Musical Terms (updated 2/18/14)

Program music - music that has an extra-musical idea to go along with it. It might be a story, an idea, a picture, or a text.
Absolute music - music that has NO extra-musical idea to go along with it. It is music for its own sake, with the composer giving you NO hint as to what it might be depicting.
You may listen to any piece as if it is a work of absolute music (we did this in class the first time you heard "Spring", as I hadn't told you the birds and thunderstorm).
You may also create your own "program" to a work of absolute music if it helps you to follow along. Create a story for a piece of music, explain how the story changes as the music builds or fades, etc.
Program pieces are usually given a subtitle to hint that they are about something (Concerto in E major, Op. 8, No. 1, RV269, "Spring" from The Four Seasons)
Absolute pieces usually have no subtitles that might mean anything. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67. This doesn't sound like it's about anything.


Classic vs. Romantic
Classic: has lasting value, ancient Greece and Rome, or in music, the period from 1750-1820.
Classical sensibility - logic, balance, symmetry.Ê Not emotionally attached to the subject matter (Mozart could write some glorious sounding music when he was at his lowest point). Ê
Romantic - emphasis on freedom, individuality, flexibility. Leads with "heart".

Timbre
Strings
Woowinds
Brass
Percussion
Keyboard
Electronic

Seating plan of an orchestra: Softest instruments in the front (Violins), louder instruments are moved to the back. The loudest instruments are in the back (Percussion)
In order to be an orchestra, a group must have bowed strings as its nucleus. If it does not contain bowed strings as the nucleus, the group is an "ensemble", a "band", or some other name.
MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface. 1. a language that musical instruments use to communicate, 2. the hardware components of this communication (ports, cables, etc.), 3. actual computer files that are created and modified from this protocol. Cell phone ringtones are typically MIDI files ending in .mid.

Voices
SATB
From highest to lowest: - Soprano (high female), Contralto (Alto) (low female), Tenor (high male), Bass (low male); most common are Mezzo-Soprano (medium female) and Baritone (medium male)
Each person has the voice type that they have been given. Training, lessons, exercises, etc. can help strengthen a voice, polish the tone, have more control, etc., but can not turn an Alto into a Soprano.

Common Practice Period (1600-1900) - the time when music focuses on a central "key" or as I say, all the notes sound right together.
Decibels - Amount of air (or water) pressure caused by a sound wave. See chart for decibel levels.

What would be the Sound Pressure Level (decibel range) of an acoustic classical guitar? 20-60 dB

Timbre.
Ryan Leslie makes "I Gets Money"
Stomp
Cell Block Tango from Chicago
Just for Now by Imogen Heep
Timbre can be affected in significant ways using technology and creative approaches.

MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface. 1. a language that musical instruments use to communicate, 2. the hardware components of this communication (ports, cables, etc.), 3. actual computer files that are created and modified from this protocol. Cell phone ringtones are typically MIDI files ending in .mid.