of a musical sound

• Octave: Span between the first note and the eighth note of a scale

• Interval: the distance between any two pitches

Listening to Melodies• Listen for the melodic contour

Melodic Notation• Musical notation began around the year 1000 CE

• Staff: Gridwork of line and spaces where music is written

• Noteheads and flags show different durations and rhythms

• A clef indicates the range of pitches

• Grand Staff:

Scales, Mode, Tonality, and Key• Scale:– A sequential arrangement of pitches

– Ascend and descend in an unvarying pattern

– Mode: term describing a general type of scale: major, minor, etc.

• Major and minor scales used in almost all Western melodies

• Chromatic Scale: Uses all twelve pitches equally divided within the octave

Scales• Major

• A seven-note scale

• Order of whole and half steps: 1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2

• Usually associated with joy, confidence, tranquility, etc.

• Minor• A seven-note scale

• Order of whole and half steps: 1-1/2-1-1-1/2-1-1

• Usually associated with fear, anxiety, sorrow, despair, etc.

Tonality• Tonality(or Key): The organization of music around a

central pitch (the tonic)– Modulation: a musical move to a different tonal center

• Planets rotate around and are pulled towards the sun, just as outlying pitches are pulled toward the tonic pitch

Hearing Melodies and Phrases

• Melodies are composed on smaller segments called phrases–We usually follow along with the phrases when we

listen to music

Harmony• Harmony: sounds that provide the support and

enrichment - an accompaniment – for melody– Built on chords: a group of two or more pitches that sound

at the same time

– Triad: the basic chord in Western music• Tonic: first note of the scale

• Dominant: fifth note of the scale

• Chord Progression: a succession of chords moving forward in a purposeful fashion– Cadence: the end of a chord progression

Consonance and Dissonance

• Consonance: pitches sounding agreeable and stable– Creates a sense of calm

• Dissonance: pitches sounding momentarily disagreeable unstable– Creates a sense of tension and anxiety

• Consonance and Dissonance allows music to convey a wide range of emotion