Performing Media:Voices and Instruments

• VOICES

• Singing is the most widespread and most familiar way of making music

• 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

• A bit of magic

• Direct and spell binding

• Singer is the instrument

• 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

• 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

• Depends on both training and on physical makeup.

• Professional singers can command two octaves or more

• Untrained voices usually limited to 1 ½ octaves

• Men’s chord are longer than women’s

• Produces a lower tone

Performing Media:Voices and Instruments

• Women’s voice classifications

• Soprano = the Highest

• Mezzo Soprano = in the middle

• Alto = lowest

Performing Media:Voices and Instruments

• Men’s Voice Classifications

• Tenor = highest

• Baritone = middle

• 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

• 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

• There six broad categories of instruments

Strings

Woodwinds

Brass

Percussion

Keyboard

Electronic

Musical Instruments

• Instruments come in different sizes

• Example: Saxophones

• 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.

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=044k-A5MHrI

Musical InstrumentsWoodwinds

• 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 InstrumentsWoodwinds: Flutes

Musical InstrumentsSingle Reed Woodwinds: Clarinets

Musical Instruments

Single Reed Woodwinds: Saxophones

Musical InstrumentsDouble Reed Woodwinds: Oboes

Musical InstrumentsDouble Reed Woodwinds: Bassoons

Musical InstrumentsBrass: Trumpet

Musical InstrumentsBrass: French Horns

Musical InstrumentsBrass: Trombone

Musical InstrumentsBrass: Euphoniums & Tubas

Musical InstrumentsPercussion

• 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