BACK TO BASICS by: Blanche Banot

BACK TO BASICS
By; Blanche C. Banot

1st Grading Period: The Quality of Sound and Music
Sound – caused by the vibration of objects. These vibrations move through the air and are transmitted to the ears. Nerve connection carry these impulses to the brain which interprets what objects produces such sound.

2 KINDS OF SOUND:
1. Noise
2. Music

Music – an artful arrangement of sounds across time.


Neums – a sign used in musical notation from the 7th to 14th centuries. It gave an indication of pitch.

Notes – a sound which has a defined pitch and duration.
- a symbol for such sound.

Dot, Tie, Slur, Fermata

The Kodaly Method

2nd Grading Period: Rhythm & Melody (Beat, Meter, Accent, and Time Signature)
Time Signature – a sign placed at the beginning of a piece of music that indicates the number and value of beats in a bar. A time signature usually consists of 2 numbers, one placed above the other.



3rd Grading Period: Harmony & Texture
Texture – the resulting sound from the interplay or non-interplay of tones.
1. Monophonic Music – it is a single musical line without any form of accompaniment. As the prefix “mono” connotes, it means “one sound”.
2. Homophonic Music – melodies that are accompanied by instruments using chords like a guitar or piano.
3. Heterophonic Music – two or more performers singing different variations of a single melody simultaneously, with slight modifications in one part, mainly that of omission or addition some notes.
4. Polyphonic Music – (having many sounds) forms of music that contains 2 or more independent musical lines.
a. Round Song – a short piece, in which a single melody is sung in successive entrances by 2, 3, 4, or more parts.
b. Canon – a counterpoint composition in which one part is imitated and overlapped by one or more other parts.
c. Drone – a pipe that sounds a continuous note of fixed pitch as a permanent bass.
d. Descant – a soprano part, sometimes improvised, sung above a hymn tune while the tune itself is sung by the rest of the congregation or choir.
e. Partner Songs – singing or playing together two songs which are originally composed as independent songs, with the same mode or key.
f. Ostinato – a short phrase or other pattern that is repeated over and over again suring the course of a composition.

4th Grading Period: The Structure of Music
Motive – the smallest unit in music

Phrase – the musical statement that expresses an idea.
1. Antecedent Phrase (Question)
2. Consequent Phrase (Answer)

Musical Form – an orderly arrangement of musical elements in time.
1. Repetition – a repetition of a musical idea. It may be melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, or it may be a combination of these.
2. Contrast – can be achieved by the changes of harmony or in instrumentation of tone colors.
3. Episodes – a contrasting section that separated entries of the principal theme.
4. Variation – the modification or development of a theme.

Determinants in Musical Forms:
1. Strophic Form (AAAAA) – contains only one section which remains the same all throughout the whole composition.
2. Binary Form (AB) – a song or composition with 2 basic parts or ideas.
3. Ternary Form (ABA) – a song or composition with 3 basic parts or ideas.
4. Through-Composed Form ( ABC) – applied to songs in which new music is provided for each stanza, opposite of the Strophic Form, in which every stanza is sung to the same melody.
5. Rondo Form (ABACA) – a song or composition that contains a contrasting section that separates entries of the principal theme called “Episodes”.
6. Variation Form (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5) – the modification or development of a theme.