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Playing with the Elements of Music PLAYING WITH THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC A GUIDE TO MUSIC THEORY by JEAN NANDI BON GOUT PUBLISHING CO. 2140 Shattuck Ave., Suite 2453 Berkeley, CA 94704 Copyright © 1989 by Bon Gout Publishing Company, Berkeley, California All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 88-092717 ISBN 0-9622023-1-2 CONI'ENTS I iii CONTENTS IN1RODUCfiON . vi IMPORTANT INSTRUCfiONS TO THE BEGINNER . vn I RHYTHM AND METER . 1 Definitions . 1 How Measured Music is Written . 1 Tempo...................................... 3 Additional Note Values . 3 Rests . 4 Ties . 5 Dotted Notes . 6 Triplets . 6 Other Simple Time Signatures . • . • . 7 Characteristics of Meters . 7 Compound Time . 8 Syncopation and Hemiola . 8 II INTERVALS . 10 Definition of Intervals . 10 Intervals on the Musical Staff . 12 Larger Intervals . 12 Staff Notation of Larger Intervals . 15 Complementary Intervals . 17 Slonimsky's Interval Hand . 19 Augmented and Diminished Intervals . 20 Listening to Intervals . 22 iv I PLAYING WITH THE ELEMENTS III SCALES . 23 Five-Finger Patterns . 23 Major Scales . 27 The Circle of Fifths . 30 Key Signatures . 33 Fingering of Major Scales . 36 Minor Scales . 37 Fingering of Minor Scales . 42 Other Forms of the Minor Scale . 43 Modal Scales . 45 Other Scales . 47 IV TRIADS . 50 Definitions . , . , . 50 Triads on the Scale Degrees . 51 Triad Positions . 55 Triad Inversions . 56 Use of Figures to Indicate Inversions . 61 V CADENCES . 64 Types of Cadences . 64 Playing Cadential Patterns . 74 Pedal Points . 7 4 VI SEVENTH AND OTHER CHORDS . 77 Dominant Seventh Chords . 77 Some Other Seventh Chords . 79 Diminished Seventh Chords . 80 Positions and Inversions of Seventh Chords . 81 Short Forms of Figures . 83 Other Chords . 83 CONI'ENTS I v VII TONICIZA TION AND MODULATION . 85 Establishing the Key of a Piece of Music . 85 Tonicization . 85 Modulation . 87 Returning to the Home Key . 91 The Performer's Need to Follow the Key Sequence . 91 VIII PHRASE STRUCTURE . 94 The Elements of a Phrase . • . 94 Melodic Characteristics of Phrases . 94 Harmonic Characteristics of Phrases . 95 Other Aspects of Phrase Structure . 104 Thoughts on Phrasing for the Performer . 106 IX MUSICAL ANALYSIS . 108 X TRANSPOSITION . 112 XI CHORD PROGRESSIONS AND IMPROVISATION ............. 118 LIST OF FIGURES . 136 LIST OF COMPOSERS . • . 139 ACKNO~DGMENTS ...........•...........•••........• 1~ INDEX 141 vi I PLAYING WITH THE ELEMENTS INTRODUCTION The present volume is intended as a supplement to STARTING ON THE HARPSICHORD, the method for musical beginners who have chosen the harpsichord as their first instrument. The material in PLAYING WITH THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC is intended primarily for reading and reference. It is an extension and elaboration of basic theory presented in the beginner's method. Some exercises and musical examples are included, designed to clarify the material presented and to increase the student's skill at handling the material. The first chapter in the present volume covers briefly and summarily the essential facts about rhythm and meter needed to be able to read music and make it rhythmically intelligible. This material has already been covered in detail in STARTING ON THE HARPSICHORD, and the entire chapter can be skipped by any student who has covered this groundwork elsewhere. Its inclusion herein is primarily for those readers who come from a different background, and may also be useful for review. Those students who are already well grounded in the elements of music can skip this volume, and go on to the second supplementary volume for the beginning harpsichordist. The second Supplement, called SKILL AND STYLE ON THE HARPSICHORD, discusses the special information specifically required for the development of appropriate performance skills on the harpsichord. Topics considered therein include Baroque musical forms, ornamentation, rhythm and articulation as it applies to the harpsichord, the composition of a bass line and rudiments of figured bass realization. Explanations of harpsichord registrations and of keyboard temperaments are also included. Although we commonly speak of the material covered herein as "Music Theory", in reality it represents the musical practice of 17th and especially 18th century players and composers. Naturally, this practice is of particular value to the understanding of music for the harpsichord. My intent, as a teacher, is to enable the student to study in greater depth the terms which come up in lessons, as well as to expand in a meaningful way the ideas and concepts presented only briefly in a practical method. I consider it of the utmost importance that studies of music theory be completely integrated with the study of repertoire. All too often, theory lessons are conceived and carried out as something separate from keyboard practice and musical performance. For this reason, I encourage the