Transcript Lecture 4

Instructor Anthony Johnson
Course Music 100
INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC
NOTATION & MELODY
MUSIC: NOTATION
 Introduction
 Some people think trying to read music is hard and difficult.
The following set of pages will try to introduce the most
important topics in reading music in a very easy to understand
way. Don't expect to fly through all the lessons and understand.
As with anything new, it'll appear complicated and complex but
as you look at the examples and read the explanations it will
make sense. With that said, lets go on and introduce the first
lesson.
MUSIC: NOTATION
 Clefs

There are 2 basic kinds of clefs. The clef you will see on your music depends on what
instrument you play.
 Treble Clef

Bass Clef
You might wonder why there are 2 different clefs. The reason is that most instruments using the bass
clef usually have a lower pitch (sound) and regularly play low notes. If they were to use the treble clef
the notes would appear so far below the staff it would be hard to read.
The treble clef:
MUSIC: NOTATION
Play the note 1/2 step up (Sharp)
Play the note 1/2 step down (Flat)
Play the note normally; pay no attention to the key signature
The art of producing significant arrangements of sounds, usually with
reference to rhythm, pitch and tone colour. 3. A succession or combination of
notes, especially if pleasing to the ear.
Play example
MUSIC: MELODY
 Melody
 This is the organized series of pitches.
 The melody can be built on any scale.
 Melodic line
 If we think of the succession of notes as a graph, and we plot
them in a given order if you look we create what we can see as a
line.
 In easier terms this is called the melodic line.
 A succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence.
MUSIC: MELODY
 Melody
 Theses arrangements of pitches can come a wide variety of shapes. With this in mind
the use of melodic line we are able to convey a wide array of melodic emotions.
 For example if we go lower and slower this may portray a sense of evil.
 Long drawn out notes of the same pitch portray a sense fright or a feeling that we
are ominously being watched without knowing.
 Short jagged melodies are often portraying nervousness or agitations
announcements of royalty or fanfaring.
 Remember that unlike any other part of the musical construction, the melody will
evoke the human sentiments more directly than anything else.
Examples
MUSIC: MELODY
 Tunes
 These are the melodies that are most recognizable. They are easy to remember and
easy to sing along with when listening.
 The best example is popular music played on the radio.
 Why are they so easy to remember or sing along with?
 The melody is repeated over and over many times throughout the piece of
music, it is a special type of melody, why, because it is only the tune and
nothing else like harmony.

Examples
 Bee Gees One Tr.1
 Ryan Blau Hero to the world Tr. 1
 The Toys Lovers Concerto Tr. 3
 An American Symphony Tr.12
MUSIC: MOTIVES AND THEMES
 Motive
 A distinctive fragment of a melody, which makes it very easily
recognizable as it returns throughout the entirety of the piece
of music. They are much shorter than tunes.
 Example Beethoven’s 5th Symphony Tr. 5
 Remember in music, a leading phrase or figure that is
reproduced and varied through the course of a
composition or movement.
MUSIC: MOTIVES AND THEMES
 Themes
 A theme is the material, or topic that is usually a
recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is
based.
 melodic subject of a musical composition; "the theme is
announced in the first measures"; "the accompanist picked up
the idea and elaborated it”



Beethoven 9th Symphony last movement
2:38 into music the theme is most noticable.
When you have the same melody using different pitches than when
it was first introduced it is called a sequence.
 a successive transposition and repetition
ol' a phrase at different pitches.
MUSIC: CHARACTERISTICS OF
TUNES
 Phrases
 a single line of music, usually played or
sung by a single musician in one real or metaphorical
breath. Also tunes that fall naturally into smaller
sections.
 Star Spangled Banner
 Balance of Phrases
 Most phrases are almost always the same bar
lengths.
MUSIC: CHARACTERISTICS OF
TUNES
 Parallelism and Contrast
 Parallelism often means that the music is the same only
using different words
 Contrast often means that the composer will shorten or
lengthen different phrases to change up what is being
listened to and and dimensions to the music.
 Climax and Cadence
 Climax is the the highest point of the music either the
loudest r even the highest pitches used in the music.
 Cadence is a natural stopping point or ending to the
musical theme or piece.
QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION
Most tunes have a high point. What is the musical term for
this?
Climax
Tunes tend to be?
Simple and easily singable
An organized series of pitches played or sung in a certain
rhythm is called?
Melody
The moments at the ends of phrases where a melody pauses or stops
altogether is called?
Cadences