a. The study of the structure, progression, and relation of chords.
b. Simultaneous combination of notes in a chord.
c. The structure of a work or passage as considered from the point of view of its chordal characteristics and relationships.
d. A combination of sounds considered pleasing to the ear.
Provided by http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Harmony
Harmony
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The harmonious major triad is composed of three tones. Their frequency ratio corresponds approximately 6:5:4. In real performances, however, the third is often larger than 5:4. The ratio 5:4 corresponds to an interval of 386 cents, but an equally tempered major third is 400 cents and a Pythagorean third with a ratio of 81:64 is 408 cents. Measurements of frequencies in good performances confirm that the size of the major third varies across this range and can even lie outside it without sounding out of tune. Thus, there is no simple connection between frequency ratios and harmonic function.
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches (tones, notes), or chords.[1] The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them.[2] Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic line, or the "horizontal" aspect.[3] Counterpoint, which refers to the interweaving of melodic lines, and polyphony, which refers to the relationship of separate independent voices, are thus sometimes distinguished from harmony.
Definitions, origin of term, and history of use
The term harmony derives from the Greek ἁρμονία (harmonía), meaning "joint, agreement, concord",[4] from the verb ἁρμόζω (harmozo), "to fit together, to join".[5] The term was often used for the whole field of music, while "music" referred to the arts in general.
In Ancient Greece, the term defined the combination of contrasted elements: a higher and lower note.[6] Nevertheless, it is unclear whether the simultaneous sounding of notes was part of ancient Greek musical practice; "harmonía" may have merely provided a system of classification of the relationships between different pitches. In the Middle Ages the term was used to describe two pitches sounding in combination, and in the Renaissance the concept was expanded to denote three pitches sounding together.[6]
It was not until the publication of Rameau's 'Traité de l'harmonie' (Treatise on Harmony) in 1722 that any text discussing musical practice made use of the term in the title, though that work is not the earliest record of theoretical discussion of the topic. The underlying principle behind these texts is that harmony sanctions harmoniousness (sounds that 'please') by conforming to certain pre-established compositional principles.[7]
Provided by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Melody
1. A pleasing succession or arrangement of sounds.
2. Musical quality: the melody of verse.
3. Music.
a. A rhythmically organized sequence of single tones so related to one another as to make up a particular phrase or idea.
b. Structure with respect to the arrangement of single notes in succession.
c. The leading part or the air in a composition with accompaniment.
4. A poem suitable for setting to music or singing.
Provided By: http://www.answers.com/topic/melody?method=26&initiator=WANS
Melody
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing, chanting"[1]), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a sequence of pitches and durations, while, more figuratively, the term has occasionally been extended to include successions of other musical elements such as tone color.
Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases or motifs, and are usually repeated throughout a song or piece in various forms. Melodies may also be described by their melodic motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches (predominantly conjunct or disjunct or with further restrictions), pitch range, tension and release, continuity and coherence, cadence, and shape.
Examples
Different musical styles use melody in different ways. For example:
• Jazz musicians use the melody line, called the "lead" or "head", as a starting point for improvisation.
• Rock music, melodic music, and other forms of popular music and folk music tend to pick one or two melodies (verse and chorus) and stick with them; much variety may occur in the phrasing and lyrics.
• Indian classical music relies heavily on melody and rhythm, and not so much on harmony as the above forms.
• Balinese gamelan music often uses complicated variations and alterations of a single melody played simultaneously, called heterophony.
• In western classical music, composers often introduce an initial melody, or theme, and then create variations. Classical music often has several melodic layers, called polyphony, such as those in a fugue, a type of counterpoint. Often, melodies are constructed from motifs or short melodic fragments, such as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Richard Wagner popularized the concept of a leitmotif: a motif or melody associated with a certain idea, person or place.
• While in both most popular music and classical music of the common practice period pitch and duration are of primary importance in melodies, the contemporary music of the 20th and 21st centuries pitch and duration have lessened in importance and quality has gained importance, often primary. Examples include musique concrete, klangfarbenmelodie, Elliott Carter's Eight Etudes and a Fantasy which contains a movement with only one note, the third movement of Ruth Crawford-Seeger's String Quartet 1931 (later reorchestrated as Andante for string orchestra) in which the melody is created from an unchanging set of pitches through "dissonant dynamics" alone, and György Ligeti's Aventures in which recurring phonetics create the linear form.
