Pitch 3
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 |
Harmony
‘Three or more pitches played at the same time’. As an area harmony includes anything to do with tonality, scales, keys, chords and cadences.
‘Three or more pitches played at the same time’. As an area harmony includes anything to do with tonality, scales, keys, chords and cadences.
CHORDS – A chord is the simultaneous sounding of 3 or more pitches.
Here you find a brief discussion of the following chords: Major, Minor, Major 7th, Minor 7th, Dominant 7th, Diminished, Diminished 7th and Augmented.
Major chord
The major chord is 4 and then 3 semitones built on the given note. The major chord has a ‘bright and stable’ sound.
Here you find a brief discussion of the following chords: Major, Minor, Major 7th, Minor 7th, Dominant 7th, Diminished, Diminished 7th and Augmented.
Major chord
The major chord is 4 and then 3 semitones built on the given note. The major chord has a ‘bright and stable’ sound.
You can also build a major chord by using the 1st 3rd and 5th note of a major scale.
Major 7th chord
The major 7th chord is 4 and then 3 and then 4 semitones built on the given note. The major 7th chord still has a fairly ‘bright and agreeable’ sound but the new top note as a slight instability.
You can also build a major 7th chord by using the 1st 3rd 5th and 7th note of a major scale.
Here is a popular tune with major 7th chords used. The major 7th chord is used a lot in Jazz.
Here is a popular tune with major 7th chords used. The major 7th chord is used a lot in Jazz.
Minor Chord
The minor chord is 3 and then 4 semitones built on the given note. The minor chord has a ‘sad and dark’ quality. Although the chord is sad it still has a stable sound. You will understand this more when you hear the unstable diminished chords.
The minor chord is 3 and then 4 semitones built on the given note. The minor chord has a ‘sad and dark’ quality. Although the chord is sad it still has a stable sound. You will understand this more when you hear the unstable diminished chords.
The minor chord is the same as the major chord except that the middle note is a semitone lower.
You can also build a minor chord by using the 1st 3rd and 5th note of a minor scale.
You can also build a minor chord by using the 1st 3rd and 5th note of a minor scale.
Minor 7th Chord
The minor 7th chord is the same as a minor chord it just as an extra note on top. The chord is 3 and then 4 and then 3 semitones on the given note. This chord has a ‘sad and jazzy’ quality. This chord is still somewhat stable. You will understand this more when you hear the unstable diminished chords.
You can also build a minor 7th chord by using the 1st 3rd 5th and b7th note of a minor scale.
Here is a short piece based on ‘plain’ minor and minor 7th chords.
Here is a short piece based on ‘plain’ minor and minor 7th chords.
Dominant 7th Chord
This is a major chord that is used as the dominant (the chord that always pushes back to the tonic). It has the same ‘set up’ as a major chord with an extra note at the top. The chord is constructed by 4 and then 3 and then 3 semitones built on the given note.
This is a major chord that is used as the dominant (the chord that always pushes back to the tonic). It has the same ‘set up’ as a major chord with an extra note at the top. The chord is constructed by 4 and then 3 and then 3 semitones built on the given note.
Here is an example of a normal dominant chord going to the tonic. You will then hear a dominant 7th chord going to the tonic. The added note in the dominant 7th chord gives an extra push towards the tonic.
This example uses a dominant 7th chord arpeggiated in the bass line with the chord repeated above, it then settles on the tonic.
You can also build a dominant 7th chord by using the 1st 3rd 5th and b7th note of a major scale.
You can also build a dominant 7th chord by using the 1st 3rd 5th and b7th note of a major scale.
Diminished Chord
The diminished chord is built using a series of minor 3rds (3 semitones) on a given note. This is a very dissonant and unstable chord. The notes do note agree and they want to move to a consonant chord. This is a DISSONANT chord.
The diminished chord is built using a series of minor 3rds (3 semitones) on a given note. This is a very dissonant and unstable chord. The notes do note agree and they want to move to a consonant chord. This is a DISSONANT chord.
Here is an example of a dissonant diminished chord resolving (moving) to a consonant major chord
Here is an example from Mozart’s ‘Requiem’. The final chord is a strong diminished chord. It sounds very unstable.
Augmented Chord
This is basically a major chord with the top note raised by a semitone. When you augment something you make it bigger - The top note is raised (higher) than before.
This is basically a major chord with the top note raised by a semitone. When you augment something you make it bigger - The top note is raised (higher) than before.
Here is an example that uses an augmented chord in the middle. It will use C major, C Augmented and F major.
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