The Sound of Music

Tone Color

• tone color = timbre
• overtone = partial
• All instruments generate the same overtone series, however the amplitude for the overtones are different
• Low sounds creates longer sound waves that travel farther, and lasts longer.
• Four Families of Instruments
  • Strings
    • violin, viola, cello, double bass
    • vibrato, pizzicato, tremolo technique
  • Woodwinds
    • Bassoon, clarinet, saxophone, English horn, lower oboe, oboe, flute
    • Single reed vs double reed
  • Brasses
    • Trumpet, French horn, trombone
    • The longer the piece of tube, the lower the sound
    • Mouthpiece + tube
  • Percussions
    • timpani/kettle drums, cymbal, snare drum
    • Percussions give definitions to the music

• Counterpoint = two or more musical lines go agains each other

Texture, Form, and Style

• Textures
  • Monophonic
  • Homophonic
  • Polyphonic
• Form is created by:
  • Statement
  • Repetition
  • Contrast
  • Variation
• Five basic common patterns of musical form
  • Strophic
    • Many strophes/stanza, same music
    • Verse + Chorus structure
    • Coda = end
  • Binary
    • Two contrasting themes
  • Ternary
    • Presentation → Diversion → Representation
    • Statement → Digression → Restatement
  • Rondo
  • Variation
• Relative major/minor pitches/keys/scales are separated by 3 half-steps.

• Eight Style Periods
  • Middle Age: 476 - 1450
  • Renaissance: 1450 - 1600
  • Baroque: 1600 - 1750
  • Classical: 1750 - 1820
  • Romantic: 1820 - 1900
  • Impressionist: 1880 - 1920
  • Modern: 1900 - 1985
  • Postmodern: 1945 - present