UNIT 1. MUSICAL RUDIMENTS
1. MUSIC
Music is as common as language, and likely almost as old. Music is part of every
culture on Earth, from the least sophisticated to the most; it´s found on every
continent and in every country, and has been with us from ancient times to the present.
But…how would we define music?
A pattern of sounds made by musical instruments, singing or computers, or a
combination of these, intended to give pleasure to people listening to it.
(Cambridge Dictionary)
What do you think? What is music to you?
2. SOUND CHARACTERISTICS
2.1 Timber: is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different
types of sound production. In other words, the timber helps us to recognize the sound source: a trumpet, a violin…
Musical Instruments Classification
STRINGS
Bowed strings: violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass…
Plucked strings: guitar, harp…
Struck strings/keys: piano, clavichord…
WINDS
Woodwinds: flute, oboe, clarinet…
Brass: trumpet, tuba, trombone…
Other: organ, harmónica, accordion…
PERCUSSION Drums, tambourine, xylophone, triangle, congas…
Human Singing Voices (from high to low)
Female Voices Male Voices
Soprano Tenor
Mezzosoprano Baritone
Contralto Bass
2.2 Lenght: the duration of sound, the time that sound lasts. As you know a sound can
be long or short: semibreve (rodona), minim (blanca), crotchet (negra), quaver
(corxera)…
2.3 Loudness: the attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be
ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud. In other words, the loudness is
related to the volume:
Dynamics
Loudness variability
pp Pianissimo
Crescendo
The volume gradually increases
p Piano
mf Mezzoforte
Decrescendo
The volume gradually decreases
f Forte
ff Fortissimo
2.4 Pitch: it is an attribute of sound related to frequency, the number of times the cycle
is repeated in a second. The higher is the frequency the higher is the sound.
Pitches are perceived as higher or lower.
- The higher the frequency: the higher the pitch of the sound.
- The lower the frequency: the lower the pitch od the sound
3 TEXTURE of Music.
It is related to the way the voices, instruments and parts are organized
according to the melody, the rhythm and harmony.
- Monody: everything is exactly the same, there is just one melody, although
there are many people singing or instruments playing.
- Polyphony: two or more independent melodies at the same time.
4 KEY, Tonality and modality.
- Tonality: is determined by the note (scale) that we choose to start and end a
melody. Example of C (Do) tonality: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
- Modality: there are two modalities, major (cheerful, bright…) and minor (sad,
melancholic…)
5 MUSICAL FORMS
Every musical work has a structure that the composer uses in order to
organize all the elements. This organization determines the musical forms
which have been appearing all along every period in the history of music.
Some vocal forms: Passion, Oratory, Opera…
Some instrumental forms: Sonata, Symphony, Quartet…
6 MUSICAL GENRES
Music can be classified according to:
- Religious (sacred) or Secular (non-religious) music.
- Vocal or instrumental (or a combination of these) music.
- Popular (rock, jazz…) or Serious (classical) music.
We also can classified music depending on its function:
- Absolute music: just music to enjoy.
- Descriptive music: explains something.
- Functional music: it has a specific intention.
- A combination of these.
7 HISTORICAL PERIODS of the Western Music
1. Middle Ages
From 5th to 14th century.
2. The Renaissance
From 15th to 16th century.
3. The Baroque Age
From 1600 to 1750.
4. Classical period
From 1750 to 1810.
5.The Romantic Era
XIX century.
6.The 20th Century
XX century.
UNIT 2. MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT (from 5th to 15th century)
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 CE) a new social, political and cultural order
organizes Europe and the Christian Church takes the power that the Roman Empire has left.
The Medieval society is basically rural and organized by the feudalism system, a very strict
social division:
Bellatores: the nobility (kings, knights…), they keep the military order, have
properties and privileges.
Oratores: the Church, they preserve the culture heritage. At that time several
monasteries were built as places where manuscripts and books were copied
and translated.
Laboratores: the rest/majority of the society, the workers (peasants). They
have no access to properties or culture.
The Church and Nobility are landowners and have political and social power: they judge and
execute their laws with no opposition.
As Middle Ages lasted for almost 1.000 years, it is a time that includes different periods of
stability, change and turbulences (wars, famines, diseases…). From the 13th century on, the
agriculture and the trade are developed, the first cities and universities appear and a new
social class arises: the bourgeoisie.
2. MUSIC
During the Middle Ages the music was clearly divided between Religious (sacred) and Non
religious (secular) music. The most important contributions of this musical period are:
- Polyphonic music.
- Written music.
