Transcript Performing Media: Voices and Instruments

Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
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Singing is the most widespread and most familiar way of making music
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Ancient Greek drama used chanting choruses
The Bible records that Moses, Miriam and the Israelites sang to glorify the Lord.
Singers seem to have a magnetic appeal even today with adoring audiences and intimate
looks in their personal and private lives.
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
• Singer vs. Audience
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A bit of magic
Direct and spell binding
Singer is the instrument
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Human body expressing emotions through sounds and words
This unique ability to pair words with musical tone is way it has such a rich tradition in many
cultures
Singing can make words easier to remember and heighten the emotional effect.
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
• It is extremely difficult to sing well
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Singing uses a wider range of pitch and volume than speaking.
We hold vowel sounds longer
Demands greater air supply
Control of breath
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
• Air form the lungs is controlled by the lower abdominal muscles and the
diaphragm
• The air makes the vocal chords vibrate
• The singer’s lungs, throat & nose produce the desired sound
• The pitch of the tone varies with how tight of loose the vocal chords are: The
tighter the higher; loose = lower.
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
• The range of the voice
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Depends on both training and on physical makeup.
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Professional singers can command two octaves or more
Untrained voices usually limited to 1 ½ octaves
• Men’s chord are longer than women’s
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Produces a lower tone
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
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Women’s voice classifications
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Soprano = the Highest
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Mezzo Soprano = in the middle
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Alto = lowest
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
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Men’s Voice Classifications
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Tenor = highest
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Baritone = middle
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Bass = lowest
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
• Methods of singing vary widely from culture to culture.
• Asian singing is more nasal than in the western culture
• Classical singers stand erect
• West African singers bend forward
• India they sit on the floor
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
• In the western culture there are variety of styles and each sung differently
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Classical
Popular
Jazz
Folk
rock
Performing Media:
Voices and Instruments
Until about 1600, all music was vocal, but by they end of that century,
instrumental music rivaled vocal in importance
Composers continued to write for voice both solo and ensembles with
accompaniments ranging from none to single instruments like guitar or piano
to full scale orchestras.
Musical Instruments
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There six broad categories of instruments
Strings
Woodwinds
Brass
Percussion
Keyboard
Electronic
Musical Instruments
• Instruments come in different sizes
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Example: Saxophones
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Sopranino
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Baritone
Bass
Musical Instruments
• Instruments have a wider range than the voice. Most instruments have 3-4
octave range and some have 6-7 octaves.
• Composers have to consider ranges when writing music and dynamic ranges
of each instrument to get the best effect.
Musical Instruments
• Provide entertainment, accompany singing, dancing, religious rites, and
drama
• In some cultures, instruments are thought to have magic powers.
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Bells = warn and guard against harm
Rattles = witch doctor tools
Drums = Sacred in Africa, religious rites are not performed without them. They are
present for special ceremonies and sacrifices
Musical Instruments
• Used as a communication tool
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Detailed messages in drum beats
Hunters blow horns
Musicians announce time by blowing brass instruments from towers
Trumpets and bugles used for military signals
Trumpets and kettle drums announce Kings and Queens
Musical Instruments
• Status Symbols
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During the 1800-1900’s the piano was a fixture in any home that aspired to be middle
class.
Proper young ladies were expected to learn piano as one of many accomplishments
As time moved on, electronics replaced pianos with the inventions of the phonograph
and radio
Today – elaborate home entertainment centers
Musical Instruments
• Compositions
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Solo
Small ensembles
Large groups
Full orchestras & Bands
Musical Instruments
Musical Instruments
Musical Instruments
The Strings
• Violin, Viola, Cello, & Bass
• Usually played with a bow made out of a curved stick and horse hair
• Violin is the highest and bass the lowest
The Strings
The Strings
• The hollow wooden body supports four strings made of gut or wire.
• The strings are stretched under tension from a tailpiece on one end and a
bridge on the other and are fastened on wooden pegs.
• The bridge holds the strings away from the fingerboard so they can vibrate
freely
• Vibration occurs when bow is drawn across the strings.
String Terminology
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Pizzicato – plucking of the string
Double Stop – Two notes played at the saem time
Vibrato – rocking of the hand while pressing the string down which creates a
throbbing sound
Mute – muffling of the tone
Tremolo – rapidly repeated notes
Harmonics – high pitched tone when the player lightly presses the strings
The Strings
String Demonstrations
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=044k-A5MHrI
Musical Instruments
Woodwinds
• The woodwind instruments are named that way because they produce
vibrations of air within a tube that was traditionally made of wood.
• During the 20th century flutes began to be made of metal
• All woodwinds have a series of holes going down the length of the
instrument which are covered by fingers to produce pitches or tones.
Musical Instruments
Woodwinds: Flutes
Musical Instruments
Single Reed Woodwinds: Clarinets
Musical Instruments
Single Reed Woodwinds: Saxophones
Musical Instruments
Double Reed Woodwinds: Oboes
Musical Instruments
Double Reed Woodwinds: Bassoons
Musical Instruments
Brass: Trumpet
Musical Instruments
Brass: French Horns
Musical Instruments
Brass: Trombone
Musical Instruments
Brass: Euphoniums & Tubas
Musical Instruments
Percussion
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Timpani
Xylophone
Marimba
Vibraphone
Glockenspiel
Chimes
Bass drum snare drum
Cymbals
Tambourine
Gong (Tam-tam)
Triangle
Band instruments Demonstration
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okSqKHoeFtY