AoS: Harmony and Tonality

AoS 2: Harmony and Tonality

Harmony:

Harmony occurs when two notes of different pitch are sounded together. When we think of harmony we usually mean the notes that accompany a melody. Harmony has the power to make a melody richer and more emotional.

There are many different types of harmony and harmonic devices. You will need to learn the following terms and be able to recognise them, or comment on their use in short musical extracts:

Tick below when you are happy with your understanding of these key words:
Diatonic, chromatic
Consonant, dissonant
Pedal, drone
Cadences: perfect, plagal, imperfect, interrupted, tierce de Picardie
Major, minor and dominant seventh chords using Roman Numerals or chord symbols.

Diatonic and Chromatic:

Diatonic harmony uses only notes that belong to the scale or key that the music is written in. For example a piece of music is in the key of C major, it will mainly use the notes of the Cmajor scale, ie: no sharps of flats.

Diatonic harmony will only use notes from the same scale. Chromatic harmony uses other notes as well. For example, in the key of C major any sharps or flats (the black notes on the keyboard) which are used in the harmony do not belong to the key of C major. They are chromatic notes. Chromatic means colour and these notes are used to add colour to the harmony, helping to enhance the emotional effect of the music.

Consonant and Dissonant:

When you listen to a piece of music you might think the harmony sounds nice or you might think it sounds clashy and horrible. The first nice sounding harmony is called Consonant and the second horrible type is called Dissonant.

Dissonant harmony is often used to create suspension or tension in a composition.

Pedal and Drone:

A pedal note is held on (sustained) or repeated while the harmonies change. It can be “doubled” adding the same note an octave higher or lower. The harmonies above the pedal note must change otherwise it’s not a pedal note. Pedal notes are usually in the bass part but sometimes they are higher than the melody and this is called an inverted pedal.

A drone is played n the bass. It can be just one note, like a pedal, but often has two notes played at the same time – like the drone played on a bagpipe. The two notes are usually a fifth apart, for example C and G, played in the bass, below the melody. They may be sustained or repeated. Drone are often used to accompany melodies in folk music or medieval music, particularly dance music.

Degrees of the scale:

Notes can be identified by letter names (A,B,C etc) but when they form a scale they can be identified by Roman numerals (I,II,III etc) or be special names which indicate the degree of the scale: tonic, supertonic, mediant etc See the example below for the C major scale.

The Roman numerals and names for the degrees of the scale can be used for any scale.

Cadences:

A cadence is formed by the two chords that come at the end of a musical phrase. Cadences are a kind of “musical punctuation”, like full stops or commas. There are four main kinds of cadence:

Perfect Cadence

This is made up of two chords: the dominant (chord V), which is the chord built on the fifth note of the scale. A perfect cadence is like a full stop. It gives the music a sense of completion.

Plagal Cadence

This has the subdominant chord (chord IV) followed by the tonic (chord I). It is another example of a ‘full stop’, but it is not as strong as a perfect cadence. It is sometimes called the Amen cadence as it is used to harmonise the Amen at the end of hymns.

Imperfect Cadence

This has the opposite effect. It acts as a musical comma: the music must move on after it. An imperfect cadence is made up of any chord but typically chord I, II or IV – followed by the dominant chord V.

Interrupted Cadence

This is sometimes called the ‘surprise cadence’. It is quite easy to recognise. It starts with chord V but instead of being followed by the expected tonic chord (I), it goes to the submediant chord (VI). It is another example of a musical comma; the music must move on to finish.

A chord has two or more notes of different pitch sounded together. The most common type of chord has three different notes. It is called a triad. Triads can be built on any note in a scale. The lowest note is the one that gives the chord its name; it’s called a root. Above it we add notes a 3^rd and a 5^th above the root. It is important to count the root as number 1 when working out the notes above it. We can also add in a fourth note to a triad by doubling up a note from the triad an octave higher or lower.

Chords can be named by the letter name of their root note or from their position in a scale by using Roman numerals:

Triads can be major or minor. The difference is that the middle note (the 3^rd) is a semitone lower in a minor chord than a major. In a major scale, the major chords are I, IV and V. The others are minor chords, except chord VII. This is an example of a diminished chord, which you won’t need to recognise for GCSE.

In Cmajor they are:

Major Chords Minor Chords

I = C II = Dm

IV = F III = Em

V = G VI = Am

Work out what they are in G major:

Major Chords Minor Chords

Dominant seventh chords:

To create a Dominant seventh chord we add an extra note to the triad of the dominant chord. The new note is seven notes above the root. The example below is in C major and shows chord V and V7. It’s called the Dominant seventh chord because we add a seventh to the dominant chord. It can be used as an alternative to the dominant chord.

