Pitch 2
From the syllabus:Pitch refers to the relative highness and lowness of sounds. Important aspects include high, low, higher and lower pitches, direction of pitch movement, melody, harmony, indefinite and definite pitch.
Students should be able to discuss the following aspects of pitch as relevant to the music studied:
• high/low: pitches can be comparatively high or low
• direction of pitch movement: up, down, same level
• melody: a horizontal succession of pitches
• harmony: two or more pitches sounding together
• indefinite pitch: untuned sounds, for example, the speaking voice
• definite pitch: tuned sounds, for example, the singing voice.
Students should understand and apply the following (where appropriate to the musical context):
• definite and indefinite pitch
• pitch direction and contour
• pitch patterns
• pitch range and register
• harmony
• methods of notating pitch, both traditional and graphic
•various scales, modes and other ways of organising pitch.
Students should be able to discuss the following aspects of pitch as relevant to the music studied:
• high/low: pitches can be comparatively high or low
• direction of pitch movement: up, down, same level
• melody: a horizontal succession of pitches
• harmony: two or more pitches sounding together
• indefinite pitch: untuned sounds, for example, the speaking voice
• definite pitch: tuned sounds, for example, the singing voice.
Students should understand and apply the following (where appropriate to the musical context):
• definite and indefinite pitch
• pitch direction and contour
• pitch patterns
• pitch range and register
• harmony
• methods of notating pitch, both traditional and graphic
•various scales, modes and other ways of organising pitch.
Tonality
Major Minor Modulation Atonality (Atonal) Definite Pitch Indefinite pitch Scales Semitone Tone Blues Scale/Blue Notes Chromatic scale Modal (Modes) Pentatonic Whole tone Harmony & Chords Harmony Chords - Major - Major 7th - Minor - Minor 7th - Dominant 7th - Diminished |
Arpeggio/Broken Chord
Chromatic Harmony Cluster chord Consonance Diatonic Dissonance Primary Triads Rate of chord change Repeating chord progressions Cadence - Perfect - Plagal - Interrupted - Imperfect Melody and Direction Ascending Descending Intervals Leaps Melody Octave Phrase Range Register |
Pitch Devices
Alberti Bass Cadenza Call and Response Canon Counter Melody Drone Imitation Inversion Melisma Melodic Contour Motif/Fragment Ornamentation - Appoggiatura - Grace Note - Mordent - Trill - Turn Ostinato Pedal Point Question and Answer Retrograde Repetition Riff Sequence Walking Bass Line |
Scales
Semitone
A semitone is the smallest interval used in tonal music. A good way to think about the semitone is that it is the very next note on a piano white or black. It is also known as a half step.
The chromatic scale is a series of continues semitones. See Chromatic.
Semitone
A semitone is the smallest interval used in tonal music. A good way to think about the semitone is that it is the very next note on a piano white or black. It is also known as a half step.
The chromatic scale is a series of continues semitones. See Chromatic.
Tone
A tone is two semitones. It can also be known as a step.
The whole-tone scale is a series of continues tones. See whole-tone.
A tone is two semitones. It can also be known as a step.
The whole-tone scale is a series of continues tones. See whole-tone.
Example of a semitone and then a tone played above the same note.
Blues scale/Blue Notes
A specific scale associated with Blues music. Notice that the flattened and natural form of some notes that are used.
A specific scale associated with Blues music. Notice that the flattened and natural form of some notes that are used.
Here is a piece based on the Blues scale (It uses lots of ‘Blue notes’)
Blue notes are notes that sound flatter (by a semitone) than they should. Here is a famous melody that has some Blue Notes added to it. Blue notes have been circled
Please don’t start calling every chromatic note a ‘blue note’. They are strongly associated with Blues, R ’n’ B and Soul and Jazz.
Chromatic Scale
The chromatic scale is a scale that is made up of continues semitones or half-steps.
The chromatic scale is a scale that is made up of continues semitones or half-steps.
Here is an example of a piece that has a melody based on the chromatic scale. Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov was written at the very end of the Romantic period.
Examine the score below. Chromatic scales are always stepwise.
Examine the score below. Chromatic scales are always stepwise.
Here is an example of an ascending chromatic scale sung by a soprano.
Modal (Modes)
Put simply Modes are a specific set of scales that have a different tone-semitone pattern to the major and minor scale. I will not list the different patterns here you can look them up yourself. Below are some samples of the different modes.
Basically the modes are not quite major and not quite minor. They sound majorish and minorish but some of the notes don’t fit the pattern.
Below is the notation of the modes. If you desperately wanted to you could figure out the tone-semitone pattern of each mode. They will all be different to the major and minor scale
Put simply Modes are a specific set of scales that have a different tone-semitone pattern to the major and minor scale. I will not list the different patterns here you can look them up yourself. Below are some samples of the different modes.
Basically the modes are not quite major and not quite minor. They sound majorish and minorish but some of the notes don’t fit the pattern.
Below is the notation of the modes. If you desperately wanted to you could figure out the tone-semitone pattern of each mode. They will all be different to the major and minor scale
Here is a major scale that is followed by the mixolydian mode.
Here is a popular tune that uses the major scale it is then played using one of the modes (it’s not quite right now)
This is an excerpt from Debussy’s Nocturnes 2: Fetes. This piece is based on a mode. As you listen you will hear that the scale is not quite the major or minor scale.
This is an excerpt from a modal carol
This video further explains the modes
Lastly here is a montage of modal pieces
You are likely to hear modes in folk music of other countries. If the piece is not major or minor but it sounds very close to one of these scales there is a VERY good change that the piece is modal. You could say something like the piece is modal and has a major sound.
You are likely to hear modes in folk music of other countries. If the piece is not major or minor but it sounds very close to one of these scales there is a VERY good change that the piece is modal. You could say something like the piece is modal and has a major sound.
Pentatonic
Penta = 5. Pentatonic scales are scales that use 5 notes. Pentatonic pieces have a very particular sound.
The pentatonic scale can be constructed by taking the 1st 2nd 3rd 5th and 6th note of a major or minor scale.
Penta = 5. Pentatonic scales are scales that use 5 notes. Pentatonic pieces have a very particular sound.
The pentatonic scale can be constructed by taking the 1st 2nd 3rd 5th and 6th note of a major or minor scale.
Pentatonic examples
Whole Tone
The Whole tone scale is a scale made up of continues tones. This differs from the major and minor scales that use tones and semitones. Go back and compare the tone-semitone pattern of the major and minor scale to the whole tone scale. Whole tone scales do not give a strong sense of tonic or tonality.
The Whole tone scale is a scale made up of continues tones. This differs from the major and minor scales that use tones and semitones. Go back and compare the tone-semitone pattern of the major and minor scale to the whole tone scale. Whole tone scales do not give a strong sense of tonic or tonality.
This is an excerpt from Mikrokosmos by Bartok. The start of this piece is based on the whole tone scale. Notice that it uses the notes of the above whole tone scale.
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