Listening to Music Part

4 Major Characteristics of Music

Timbre
Texture
Tempo
Rhythm
4 Characteristics of a musical sound:
Pitch
Dynamic
Timbre
Duration

Timbre
Several Factors
Harmonics and wave frequencies
Instrument material
Qualities of sound recognized by the ear:

Rate of decay in sound

Sound of initial attack
Resonance
Influence of harmonic overtones and undertones

Harmonic Frequencies
To understand frequencies we must discuss sound waves!
Amplitude: Crest and trough
Cycles per second (Hz) frequencies
Contractions and Rarefactions
Frequencies which are a multiple or denominator of the
fundamental frequency
Most Harmonic Frequencies strengthen the fundamental
pitch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsZKvLnf7wU

Compression and Rarefaction

(sound is a longitudinal wave)

It All Adds Up
All of these frequencies combine to produce the
timbre that our ears use to recognize instruments,
voices, and determine the sound source.
This is how we tell instruments apart.

Texture
In music, texture is how the melodic, rhythmic, and
harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus
determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece.
Melody: Most important pattern in a musical work, often
the easiest part to pick out.
Harmony: Supporting part to the melody; three different
types
Rhythm: The timing of every note

Harmony
3 types
Monophonic: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK5AohCMX0U
Homophonic: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWQDl6cyj2Y (sacred harp
singing)
Polyphonic: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LoUm_r7It8

Melody
Most important part of a piece
Music pulls inspiration from the melody
All other parts help support the melody
There are techniques used to develop the melody and
make it more interesting for the listener.
These techniques include: imitation/repetition,
transposing, Augmenting, sequencing, retrograding,
passing the melody through the ensemble

Retrograde

Augmenting a Melody

Sequencing

Transposing a melody

Harmony
Harmony refers to the relation ship between pitched
intervals.
To better understand this we must explore all the
interval relationships in the western music system
Chromatic Scale
Major, minor, Perfect, Augmented and diminished
intervals

 Whole steps and half steps are the building

blocks for each interval in our music system.
We have discussed half steps and whole
steps, now we shall discuss larger intervals.

On your Own staff paper, write a

minor 3rd Above the following
pitches
1. G
2. F
3. Eb
4. F#
5. Bb
6. C
7. C#
8. D
9. Db
10. A

Write a Major 3rd Above the same notes that

were in the previous slide. (Hint: There should be a
difference of a half step)
1. G
2. F
3. Eb
4. F#
5. Bb
6. C
7. C#
8. D
9. Db
10. A

Write a Major 3rd Above the same notes that

were in the previous slide. (Hint: There should be a
difference of a half step)
1. G
2. F
3. Eb
4. F#
5. Bb
6. C
7. C#
8. D
9. Db
10. A

Tempo
Tempo is the speed of music
It is equal to the amount of beats (quarter notes) that
occur in the measure.
BPM Beats Per Minute
60 BPM is equal to the speed of a second because there
are 60 seconds in a minute.
When tempo speeds up you call it an accelerando
When tempo slows down you call it a ritardando

Tempo Names
Fancy Names for Tempos (names are Latin in origin)
Adagio slow 72 BPM
Andante walking pace 84 BPM-104 BPM
Moderato moderate fast 112 BPM-120 BPM
Allegro Fast 120 BPM- 168 BPM
Presto Very fast 168 BPM 200 BPM

Rhythm
Timing of notes!
Rhythm dictates when musicians play their notes.
Most of the time a rhythm is a division of the beat
(usually the quarter note)
Distinct rhythms for each genre
Harmonic rhythm: the timing with which every pitch is
played.

Rhythmic Hierarchy

Harmonic Rhythm
Rate at which chords change
Chords can change every whole note
Chords may change every half note
Chords may change every quarter note, and even
faster, it depends on how the music is written.

Dynamics
Volume-Directly related to Amplitude
Loud- forte f
Soft piano p
Loud to soft f>p
Soft to loud p<f
pp?
ff?

Form
Structure of music can be identified by a change in any
or all of the following characteristics:
Melody- repetition, sequencing, altering rhythm,
phrasing
Harmony tonality changes/harmonic rhythms and key
changes
Rhythm timing of all notes played in a piece
Texture instrument changes, amount of players
Dynamics helps shape phrasing. Music starts some
where and goes somewhere.
Tempo slowing down, speeding up, abrupt tempo

Describing each characteristic

Melody: long, short, soft/sweet, loud, strong, major,
minor, modal,
Harmony: full, a lot of chord tones, a lot of non chord
tones, hollow/strident, simple rhythmic harmony,
complex rhythmic harmony
Rhythm- basic rhythm, complex rhythm, syncopated
rhythm, meter change,
Texture thin (few instruments playing), thick (a lot of
instruments playing, sounds busier),
Tempo accelerando, ritardando, abrupt tempo change

Vocabulary to know
Tempo
Rhythm
Harmony
Melody
Accelerando
Ritardando
Moderato
Adagio
Allegro
Presto
Andante

Homophonic

Monophonic

Polyphonic

Harmonic Rhythm

Texture

Timbre

Dynamics

Piano

Forte

Crescendo

Decrescendo