2.1 Religious music
2
Gregorian Chant: Named after the Pope Gregory (6th Century), Gregorian Chant was
a liturgical form of music based on a repertory of chants for the principal Christian
religious ceremonies. It was characterized by:
- Monodic chant: a single melodic line sung by the monks as one single voice.
- Sung a cappella: vocal music.
- Exclusively religious themes.
- Sung in Latin.
- Free rhythm.
Religious music was basically a cappella because instruments were considered tools of the
devil. Anyway, from the 13th century on, they began to use the organ.
2.2 Non-religious music (Secular/popular music)
Troubadours, Joglars and Goliards
Secular music mixed music and dance, it was performed for the village and feudal
lords. The language used was vernacular (leaving the Latin for religious services) and
the rhythm came from poetry.
Troubadours: poets and musicians mainly from noble origin, often educated and
trained by the church. Troubadours were well received in castles and palaces where
their performances were rewarded with clothes, horses and gold. Sometimes they sang
their own compositions but often hired other artists to play them.
The central theme of the troubadour art was the chivalric love (devotion to an
unattainable lady) but there were other issues like war (crusades) and chivalry. Their
poems were accompanied by instruments that simply doubled the voice.
The troubadour art appears at the end of the 11th century in Provence, when Europe
began to enjoy a time of peace, and its expansion reached Germany, Italy, Galicia and
Catalonia. The first known troubadour was Guillaume IX, Duke of Aquitaine. One of the
most famous Catalan troubadours was Guillem de Berguedà.
Joglars/bards: writers, actors and musicians who went around from village to village
entertaining people during fairs or special events. A single joglar could become a
travelling circus, they sing and play many instruments, dance, improvise songs, do
acrobatics and tame animals.
They were usually condemned by the church as from its point of view joglars lived an
immoral life. Some joglars were hired by troubadours to accompanied them playing
instruments. This is how troubadour songs were later popularized by joglars in streets
and squares.
Goliards: clergymen who had left the religious life and devoted themselves to living as
joglars, with the advantage of enjoying a much higher cultural level. They sang in Latin
and vernacular with instrumental accompaniments and their repertoire was varied.
Instruments
Joglars and troubadours used them as an accompaniment for their music and dance.
- Strings: Harp, Fiddle, Rebec, Lute (llaüt)…
- Winds: flute, trumpet, bagpipe…
- Percussion: drum, tambourine, cymbal…
3. BIRTH OF POLYPHONY (Ars Antiqua)
Polyphony was the great musical contribution of the Middle Ages. It began with sacred music
but soon was present in the secular genre. Polyphony is based on the interpretation of two or
more melodic lines simultaneously.
Types of polyphony a cappella:
- Organum (9th century): two voices singing, one of them being a Gregorian melody and the other one following at a constant distance of 4th or 5th. Always in parallel.
- Discantus (11th century): two voices, but no longer parallel, when one of them goes high the other goes low. The main melody remains Gregorian.
- Motet (13th century): three voices singing different texts, with different rhythms and sometimes in different languages.
- Canon (14th century): the voices sing one after the other, chasing each other with the same melody.
4. WRITTEN MUSIC
The rise of polyphony contributed to the development of the modern system of music notation.
Musicians had to be able to read and perform several different parts simultaneously, hence the
need for a precise system of pitch and rhythmic notation. The eleventh-century Benedictine
monk Guido d´Arezzo (995-1033) created the modern musical notation.
Some examples:
- The Red Book of Montserrat (14th century) contains the narration of miracles, treatises
on geography, astronomy dedicated to the Virgin in Latin and old Catalan. They are
written for one, two and three voices that were sung and danced by the pilgrims inside
the monastery of Montserrat but also in the streets.
- Carmina Burana (13th century): a manuscript from Germany, most of it made of works
in latin from the goliards.
- Cántigas de Santa María (13th century): a manuscript with more than 400 monodic
tunes dedicated to the Virgin, written in Galician, some of them by Alfonso X The Wise,
king of Castile and Leon.
UNIT 3. THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD
1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT (15th-16th centuries)
The long, relatively dark era of the Middle Ages eventually led to a great cultural awakening,
the Humanism: born in Italy, it was an intellectual movement that took the ancient wisdom as
an ideal and put the human being in the focus of attention, instead of God.
The increasing freedom of thought allowed to reconsider some points that were taken for
granted.
The Reformation changed some points of view in regards to religion and divide
Christianity (Protestantism/Catholicism).
The Renaissance saw the explorations of Christopher Columbus and Sir Francis Drake, the
scientific advancements of Galileo and Copernicus, the art of Michelangelo and Leonardo Da
Vinci and the plays of William Shakespeare.
