🎼Intro to Music Unit 1 – Music Fundamentals

Key Concepts and Terminology

• Music fundamentals encompass the basic elements and principles of music theory, notation, and composition
• Pitch refers to the highness or lowness of a sound, determined by the frequency of vibrations (measured in Hertz)
• Rhythm is the pattern of durations in a piece of music, often involving a repeating sequence of stressed and unstressed beats
• Melody is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity, often the most recognizable and memorable aspect of a song
• Harmony is the simultaneous combination of pitches, often in the form of chords, that provides a context for the melody
• Timbre is the quality of a musical sound that distinguishes it from other sounds of the same pitch and volume (e.g., the difference between a guitar and a violin playing the same note)
• Dynamics refer to the variations in loudness or softness of musical sounds, often indicated by terms such as piano (soft) and forte (loud)
• Tempo is the speed or pace of a musical piece, usually measured in beats per minute (BPM)

Elements of Musical Notation

• Staff is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces used to write musical notes, with each line and space representing a specific pitch
• Clefs are symbols placed at the beginning of a staff to indicate the pitch range of the notes (treble clef for higher pitches, bass clef for lower pitches)
• Notes are symbols used to represent the pitch and duration of a sound
  • Whole note is an open oval note head with no stem, representing the longest duration (four beats in common time)
  • Half note is an open oval note head with a stem, lasting for half the duration of a whole note (two beats)
  • Quarter note is a closed oval note head with a stem, lasting for one beat in common time
  • Eighth note is a closed oval note head with a stem and a single flag or beam, lasting for half a beat
• Rests are symbols used to indicate periods of silence in music, with each type of rest corresponding to a specific note duration (whole rest, half rest, quarter rest, etc.)
• Measures or bars are the small sections of music that divide the staff into equal parts, separated by vertical bar lines
• Time signatures are fractions placed at the beginning of a piece of music to indicate the number of beats in each measure (numerator) and the note value that receives one beat (denominator)

Rhythm and Time Signatures

• Beat is the basic unit of time in music, often defined as the regular, recurring pulse that underlies the rhythm
• Meter is the organization of beats into recurring patterns of strong and weak pulses, usually grouped in sets of two (duple meter), three (triple meter), or four (quadruple meter)
• Simple time signatures have a numerator of 2, 3, or 4, indicating that each measure is divided into two, three, or four beats, respectively
  • Examples of simple time signatures: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 (also known as common time)
• Compound time signatures have a numerator that is a multiple of 3 (6, 9, or 12), indicating that each beat is divided into three equal parts
  • Examples of compound time signatures: 6/8, 9/8, 12/8
• Syncopation is the placement of rhythmic accents or emphases on weak beats or off-beats, creating a sense of tension or forward motion in the music
• Tuplets are rhythmic groupings that divide a beat or a portion of a beat into a number of equal parts that differ from the standard division (e.g., triplets, quintuplets, septuplets)

Pitch and Scales

• Octave is the interval between two pitches with a frequency ratio of 2:1, meaning that the higher pitch vibrates twice as fast as the lower pitch
• Semitone or half step is the smallest interval used in Western music, representing the distance between two adjacent keys on a piano (e.g., C to C# or E to F)
• Whole tone or whole step is an interval consisting of two semitones or half steps
• Scale is a sequence of pitches arranged in ascending or descending order, often spanning an octave
  • Major scale is a seven-note scale with a specific pattern of whole and half steps (W-W-H-W-W-W-H), creating a bright and happy sound
  • Minor scale is a seven-note scale with a different pattern of whole and half steps (W-H-W-W-H-W-W), creating a darker and more melancholic sound
• Chromatic scale is a twelve-note scale that includes all the semitones within an octave, often used in jazz and classical music for added color and complexity
• Key signature is a set of sharp or flat symbols placed at the beginning of a staff to indicate the notes that should be consistently raised or lowered throughout the piece, defining the key of the music

Intervals and Harmony

• Interval is the distance between two pitches, measured by the number of scale degrees separating them
  • Melodic interval is the distance between two pitches played successively
  • Harmonic interval is the distance between two pitches played simultaneously
• Unison is an interval in which two pitches have the same frequency (e.g., C to C)
• Perfect intervals (perfect unison, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, and perfect octave) are considered the most consonant and stable intervals in Western music
• Major intervals (major second, major third, major sixth, and major seventh) have a bright and happy sound
• Minor intervals (minor second, minor third, minor sixth, and minor seventh) have a darker and more melancholic sound
• Consonance refers to intervals or chords that sound pleasant and stable, often associated with perfect intervals and major/minor thirds and sixths
• Dissonance refers to intervals or chords that sound tense or unresolved, often associated with seconds, sevenths, and tritones (augmented fourths or diminished fifths)

Basic Chord Structures

• Chord is a harmonic set of pitches consisting of three or more notes played simultaneously
• Triad is a three-note chord consisting of a root, third, and fifth
  • Major triad has a major third and a perfect fifth above the root (e.g., C-E-G)
  • Minor triad has a minor third and a perfect fifth above the root (e.g., C-Eb-G)
  • Diminished triad has a minor third and a diminished fifth above the root (e.g., C-Eb-Gb)
  • Augmented triad has a major third and an augmented fifth above the root (e.g., C-E-G#)
• Seventh chord is a four-note chord consisting of a triad with an added seventh above the root
  • Major seventh chord has a major triad and a major seventh (e.g., C-E-G-B)
  • Dominant seventh chord has a major triad and a minor seventh (e.g., C-E-G-Bb)
  • Minor seventh chord has a minor triad and a minor seventh (e.g., C-Eb-G-Bb)
• Inversion is the rearrangement of the notes in a chord, with a note other than the root being the lowest pitch
  • First inversion has the third of the chord as the lowest pitch
  • Second inversion has the fifth of the chord as the lowest pitch

Musical Forms and Composition

• Motive is a short musical idea or fragment that is used as a building block for a larger composition
• Phrase is a musical unit that typically consists of two or more motives, often ending with a cadence or a sense of resolution
• Period is a musical structure consisting of two phrases, often in an antecedent-consequent relationship (question and answer)
• Binary form is a musical structure consisting of two contrasting sections (A and B), often with each section repeated (AABB)
• Ternary form is a musical structure consisting of three sections, with the first section returning after a contrasting middle section (ABA)
• Theme and variations is a musical form in which a main theme is presented and then followed by a series of variations that modify the melody, harmony, rhythm, or other elements of the theme
• Sonata form is a complex musical structure commonly used in the first movements of symphonies and sonatas, consisting of three main sections: exposition (introduces the main themes), development (explores and modifies the themes), and recapitulation (restates the themes in the original key)

Practical Applications and Listening Skills

• Ear training is the process of developing the ability to identify and recognize musical elements by ear, such as intervals, chords, and rhythms
• Sight-reading is the ability to perform a piece of music from written notation without prior rehearsal or preparation
• Transcription is the process of notating a piece of music by ear, often used in jazz and popular music to learn solos or arrangements
• Score analysis is the study of a written musical score to understand its structure, harmony, and compositional techniques
• Active listening involves focusing on the various elements of music (melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, etc.) while listening to a piece, rather than just passively hearing it
• Improvisation is the spontaneous creation of music without prior preparation, often based on a set of predetermined rules or guidelines (e.g., jazz improvisation over chord changes)
• Arranging is the process of adapting a musical composition for a different instrumentation or context, such as creating a piano version of a symphonic work or a string quartet arrangement of a pop song
• Composition is the act of creating original musical works, often using a combination of the musical elements and forms studied in music fundamentals