National 5 Musical Periods and Styles

Concepts

• AB• Atonal• Chorus• Cluster• Contrapuntal• Counter melody• Ground bass• Impressionism• Polyphonic• Symphony

• Aria• Binary• Classical• Coda• Contrary Motion• Cross rhythm• Homophonic• Inverted pedal• Rondo

Binary Form (AB)

• Two-part form - music in two sections: A then B. These sections may be repeated.

Ternary Form (ABA)National 4 re-cap

• Three-part form – Music in three sections: section A, then B, then back to A.

Rondo (ABACADA…)• A B A C A….. A form where the first section (A)

keeps returning, in between different sections – B, C etc.

Coda

• A passage at the end of a piece of music which rounds it off effectively.

Haydn - Surprise SymphonyHall of the Mountain King

Strophic

• A song which has the same music repeated for verses/choruses, therefore the music will be heard repeating throughout the song.

Beach Boys - I Get AroundSchubert - Das WadernElgar - In Haven

Modulation

• A change of key.

Beyonce - Love on TopWestlife - You Raise Me UpCarmen – HabaneraBeethoven Symphony no.5

Ground Bass

• A theme in the bass which is repeated many times while the upper parts are varied.

Bach - Passacaglia in C minorPachelbel Canon in DPurcell - When I am Laid on Earth (starts 1.30s)

Classical• This term refers to music composed during the

period 1750 to 1810 approximately.• This was the era of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Mozart - Eine Kleine NachtmusikBeethoven - Für Elise Haydn - Emperor String QuartetMozart - Symphony no.40Beethoven - Symphony no.5Mozart Violin Concerto No 5 A majorHaydn Suprise Symphony

Alberti Bass• Broken chords played by the left hand outlining

harmonies whilst the right hand plays the melody.• Classical composers such as Haydn and Mozart used this

technique extensively in their piano music. The chord is played in the order: low - high - middle - high.

Mozart Sonata in CMozart Piano Concerto no.26Beethoven Pathetique Sonata

A CB

C ED F G

Symphony• A large work for orchestra usually in four

movements.• In the Classical period the movements were

normally fast, slow, minuet and trio, fast.

Beethoven Symphony no.5Haydn Symphony 'Clock‘Brahms Symphony no.4Tchaikovsky Symphony no.4Mahler Symphony no.5

Atonal• Atonal music has no

feeling of key, major or minor. It is very dissonant, and it will lack a 'nice' melody and accompaniment. Atonal music is a feature of some 20th-century music.

Schoenberg - 6 Little Pieces for Orchestra

Atonal

Atonal II

Messian Quartet for the end of timeBerg Lyric SuiteBoulez - The Hammer Without a Master

Chromatic Scale/Tones and Semitones

Cluster

• A term used to describe a group of notes, which clash, played together

Piano ClustersSchoenberg - A Survivor from Warsaw

Five Orchestral Pieces

• Five Orchestral Pieces is an atonal Expressionist piece. It was completed in 1909. The first performance took place in London in 1912.

• Schoenberg described it as "a vivid, uninterrupted succession of colours and moods". Peripetie is the fourth movement.

• Peripetie can be translated as 'a sudden change of fortune'.

Peripetie

This is the fourth movement from Schoenberg’s 5 Orchestral Pieces. It is a very intense, restless, dramatic work which frequently shifts in orchestration, speed and mood.

The movement opens with seven motifs (short musical ideas) played loudly (forte), one after the other. We are going to look at the first three of these motifs. Each motif has its own mood and character.

Motif A

Motif A opens the movement. It is a short fanfare played by three clarinets, a bass clarinet and three bassoons. Notice the use of triplets and the six different pitches.

The dynamic is forte (loud) with a crescendo. Motif A is immediately followed by a short chromatic scale played by three muted trumpets and four trombones. Trombones 1 and 2 play a glissando (a slide).

Motif B

Next comes Motif B for three flutes and piccolo, three oboes and cor anglais, plus three clarinets in B flat and one in D (a very unusual clarinet). Notice all the accidentals creating the dissonant chord at the end of the motif.

Motif C

Next we hear the powerful sound of six horns playing motif C, another angular line. Again the motif is in triplets but this time triplet quavers. Notice the use of the dissonant interval of a 7th.

Cross Rhythms• Term used to describe the effect of two notes being played

against three (eg in piano music it might be groups of two quavers in the right hand and groups of triplets in the left).

• The term is also used to describe the effect that occurs when the accents in a piece of music are different from those suggested by the time signature (eg the division of 4/4 time into 3+3+2 quavers).

Cross Rhythms

West Side Story – AmericaDebussy - Arabesque No. 1 Blue Rondo A La Turk - Dave BrubeckPolyrhythms

Impressionism• A term borrowed from painting in which brief musical ideas

merge and change to create a rather blurred, hazy and vague outline. Debussy was an important composer of this style.