2. MUSIC
Music, like all the arts, flourished during the Renaissance. With the rise of the middle class,
more people move to cities and spent their leisure time attending concerts and performances.
Music became part of the common education and -thanks to the invention of the printing
press- sheet music and method books (for lute, recorder and guitar) were made available for
wider groups of people.
The Renaissance saw the dawn of a new musical era full of sprightly polyphony,
experimentation in the musical forms, the spread of secular song and the introduction of a new
polyphonic vocal form called the Madrigal.
Characteristics of Renaissance music
- Strong focus on the melodic line.
- “New” instruments came to prominence: the viol, lute, guitar, harp, recorder (flute), sackbut as well as the first keyboard instruments, the harpsichord and clavichord.
- During Renaissance polyphony evolved from the independent counterpoint (14th-15th
centuries) into a more harmonious form of melody and accompaniament called
homophony (16th century).
- During Renaissance new forms of vocal (both religious and secular) music were
developed.
- Claudio Monteverdi and Giovanni da Palestrina were among the most important
composers.
Polyphonic music
Counterpoint: The technique of combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that
they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality.
Homophony: music in which one voice carries a single and dominating melody that is
accompanied by chords. The important aspect is that the chords are subservient to the
melody.
2.1 SECULAR MUSIC
Music was increasingly enjoyed in settings outside the church; both men and women of the
upper classes were expected to understand and perform music, while those of the middle
class became a good audience for these performances.
Secular forms, written in vernacular language:
Madrigal (Italy)
Madrigal is one of the most important musical forms of the Renaissance and Claudio
Monteverdi was one of its main composers. The typical madrigal is a polyphonic
composition for four to six voices (usually five), typically unaccompanied, based on a poem or
other secular text.
Characteristics:
- Composition for 4,5 or 6 voices, usually a cappella.
- Polyphonic music: counterpoint texture (although some fragments may be
homophonic).
- Lyrics came from poetry about human feelings. The favorite subject for such
madrigals was the pain and grief of love.
- Music tried to describe the meaning of words.
Chanson (France)
The melodies sung by 13th century troubadours evolved during the early 14th century into
two-and three-voice pieces called Chanson (French for “song”).
By the 16th century, chanson grew from its simple beginnings to include elaborate
contrapuntal melodies and vocal effects that emulated birdcalls and nature sounds, the cries of
street sellers, and the like. Master of this later form of chanson included Claude de Sermisy
and Clément Janequin.
Ensalada (Catalonia)
Ensalada is an original musical form from Catalan composers as Mateu Fletxa “el Vell” and
Pere Alberc.
- Mixture of different languages: Catalan, Castilian, Latin…
- Mixture of textures: monody, homophony and counterpoint (often a capella).
- Mixture of genres: serious/popular, sacred /secular.
- Music, lyrics and performance were usually very descriptive.
- Composition with a comic character.
Villancico (Castile)
It talked about popular themes usually with homophonic texture, sometimes a capella, others
with some accompaniment. Juan de la Encina was one of its main composers.
2.2 RELIGIOUS MUSIC
Remember the religious division between Catholics and Protestants!
Church music in the Renaissance reflected the growing influence of secular music –despite
the attempts of Catholic authorities to curb what they viewed as that music´s seductive and
profane excesses. Sacred music was also impacted by the protestant reformation. Martin
Luther´s desire to break with tradition and utilize songs that could be sung by the whole
congregation, not just the choir, had significant impact on the music of the day.
The Protestant chorale
The rise of Protestant church created a new musical tradition, less rigid than that of the
Catholic Church. Martin Luther commissioned a new catalog of songs with easy-to-sing
melodies, based on familiar folk songs, for unison singing by the entire congregation.
Catholic Music
On the other side, the main forms for the Catholics were the Motet and the Mass. Both forms
mixed textures like counterpoint (most of the times) and homophony. They were sung in Latin.
The main distinction between mass and motet is the length: while the mass consists in several
parts and it is considerable long, the motet is a relatively small work with no divisions.
Masses
One of the most important musical form of the Renaissance was the Latin Mass, polyphonic,
and contrapunctual. It had five passages that are frequently set for choir or for choir and vocal
soloists:
1- Lord have mercy
2- Glory be to God on high
3- I believe
4- Holy, holy
5- Lamb of God
During the Renaissance the Mass became a monumental genre.
Motet (catholic)
Motets were full of contrasts, with passages for all voices paired with passages for just two or
three voices, or sections in different times, doubled or triple.
2.3 INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
Although vocal music remained the main source of musical forms; instrumental music
increased step by step. Some new forms strictly instrumental were born like Variations,
Toccatas and Dances. The main instruments were the lute, the organ, the clave, the guitar,
the viola and the recorder.
