MUSIC 15 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Homeaway, Clara Schumann, La Fille Aux Cheveux De Lin
Is music a “universal language?”
● No, it’s culturally dependent
Is it a language?
● Sort of. Like language, it has rules and structure
○ Ex: classical tonal music
■ Scales act as a musical alphabet
● Building blocks of melodies and harmonies
■ Harmonies in tonal music follow rules
■ Drama of tonal music is built on the fundamental tension between the
● I Tonic= “home key” (scale degree 1)
● V Dominant= (scale degree 5)--feels furthest away tonic
○ (Review of Scale Degree Names)
I. Tonic
II. Supertonic
III. Mediant
IV. Subdominant
V. Dominant
VI. Submediant
VII. Leading Tone
● BUT…. unlike language, music isn’t as precise
○ It can say or signify certain things
● How much resemblance does music have to language?
○ A melody is like a sentence
■ Therefore, a musical phrase is like a clause. Demarcated by punctuation
(cadence)
■ E.g. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F Major 1st, mov (1812)
● 3 phrases
● First and third phrases are similar
○ Similar rhythm- rhythmic continuity
■ Repetition of a specific rhythmic unit
○ Similar melodies in 2nd and 3rd phrases
■ Repetition
■ Elaboration
■ Contrast, etc
■ Cadences: punctuation marks at the end of phrases
● First phrase
○ “Question mark” quality
■ Specifically it’s a chord progression from tonic (I) to
dominant (V)
■ Half cadence
● Second phrase
○ Finished quality--punctuation like a period
■ Chord progression from dominant (V) to tonic (I)
■ Full cadence
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Document Summary
Drama of tonal music is built on the fundamental tension between the. V dominant= (scale degree 5)--feels furthest away tonic (review of scale degree names) But . unlike language, music isn"t as precise. Therefore, a musical phrase is like a clause. Similar melodies in 2nd and 3rd phrases. Cadences: punctuation marks at the end of phrases. Specifically it"s a chord progression from tonic (i) to dominant (v) Chord progression from dominant (v) to tonic (i) Debussy"s la fille aux cheveux de lin (1907) Clara wieck schumann"s romance in g minor (1839) Key composers: josef haydn, wolfgang amadeus mozart, and ludwig van beethoven. Human reasoning and naturalism overtook religiosity and the supernatural. Question and answer phrase speaks to the sensibilities of time. Persuasive speakers and orators use rhetorical devices to stir emotions to appeal to logic. Rhetoric --form of speech going back to ancient greeks. His music speaks clarity and a certain persuasion through rhetorical devices.
