Prelude (January 22, 2025)
● Copland, Aaron. What to Listen for in Music. New York, Toronto,
London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1957
● Copland’s three planes of listening- the sensuous plane, the expressive
plane, and the sheerly musical plane.
(January 22, 2025)
● Musical Sound
○ Perceivable and measurable pitch
■ Pitch: determined by frequency (vibrations per sec)
● Depends on length or size of vibrating object
○ E.g. short string, faster vibration, higher
frequency
○ Fingers placed on strings shorten vibrating
length, pitch
○ Melody: tune (succession of single pitches, recognizable whole),
cohesive thought.
○ Range:
○ Phrase: unit within larger structure of melody.
○ Cadence: end of phrase, resting place (conclusive or inconclusive).
○ Rhyme Scheme: ending of text lines usually coincides w/ musical
phrase structure.
○ Climax: high point in a melodic line.
○ Countermelody: secondary melody heard simultaneously against
main melody.
● Rhythm: Movement of Music in Time
■ Propels music forward (notes have length, duration)
■ Beat: basic unit of rhythm. Regular beats
○ Meter: organizes groups of beats (the flow of rhythm)
○ Measures (or bars): contain fixed number of beats
○ Measure (bar) lines: vertical lines in notation, designate measures
● Metrical Patterns
○ Downbeat: first accented beat of each pattern.
○ Basic patterns: duple, triple, quadruple meters
, ○ Simple meters: beats divided into two (ONE-and, two-and; or
ONE-and, two-and)
○ Compound meters: beats divided into three.
■ Sextuple: six beats per measure (compound duple)
○ Upbeat: music begins with weak beats, anticipates downbeat.
○ Polyrhythm: simultaneous conflicting rhythmic patterns.
○ Harmony: simultaneous combination of sounds.
○ Chord: three or more notes are stuck together.
○ Octave: interval spanning eight notes of scale.
○ Triad:
○ Tonic: first note of a scale.
○ Tonality: music organized around the tonic.
○ Major and minor: predominate in Western music
○ Dissonance: discordant combination of notes.
○ Unstable: needs resolution
○ Consonance: concordant, agreeable
○ Drone: single sustained tone
○ Year 900 approx. date harmony introduced in Western music
○ Additive rhythms:
(January 27, 2025)
(January 27, 2025)
(January 29, 2025)
● Musical Texture
○ Monophony
■ Single voice (sung or instrumental)
■ One line of music without accompaniment
○ Homophony
■ Melody (primary focus) with harmonies
■ Traditional and popular styles
, ■ Homorhythmic: all voices move in same rhythm
○ Polyphony (“many-voiced”)
■ Two or more melodic lines combined
■ Based on counterpoint; one line set against another
■ Requires more experienced listening
● Imitation
○ Strict imitation
■ Canon: each voice enter in succession with the same melody
■ Round: perpetual canon (e.g. Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
(January 29, 2025)
● Voice and Worship: Tradition and Individuality in Medieval Chant
○ Pope Gregory the Great (r. 590-604)
■ Codified church music; liturgy
● Liturgy: set order of church services
● Music at core of Christian prayer
■ More than 3,000 Gregorian melodies
● Nearly all composed anonymously
● Belief in divine composition
● Greek, Hebrew, and Syrian influences
○ Plainchant, Gregorian chant
■ Single-line melody; monophonic texture
■ Follows inflections of Latin text; free-flowing, non-metric
■ Avoids wide leaps; gentle contours
■ Text settings: syllabic, pneumatic, melismatic
■ Early chant: oral tradition
■ Early notation: neumes suggest melodic contour
■ Modal: modes lack pull to tonic; predecessors of major and
minor scales
○ Reenactment of Christ’s Last Supper
■ Most solemn ritual of the Catholic Church
■ Mass liturgy:
○ Monasteries and other religious communities
■ Religious seclusion, available to men and women
■ Devoted to prayer, scholarship, preaching, charity, healing
the sick
, ■ Arduous discipline
■ Daily Offices
● A series of services celebrated in religious
communities at various hours of the day.
■ A Song for Worship by Hildegard
● Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
○ Renowned poet and prophet
○ Daughter of a noble German couple
○ Given to the church as a tithe
○ Highly original music style:
■ Resembles Gregorian chant
■ Expressive leaps
■ Melismas: convey meaning of the words
(January 29 and February 3, 2025)
● European polyphony distinctive
○ Romanesque era (c. 850-1150)
○ Gothic era (c. 1150-1450)
○ Organum
■ Earliest polyphony: second voice added to Gregorian melody
■ Polyphonic art blossomed
● Greater independence of voices
○ Lower voice: Gregorian chant, extremely long
notes
○ Upper voice(s): freely composed, moved rapidly
○ Chant no longer recognizable
● Notre Dame composers at forefront
○ Léonin (fl. 1150-c. 1201)
■ First composer of polyphonic music
whose name we know
○ Pérotin (fl. c. 1200)
● Polyphonic music increasingly sought after
○ Required specialized singers
○ Enhanced important feast days
○ Prayer in praise of the Virgin Mary
■ In the style of Pérotin, possibly by him
● Copland, Aaron. What to Listen for in Music. New York, Toronto,
London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1957
● Copland’s three planes of listening- the sensuous plane, the expressive
plane, and the sheerly musical plane.
