Elements of Music

Timbre

• Refers to the quality of sound– Banjo sounds different than a

guitar– Everyone’s voice has a different

timbre– Timbre makes instruments/voices

sound different from each other

Rhythm

• The way music paces itself and moves through time– Similar to a stream (can flow

smooth, slow, fast, choppy, etc)– Rhythm is totally dependant on

the mood that a composer wants to express.

Tempo

• Aspect of rhythm; pace at which the rhythm moves– Largo- very slow– Adagio- slow– Andante- moderately slow– Allegretto- moderately fast– Allegro- fast– Presto- very fast

Renaissance Music1400-1600

Counterpoint

• Dominant musical technique before Renaissance was plainchant (Gregorian Chant)

• Counterpoint refers to many things going on in a musical piece at once

• Precursor to the fugue and jazz music

Palestrina (1526-1594)

• Most famous piece is Pope Marcellus Mass

• Regarded as “savior of church music”

• Saved use of counterpoint

Baroque Music1600-1750

Changes from Renaissance

• Composers wrote for specific voices and instruments

• Music was big, grand, ornate (typical of any artistic creation in the Baroque Era)

• Modern music language began to develop

Fugue

• Based on Interwoven melodies• Master of fugue is Johann S. Bach• 3 voices (motif, subject,

exposition)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

• Born in Germany• Stopped

composing church music around 1730

• Wrote several arias, fugues, and sonatas

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

• Most famous composition is The Four Seasons

• Favorite music type was the concerto

• Wrote 94 operas in his life

“Classical” (Enlightenment) Music

1720-1827

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-1791)

• Musical genius; Composing @ 5 yrs. old; from a musical family

• Most famous piece is Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

• Many opera for Frederick the Great

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

• Developed the symphony

• Best friends with Mozart

• Most famous writing is Symphony No. 94 in G Major

Ludwig Von Beethoven (1770-1827)

• Studied under Mozart, Haydn, and Salieri

• Most famous piece is Symphony No. 5

• Came from a musical family

• Totally deaf by 1820; diagnosed 1790

Romantic Music1760-1870

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

• Wrote 13 operas; helped people understand German culture

• Also wrote book concerning opera theory

• Famous opera is the Ring Cycle

Peter I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

• Professor of Music @ Moscow Conservatory

• Music noted for beautiful yet blue melodies

• Most famous composition is 1812 Overture

Impressionist Music

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

• Music depends heavily on imbedded visual images

• Most famous piece is Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

• Liked abstract, logical structure

• Associated with Debussy because of the type of music

• Worked with Russian ballet choreographers

Modern Music1900-present

Folk Music

• Music with which the people of a nation or ethnic group specifically identify themselves

• Taught through performance• Most commonly the music of

social and economic lower classes and of rural populations

Popular Music

• Music produced and sold to a broad audience (country, jazz, soul, rock, movie music, and musical comedies)

• Shaped by social, economic, and technological forces

• Closely linked to social identity of its performers and audience

Jazz Music

• Developed by African-Americans in late 1800s early 1900s in New Orleans, LA

• Characterized by heavy improvisation (no 2 performances are exactly alike when live)

• Heavy syncopation

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

• Jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist

• Greatest composer of jazz music

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

• Personally created the pieces his band members played and designed his pieces for specific players.

• Composed about 2000 works• Most famous piece is It Don’t Mean

a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing); swing dancing became an obsession in the USA

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

• Expanded his jazz orchestra size from 12-18 members over time. 18 is the accepted number in a jazz band now.

• Characteristics of Ellington’s music:1. Muted brass instruments2. High, wailing clarinets3. His unique piano playing

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

• Studied law at Univ. of St. Petersburg

• Influenced by Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov

• Russian Composer

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

• Wrote for the Ballet Russes of Sergei Diaghilev

• His music for The Firebird won immediate success for its orchestration and use of Russian folk song melodies

• The music for The Rite of Spring was not well received by the audience or the dancers

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

• The effects of WWI on Russia and the influence of jazz music can be heard in his compositions Rag-time and Piano Rag-Music

• Came to Hollywood, CA in 1939 where he wrote Circus Polka which was to be dance by circus elephants

• Believed if a person only wrote one type of music they were going “backwards.”

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

• Born in Brooklyn• American composer• Bridged gaps

between jazz and classical music

• Pianist and song promoter for publishing company at 16 yrs. old

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

• Paul Whitehead asked him to write a song. He wrote Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz band.

• Wrote a tone poem called An American In Paris

• Also published a political satire titled Of Thee I Sing which was the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

• Wrote an opera titled Porgy and Bess that heavily draws on the idioms of black folk music, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and classical music to produce a work of unique character that is Gershwin’s masterpiece

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

• Originally influenced by French Impressionist composers

• Switched to his folk music style around the 1930s

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

• In the 1930s, he began to include more melodic and lyrical music, often drawing on American folk music

• Most famous piece is Appalachian Spring. Wrote this for a ballet of the same title for Martha Graham

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

• Other compositions:– Lincoln Portrait – Billy the Kid– Rodeo– El salon Mexico– Fanfare for the Common Man– Music for movie Of Mice and Men

based on book by John Steinbeck