AoS 2: Harmony and Tonality

Tonality:

Tonality means that the music belongs to a key: it is built mainly from notes of a particular scale. The strongest note in any scale is the tonic (the note the scale starts and ends on). This has the effect on the other note in the scale; in tonal music there is always the feeling that the music needs to end on the tonic. This also applies to the harmony, since chords are built on notes of the scale. Chord I is the tonic chord.

Tick below when you are happy with your understanding of these key words:
Major, minor and modal tonalities
Identification of keys up to 4 sharps and flats
Modulation to the dominant in major or minor keys or to the relative major or minor.

Major and Minor Scales:

Scales are made up of tones and semitones. In a major scale the semitones always occur between the 3^rd and the 4^th and the 7^th and 8^th notes of a scale.

Look at the keyboard below – notice that there are black notes between all the white notes except E and F, and B and C which are a semitone apart.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

In a minor scale the most important difference is that the 3^rd note is lowered by a semitone.

Key Signatures and minor keys:

Because a major scale must have semitones between the 3^rd and 4^th and 7^th and 8^th notes of the scale, Cmajor is the only major scale which can be played only using the white notes of a keyboard. If we start a major scale on any other note we will have to use the black notes – sharps # and flats b to make the semitones occur in the right place. In notation instead of writing sharps or flats each time they occur, they are written at the beginning of each stave, after the clef. This is called a key signature.

Minor keys also have different key signatures, depending on their starting note. For each major key there is a minor key that shares the same key signature. In this case the minor key is called the relative minor. Relative minors are always a 3^rd lower than their relative major key. In a minor scale the 7^th note (leading note) is often raised by a semitone, but that is not part of the key signature.

The scale for C Major is shown below along with the scale for it’s relative minor A minor.

You will need to learn the key signatures up to four sharps and flats.

Modes:

Modes are ancient scales and are very distinctive. Each mode has a different structure of tones and semitones, unlike major and minor scales although they sound like a mixture of the two.

Unlike major and minor scales, where there is a semitone between the 7^th and 8^th notes of the scale, most modes have a tone between the 7^th and 8^th notes. This gives the music a distinctive sound.

Modulation:

Modulation is when the music changes key. In the examination you may have to recognise modulations from the tonic key. These will be either to the dominant (the key a 5^th above the dominant) or to the relative major or minor.

AoS 1: Rhythm and Metre

AoS 1: Rhythm and Metre

A metre is a regular pattern of beats indicated by a time signature. A rhythm is the way different lengths of sound are combined to produce patterns in time.

You will need to learn the following terms and be able to recognise them, or comment on their use in short musical extracts:

Tick below when you are happy with your understanding of these key words:
Pulse
Simple and compound time
Regular, irregular and free rhythms
Augmentation, diminution, hemiola, cross rhythm
Dotted rhythms, triplets, syncopation
Tempo, rubato
Polyrhythm, bi-rhythm
Drum fills

Pulse and Time Signatures:

The pulse is the beat of the music and is what makes us tap our feet or nod our heads when we listen to music. The music will have rhythms which are made up of different lengths of notes, the pulse will be steady.

There are two types of time signatures: simple and compound.

A time signature tells us how many beats and what type of beats are in each bar. In simple time each beat is divided into two equal parts.

Some Simple time signatures:

2 3 4

4 4 4

Some Compound time signatures:

6 9 12

8 8 8

Compound Time signatures use dotted rhythms. This is where a dot is added after a note. The dot tells us to add on half of the value of the note it is next to. If the dot is next to a crotchet that dotted crotchet is now worth 1 and ½ crotchets.

Regular and Irregular Rhythms:

Most Western music has a regular rhythm, which means it is made up of regular groups of bars of pulses. This is the metre of the music.

Regular rhythms occur in duple time which is 2 beats to a bar e.g. 2/4, 6/8, Triple time which is 3 beats to a bar e.g. 3/4, 9/8 and Quadruple time which is 4 beats to a bar e.g 4/4, 12/8.

To work out the time signature and metre of a piece of music you must listen out for the first beat of each bar, this beat has a strong accent.

Irregular rhythms are those that don’t fit in to the normal duple, triple or quadruple times. They often have irregular time signatures such as 5/4, 5/8, 7/4, 7/8, where each bar is made up of combinations of two and three beat note patterns.

Free Rhythms:

Music that is in free rhythm time has no definite metre or pulse. In this kind of music you will not be able to detect a regular or irregular pattern of beats. Accents may come in different places, giving the impression that the time signature changes every bar.