(January 22, 2025)
● Musical Sound
○ Perceivable and measurable pitch
■ Pitch: determined by frequency (vibrations per sec)
● Depends on length or size of vibrating object
○ E.g. short string, faster vibration, higher
frequency
○ Fingers placed on strings shorten vibrating
length, pitch
○ Melody: tune (succession of single pitches, recognizable whole),
cohesive thought.
○ Range:
○ Phrase: unit within larger structure of melody.
○ Cadence: end of phrase, resting place (conclusive or inconclusive).
○ Rhyme Scheme: ending of text lines usually coincides w/ musical
phrase structure.
○ Climax: high point in a melodic line.
○ Countermelody: secondary melody heard simultaneously against
main melody.
● Rhythm: Movement of Music in Time
■ Propels music forward (notes have length, duration)
■ Beat: basic unit of rhythm. Regular beats
○ Meter: organizes groups of beats (the flow of rhythm)
○ Measures (or bars): contain fixed number of beats
○ Measure (bar) lines: vertical lines in notation, designate measures
● Metrical Patterns
○ Downbeat: first accented beat of each pattern.
○ Basic patterns: duple, triple, quadruple meters
, ○ Simple meters: beats divided into two (ONE-and, two-and; or
ONE-and, two-and)
○ Compound meters: beats divided into three.
■ Sextuple: six beats per measure (compound duple)
○ Upbeat: music begins with weak beats, anticipates downbeat.
○ Polyrhythm: simultaneous conflicting rhythmic patterns.
○ Harmony: simultaneous combination of sounds.
○ Chord: three or more notes are stuck together.
○ Octave: interval spanning eight notes of scale.
○ Triad:
○ Tonic: first note of a scale.
○ Tonality: music organized around the tonic.
○ Major and minor: predominate in Western music
○ Dissonance: discordant combination of notes.
○ Unstable: needs resolution
○ Consonance: concordant, agreeable
○ Drone: single sustained tone
○ Year 900 approx. date harmony introduced in Western music
○ Additive rhythms:
(January 27, 2025)
(January 27, 2025)
(January 29, 2025)
● Musical Texture
○ Monophony
■ Single voice (sung or instrumental)
■ One line of music without accompaniment
○ Homophony
■ Melody (primary focus) with harmonies
■ Traditional and popular styles
, ■ Homorhythmic: all voices move in same rhythm
○ Polyphony (“many-voiced”)
■ Two or more melodic lines combined
■ Based on counterpoint; one line set against another
■ Requires more experienced listening
● Imitation
○ Strict imitation
■ Canon: each voice enter in succession with the same melody
■ Round: perpetual canon (e.g. Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
(January 29, 2025)
● Voice and Worship: Tradition and Individuality in Medieval Chant
○ Pope Gregory the Great (r. 590-604)
■ Codified church music; liturgy
● Liturgy: set order of church services
● Music at core of Christian prayer
■ More than 3,000 Gregorian melodies
● Nearly all composed anonymously
● Belief in divine composition
● Greek, Hebrew, and Syrian influences
○ Plainchant, Gregorian chant
■ Single-line melody; monophonic texture
■ Follows inflections of Latin text; free-flowing, non-metric
■ Avoids wide leaps; gentle contours
■ Text settings: syllabic, pneumatic, melismatic
■ Early chant: oral tradition
■ Early notation: neumes suggest melodic contour
■ Modal: modes lack pull to tonic; predecessors of major and
minor scales
○ Reenactment of Christ’s Last Supper
■ Most solemn ritual of the Catholic Church
■ Mass liturgy:
○ Monasteries and other religious communities
■ Religious seclusion, available to men and women
■ Devoted to prayer, scholarship, preaching, charity, healing
the sick
, ■ Arduous discipline
■ Daily Offices
● A series of services celebrated in religious
communities at various hours of the day.
■ A Song for Worship by Hildegard
● Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
○ Renowned poet and prophet
○ Daughter of a noble German couple
○ Given to the church as a tithe
○ Highly original music style:
■ Resembles Gregorian chant
■ Expressive leaps
■ Melismas: convey meaning of the words
(January 29 and February 3, 2025)
● European polyphony distinctive
○ Romanesque era (c. 850-1150)
○ Gothic era (c. 1150-1450)
○ Organum
■ Earliest polyphony: second voice added to Gregorian melody
■ Polyphonic art blossomed
● Greater independence of voices
○ Lower voice: Gregorian chant, extremely long
notes
○ Upper voice(s): freely composed, moved rapidly
○ Chant no longer recognizable
● Notre Dame composers at forefront
○ Léonin (fl. 1150-c. 1201)
■ First composer of polyphonic music
whose name we know
○ Pérotin (fl. c. 1200)
● Polyphonic music increasingly sought after
○ Required specialized singers
○ Enhanced important feast days
○ Prayer in praise of the Virgin Mary
■ In the style of Pérotin, possibly by him
