Phrase Structure and Sectional Form

• Period - When phases come in pairs and relate to each other.

• Antecedent - The first phrase

• Consequent - The second phrase

• Parallel period - When the beginning of the melody is the same in both phrases.

• Contrasting period - When the beginning of the melody in each phrase is different.

• Form - An analysis of phrase structure.

• Song form (aaba) - The most common phrase structure

• Coda (Codetta) - The closing few measures of a composition following the PAC, usually not a part of the main thematic material, but an ending added to give the composition closure.

• Coda sign - Used in compositions that employ a da capo (D.C.) or dal segno (D.S.).

  • These terms are also used to indicate that the performer is to perform the coda portion of the composition after repeating to either the sign (D.S.) or the beginning of the composition (D.C.).

Texture

• Texture - Basic element of music. How much is going on in the music at any given moment.

• Counterpoint - Involves the writing of musical lines that are distinct from each other, but sound harmonious when played together.

  • Focuses primarily on linear interaction.

• Chords - Occur when three or more notes are grouped together as a unit.

• Good counterpoints require two things:

  • Some degree of independence or individuality within the lines themselves.

  • A meaningful or harmonious relationship between the lines

Types of Texture

• Monophonic - Has only one melodic line with no harmony or counterpoint.

• Homophonic - Has one melodic line that draws your attention. The other parts provide accompaniment.

  • Chordal homophony - Every line or voice moving together with exactly the same or nearly the same rhythm.

  • Melody with accompaniment - Clearly has only one melodic line, but the harmony is not limited to chords moving together.

• Ostinato - Short melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic pattern that is repeated throughout an entire composition or some portion of a composition.

• Alberti bass - An accompaniment figure played on a keyboard instrument with the left hand. The chords are played as arpeggios or broken chords.

• Walking bass - A style of bass accompaniment or line that creates a feeling of regular quarter-note movement, similar to the regular alternation of feet while walking.

• Ragtime - An American style of music that was popular at the turn of the 20th century.

• Sequence - The repeated melodic pattern at a different interval.

• Polyphonic (Polyphony, Counterpoint, Contrapuntal) - If more than one independent melody is occurring at the same time.

  • Imitative - If the individual lines are similar in their shapes and sounds.

    • Fugue - A form of composition popular in the Baroque era, in which a theme or subject is introduced by one voice and is imitated by other voices in succession.

  • Nonimitative - If the voice shows little or no resemblance to each other.

  • Countermelody - A secondary melody or line written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent melody.

• Heterophonic - There’s only one melody but different variations of it are being sung or played at the same time.

• Solo - A single performer or a passage that is to be performed by a single performer.

• Soli - A directive to perform an indicated passage of a composition with an entire section of an ensemble.

  • Tutti - All members play.

Instrumentation and Identification of Timbre

• Soprano instruments - Flute, recorder, violin, clarinet, trumpet

• Alto instruments - Alto saxophone, oboe, alto flute, viola, horn

• Tenor instruments - Trombone, clarinet, tenor, saxophone

• Baritone instruments - Basson, English horn, baritone, saxophone, baritone horn, bass clarinet, cello

• Bass instruments - Contrabassoon, bass saxophone, double bass, tuba

Families of Instruments

• String - Plucked or bowed across strings.

• Woodwind - Blowing into a tube with or without a vibrating reed.

• Brass - Vibrating the lips against the tube to create sound.

• Percussion - Struck with a hand or a stick to produce sound.

• Timbre - Determined by how the sound is produced, what the instrument is made of, and the range of an instrument.

• Register - Refers to the division of the range of an instrument or singing voice.

• Tessitura - The general range of a performer usually vocal that is the most comfortable, and presents the best-sounding, most characteristic tone quality.

Transposition

• Transposition - To sound a pitch different from the one written. Also means to sound a pitch different from the one

  • A piece sounds higher or lower once it’s transposed.

Instrumental Transposition

• Instrumental transposition - The process of changing the key of a musical piece to accommodate instruments that sound a pitch different from what is notated.

• Concert pitch - The actual notes as played by piano or sung by the voice.

Most common transposing instruments (we transpose for them according to how they relate to C)

• Bb instruments - Sound a major second below the written concert pitch. Read a C, sound a Bb.

  • Bass clarinet

  • Bb Clarinet

  • Bb Cornet/ Bb trumpet

  • Flugelhorn

  • Soprano saxophone

  • Tenor saxophone

• F instruments - Sound a perfect fifth below concert pitch. Read a C, sound an F.

  • English horn

  • French horn

• Eb instruments - Sound a major sixth below (or a minor third above) concert. Read a C, sound an Eb.

  • Alto clarinet

  • Alto saxophone

  • Baritone saxophone

  • Eb clarinet

• Other instruments are considered non-transposing C instruments, meaning that what they play sounds exactly as written. There are some exceptions:

  • Orchestra bells and piccolo. They sound an octave higher than written.

  • Double bass. Sounds an octave lower than written.

• The process of transposition can be achieved in two ways.

  • You could transpose each and every note individually by interval

  • You can shift the key signature and recognize the relationship of the notes within the tonality.

For the most common transposing instruments:

• If you are looking at a transposed score (when each transposing instrument is in a different key) and you need to identify what pitch an instrument is sounding, then go down the appropriate interval to find concert pitch.

• If you are looking at concert pitch score (where all instruments are in the same key), then go up the appropriate interval to find the correct transposition.