Some music fundamentals
Some music fundamentals
To be completely reductionist about it, music consists of tones arranged in time. Melodies are linear sequences of tones. Harmonies are simultaneous groupings of tones. Rhythm is the temporal pattern.
Here are some useful definitions and explanations
of the fundamentals of music:
Most people think of pitch as the quality of highness or lowness of a tone. In general, pitch corresponds to the frequency of sound waves, but the actual perception of pitch is a psychological phenomenon. Most musical tones are a combination of many frequencies, but we hear them as a single pitch (see the Overtones discussion in the physics section for more on this).
A note on pitch:
Strictly speaking, the tones we refer to with the names A, F-sharp,
G-flat, etc. are pitches, while the black dots on a sheet of music
are notes. Notes symbolize pitches (and durations, but that's
another matter). In common usage, however, most of us use the
word "note" to describe both pitches and the symbols
for pitches.
Pronounced "tam-ber" (it's
French; what can I say?). Sometimes defined as "tone color"
Timbre is the quality that makes middle C sound different when
played on a trumpet, oboe, clarinet, flute, organ, guitar, Hammond
B3, and harpsichord. The pitch in each case is the same, but the
timbre is different. Differences in timbre are the result of variations
in the strength and tuning of the various overtones. See the physics
section for more details.
Oo, this one's slippery! If you take
all the notes (argh! I mean pitches) of particular tune, say "Inna
Gadda Da Vida" and arrange them in order from lowest pitch
to highest (or highest to lowest), eliminating repeated pitches,
you end up with a scale. A scale has a definite internal
relational structure, with a "home" pitch called
the tonic. The tonic is the note a melody usually ends on; a melody
that doesn't end on the tonic usually sounds incomplete,
as if it had broken off somewhere in the middle. The tonic of
"Inna Gadda Da Vida" is the second note of the main
melodic pattern (the pattern that gets repeated over and over
and over...); you'll notice that the pattern has an incomplete
feel to it, since it doesn't end on the tonic. If you're
not familiar with that song, try "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little
Star" which both begins and ends on the tonic. There are
many different kinds of scales. Some of the more familiar ones
to us are major (as in "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little
Star"), minor (as in "Greensleeves"
or "Inna Gadda Da Vida"), pentatonic (for
example, all the black keys on a piano), and chromatic (all
the black and white keys). Other scales use other arrangements
of notes, including some that fall between the notes of the chromatic
scale. A key can be thought of as the tonal environment
of a particular melody or scale. If a song is in the key of A
major, it means that the song is based on the major scale beginning
on A. Now, for reasons shrouded in the dim veil of history (or
is that veiled in the dim shroud of history?) the names we give
to the pitches in the Western European music system are based
on the major scale, in particular the C major scale. These names
are the first seven letters of the alphabet, but just to make
things difficult the C major scale starts on C. The notes of that
scale in order are: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. To play the A major
scale, though, you need some notes that fall in between the notes
of the C major scale. These are the sharps and flats. The notes
of the A major scale are: A, B, C-sharp, D, E, F-sharp, and G-sharp. A
really important thing to remember in all of this is that music
is really based on the relative relationship of pitches. You can
sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" starting on
any pitch you feel like (that is, in any key), and it will still
be the same song.
An interval is the relative distance
between two pitches. Intervals are measured in terms of those
dratted C major note names. To figure out what kind of interval
you're looking at, just count the distance in the alphabet
between the two notes, including those notes. For example, the
interval between Middle C and the G above it is a fifth: C(1),
D(2), E(3), F(4), G(5). However, to further complicate things most
intervals occur in different incarnations. C to G is a fifth,
but C to G-sharp is also a fifth, as is C to G-flat. These don't
all sound the same! C to G is a perfect fifth, while C to G-sharp
is an augmented fifth and C to G-flat is a diminished fifth. There
is a list of all the common intervals at the end of this section,
including handy tunes you can sing for examples of them. You may
have noticed that there are only seven letters for naming the
notes, but there are many more notes than that in music. The note
names are like a modulus arithmetic, repeating themselves over
a special interval called an octave (i.e. an eighth). Pitches an
octave apart have a quality of "sameness" to them,
and hence they have the same name. You can demonstrate this with
an experiment: sing a song with someone of the opposite sex. If
you are female, start fairly high in your range; if you are male,
start low. When you and your partner sing the song together, you
are singing in different octaves (usually one or two octaves apart,
depending on your voice ranges). Here's a list of some common
intervals with demonstration songs. The words in capital letters
indicate the notes of the song with the desired interval. I've
intentionally picked dumb, familiar songs. I have also only chosen
ascending intervals. Descending intervals sound the same, but
backwards.
