MusicChapter 6

Origins of Music

Egyptians developed formal music

Greek word “harmony” indicates a connection between music and the structure of the universe

Tone The Scale

Basic element of music

True music began when someone experimented with a variety of tones

Orderly progression of frequencies

All cultures that developed music used a scale

Rhythm Melody

Alternating between stress and unstress

Innate, babies clap and drum

“Rhythm is at the very center of our lives”

Sequence of tones that forms a unity

The part we remember, sing along with

SilenceUnpublicized ingredient that makes music possible

To deepen an appreciation of music, it is necessary to hear and enjoy silence

“music is the shaped sound between silences”

Bach Fugue Beethoven Symphony

BaroqueFugues-displays of

counterpointIdea is to demonstrate

that what for the average person would be an impossibility is indeed well within the capabilities of the performer

Beethoven greatly expanded the capabilities of the symphony orchestra

Work has transcended time.

Ode to Joy

Art Songs Folk Songs

By the time of the great composers song was a recognized art form

Ave Maria

Folk song has followed few aesthetic rules

don’t need expert voices or accompaniment

Handed down through generations

Promote group solidarity

Genres of Folk Music

Commemorative songs- keep record of important events

Work song- represents hardship, struggle between worker and management

Accumulation song- deliberately drawn out, verse after verse (12 days of Christmas)

Narrative song- tells a tale, drawn outProtest Songs- make statements about war,

pollution, corruption

The Spiritual Gospel Songs

Roots in slaveryReligious subject

matter, God’s concern for all

Led to Gospel music

Music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life

Gospel music in general is characterized by dominant vocals

Ragtime Jazz

America music, from saloons and bars

Syncopation-irregular movement, against the beat

Scott Joplin- The Entertainer

Pattern-ensemble plays once together, then each piece takes a turn doing a variation on the theme

improv

BluesMelancholy mood produced by music

Usually about the aftermath of passion

Billy Holiday

Popular Songs

Big Band Era- dance music played by orchestras, upbeat music to escape the Depression and WWII

Irving Berlin-composed classics, “White Christmas”, “God Bless America”

Frank Sinatra- crooner, possibly the greatest of all vocal stylists

The Beginnings of Rock

Rock is the most pervasive musical phenomenon of our time

Bill Haley and the Comets (Rock Around the Clock) is the band credited for introducing the musical movement called rock ‘n’ roll

Rock is a revolutionary battlecry, ultimate Dionysian music of our time

Little Richard Elvis

True “father” of RockOutlandish outfits,

playing piano and jumping around

Cultural phenomenon, scandalized older audiences

Started out spontaneous but studio created force

Elvis on Ed Sullivan for the First Time

The BeatlesCaught on as no other group has

Appealed to “hippies” wanted freedom from constraint

Unique haircuts, irreverent attitudes

Admired for their honesty and purity of heart

Rock ConcertConcert is one of the cornerstones of modern musical culture

Art in itself, showmanship, effects, props, multimedia

Hip Hop

Newer genre, has become very significant part of society

Defines a way of being, “includes rap, baggy clothes, break-dancing, graffiti, vocabulary and a general lifestyle”◦Rap is a subgenre of hip hop, half-sung half-

spoken music◦Represents a virtuoso use of language and an

incredible kind of spontaneous poetry

The Musical Avant-Garde

Avant-garde- looks after our best interests, protects us from the dull and familiar

Need to be free from restraint

Always looking for the next frontier

Life can be enriched if you are willing to listen to the great classics of the past and the perhaps great-one-day experiments of the present.