Music Theory Week One: Basic Vocab and Background

Music Theory Lecture One

A. Vocabulary

           

         Sound – Vibration of an object as interpreted through the eardrum by the brain

            Pitch – Highness or lowness of a sound through the rate of vibration

            Timbre – Distinguishes one instrument from another playing the same pitch

            Beat – rhythmic pulse of music

            Rhythm- organization of music through time

            Meter – a pattern of fixed beats ad their number in a measure

            Tempo – speed of the beat

            Melody – pitches which form a recognizable unit (exists by itself)

            Harmony – two or more pitches at once (structure forms vertically)

            Staff – lines on which music notes are organized

            Ledger note – added line above or below the staff

B. Historically

           

            1. The first recording was about 125 years ago in a wax cylinder

            2. Music is a form of art “in the now”

3. Gregorian chants sang liturgical services in unison, marking on a staff where they moved up or down, creating notes.

            a. Four lines at the time, five today.

C. Learning Music

           

1.     Three kinds of music learning

a.     Rote “hand” “muscle memory”

b.     Aural “ear”

c.      Concepts “mind”

2.     The treble clef

a.     FACE

b.     EGBDF

3.     The base clef

a.     ACEG

b.     GBDFA