An Introduction to Music

www.muziclub.com

2

Why live Music

• Human Brain has natural affinity towards music. A musical activity improves intellectual brain activity.

• Music skills enhance Self Confidence, Social Bonding and Success in society .

• Playing music helps in bringing down Stress levels and improves overall health and well being.

Music - Essential Life Component

• Actively playing music (living music) is infinitely more enjoyable than passively listening to it

• Every Human being has the potential to evolve into a Musical genius with proper training and Practice

From Loving to Living Music

3

Music – Organized Sound evoking Emotions

Organized Sound

evoking

Emotions

Rhythmic patterns

Melodic Phrases

Harmonic Progressions

Pitch / Frequency

Timbre / Voice

Loudness / Dynamics

Wide melodic range, Consistent strong rhythm, Major Chords

Narrow melodic range, Slow rhythm, Minor Chords

Wide melodic range, Rhythm variations, Mixed Chords

4

Musical Note

• Duration tells how long the note lasts or the Time Value of the note

• This is usually expressed in Beats (measure of time in music)

Duration

• Auditory property helping sound to be perceived as higher or lower

• Depends on Frequency, expressed in Hertz (cycles per second)

Pitch

• A sound of a specific frequency and pitch is referred to as a Musical Tone. In addition to these Tone has following Attributes

Intensity: A measure of loudness • Tones of specific frequency are referred to as Musical Notes and have associated names.

E.g. Notes, C, D, E, F in western music

Tone and Note

Whole note4 Beats

Half Note2 Beats

Quarter Note1 Beat

Eighth Notehalf Beat

Time value of Notes

Higher Notes

Lower Notes

Quarter Note A on Staff = 440 Hz

5

Instrument Ranges

C4Middle C

C5 C3 C2 C1 C0 C6 C7 C8

Human Voice

Guitar

Bass Guitar

Violin

Concert Piano

• Every Instrument has a limited Range of Pitches it can play

• Most Vocalists have a Vocal Range of 2-3 Octaves. Some people can go upto 3.5 or even 4

• Sound of same frequency from different Sources sounds very similar even if tone quality (or timbre) is very different. Sound of Frequency in factors of 2 (Octaves) sounds very similar

Octave

6

Musical Phrases

Example of a common Melody

Twin kle Twin kle lit tle star how I won der what you are

• Melody is created using different patterns of Notes in a Musical Scale

• Musical phrase is a unit in Composition which has complete musical sense

• A melody typically consists of several consecutive musical phrases.

• Phrases usually culminate into a more or less definite cadence.

• Cadence is musical melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of Resolution

7

Chord Progressions

• I - IV - V – V• I - I - IV – V• I - IV - I – V• I - IV - V - IV

3 Chord Progressions

• I - V - I

• I - IV - V - I

Circle Progressions

• I - I - I - I • IV - IV - I – I• V - V - I - I

Blues Changes

Examples of Chord Progressions

• Series of Chords that establish a Tonal Function for each Chord to produce Harmonic Flow

• Change of Chord, or "chord change", generally occurs on an accented Beat,

• Most Common Chords consist of Triads (3 notes) Formed using alternate notes. E.g. CEG = C Chord, GBD = G Chord

• Chords created using Bass notes of various Scale Degrees of the Tonic (Key) are often referred to with equivalent Roman Numerals. E.g. in the Key of C, C Chord = I, F Chord = IV, G Chord = V

8

Rhythm

• Organization of music into regularly recurring measures of stressed and unstressed "beats“

• Indicated in Western music notation by a time signature and bar-lines.

Meter

• Speed or Pace of a given piece• Can affect the mood and

difficulty of a piece.• Usually expressed in Beats per

minute

Tempo

• Rhythm is regulated succession of strong and weak elements and made up of sounds and silences. • The strong and weak elements (sounds and silences) are put together to form a pattern of sounds which

gets repeated • A rhythm has a steady beat, but it may also have different kinds of beats.

Rhythm

• Basic Unit of time that can be audible

• Also called Beat level• Repeating series of

identical distinct periods

Metric Level

Whole note4 Beats

Half note2 Beats

Quarter note1 Beat

Eighth note1/2 Beat

Beat Level Division LevelMultiple Levels

9

Expressing Emotions through Music

Emotion Melody Rhythm Harmony (Chord/ Tonality)

Happiness, Excitement

Wide Range Consistent, Strong, Loud, Fast

Major

Love, Affection, Tenderness

Medium Gentle,Medium Tempo

Major

Sadness flat Slow Minor

Tranquillity flat Smooth, Gentle Major/Minor

Triumph,Ecstasy

Wide Jumps Energetic,Loud, Fast

Power Chord