Ensemble
Genre
Form
TERMS TO KEEP CLEAR
A group of performers…
- orchestra� - choir� - band
ENSEMBLE
A category of musical composition…
- song, � - opera� - concerto
GENRE
The structural design �of a musical work �or movement…
FORM
Strophic
Binary
Ternary
BASIC FORMS
BASIC FORMS
STROPHIC FORM
Common Example:�� “Deck The Halls” . . .
BINARY FORM
(Opposition of 2 contrasting sections)
“A” vs. “B”
Example:� “Take Me Home, Country Roads” � by John Denver
TERNARY FORM
(Contrast and Resolution of 2 sections)
“A B A”
Example: “Yesterday” by The Beatles
Beatles: Yesterday (1965)
- Why she had to go . . .
- Yesterday, love was such � an easy game to play . . .�
TERNARY FORM
Example: “Yesterday” by The Beatles
STYLE & INTERPRETATION
THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
of Western Art Music
THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
of Western Art Music
[Anonymous] Alleluia: vidimus stellam (before 1000)
Alleluia � (Hallelujah!)
Vidimus stellam ejus in Oriente � (We have seen the star in the East)
Alleluia � (Hallelujah!)
THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
of Western Art Music
Palestrina: “Kyrie” from Pope Marcellus Mass (1567)
Kyrie eleison � (Lord Have Mercy)
Christe eleison � (Christ Have Mercy)
Kyrie eleison � (Lord Have Mercy)
THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
of Western Art Music
Tchaikovsky: “March” from �The Nutcracker (1892)
- Trumpets & Plucked Strings
- Brass & Woodwinds alternate
- Trumpets & Plucked Strings�
TERNARY FORM
Example: “March of the Tin Soldiers” from
The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky
Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire (1912)
At night, the moon drenches thirsting eyes
and a flood wells up on their still horizon.
Tremulous sighs travel up through the swell.
Waves of wine for thirsting eyes gush forth � from the moon at night.
The poet, deep in devotion, grows drunk of the holy drink.
His head turns in ecstasy to the heavens
and reeling, he slips and slurps the "wine" that slakes � his thirsting eyes.
THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
of Western Art Music
“Cantus Firmus” Technique�Medieval/early Renaissance
In the Medieval and early Renaissance eras, the Western Christian (“Catholic”) church required all new compositions to be based on pre-existing CHANT tunes. �� (“cantus firmus” = “fixed voice”)��So… the form of the piece followed the form of the chant.
“Formes Fixes”�Medieval/early Renaissance
In the Medieval and early Renaissance eras, secular (non-religious) music from France and Italy was often based on “fixed” poetic forms, each involving some type of structural contrast between two opposing sections. These poetic forms are called the “Formes Fixes.”
Formes Fixes � (Medieval/early Renaissance)
Ballade
Virelai (French)�Ballata (Italian)
Rondeau
A a B
A B b a A
AB a A a b AB
BALLADE � Formes Fixes (Medieval/early Renaissance)
A
A a B
1. 1st idea��2. New words
B
3. 2nd idea�
Lowercase letter means New Words
1 2 3
VIRELAI (Ballata) � Formes Fixes (Medieval/early Renaissance)
A
A B b a A
1. 5. 1st idea��4. New words
B
2. 2nd idea��3. New words
�
Lowercase letter means New Words
1 2 3 4 5
RONDEAU� Formes Fixes (Medieval/early Renaissance)
A
AB a A a b AB
1. 4. 7. 1st idea��3. New words��5. New words
B
2. 8. 2nd idea��6. New words
�
Lowercase letter means New Words
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
of Western Art Music
Formes Fixes � (Medieval/early Renaissance)
Ballade
Virelai (French)�Ballata (Italian)
Rondeau
A a B
A B b a A
AB a A a b AB
BINARY FORM
A B
I - V V - I
(as used in Baroque Instrumental music)
Purcell: “Dido’s Lament” from�Dido and Aeneas (1689)
A
B
Baroque Instrumental Suite
SUITE: A sequence of international �BINARY (A vs. B) dance structures based on contrasting movements, speeds, and moods.�
Baroque Ritornello Form
Contrasts Big (“tutti”) vs. “small” (“solo”) groups���
�
Example: Vivaldi, Spring mvt. 1 from The Four Seasons
Baroque Contrapuntal Designs
Example:
Pachelbel � Canon in D major
CANON: “Leader” vs. “Follower”
Baroque Contrapuntal Designs
Example: Bach “Little Fugue” in G minor
FUGUE: Complex manipulation of � a musical “subject”
Diagram of the opening section of this fugue:
Some terms relating to Fugue
SUBJECT: The main idea
ANSWER: The main idea transposed to a different pitch level.
COUNTERSUBJECT: A contrasting idea that � appears more than once against the subject.
FUGAL EXPOSITION: A section where the subject� is being presented in various “voice” parts.�
EPISODE: A musical section that modulates � using SEQUENCES (stepwise patterns)
Ways to Manipulate Material
AUGMENTATION: Lengthen the note values
DIMINUTION: Shorten the note values.
INVERSION: Use the opposite melodic intervals.�
RETROGRADE: Do the melody backwards.�
TRANSPOSITION: Start the melody on a different
scale step to move it all higher or lower in pitch.