MUAR 211 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Orchestra, String Quartet, Rhythm
MUAR 211
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
MUAR 211 – Notes
Lecture 1 - Jan 8th
1. Some things in the quizzes/exams aren’t in the study guides!
2. Western art music spans from the 9th century to present (2003) → what we’ll be covering.
Piece of Music #1: James’ Brown’s music being played
1. What type of music? →
1. Soul
2. Not Jazz, but related.
3. Other Genres → Blues, RnB, Little funk
2. What are the instruments? → Terminology for this is “ensemble” → meaning “What sound do
you hear.
3. Ensemble are not only instruments but also voices.
4. The music is also “secular”, since it wouldn’t be played in churches
5. 2 types of music in terms of function:
1) Secular → Music meant for entertainment
2) Sacred → music meant for the church
Piece of Music #2: “Gregorian Chant”
1. No beat as it was passed down via speech.
2. This is the oldest written music in the
western world.
Historiography
1. Pertains to how history is written.
2. All history is prejudiced/biased towards certain types of information. History is the evidence
that survives.
3. Thus, this class is a history of “NOTATED” music (in writing).
A Capella —> a type of music that has no instruments but only voices.
*Know the genres of music for Quizzes/Exams.
Piece of Music #3:
1. This type of ensemble is a quartet → 4 voices
+ 4 instruments.
*Specifically, the string quartet (17th century or
later)
2. It’s a specific ensemble → specific
instruments and voices.
Ex: Violin, Violin, Chello, and Violo.
Piece of Music #4: Rock Music (electrified instruments) by Tool
1. Extremely Clear Music → There’s a beat at 2
and 4 (always)
Piece of Music #5: Rock music again by Tool
1. There’s an introductory piece (no beat) and
2. It has a divided beat (aka “metrical”)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
then starts getting a beat.
3. It’s asymmetrical (use a 7, 5, or 3 beat
pattern).
Piece of Music #6:
1.There’s a Bridge → A verse being sang twice and then something we haven’t heard before.
a) After the bridge, we have the same melody again
b) A melody is a recognizable sequence of pitch.
Homophony —> pertains to a melody with a covenant? Meaning there’s an accompaniment.
1. Texture??
2, Ex: 5 different melodies, all played at the same time.
Texture: Monophonic vs. Polyphonic (need to learn how to tell the difference)
1. Monophonic → Everyone singing the same
melody at the same time.
2. There’s parallel octaves, which is when Men’s
voice is a pitch higher.
3. Monophonic is the oldest type of written
music in the west.
4. Polyphonic → More than 1 line of chant
going on at the same time.
*Memorize the basics of music
Ex: Texture: Monophonic, Language: Latin initially (since most spoke Latin, and then became
exclusive for highly educated people), Melody, Rhythm, Harmony, Form, etc.
Time Periods:
1. Medieval → 9th century to 1450
2. Renaissance: After 1450 to 1700s?
*Both of these covered in Quiz 1
Lute → Shown in Image Study Guide #1
Music: Is the richest artifact created be men.
*For the liturgic reading → Know about the “Divide” and the “Mass”
Lecture 1 – Study Guide Notes – Introduction to Basic Concepts:
6 Basic Elements of Musical Styles → Pertains to describing traits of a piece of music.
1. Ensemble
2. Melody
3. Rhythm
4. Harmony/Harmonic Language
5. Form
6. Texture
Ensemble
1. AKA sorig ad orhestratio
2. Essentially, what timbres are heard in the pieces.
a. Timbre → distinct musical sound and/or voices.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture 1 - jan 8th: some things in the quizzes/exams aren"t in the study guides, western art music spans from the 9th century to present (2003) what we"ll be covering. Piece of music #2: gregorian chant : no beat as it was passed down via speech. Historiography: this is the oldest written music in the western world, pertains to how history is written, all history is prejudiced/biased towards certain types of information. History is the evidence that survives: thus, this class is a history of notated music (in writing). A capella > a type of music that has no instruments but only voices. Piece of music #3: this type of ensemble is a quartet 4 voices. *specifically, the string quartet (17th century or later: it"s a specific ensemble specific instruments and voices. Piece of music #4: rock music (electrified instruments) by tool: extremely clear music there"s a beat at 2 and 4 (always)
