Share the Music

Instructions and Content From book.

Goal: The goal of this forum is to analyze the musical elements in two 20th or 21st century classical compositions.

Course Objective:

• CO-1: Identify Western music by style and era.
• CO-2: Apply musical terminology, concepts and critical listening skills to a given major composer and style of music.
• CO-3: Analyze the social, political, and cultural influences on Western and non-Western music.

 

Description:

Watch two videos featuring the performance of a twentieth century music composition. Your choices must be from the twentieth or twenty-first century classical tradition, such as solo, orchestral or chamber music performances, not pop, rock, or jazz. Please note that this assignment is not a 20th or 21st century performance of music from the Classical era – students should watch videos of music that was composed in the twentieth or twenty-first century. The music chosen for this assignment needs to have been written in the twentieth or twenty-first century, so it is important to not choose music that was composed before the twentieth century. You can either choose two compositions written by the same composer or a composition from two different twentieth or twenty-first century composers. If you are not sure if your choices fit the requirements, be sure to ask in the Questions thread or by sending a personal message to your instructor. The following is a list of possible choices for composers for this assignment. You are not required to choose a composer from this list as long as your choices are composers from the twentieth or twenty-first century.

For each of the two videos, discuss how each composition reflects the six basics of melody, harmony, texture, rhythm, timbre, and form. You can refer to “Tools” in the course text for detailed information about each of these musical terms. Please also address how the composer’s music reflects the culture and/or time period in which he or she lived. This aspect of the assignment should include information from academic sources about the musical style of your chosen composer/s that is cited. The videos should be cited in the body of the text and in a reference page.

There is no specific word count requirement for this assignment – just be sure you are addressing all of the required elements. This paper should be written in paragraph form using complete sentences with a clear introduction and conclusion. In addition to these elements, please be sure to fulfill the Requirements for Writing Assignments (see below), including citing all sources (including the performances) both in the body of the text and in a reference page. Please note that MLA is the standard citation style in the humanities. Here are some good sources of information for Evaluating Online Resources, Citing Sources, and Writing & Grammar Resources. Papers will be evaluated according to the following Short Paper grading iRubric. Please review and utilize this grading rubric in order to maximize points earned on this assignment.

 

Please consider the following:

• This assignment is due by Sunday of Week 5 at 11:55pm (Eastern time). Please note that late submissions will be automatically downgraded.
• Double check that your attachment is in .doc, .docx or .rtf format as explained in Requirements for Written Assignments (see above link).
• DISCLAIMER: Originality of attachments will be verified by Turnitin. Both you and your instructor will receive the results.
• I am looking forward to reading your analysis of twentieth century compositions. Let me know if you have any questions about this assignment.

 

Information from book

Terms and meaning:

Key Music Terms

Timbre, or tone quality, describes the quality of a musical sound. Timbre is generally

discussed using adjectives, like “bright,” “dark,” “buzzy,” “airy,” “thin,” and

“smooth.” Many different adjectives can be effectively used to describe timbre,

based on your perceptions and opinions about what is heard in the sound. Romantic

composers often explored varying timbres to create specific moods and emotions—such as

the terror communicated by shrill, high-pitched, dissonant tones. Timbre at times seemed

edgy, rough, or shrill. At other times, timbres were warm and very lush as in Tchaikovsky’s

Romeo and Juliet.

Texture is a term that describes what is going on in the music at any moment.

Musical texture is the way that melody, harmony, and rhythm combine. Texture can

be described in musical terms, like monophonic, homophonic, and polyphonic—or with

adjectives, like “thin,” “thick,” and “rich.” Much Romantic period music was homophonic

and revolved around melody or melodic statements.

Melody is a recognizable line of music that includes different notes, or pitches, and

rhythms in an organized way. A melody may be simple or complex, and it may be

comprised of smaller pieces called “motifs.” Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, for example,

includes a melody based on repeated motifs. Listen to an example of Beethoven’s 5th

Symphony, and take notice of the motif first heard in the first four notes of the piece, as you

hear it pass by. After several statements of this smaller motif, the smaller motivic pieces

begin to form a more recognizable melody. The melody stands out from the background

musical material because it is stronger, louder, and more aggressively played.

Harmony is created when at least two voices perform together. Two different types

of harmony generally exist in music—homophony, and polyphony. One additional

musical texture, monophony, does not include any harmony.

Tempo is the speed of the music. Tempo may also be called “time.” Tempo can

change during a piece to add expression, such as a rubato (slowing of the tempo).

Speeding up the tempo is called an accelerando, and slowing down gradually is called a

ritardando. Romantic period music explored the extremes of tempo fluctuation, often

changing tempos throughout a piece to communicate emotion.

Dynamics are changing volume levels of musical sounds. Dynamics can range from

softer than piano (soft or quiet) to above forte (loud). Dynamics can also change,

getting louder (crescendo) and getting softer (diminuendo). Dynamics and changing

dynamics give the music expression, make it interesting, and add variety. Dynamics are

another tool exploited by Romantic period composers to create expression and emotional

communication. Sudden dynamic extremes were commonly used.

Form is the organization and structure of a musical selection. The form of a work

may include repeating large sections, repeating a theme or motif, or non-repeating

sections. Large parts within a musical form are usually labeled with capital letters like “A”

and “B.” Within these larger sections, smaller parts may be labeled with lower-case letters

like “a” and “b” to further designate repeated and non-repeated sections. In the Romantic

period, forms became both larger and smaller than those of previous periods. The multi-

movement symphony continued to develop, along with variations on existing ideas—such as

the creation of an overture without any connection to an opera—and symphonic poems that

expressed ideas without lyrics or an underlying story line. Forms were much more flexible

during this period, with the expression or story sometimes more important than following a

specific form.