Download What is music? most basically, music is “organized” sound. Any

History of Western Classical Music
Lecture 1: Elements of Music I
INTRODUCTION: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC I
What is music? most basically, music is “organized” sound. Any sound depends on the type
of vibrations produced (sinus-wave like vibrations are recognized as sound. Other waves
may qualify as noise.)
Function of music in society: Present in all societies, music is a means of individual and
communal expression allied with daily living, celebrations, work, and entertainment.
From these functions we have several types of music (religious versus secular,
art/serious versus popular/traditional music – the distinction of these is not an indicator
of talent or skill: a folk musician may be just as talented as a concert violinist.)
What comprises the “history of music”?
• History is the narration of events as they happened over time.
• You need too learn some dates of composers, the historical period in which they are
generally placed (f.ex. Middle Ages, Renaissance or Romantic) and some of their important compositions (what makes them important? Are they innovators and traditionalists.)
• You must understand and be able to describe in your own words definitions of composition styles and their changes over time. The taste of people changes of over time and
from one place to another. What is good / beautiful / useful music?
 Listening examples from different time periods
In order to be able to talk about and describe the characteristics of the music we just
heard and to define the changes that music went through over time, we need to have a
terminology, a vocabulary of terms that helps us describe the different styles that were
popular at different times and in various regions. Part of this vocabulary we will study in
our first two lectures.
What is style?
Style can be associated with cultures, with time periods, or with the work of a specific
composer. Style comprises the distinctive use of musical elements. Some of these elements are explained below and you need to know them.
• Melody / ies (this is the horizontal element in the fabric of music) are formed by pitches
and rhythm [a pitch is the relative “height” of a sound; pitches are organized in scales,
such as major and minor, in (church) modes, in twelve tone row]. A melody may form
distinctive motifs (short), themes (longer, typical for a movement or piece), and it can be
built from a succession of phrases.
• Harmony (this is the vertical element in the fabric of music) is the simultaneous sounding of different pitches. Harmony can result from a drone (one continuous note sounding below a moving melody), from chords (based on any interval), or triads (chords
based on thirds). There is consonance (intervals or chords that sound “pleasing”) and
dissonance (intervals or chords that form some feeling of friction). Harmony can be
formed by diatonic (tones that belong to a scale) and chromatic tones (“colorful” tones
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History of Western Classical Music
Lecture 1: Elements of Music I
that need an accidental, since they are taken from outside a given scale). Generally, we
feel movement towards a goal; there can be a feeling of resolution, where cadences form
points of relative rest within a piece. Some people describe harmony as giving depth to a
composition - like perspective to a drawing.
• Form: the organization of sections within a piece. Most of the times there is a balance of
repetition and variety, the familiar for recognition (repetition) and the new to satisfy our
curiosity (variation). (For more details see next lecture).
• Texture: there are several types of texture (compare to types of “fabric”)
o Monophony: music that consists mainly of one musical line or melody (heterophony contains only some embellishments). “Doubling” at the octave (singing the same
melody in a different register, like a man’s low voice and a woman’s high voice) is
considered the same melody, NOT a form of harmony.
An example of medieval plain chant.
o
Polyphony: (= “many voices”) the predominant interest is placed on the individual voices and their melodies (the horizontal element). The rules of counterpoint determine what intervals can be used successively, both for horizontal
and vertical aspects.
o
A bar from J.S. Bach's "Fugue No.17 in A flat",
from Das Wohltemperierte Clavier, a famous example of contrapuntal polyphony. 
o Homophony: the predominant interest is placed on harmony, on the vertical element of successive sounds. The rules of harmonic progression determine the successive pitch-groups (groups of notes in each chord) used. These rules changed over
the course of history, for example there is modal harmony (using scales that are
based on the church modes and not based on the functional chords of tonic, subdominant and dominant) and tonal harmony, (based mainly on the use of major and
minor keys and using the functional chords of tonic, subdominant and dominant). 1
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When we refer to the rules of harmonic progression today, we generally assume the rules that apply to the
tonal harmony developed and used throughout the late Baroque, Classical and early Romantic periods.
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History of Western Classical Music
Lecture 1: Elements of Music I
Homophony in "If ye love me," composed by Tallis in 1549. The voices move together
using the same rhythm, and the relationship between them creates chords: the excerpt
begins and ends with a Fa major triad. 
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Melody dominated homophony in Chopin's Nocturne in E Op. 62 No. 2. The left hand
(bass clef) gives chordal support for the melody played by the right hand (treble clef). 
o The horizontal and vertical aspects (melody and harmony) cannot be completely isolated from each other in most music that is not monophonic! However, we can detect a predominant interest that helps determine if the music is
polyphonic or homophonic. For visual examples see supplementary material
“textures”.
The style of a historical period is the total art language of all artists of this period
and the ways they react to the artistic, political, economic, religious and philosophical forces that shape their environment.
Knowing historical styles will help us place a composition in its time and place (the historical
and geographic context in which it was created). Scholars somewhat disagree as to when a
specific time period begins and ends and the transitions are gradual: dates and labels are just
convenient orientation points. The styles outlined below reflect a specific concept regarding
form, genres (pieces written for a specific group of performing instruments, for example
“symphony”) and compositional techniques; its compositions share an ideal of beauty and a
manner of expression and performance that fits the cultural climate of the period.
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All examples taken from the Wikipedia website under the relevant articles
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History of Western Classical Music
Lecture 1: Elements of Music I
You need to memorize the historical periods outlined below in order to have a framework in which you will place the upcoming information.
400-1450:
Middle Ages
400-600:
Early Christian period
600-850:
Early Middle Ages, Gregorian Chant
850-1150:
Romanesque period – early development of polyphony
1150-1450:
Late Middle Ages (Gothic period)
1450-1600:
Renaissance period
1600-1750:
Baroque period
1725-1775:
Rococo period (notice how it overlaps with Baroque and Classical)
1750-1825:
Classical period
1820-1900:
Romantic period
1890-1915:
Post-romantic and Impressionist period (two styles simultaneously)
1900-2000:
Twentieth century (we find here MANY styles simultaneously)
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