VPMA93H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Star Trek Beyond, Harold Arlen, Thomas Weelkes
VPMA93 Lecture Notes
Lecture 3: Melody, Tonality and Harmony
Ginny Chan
Melody
A succession of pitches that form a distinctive, coherent musical unit
There are 4 Aspects of Melody:
1. Range – narrow, medium, wide (depending on the type of instrument and type of voice; consider
each instrument and what its capabilities are)
→ Different types of music have different ranges
→ Pop and folk tunes have very narrow ranges and repeated pitches; classical music sung by soprano
singers have wide ranges
ie: the National Anthem has a narrow range so everyone can be expected to join in (large groups of
people can join in); very small range, lots of repetition
2. Contour – level, undulating, ascending, descending, arch-shaped
→ Ups and downs in music
3. Motion – conjunct, disjunct
→ Right together or leaps apart
4. Ornamentation – unornamented, highly ornamented
ie: Anon
- Religious piece of music; one, repeated narrow pitch
ie: Star Trek Beyond soundtrack (1990)
- Loud, rock piece; single pitch followed by up and down
movement in pitches that are close in proximity to the original, interest in delivery and rhythm rather
than differentiation of range and pitch
ie: Anon., Gaude virgo salutata (c. 1360)
- Classical, opera piece; narrow range (5 different pitches)
ie: Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg, “Over the Rainbow” (1939)
- Wide range, melodic piece of interest
ie: François Couperin, Les Baricades Mistérieuses (1716-17)
- Répétition, leap up and down from
different pitches, narrow range
Word-painting
The musical illustration of the meaning of a word or a short phrase of text
ie: Setting the word ‘rising’ to a rising melodic line or the word ‘falling’ to a falling melodic
line)
Madrigal*
The main secular vocal genre of the 16th century
→ Vehicle of experimentation to sound out melodies
Thomas Weelkes, “As Vesta was from Latmos Hill Descending” from The Triumphs of Oriana (1601)
Oriana = A legendary British princess; used as a poetic designation for Queen Elizabeth I
As Vesta
(goddess)
was from Latmos hill descending,
she spied a maiden Queen
(Queen Elizabeth I)
the same ascending,
Attended on by all the shepherds' swain,
to whom Diana's
(goddess of Hunt)
darlings
(nymphs and shepherds)
came running down amain,
VPMA93 Lecture Notes
Lecture 3: Melody, Tonality and Harmony
Ginny Chan
First two by two, then three by three together,
Leaving their goddess all alone hasted thither;
And mingling with the shepherds of her train,
with mirthful tunes her presence entertain.
Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana,
Long live fair Oriana!
She’s So High by Tal Bachman
- pitch jumps “high” when the singer reaches the chorus; “high”
→ analyze text/lyrics of the piece and how it follows the range/pitch of the chosen piece
Program Music
A piece of instrumental music that seeks to recreate in sound the events and emotions portrayed in
some extra-musical source
→ single word suggests the type of music that will be heard (ie: “dreaming”, “cloud”; suggests the
picture or drawing that will express the melodic line)
Phrase
A self-contained portion of a melody
→ “taking a breath” is the end of one phrase and start of another
ie: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Antecedent, Consequent
Two musical phrases, the second of which is a concluding response to or resolution of the first
ie: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, First movement by Mozart
Motive
A short fragment of melody or rhythm used in constructing a long section of music
ie: Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, First movement (1808)
ie: François Couperin, Les Baricades Mistérieuses (1716-17)
Tonality
What makes a piece of music have breaks? What makes it sound finished? What are the building blocks
that are used to build a piece of music?
Pitch
The relative position (high or low) of a musical sound, depending on its frequency (rate of
vibration); the faster the vibrations, the higher the pitch
→ Melodies generally focus on ONE pitch that is more important than all the other ones
→ “Home” pitch that every melody goes back to
Staff
A group of five equidistant horizontal lines on which notes are placed in such a way as to indicate
pitch; successive notes written on lines and spaces from lowest to highest represent rising pitch
→ Treble clef and bass clef
