Music Appreciation Study Guide 2011

Unit 2 – Beat, Rhythm, and Dance

VocabularyBeat – Steady PulseRhythm – the way music paces itself through time (the long and shorts of music)Accent – Emphasis placed on a beatMeter – Organization of rhythmic pulses by means of accentsMeasure – One complete set of pulsesTempo – Speed of the beat

Accelerando – gradually get fasterRitardando – gradually slowerA Tempo – original tempo

Improvisation – Spontaneous musical inventionSyncopation – Deliberate shifts of the accent to a weak beatThe Suite – set of instrumental pieces each in the character of a danceThe Minuet – rather slow and charming old French dance in triple meterThe Waltz – Dance in triple meter. Social dance with the minuet

Important PeopleNicolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Russian Taught himself music theory Paid Attention to combination of instrumental sounds

Scott Joplin (1868 – 1917) Early Twentieth Century American Composer Father of Ragtime Maple Leaf Rag Entertainer

Leonard Bernstein American Composer One of the most recorded conductors in history Wrote West Side Story

Igor Stravinsky Russian Composer Studied with Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov Rite of Spring Firebird Suite

Peter Tchaikovsky Russian composer Wrote The Nutcracker and Swan Lake

William Grant Still American Composer Afro-American Symphony(1931) Developed a classical style that incorporated African American tradition

Unit 3 – Voice, Dynamics, and Texture

VocabularyAudiation – the ability to imagine or hear in hour heads, music.Vocal Range – The highest and lowest pitches you can singPhrase – a complete musical thoughtDynamics – the volume of sound

Crescendo – gradually get louderDecrescendo – gradually get softer

Vocal Register – how low or high someone speaksAerophone – instruments that produce sound by vibrating airIdiophones - instruments that produce sound by vibrating something solidMembranophones - instruments that produce sound by vibrating skin or membraneChordophones - instruments that produce sound by vibrating a string or chordElectrophones - instruments that produce sound through electricityTexture – how sounds are woven togetherCall and Response – Question and AnswerHomophonic Texture – a texture where a single melodic line is accompanied by a chordal accompanimentMonophonic – one soundPolyphonic – Many soundsCanon – Exact imitationCounterpoint – system of countering one note against another

Important People

John Cage American Composer 4’3’’ Believe music should be discovered in everyday life Focused on timbre, loudness, and duration of sound

Unit 4 – Romantic, Form

Vocabulary

Romantic Period – period during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century when composers created music that often exploded with emotion.Music Dramas – Operas in the romantic period written by Richard WagnerLibretto – text of an operaMotive – a short, distinctive musical pattern or figureHook – the musical motive that generally accompanies the words to the title of the songOstinato – a repeated musical figure, usually in the bass partFugue – a polyphonic composition consisting of a series of successive melody imitations.Rondo – a instrumental form based on alternation between a repeated section and contrasting episodes

Important PeopleWolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Child Prodigy First symphony at age 10 First opera at age 11 The Marriage of Figaro Don Giovanni The Magic Flute Died in poverty at age 35

Ludwig van Beethoven Austrian Composer Became Deaf in the later years of his life Wrote Fur Elise, 5th and 9th Symphonies

Richard Wagner German Romantic composer The Ring Cycle

Johann Sebastian Bach German Composer Bach was famous for his organ playing, not his compositions when he lived Wrote over 1,000 pieces

Unit 5 – Theory and Piano

How to Label Notes on the Staffo Treble Clef and Bass Clefo Grand Staffo Ledger Lines

How to Label notes on a pianoo Left of the two black keys is C

How to write a major scaleo Start and End on the same noteo Draw 8 notes using every line and every spaceo Follow the formula for a major scale - wwhwwwh

Songs You Need To Know and who wrote them

1. Ninth Symphony Ludwig von Beethoven2. Firebird Suite Igor Stravinsky

3. Maple Leaf Rag Scott Joplin4. The Blue Danube Johann Strauss Jr.5. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor Johann Sebastian Bach6. The Magic Flute Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart7. Hallelujah Chorus George Fredric Handel8. Nutcracker Peter Tchaikovsky

a. “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy9. Dynamite Taio Cruz10. The Ride of the Valkyrie Richard Wagner