Characteristics of the instrumental forms:
Variations: the composer takes a melody and repeats it many times changing rhythms,
harmony and/or melody.
Toccata: virtuoso-like composition for solo keyboard.
Dances: to be danced, with different characteristics and rhythm.
2.4 COMPOSERS
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594): Palestrina was the most famous
representative of the Roman School of composition in the 16th century. His 104 Masses are
considered the typical example of the Renaissance Mass style. He also wrote a variety of
other church music, as well as more than a hundred secular madrigals.
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): Monteverdi was a composer who got started during the
Renaissance and completed his career during the Baroque. Up until age 40, he specialized in
writing madrigals, composing a total of nine books of madrigal song.
VOCAL FORMS INSTRUMENTAL FORMS
Religious Secular
Toccata
Protestant Chorale
Variations
Catholic Mass
Villancico
Madrigal
Religious Motet
Chanson
Ensalada
UNIT 4. THE BAROQUE PERIOD
1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT (1600-1750)
The Baroque period began as an artistic movement dictated by the Roman Catholic Church. It
all started at the Council of Trent (1545-63), when the church, in response to the Protestant
Reformation, launched the Counter-Reformation. This led to the more representational, highly ornamented and dramatic art that kicked off the start of the Baroque around 1600.
Politically, the Baroque was the era of the Absolutism: a system in which the monarchy was
supposed to be supreme, in both law making and policy making. Furthermore it was a period
of long wars and conflicts, the 30 Years War (1618-1648) amongst them.
2. MUSIC
The Baroque is the first era of truly legendary composers and of music that is familiar to even
the masses of today. We´re talking of music like Pachelbel´s Canon in D, Handel´s Messiah,
and Vivaldi´s The Four Seasons. And, even more notable, the Baroque was the era of Johann
Sebastian Bach, one of the greatest composers of all time.
Main characteristics
- The music of the Baroque echoed the extravagant styles of the period´s fashions and
architecture. Simple melodies evolved into elaborated, flamboyant and very expressive
musical works.
- Rise and splendour of instrumental music.
- It was during the Baroque period that many of the “modern” orchestral instruments
still in use today were first developed. Instruments that came to prominence:
- Winds: flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, trumpet and french horn.
- Strings: violin, viola, cello and double bass. (Some of the finest violins ever made
came out of the Baroque, thanks to master craftsman Antonio Stradivari. The Latinized
form of his surname, Stradivarius, is commonly used to refer to the instruments he built
during his life time).
- Rise of keyboard instruments; predecessor to the modern piano.
- The contrasts (slow-fast, quite-loud…) in tempo, texture and timbre were very common
as well as the interaction between instruments.
- Rise of the accompanied melody. The melody, played by one instrument or voice,
stands above the instrumental accompaniment that supports it.
- Appearance of the Bass Line: the composer writes an structure of low notes in constant repetition to let the melodies change along the musical piece.
- New musical forms came into prominence, incorporating more and different
combination of instruments and, in the case of opera, encouraging the interplay of
voices and instruments.
Music for money
Instead of being in the service of the church, as was common during the Renaissance,
composers of the Baroque were often employed by the wealthy ruling class as part of what
was called the Patronage System. As such, the patron paid the composer for each work, and
usually decided what kind of piece the composer should write. Even the major composers
partook of this patronage: Bach spent several years as Kapellmeister (music director) to
Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen and Handel wrote various works for the Duke of Chandos.
2.1 Vocal Music – Sacred Music
Oratorio
An Oratorio is a dramatic musical setting of a sacred libretto, for solo singers, choir and
orchestra, is like a religious opera but without the senery or costumes. Vocal soloists are
accompanied by orchestra or instrumental ensemble.
Handel´s Messiah is considered the greatest Oratorio ever written.
Passion
It is a kind of Oratorio, with a very specific subject: tells the passion and death of Jesus Christ
emphasising his suffering. The figure of the Evangelist tells the action in the form of recitative.
The characters of the Passion (Jesus, his apostles, etc.) are also incarnated by singers who
sing recitatives and arias. The choir participates often representing the Hebrew people.
Cantata
The term Cantata has described different musical forms over the centuries. The earliest form,
as practiced during the Baroque period, refers to a dramatic vocal piece sung by a solo
vocalist or vocalists, accompanied by lute or basso continuo. They were usually based on
sacred texts, however there were secular cantatas called Cantata de Camera.