Augmentation:

This is where a melody or series of notes is repeated using notes of a longer duration.

Diminution:

This is the opposite to Augmentation, the note lengths of the original melody is shortened when it is played again.

Hemiola:

This rhythm has a three against two feel.

Look at the example below the hemiola is in the last 2 bars and because of the tie going over the bar line it gives the impression of 3 minim beats in two bars of 3/4 time. They are found in all types of music, but were often used in dance music during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Cross Rhythm:

This is when two different rhythms are played together at the same time. Usually the rhythms contrast in some way, for instance a rhythm with a triple metre feel against a rhythm with a duple or quadruple feel.

For example: 2/4 against 3/4.

Syncopation:

This is when a composer changes the usual stress of the beats in a bar. It’s also called playing on the off beat and can create an uneasy feeling in the listener. It is a common rhythmic feature of many musical styles, particularly popular music and dance music. It can be created by placing an accent on a weak beat or part of a beat, or by placing a rest on a strong beat – see the example below:

Tempo and Rubato:

Tempo is the speed of the music, the speed at which you count the beats. This is often shown on music either by an Italian word or by a metronome marking or sometimes both. The tempo in music does not change in a piece of music unless it is indicated in the same way.

However performers sometimes speed up and slow down on purpose depending on how the music makes them feel. This is called rubato. Sometimes composers add the words rubato or tempo rubato which tells the performer that they do not want a strict tempo.

Polyrhythm, bi-rhythm and drum fills:

A polyrhythmic texture is created when two or more different rhythms are played at the same time. They are usually found in African and Afro Cuban music. A bi-rhythm is a specific type of polyrhythm, consisting of two independent rhythms played simultaneously.

A “fill” is a short passage of music which helps to bridge the gaps between sections or phrases of a melody in a piece of music – any instrument can do this but the drum fill has become a regular feature of music popular music. Most pop styles have their own characteristic fills but in general they are all short and simple and do not change the tempo so that the flow of the music is maintained.

Controlled Assessments Information

Controlled Assessments

and preparation for the Unit 4 composition task

You are about to start the controlled assessment composition phase of your course. Controlled Assessments are part of the new specification GCSE course and aim to create ‘near to exam conditions’ in the classroom.

What are the rules?

• You must sign Mrs Briggs’ timesheet which logs the time you have spent on your composition at the start of each session.
• You must complete your composition within the 25 hours of controlled time.
• You are not allowed to leave the classroom without first asking permission.
• You are not allowed to work on your composition outside of supervised class time.
• You are not allowed to ask for help from your classmates. (You can ask Mrs Briggs or Mr Poffley for guidance)
• You can compose in any style/genre.
• You must combine 2 or more Areas of Study in your composition.
• You must complete a score. The score can be in tab or include tab notation.

Tips from Mrs Briggs:

• Logging on to the computer can take ages so get to class early or pop in first thing in the morning/during lunch and log on and load Sibelius.

• Make sure you regularly save your work and at the end of the last composing session of the day save your updated composition to the music department data stick.

• If you have computer problems let Mrs Briggs or Mr Poffley know straight away – there will be a spare computer set up ready to go.

• If you know you will be absent or have been absent arrange a suitable after school time so that you can catch up with Mrs Briggs asap.

• Bring a drink into the classroom with you but make sure you leave it on the desks – well away from electrical things!

• Enjoy the composing – this is your one chance to compose in any genre/style you want for any instruments that you want!!

The Appraisal

The Appraisal

As part of the composing process you also have to evaluate/appraise your composition.

The brief for your Unit 4 composition was to link your composition to 2 or more of the Areas of Study.

Here are the 5 Areas of Study:

AoS 1: Rhythm and Metre

AoS 2: Harmony and Tonality

AoS 3: Texture and Melody

AoS 4: Timbre and Dynamics

AoS 5: Structure and Form

You must comment on each of the following 5 bullet points:

• What Areas of Study did you choose?
• Why did you choose these Areas of Study?
• How did you go about composing your music and how was the final recording achieved?
• What difficulties did you encounter during the task and how did you overcome them?
• What makes your compositions successful in relation to the chosen Areas of Study?

A good example:

After careful thought and following close consideration of the available resources and my own experiences and strengths as a composer and performer, I decided to combine AOS2 (Harmony and Tonality) and A0S5 (Structure and Form). My main reasons for choosing these are:

I would be able to write a piece of music for the piano the instrument I play and understand well.

I would be able to use major and minor keys to establish different moods.