Provided by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody
2. Musical quality: the melody of verse.
3. Music.
a. A rhythmically organized sequence of single tones so related to one another as to make up a particular phrase or idea.
b. Structure with respect to the arrangement of single notes in succession.
c. The leading part or the air in a composition with accompaniment.
4. A poem suitable for setting to music or singing.
Provided By: http://www.answers.com/topic/melody?method=26&initiator=WANS
Melody
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing, chanting"[1]), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a sequence of pitches and durations, while, more figuratively, the term has occasionally been extended to include successions of other musical elements such as tone color.
Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases or motifs, and are usually repeated throughout a song or piece in various forms. Melodies may also be described by their melodic motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches (predominantly conjunct or disjunct or with further restrictions), pitch range, tension and release, continuity and coherence, cadence, and shape.
Examples
Different musical styles use melody in different ways. For example:
• Jazz musicians use the melody line, called the "lead" or "head", as a starting point for improvisation.
• Rock music, melodic music, and other forms of popular music and folk music tend to pick one or two melodies (verse and chorus) and stick with them; much variety may occur in the phrasing and lyrics.
• Indian classical music relies heavily on melody and rhythm, and not so much on harmony as the above forms.
• Balinese gamelan music often uses complicated variations and alterations of a single melody played simultaneously, called heterophony.
• In western classical music, composers often introduce an initial melody, or theme, and then create variations. Classical music often has several melodic layers, called polyphony, such as those in a fugue, a type of counterpoint. Often, melodies are constructed from motifs or short melodic fragments, such as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Richard Wagner popularized the concept of a leitmotif: a motif or melody associated with a certain idea, person or place.
• While in both most popular music and classical music of the common practice period pitch and duration are of primary importance in melodies, the contemporary music of the 20th and 21st centuries pitch and duration have lessened in importance and quality has gained importance, often primary. Examples include musique concrete, klangfarbenmelodie, Elliott Carter's Eight Etudes and a Fantasy which contains a movement with only one note, the third movement of Ruth Crawford-Seeger's String Quartet 1931 (later reorchestrated as Andante for string orchestra) in which the melody is created from an unchanging set of pitches through "dissonant dynamics" alone, and György Ligeti's Aventures in which recurring phonetics create the linear form.
Provided by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Rhythm
The element of music pertaining to time, played as a grouping of notes into accented and unaccented beats.
Provided by: http://www.classicalworks.com/html/glossary.html
Main article: Rhythm (wikipedia)
Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds and silences in time. Meter animates time in regular pulse groupings, called measures or bars. The time signature or meter signature specifies how many beats are in a measure, and which value of written note is counted and felt as a single beat. Through increased stress and attack (and subtle variations in duration), particular tones may be accented. There are conventions in most musical traditions for a regular and hierarchical accentuation of beats to reinforce the meter. Syncopated rhythms are rhythms that accent unexpected parts of the beat. Playing simultaneous rhythms in more than one time signature is called polymeter. See also polyrhythm.
In recent years, rhythm and meter have become an important area of research among music scholars. Recent work in these areas includes books by Bengt-Olov Palmqvist, Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, Jonathan Kramer, Christopher Hasty, William Rothstein, and Joel Lester
Provided by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_theory#Rhythm
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sharp
Sharp (wikipedia)
means higher in pitch. More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by a semitone (half step)," and has an associated symbol (♯), which is often confused with the number (hash) sign (#). The key difference is that the number sign has compulsory true horizontal strokes while the sharp sign cannot have them. Instead, the sharp sign has two slanted parallel lines which rise from left-to-right. Both signs may have true-vertical lines; however, these are compulsory in the sharp, but optional in the number sign (#) depending on typeface or handwriting style.
provided by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_(music)
means higher in pitch. More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by a semitone (half step)," and has an associated symbol (♯), which is often confused with the number (hash) sign (#). The key difference is that the number sign has compulsory true horizontal strokes while the sharp sign cannot have them. Instead, the sharp sign has two slanted parallel lines which rise from left-to-right. Both signs may have true-vertical lines; however, these are compulsory in the sharp, but optional in the number sign (#) depending on typeface or handwriting style.
provided by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_(music)
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