Expressive Techniques

Expressive Techniques refers to the way a performer uses effects and particular techniques to create an individual interpretation of a piece of music. Expressive techniques are dependant on the sound source, certain instruments favour specific ways of creating expression e.g. Fretless string players are able to slide between notes sounding all the incremental changes but cannot use the wind technique of breath vibrato. Conversely there are many expressive techniques that are used by the majority of instruments, producing a variety of effects. For the purposes of the Music 1 course it is beneficial to know the most common techniques used.

• Accent is a dynamic emphasis on a note to make it stronger thereby stressing its importance.

• Glissando is the technique of rapidly sliding through a scale pattern. The effect varies markedly between different instruments due to the restraints of exact pitch divisions and the variety of production methods.

• Legato is the method of playing smoothly, in a well connected graceful style. It produces a feeling of fluidity in the music and incorporates the use of slurs, where notes are merged together relying on the first note’s punctuation.

• Staccato is the universal technique of playing the notes shorter than their written value, with the effect that they are detached from each other.

• Tremolo is a technique of rapid amplitude variation. The same note is repetitively sounded over and over thereby increasing and decreasing the volume.

• Vibrato is the technique of repetitively altering the pitch with small vibrational shifts up and down around a note. This is achieved by string bending or altering the flow of breath. Vibrato suits strings, brass and woodwinds but is impossible to play on percussive instruments including the piano.

Expressive techniques can help, with the aid of the other concepts, articulate stylistic features of the composition.

When you are asked a question concerning the concept of expressive techniques use the following points to focus your discussion.

• Listen for how the expressive techniques match musical styles.

Look for the following amongst groups of instruments:

• Brass – Use of mutes, vibrato, squells, changes in tempo

• Electronic – Use of distortion, sharpness of articulation, length of decay, chorus and flange effects

• Percussion – rolls, accents, different sounds created on a particular drum e.g. rim shots

• Strings – Played with bow or plucked, double stopping, strumming or fingerstyle, slaps on the soundboard, slides and glisses, hammers and pull offs, vibrato and tremolo

• Voice – Vocal effects e.g. inbreath singing, vibrato, glottal stops, yelping, falsetto, speaking.

• Woodwind – Legato, slurring, tongued, flutter tonguing, overblowing, vibrato, squells and clicks.

The Concept of Texture

Texture refers to the layers of sounds or the way tone colours are combined in music. Texture varies from thin to thick. Thin texture is evident when there are few sounds that are predominantly high in pitch, or when the musical ideas are fairly linear. This happens when many instruments play a melody together. The texture thickens as the overall sound spectrum and sound activity increase. Therefore music that uses many instruments and includes a layering of melodic and harmonic lines is at the thicker end of the textural continuum.

Some common textural practices involve unison playing, doubling separated by octaves, imitation of melodic ideas by different instruments, the use of question and answer phrases.

There are some basic terms of reference associated with the relationship of the layers within the texture.

• Monophonic texture refers to a piece of music that has a single melody played alone, or in unison, or music that has a single layer of activity.

• Homophonic texture possesses a melody that is supported by a harmonic accompaniment. This is the basic texture of most popular music.

• Polyphonic texture occurs when more than one melody is predominant. The independence of the musical lines is a feature of this texture.

• Heterophonic texture is the presence of many instruments playing embellishments or ornamentations of the same tune. Irish music is a good example of this type of texture.

• Musical lines can move in a similar or contrary motion which is a feature of pitch but also affects the texture of the music.

When you are asked a question concerning the concept of texture use the following points to focus your discussion.

• What is the overall density of the texture throughout the piece. Does it change and when? Are there definable stages of thin and thick texture?

• Describe the layers of sound and their roles – A description of where each tone colour and its resulting pitches falls within the pitch spectrum e.g. high, middle or low, and its function e.g. bass line, harmony, melody.

• What is the musical density and describe any changes to this density over the course of the musical piece.

• What are the roles of each instrument, including the voice, in the overall composition?

• Discuss the movement of each line of music by describing its relationship with other lines e.g. similar, contrary, canon, question and answer, imitation.

You can choose to use the structure of the piece to provide a concise way of describing changes of texture over the course of the piece. In each discuss the number of bars in each section, how many instruments are playing each layer, how many layers are present, what is the type of texture for this part of the piece.