I would be able to use a wide range of chords, reflecting the fact that I like to experiment with different chords at the piano.

I would be able to use a form such as rondo form, which would allow me to contrast different keys, moods and ways of writing for the piano……… ETC

Homework:

1: Your homework is to write an appraisal on your composition, commenting on the following, using appropriate musical vocabulary. Deadline Friday 16^th July.

Please make sure that your work is typed. When completed your appraisal should be at least 2 side of typed A4, size 12 font.

2: Revise as you will have an end of year 10 music test on Friday 16^th July (followed by a jam session – don’t forget your instrument). The test will be on the Areas of Study – keywords and listening tests. World Music, Popular music of the 20^th and 21^st Centuries and music theory (reading and understanding music).

PS if you want a recording of your composition, bring a cd in and ask Mr Poffley nicel

Starting to Write a Composition

Starting to write a composition:

Here are some ideas to get you started.

Remember you have to combine 2 or more Areas of Study (AoS) in your Unit 4 composition.

AoS 1 Rhythm and Metre

• choose a time signature
• compose five different rhythms
• introduce them on different instruments (pitched or unpitched) to produce a layered composition.

AoS 2 Harmony and Tonality

• choose a key –Major or minor
• write a short chord progression using 4 to 6 chords- you can repeat one or more of them within the sequence – such as Em, C, Am, Em, B7, C, Am, B7.
• choose an accompanying instrument to play these chords
• write a suitable bass line
• work out a suitable pattern of notes for the chords, such as an Alberti style accompaniment, spread chords, a waltz style and so on.

AoS 3 Texture and Melody

• starting with a single line, bring in further tuned/untuned instruments to vary the texture.
• Establish the texture
• Add a melody on an instrument/voice of your choice

AoS 4 Timbre and Dynamics

• Choose two or more different instruments tuned or untuned
• Write two or four short phrases using a question and answer pattern
• Vary the dynamics either by contrast or by gradual increase/decrease.

AoS 5 Structure and Form

• Choose any of the forms listed within this AoS see your notes
• Choose instruments
• Compose the first section

Developing your initial ideas:

AoS 1 Rhythm and Metre

• Alter the rhythms you chose so that each rhythm has fewer or more beats in the pattern, such as 3/4, 7/8, 5/4
• Introduce a time shift by concentrating on one of the rhythms and taking away or adding beats.
• Alter some rhythms so that you produce a polyrhythmic composition

AoS 2 Harmony and Tonality

• Introduce a melodic line (on electric/lead guitar) above a repeat of the chord progression.
• Treat this 6 bar melody as a ‘question’ and then balance it with an ‘answer’
• Modulate
• Introduce some additional chord progressions to extend the range of the chords/harmony used.

AoS 3 Texture and Melody

• Change the accompaniment to broken chords, alberti bass, sustained chords.
• Introduce a counter melody
• Move the main melody around different instruments.

AoS 4 Timbre and Dynamics

• Experiment with the different tones across the instruments register.
• Full chords on guitar could contrast with finger picking
• Introduce additional instruments which will bring in new timbres

AoS 5 Structure and Form

• Compose contrasting sections
• Feature different instruments in each section
• Vary the first section when it returns
• Modulate
• Add an introduction or coda.

Revision Tips

Oh What's Occurring Year 11's?
Revision I hope?

Just a little reminder that you should be revising all the time - that means most of the day not just the bits when you haven't got anything else to do.

Here are my top tips for revision:

• Set up a space in a quiet place in your house-away from distractions.
• Organise your revision materials and sort out your folders.
• Get a list together of topic titles that you need to revise for each subject. (For music it's the 5 Areas of Study and all the info you need is on this blog including a topic list)
• Then get together an exam revision timetable. Divide your days up into sections. Revise for 45/50 mins and have 10/15 mins off.
• Put your exams onto your timetable as well.
• Go through your topic lists and decide which are your worst areas in all your subjects - if in doubt include the ones that you cant remember learning about...at all... not even a little bit...
• Then start revising.
• Work out what way works best for you, here are some: read through your notes and highlight key words and information, copy out your notes and then summarise them over and over, read your notes out loud and then write them out in your own words from memory, ask your mum or dad to ask you questions, set yourself a test and write the answers then a few days later sit your own test and then mark it, use visual clues to help you learn key words -put them on pieces of paper and stick them on the walls, fridge, inside cupboards, bathroom etc ( just ask your parents first!)
  