2.2 Instrumental Music
Concerto
During the late Baroque period, orchestral music gained popular status in the public concerts
that proliferated in many European cities. The late-Baroque orchestra typically included
strings, woodwinds (flute, recorder, oboe, bassoon) trumpets and other horns, and timpani. As
developed by Vivaldi, Handel, Bach and their counterparts, the concert focused on one or
more solo instruments supported by the larger orchestra. There were many different types of
concertos during Baroque era:
Soloist concerto: a dialogue between a solo instrument and orchestra.
Concerto grosso: dialogue among a small group of instruments and orchestra.
Tempos:
- Largo: a very slow tempo.
- Adagio: indicates that music is to be played slowly.
- Andante: at a walking pace.
- Allegro: fast quickly and bright.
- Presto: very fast.
Suite
Contrast was important in the Baroque era, which led to the development of longer
instrumental forms that incorporated multiple contrasting sections. The suite
often starts with an introduction called Overture, and then there are dances like allemande,
courante, sarabande, gigue, waltz, minuet, gavotte (to name a few).
Examples of Baroque-era Suites include Handel´s Water Music and Music for the Royal
Fireworks and Bach´s six cello and four orchestral suites.
Sonata
Instrumental piece composed of contrasting sections, usually divided into three or four
movements (slow-fast-slow-fast) for soloist or small group of instruments that can be of two
types:
Sonata for solo and continuo (violin+figured bass)
Trio Sonata (example: flute + violin +figured bass)
During the Baroque period the violin was the most popular sonata instrument, although
sonatas were written for all variety of instruments.
Fugue
It’s a musical form based in the counterpoint were every part imitates each other. Most fugues
open with a short main theme, the subject, which then sounds successively in each voice
(after the first voice is finished stating the subject, a second voice repeats the subject at a
different pitch, and other voices repeat in the same way); when each voice has entered, the
exposition is complete.
2.3 Secular music
Opera
Opera is a drama set to music. In practice, opera consists of vocals with instrumental
accompaniament, with the singers typically in costume in an elaborate theatrical production;
while musical passages may be separated by spoken dialogue, the music is an integral part of
the opera.
The operatic form originated in Florence, Italy, in the Renaissance, near the end of the
sixteenth century; it grew out of attempts to recreate the affect of ancient Greek and Roman
dramas. The earliest known opera was Daphne, written in 1597 by Jacopo Peri. Other notable
early operas include Peri´s Euridice (1600); Stefano Landi´s Sant Alesio (1631) which
formalized the various sections of the opera; and Monteverdi´s l´Orfeo (1607).
While opera was born in Italy, it quickly spread throughtout all of Europe. By 1700, Vienna,
Paris, Hamburg and London were all major operatic centers.
Parts of the Opera
Overtures: Instrumental part played by the orchestra before the curtain goes up.
Recitatives: Fragments in which the singers recite the text with a slight intonation,
accompanied by simple chords of figured bass.
Aria: A little musical piece performed by a singer with orchestral accompaniment.
The singer displays his/her vocal abilities and expresses the feelings of the
character that represents.
Duo, trio, quartet: Several soloists sing at the same time with orchestral accompaniment.
Choirs / Chorus: Choral pieces that are used especially to represent multitudes
Baroque Composers
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was a German-born composer and organist, although
he spent most of his life in England. Handel contributed to every musical genre of his time,
with operas dominating his early career. His most famous composition was the
Messiah (1741), an oratorio set to texts from the King James Bible; it is today considered the
greatest oratorio ever written.
Handel wrote more than 20 oratorios, along with nearly 50 operas and hundreds of concerti
grossi and orchestral pieces.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). Initially a violin teacher and a priest, Vivaldi published his first
sonatas in 1705. Early on he was employed by the Ospedale della Pieta, an orphanage in
Venice. He composed for children there, primarily the young girls that formed the renowned
orchestra and choir of the orphanage.
Vivaldi´s compositions displayed an extraordinary variety of invention, and embraced
instrumentation unusual for the time.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Bach is considered a true musical genius: he produced
an astounding variety of chamber and orchestral works, as well as a large number of organ
and keyboard works. His choral works include a variety of sacred and secular cantatas, motets
and other large choral pieces, and chorales and sacred songs. The only musical form in which
he didn´t work was opera.
Bach was the youngest of eight children born to musical parents. His parents died when he was
10 and then he was taken in by his older brother, Johann Christoph, who continued his
musical training. In 1703, the 18-year-old J.S.Bach took the position of organist at the
St.Boniface Church in Arnstadt. Similar posts at other churches followed, and in 1708 Bach
and his wife moved to Weimar, where he became court-organist and later Konzertmeister
(concertmaster) to Duke Wilheim. Bach stayed there until 1717, when he was named
Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen.
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