Listening for Style and Structure

one voice (or many of the same voice playing the same line)

2 or more voices play different things

Voice w/ choral; harmonized melody

2 similar lines, but not exactly the same

• Melody
• Rhythm
• Harmony
• Texture
• Timbre
• Dynamics
• Form
• Word/Music Relationship

• AABA 32 bar form (Tin Pan Alley)
• Verse-Chorus modern pop form
• 12-bar blues

Same melody, different words

• Moving step-wise motion
• Moving in leaps

• Fall of Romans
• Not really "pro" musicians, church is where the musical monks were
• Most music was sacred
• Monks performed Gregorian chant

• Sung prayer to help meditate on meaning of the words
• Monophonic, conjunct melody, all male, free time small dynamic range

Monks did, had not rhythm indicated

Guido developed both of these

chant with intervals of 4ths and 5ths sung together

Leonin and Perotin of Notre Dame first composed it

Drone underneath the chant melody

type of organum with parallel 4ths and 5ths

• transition to renaissance, late medieval
• more rhythmic, secular text, polyphonic

Medieval secular dance song

• more secular music, more education , larger middle class
• musicians still in outdoor settings, dances, courtroom entertainment
• lute very popular, written music widely available thanks to printing press

biblical text to music, popular in renaissance, choral

music for group of musicians

unaccompanied multi-voice music, secular text, often word painting

sacred piece, not part of mass, choral

• highly decorated, full of detail
• church and courts mostly employed musicians
• theatre was new for middle class with opera
• opera invented in Florence, Italy
• music was extravagant, ornamented, and detailed

• mostly strings
• harpsichord
• sometimes woodwinds and brass
• conductor not always used

chordal instrument playing figured bass

harpsichord + bowed strings playing figured bass

piece for soloist w/ orchestra

starts with strong tutti form, then soloist, trade with orchestra, repeats, ends with tutti

meant to tell a story, has themes

concerto where the solo material is played by a small group

2 or more melodies at the same time

improv. trills and added notes tot he melody

One person per part

instrumental piece, soloist w/ continuo accompaniment

2 solo instruments with accompaniment

collection of stylized dance pieces, usually for solo, 4-5 movements

ABAB, often began a suite (prelude)

through composed, intro

• small group in concerto grosso
• larger group in concerto

words to opera

chromatic descending bass line, repeating, compositional framework

spoken word part of opera turned into a song part

• piece of imitative counterpoint
• melody imitated in different registers and starting in different places

ABA form, very popular, second A embellished by singer

religious piece sung during service

religious piece like cantata, not for service

• stronger middle class, composers make more money on sheet music
• Vienna, Austria was new musical center
• Big 3: Hayden, Mozart, Beethoven
• Tuneful, balanced, clarity, use of piano

• invented by Hayden
• 2 violin, viola, cello
• all 4 parts equal, conversational composition

• invented by Hayden
• groups of instruments, all equal, conductor standard

question and answer phrases

• Sonata (fast, technical)
• Slow Lyrical (often theme+variation)
• dance-like movement (+trio)
• rondo (ABACADA)

study of music outside of western music

• AB©AB
• Each section except C repeated

music commissioned for a party

• A exposition
• B development
• A recapitulation

• nationalism, incorporate folk music or national music
• supernatural or diabolical themes
• large bombastic ensembles
• programatic music

German art song

collection of songs, usually to accompany a cycle of poems to tell a story

comedy opera

serious opera

opera w/ spoken word and singing

characters of concepts have musical themes

Reusing themes in a collection of pieces

4 mvmt. symphony telling a story, each movement moving stroy forward and using each telling a different part of the story

orchestra expo, soloist expo, cadenza by soloist at end

mass at funeral

songs based on poems/stories, programatic, words+music

Polish folk dance in triple meter

• Globalization
• Modernism
• Audio tech

• seeing/hearing new music
• hearing different ways to write

reject old, reinvent new music, dissolve tonality

doing what people aren't, ahead of masses

opposite to programatic, standalone

art movement in attempt to discover/express interior of ourselves

remove human element, no melody, total serialism

self-taught avant garde

music that is repetitive and only as much as it needs

skeptical interpretations of art and thought

notation that leaves decisions up to performer

music in a graph to direct performer

incorporating other musical traditions

layering musical lines