Music Lecture Cheat Sheet

Structural Elements of Music:

Sound
Rhythm
Melody
Harmony- the way chords are constructed and how they follow each
other
Musical Texture- How layers of melodic rhythms and harmonic
materials are woven together in a composition
Musical Forms
4 Main properties of Musical Sounds:
1. Pitch
2. Dynamics
3. Tone Color
4. Duration
---------------------Sound: Transmission through the vibration of an object
Pitch- The highness and lowness that we hear in a sound
Tone- Sound that has a definite pitch (440 cycles per second)
a. Vibrations of tone reach the ear at equal time interval
Dynamics- Degree of loudness of softness in music
Pitch Range- distance between lowest and highest tones
Timber AKA Tone Color- Quality of a musical note that distinguishes
different sound productions
Ex. Voice, Musical Instruments, String Instrument, wind
Rhythm: The flow of music in time
Beat- A regular recurrent pulsation that divides music into equal units
of time and is the heart of all of all rhythm
Accent SyncopationMeter- organization of beats into regular groups
Polyrhythm- 2 different rhythmical patterns that are superimposed
upon one another
Melody:
Major- Happy Music
Minor- Sad Music
Blue Note- A flattened note
Pentatonic Scale- Five Tone Scale (ex. Led Zeppelin whole lotta love)
Harmony: Harmonics are hidden notes in sounds
Chord- a combination of 3 tones
Triad- consists of 3 tones

Dissonance- tone combination that is unstable

Ternary-3 part form ABA or ABA
Binary- 2-part form AB
Strophic form- repeating the same music for each stanza of the poem
(AAAAAAA)
Down Beat- Stressed Beat
Up Beat- Unstressed Beat
Tempo- Speed of Beat
Interval- distance between any two tones
Octave- tones separated by an interval
Monophony- single line texture
Poliphony- 2 or more lines
Homophony- Texture with principle melody accompanying harmony
Syncopation- when accent notes come where we wouldnt expect
4 Techniques that create musical Form
Repetition- Sense of Unity
Contrast- Provides Variety
Variation- Gives unity and variety at the same time
Improvisation- piece created spontaneously in performance
Accent- note emphasized mostly by plane
Mass- a polyphonic chord composition made of five sections
Theme- A Musical idea
Motive- melodic fragment of a theme
Sequence- a motive repeated at higher or lower levels
Chamber Music- Designed for the setting of a room in a home or a
place (not public)
String Quartet- two violins (Viola and Cello)
Know these people in order
Joseph Hadyn
Wolfgang Mozart
Beethoven
New Policies (5 policies)
Masses should be executed
Word must be clearly understood
Banning all music that contains lasciviour
No instruments
Vilvaldi- 4 seasons (spring summer winter fall)
3 Main structures
Exposition
A

Development
Recapitulation

B
A