| [perfect] unison | This just means two of the same note. |
| minor 2nd | Sing the "Jaws" theme! Here are the words: DAA-DUMP, DAA-DUMP, DAA-DUMP... |
| major 2nd | FRE-RE Jacques... [or, ARE YOU sleeping...] |
| minor 3rd | I AM Iron Man... [or, for non-metalheads, WHAT CHILD is this...] |
| major 3rd | On TOP OF Old Smokey... |
| perfect 4th | HERE COMES the bride... |
| augmented 4th
& diminished 5th | MA-RI-a, I just met a girl named Maria... |
| perfect 5th | TWINKLE, TWINKLE, little star... |
| minor 6th | "Love Story" theme: WHERE DO I BEGIN.... |
| major 6th | MY BON-nie lies over the ocean... |
Handy music tip:
For fun and amusement, try turning your intervals
upside-down! This process is called inversion. What
happens to an inverted interval?
Chords are groups of three or more notes played
or sung simultaneously. Each different kind of chord has a distinctive
sound, but this is the point where words fail to communicate the
necessary information. The notes of a chord can be played all
at once or played one at a time (a style called arpeggio in
the manner of the harp. Every chord is built on a pitch
called the root. The particular sound of a chord depends on the
intervals between the root and the other notes of the chord. Chords
are named by the root and the sound quality, with romantic names
like C major, F minor, or B-flat diminished seventh.
Triads
The simplest kind of chord is called a triad. It consists of three notes. The sound of a triad differs depending on the intervals between the notes. The most common triads have the names major, minor, augmented, and diminished. Each one sounds different, but, again, you really have to hear them. Find a musician and ask for a demonstration.
Other chords
Other, more complex chords are built from four
or more notes. It's not uncommon for jazz chords to use
as many as six or even more notes.
Rhythm is
the placement of sounds in time. In most music this placement
is not random; it occurs in patterns. Usually these patterns are
periodic; that is, they repeat.The rhythm of a piece of music
can be broken down into beats or pulses. Think for a moment about
the Bee Gees' masterpiece, Stayin' Alive.
In the background of that song you can hear pulses of rhythm:
the drums go thump-chukka thump-chukka thump-chukka thump, etc.,
until you get really, really tired of it. Every time the 'thump'
comes around, you're at the beginning of another repeating
group of beats.
Now, it happens that the repeating pattern of beats exists on a psychological level, even if the drums or other instruments don't happen to play on each one. The repeating pattern of beats is called meter. The meter can be a grouping of almost any number of beats, although most people's brains don't handle numbers past 13 or so.
Beats can also be subdivided into almost any number of sub-beats, but again the perceptive abilities of the ear and brain put a limit on this. The repeating patterns of beats are called measures. Meters are differentiated by the number of beats in each measure, as well as the way the beats are subdivided. Here are some examples:
| Two or four beats per measure, subdivided into groups of two | This is the typical meter of most of the music you hear on teenybopper radio. It's also the meter of marches, polkas, the Hustle, and many others. The 'Beer Barrel Polka' is a fine example. If you don't like that one, Stairway to Heaven is another. |
| Two beats per measure, subdivided into groups of three | This is the meter of the 'Mickey Mouse Club March.' (You know: Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me) |
| Three beats per measure, subdivided into groups of two | This is waltz rhythm, also useful for such dances as the mazurka and hambo. The Blue Danube waltz is a good example. |
Other meters are more unusual in our bland
American society. Here are a few examples:
| Three beats, subdivided into three | Morning Has Broken (Cat Stephens) |
| Two subdivided into three, alternating with three subdivided into two; this Latin beat is called Nañigo. | America (Sondheim/Bernstein - you know: I like to be in A-me-ri-ca...) |
| Five | Take Five (Dave Brubeck) |
| Seven | Money (Pink Floyd; doesn't stay in seven all the way through), Unsquare Dance (Dave Brubeck) |
| Eleven | Hmm. Well, this one's common if you listen to Bulgarian music. It's the beat of a dance called a Kopanitsa. |
Note: The shorthand way of naming meters, with names like 3/4, 4/4, 7/8, etc. is based on the music notation system, which I'm not going to go into here.
Copyright Pacific Science Center 1996
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