• This painting by Monet is hazy and blurred – creating an 'impression' rather than showing clear lines. Impressionist music is similar in that it doesn’t have clearly defined strong melody lines, but aims to create atmosphere.

Impressionism• Whole-tone scales were often a feature of this style of

music.Debussy - La Mer Ravel - Daybreak (Daphnis et Chloé)Debussy – Reverie Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit

Whole Tone Scale

• A scale containing no semitones but built entirely on whole tones. Debussy used the whole-tone scale in some of his pieces which were influenced by Impressionism. A whole-tone scale on C is shown below.

Minimalist• A development in the second half of the 20th

century based on simple rhythmic and melodic figures which are constantly repeated with very slight changes each time.

Anna’s LightZip Paintings

So What is Minimalism...apart from a long word?!

Less is more Small amount of music

Repetition - ostinato

Trance like - hypnotic

Looping of different motifs and patters

Very simple yet sounds complicated

Lot of music with little changes

Building of layers

diatonic

No dynamics/tempo

The Technological Part

• Composers can use software like Cubase/Gargeband to help them compose minimalist music.

• Its very easy to make minimalist music on Garageband – as you can copy and paste tracks, so that it is repetitive – a very important feature of Minimalism!

Minimalism from around the World

WESTEREN AFRICA – cross rhythms - drumming

In Indonesian gamelan, the pieces are very spiritual and hypnotic – these ideas are also used in minimalist music. Gamelan also uses lots of layering of different percussion instruments – it is very repetitive, and each instrument is layered on top of each other.

In India, the tala (percussion) rhythm is always repeated, or looped. We use this a lot in minimalist music.

Minimalism

Steve Reich - Music for 18 MusiciansSteve Reich - Six MarimbasJohn Adams - The Chairman DancePhilip Glass – KoyaanisqatsiPhilip Glass - Two PagesMike Oldfield - Tubular bells

Reverb

• An electronic effect which can give the impression of different hall acoustics. For example, reverb can make a piece of music sound as if the performance is taking place in a cathedral.

Glasvegas - Ice Cream VanPink Orange RedPink Floyd - Sorrow

Pitch Bend

• Changing the pitch of a note, for example by pushing a guitar string upwards.

Pitch Bend TutorialSmoke On The Water - Guitar Solo - Slow & Close UpIron Maiden - Fear Of The DarkMetallica - Enter SandmanMamma I'm Coming Home – OzzyAC/DC Back in Black

Walking Bass

• A bass line (low notes) often featured in a variety of jazz styles. It goes for a walk, up and down a pattern of notes, and is often played on a double bass.

Ray Charles - Mess AroundLiberace Boogie WoogieMiles Davis Quintet – Oleo

Gospel

• Music written with religious lyrics, often in praise or thanksgiving to God. Gospel has its origins in African-American culture.

Sister Act 2 (Finale) Lauryn Hill - Joyful JoyfulShackles 'Praise You' (Mary Mary) - ACM Gospel ChoirSoweto Gospel Choir - Amazing GraceOh Happy Day

Celtic Rock

• A style of music that mixes Celtic folk music and rock together

Runrig - Live in Loch Lomond - Loch LomondHighlander Celtic Rock Band - Bung Knee Jigs Runrig. Mod for Rockers. Cnoc Na FeilleFferyllt

Indian Music

• Music from India which uses instruments such as the sitar and tabla.

Sitar: A plucked, stringed instrument from India. It's basically an Indian guitar – easy to remember because sitar rhymes with guitar.

Tabla: Indian drums often used to accompany the sitar.

Other associated concepts at National 5

Homophonic (opening)• Texture where you hear melody with accompaniment or

where all the parts play a similar rhythm at the same time.• See how the parts all have the same rhythm here.

Contrapuntal

• Texture in which each of two or more parts has independent melodic interest; similar in meaning to polyphonic.

• Texture which consists of two or more melodic lines, possibly of equal importance, which weave independently of each other. Polyphonic is similar in meaning to contrapuntal.

Polyphonic

Counter melody

• A melody played against the main melody.

Carmen - En'tracte to Act IIIAlbinonni - Adagio in G minorRachmaninov Piano Concerto no.2 (mov.2 at 10minutes)Malcolm Arnold - Scottish Dance no.3

Inverted Pedal

• A note which is held on or repeated continuously at a high pitch. Opposite in pitch to pedal.

Borodin In the Steppes of Central AsiaTam o' Shanter (+ pedal)

Contrary Motion

• Two parts move in opposite directions, eg as one part ascends the other part descends.

Philip Glass - Music in Contrary MotionChopin "Chanson de l'adieu" 2.00-2.10s

National 5 – Musical Periods and Styles Quiz