student to use sections of this supplement only to delve further into questions stimulated by his or her musical imagination. Because 18th century musical practice is fundamental to so much of Western "classical" music, students of other instruments or the voice may find PLAYING WITH THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC a useful reference presented in elementary form. It is hoped that this volume will guide any musical beginner--whether performer, composer, or listener--toward an understanding of some of the more important elements which go into creating music. Jean Nandi Berkeley, California 1989 INSTRUCTIONS I vii IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BEGINNER Many of the musical examples in this book will appear somewhat formidable, inasmuch as they are taken directly from the harpsichord literature without simplification. The purpose of ihis is to allow you to see the various musical elements under discussion as they actually occur in pieces of music you will encounter. Do not struggle with trying to play these pieces! Try to pick out the notes and combinations of notes or other elements referred to in the text. Try to find other examples in your own music, once you know what to look for on the page. Then, by all means have a friend or teacher play the excerpts in the examples, and do your best to connect the sounds with the appearance on the page! Also, you can slowly play the critical elements yourself, repeating again and again the sound of a particular cadence or chord. Do you have pieces in your own repertoire that contain similar sounds and arrangements of notes? Used in this manner, the many examples contained herein will form a useful library of musical elements. Compare and contrast these with music encountered in your own studies and recreation and enjoy the results of your increased understanding! PLAYING WITH THE ELEMENTS STAFF with TREBLE CLEF STAFF with three C's and TREBLE G --the first G (Middle C at the bottom) (a FIFTH) ABOVE Middle C showing LEDGER LINES STAFF with BASS CLEF -a- STAFF with three C's and BASS F -- the first F !J (Middle C at the top) (a FIFTH) BELOW Middle C " -a- showing LEDGER LINES REMEMBER THAT--- a SHARP(#) RAISES the note a HALF STEP. ~ a FLAT ( ~) LOWERS the note a HALF STEP. a NATURAL SIGN ( q) CANCELS a preceding sharp or flat. F# p GRAND STAFF with all the notes: _l - -• I .... I I (MIDDLE) I --·* FGAscnEFGABCCDEFGABCDEFG FIGURE I. Review of Pitch Placement of Notes on the Staff DEFINITIONS I 1 RHYTHM AND METER DEFINITIONS Without RHYTHM, music would be pretty uninteresting. In fact, RHYTHM is probably the most fundamental musical element. RHYTHM refers to the occurrence of musical sounds in time. Measured against passing time, some musical events are rapid, some slow. Fast and slow events may be grouped together in various patterns, and there may or may not be spaces or silences between these events. Regardless of how organized or disorganized the perceived patterns of music may be, these perceived patterns comprise the rhythm of the music. Often, in music, sounds are organized in more or less regular patterns. Such regular patterns, with recurring groups of musical elements or events, are referred to as METERS. Music which is characterized by one or more METERS is referred to as METRICAL MUSIC. When music is metrical, it is heard as groupings of pulsations which can be measured against time. Such pulsations are called BEATS. When we describe the METER of a piece of music, we describe it in terms of its BEATS. When you listen to music, do you tap your feet or nod your head, or possibly swln.g your arms and body as the pulsations of the music stimulate you? What you feel, as you do this, are the beats in the music. Notice that some of the beats feel stronger than others. If you try counting beats, you will find that they are grouped in twos or threes (and sometimes more complicated arrangements). As you count and feel the stronger beats recurring, you are defining the meter of the music. The first beat in each group is very often the strongest of all. Can you hear it in the music you are listening to? This beat is called the DOWNBEAT. When a conductor indicates the very first strong beat in each group, he or she brings the BATON (the small stick a conductor often uses to guide an orchestra) down for the downbeat. The downbeat plus the remaining weaker and stronger beats within each recurring group is called a MEASURE. Sometimes METRICAL MUSIC is also called MEASURED MUSIC. In measured music the groups of beats recur in a regular fashion. HOW MEASURED MUSIC IS WRITTEN In order to help us visualize the grouping of beats, a vertical line is placed just before each downbeat in the written music. By convention, however, such a vertical line is not used at the very beginning of a piece. At the very end of a piece, two lines are written together, forming a double line to indicate that this is the end (see Figure 2, page 3).
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