MUL 2010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 45: Duple And Quadruple Metre, Whole Tone Scale, Gamelan
14 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
Music is also weird: timbre is muted, melodies appear and disappear, unsolved harmonies, no strong meter. The quality of suggesting rather than stating is basic to an artistic movement called. Debussy"s music was an early manifestation of modernism bc it challenged critics and audiences to understand it. Timbre: very softly played piano; more intimate and inward with ultra smooth lines and soft volume. Idea from a javanese ensemble called the gamelan: percussion ensemble but the gongs were set in motion by the softest touches. Melody: a lot of fragments of melodies; fluid like a sail/veil, altered slightly each time it returns; like a succession of slowly changing images. Dynamics: written in piano (soft) or pianissimo (very soft) ; the keys are not strike but wiping or caressing ; one forte (loud) moment to stand out. Structural important; one point of contrast against unchanging plane of softness. Rhythm: notated in duple meter, but no fixed metrical pattern.
