Music

• Baroque period


  Period of music from 1600-1750
• Oratorio


  A non-theatrical form which is sacred telling stories from the bible in the same way as opera except without acting, costume or scenery
• Opera


  A large-scale, multi-movement genre that includes songs for soloists (arias), speech-like singing (recitative), songs for small groups (ensembles), and movements for the entire chorus (choruses)
• Opera and oratorio emerged as genres in the 17th century
• Programme music


  Telling a story through music
• 12 bar blues


  A chord sequence of I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-I
• Blues lyrics


  AAB structure
• Rhythmic features of blues music

  • Syncopation and swung rhythms
• Origins of the blues traced back to the 1600s when European settlers in the USA needed cheap labour for crops
• Africans were kidnapped and sold as slaves in the Southern states of the USA
• Slave owners tried to prevent slaves from singing and playing their own African music, but failed
• Blues started as simple work songs to distract slaves from their harsh working conditions
• Slave converts to Christianity combined European settlers' hymn tunes with African music to create spirituals
• Spirituals, Christian songs created by African Americans, were a blend of African call-and-response songs and Christian missionary hymns
• Which notes are flattened in a blues scale?

  the 3rd, 5th, and 7th degrees
• Blues scale:

  
• Baroque period


  Period of music from 1600-1750
• Concerto


  A piece for orchestra with a featured solo instrument (or, in the case of concerto grosso, a featured group of soloists)
• Pitch/Melody


  How high or low the notes are, and the shape of how they move (by step or by leap, ascending or descending)
• Ground bass


  A structure with a recurring part in the bass (like the composition topic you did on the computers)
• Rhythm


  The length of the notes (long, short, dotted)
• Polyphonic


  A texture of two or more independent parts playing simultaneously
• Harpsichord


  Main keyboard instrument of the Baroque; the strings are sounded by being plucked by quills
• Trill


  The rapid alternation of two adjacent notes
• Sequence


  A passage of music that is repeated at a higher or lower pitch
• Monophonic


  One line
• Polyphonic


  2 or more independent parts
• Oratorio


  A non-theatrical form which is sacred telling stories from the bible in the same way as opera except without acting, costume or scenery
• Structure


  The different sections of music and how they relate to each other (AB, ABA, ABACAD)
• Opera and oratorio emerged as genres in the 17th century
• They are both large-scale, multi-movement genres that include songs for soloists (arias), speech-like singing (recitative), songs for small groups (ensembles), and movements for the entire chorus (choruses)
• Tonality


  Is the music major or minor?
• Canon


  A melody played by different instruments starting at different times (like the composition topic you did on the computers)
• Programme music


  Telling a story through music
• Elements of Music


  • Pitch/Melody
  • Rhythm
  • Tempo
  • Time signature
  • Dynamics
  • Texture
  • Structure
  • Tonality
• Pitch/Melody


  How high or low the notes are, and the shape of how they move (by step or by leap, ascending or descending)
• Rhythm


  The length of the notes (long, short, dotted)
• Tempo


  How fast or slow is the music?
• Time signature


  How many beats there are in a bar?
• Dynamics


  How loud or quiet is the music?