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Pop Music 101
I. Properties of Music
A. timbre - color /sound
i.e. sax vs piano
B. intensity - loudness of a sound
C. Pitch - rapid vibration (high
pitch) slower vibration (low pitch)
D. Duration- how long the
sound lasts
II. Elements of Music
A. Instrumentation - both instruments
and voice
B. Performing styles - Bob Dylan
vs Jimmy Hendrix
C. Dynamics - varying intensities
abrupt, gradual, or nonexistent; also inflection of voice
D. Rhythm - any aspect that is
a function of time; duration of notes, rise and fall of melody, layering
or subtracting instruments
E. Melody and harmony - different
but related. Pitches heard in a series is a melody; simultaneously
and a chord, is harmony.
Also chords can be arpeggiated to be melody- as in the “Star Spangled
Banner”
F. Texture - in performance each
voice or instrument is a part. Texture describes the various relationships
among the parts. It
can be melodic texture or rhythmic in relation to the beat
- does it confirm it, contradict, or ignore the beat.
G. Form - is the organization
of music in time. Form in music reveals itself progressively over
the duration of the performance.
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