• Reward yourself. Use some of your "not revising" time to come up with a number of rewards for your "not revising for 10 mins time". Write them on pieces of paper and then put them in a box and choose one at random when you are really really sick of revising and bored to tears. Ideas could be: have a cup of tea and biscuit, do 20 star jumps and make a different animal sound for each jump, watch TV, check facebook, annoy your younger/older sibling, listen to some music...loudly, run up and down the stairs, paint your nails. It should help with the boredom!!
• Have something planned for the summer when your exams are over like a trip to the seaside, or a festival, or shopping and put a photo or poster on your wall of it so you can have something to look forward to.
• Ask your teachers for help if you are stuck
• Lastly don't leave it all until the night before it won't go in trust me - just ask me about my RE exam when you next see me!!

Remember that there is a shortcut menu that expands and you can scroll down to see all the posts.
Thanks
Mrs Briggs

Elements of Music

Imitation

Imitation is when one instrument or voice plays a tune that has just been played by another. For example, a flute may imitate a tune just played by the oboe.

Sometimes imitations can contain slight changes to the tune, to make it more interesting. These changes might be :

• changes in octave. It could be played higher or lower.
• adding ornaments.
• playing at a different speed.

Riff, ostinato and loop

These three words mean the same thing. 'Ostinato' is more often used when describing serious (classical and some world and folk) music. 'Riff' is more often used when describing pop music and 'Loop' is used in Techno or modern dance music.

A Riff or ostinato is a repeated pattern of notes.

Breaks and fill-ins

A break or fill-in is when the drums play a short solo. They may do this for one of several reasons, eg

• To signal the beginning of a chorus, verse or section change.
• at the beginning of the drum part to announce their entry.
• to highlight something in the music, such as important lyrics.

Sequences

A sequence is a pattern of notes which goes up or down in pitch every time it is repeated. Sequences can be divided between instruments.

Ornaments

Ornaments are embellishments to a melody. The most common ornaments are trills and mordents. Other ornaments include acciaccaturas, appoggiaturas and turns.

Improvisation

Improvising is when a player makes up the music on the spot. It is common in jazz, popular, folk and world music.

Sometimes the musician uses the notes of a scale to improvise on, such as the blues scale or pentatonic scale.

Often, in a pop song, there will be a long improvised solo on a guitar or keyboard between verses. Jazz and blues music often contains a lot of improvisation in the form of both solos and tutti passages.

Drone

A drone is usually formed by two notes a 5th apart. For example, the notes C and G are a 5th apart.

Bagpipes always create a drone sound as an accompaniment, but drones can also be heard in early music and music from other cultures.

Pedal and ground bass

A pedal is a single note that is held on or repeated in the bass. The chords above the bass may change, but the bass note stays the same.

The term pedal comes from the days when the bass notes would be played by the pedals on an organ.

'Ground bass' is the term used in Baroque music where a bass part is repeated over and over again.

Where an ostinato pattern might be very short, a ground bass can last many bars before it is repeated.

Intervals

An interval is the distance between two notes. The smallest interval is a semitone. This is the distance between, for example C and C#.

Chords

In any major key, the 1st, 4th and 5th chords are all major. In the key of C, these are the chords of C, F and G.

All the rest are minor, except chord 7 (the notes B D F) which is diminished.

rds have notes that clash with each other. These are called discords.

Discords are often used in 20th and 21st century music and in film music to create special effects.

Phrasing

A phrase is like a musical sentence. When you talk, you take a breath after a sentence. With a musical phrase, you can almost hear a breath at the end of the phrase even when the music is played by non-wind instruments.

Cadences

A cadence is formed by two chords at the end of a passage of music.

Perfect cadences sound like the music has come to an end:

Interrupted cadences are 'surprise' cadences. You think you are going to hear a perfect cadence, but you get a minor chord instead:

Imperfect cadences sound unfinished. They sound like they want to carry on to complete the music properly:

Plagal cadences sound finished. The two chords have one note in common. Plagal cadences are often used at the end of hymns and sung to A-men

Tonality

The character of a piece of music is related to its key centre or tonality. For example, Major keys often sound happy and optimistic:

Whereas Minor keys sound sad and pessimistic:

Atonal music does not have a key centre and contains a lot of chromaticism - extensive use of sharps, flats and naturals to 'bend' it away from its key signature:

Modal music does have a key centre. Some modes make the music feel oriental or ethnic, such as this traditional Egyptian dance. Early music may also use modes such as the Aeolian mode (beginning on A) or the Dorian mode (beginning on D):

Articulation

Articulation is how smoothly or 'spiky' something is played.

Legato (Italian for 'linked together') means played smoothly.

Staccato (Italian for 'detached') means played short and sharp, and is indicated by short vertical strokes or dots above or below the note.