Introduction & Concerts

1. Introduction to Fine Arts:Music
Music Belongs to Everyone

2. Focus of the Course
• To increase your knowledge about music
• To help you use this knowledge when
attending musical events
• To equip you to answer questions and offer
opinions about music
• To encourage your active participation in the
arts
• To help you become an intelligent consumer
with a voice in the availability of music in your
community

3. Music
Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of
the soul…
Plato
Without music, life is a journey through a desert.
Pat Conroy
Without Elvis, none of us could have made it.
Buddy Holly
Country music is three chords and the truth.
Harlan Howard
The history of a people is found in its songs.
George Jellinek

4. Music Listening & You
2 fundamental facts about Music & Real
Life
Music is important to the quality of
human life
People have created different types of
music for different purposes

5. The Musical Process
CREATION
Musical ideas
Forms (framework)
Musical notation
INTERPRETATION
medium
RESPONSE
Listener-audience

6. The Musical Process:
Composer’s Ideas
• Influenced by time period in which composer
lives
• Carried out through manipulation of music
materials--rhythm, melody, texture, harmony
• Placed into a structured framework--musical
form
• Written down using standard or non-standard
notation

7. The Musical Process: The
Performer’s Interpretation
• Influenced by
Performer’s
– Knowledge of
musical style
– Technical facility on
instrument
– Personal ideas, likes,
and preferences

8. The Musical Process: The
Listener’s Response
• Influenced by
– Knowledge of
musical styles
– Personal,
preferences
– Previous
experiences with
music, including
musical training

9. Art Music: Composed for
Performance in concert halls & opera
houses
Learning to Listen:
Hearing and Listening are not the same!!
The Musically Aware Listener
• Focuses on the music itself
• Understands and experiences the composer’s
creative choices

10. Listening for Aspects of Musical
Works
• Nature of • Changes in
melodies & dynamics levels
themes • Dominant timbres
• Texture • Use of forms and
• Nature of rhythm other musical
& its patterns practices

11. Develop different modes of
listening
• Physical effects it
produces
• Emotional effects
• Music for music’s sake
(absolute music)
• Develop different
expectations about
different types of music
• Improve your musical
memory
• Become more sensitive
to musical sounds

12. Different Types of Concerts
• Symphony • Vocal Ensembles--
Orchestra Secular
• Chamber Music – Large choirs
Ensemble – Small groups
• Chamber Orchestra • Vocal Ensembles--
• Recital Sacred
• Broadway Musical • Opera

13. Symphony Orchestra
• Many instruments
• Multiple players for
most instruments
• Generally highly
skilled, artistic
musicians
• Broad choices of
music

14. Chamber Music Ensemble
• Fewer instruments, generally 2-20;
usually not > 8
• Each player has own part
• No conductor
• Originally performed in people’s homes
(called “salons”)

15. Chamber Orchestra
• Fewer players than a symphony orchestra
• Often heard in smaller concert halls
• Music more intimate and clear than with
larger orchestra
• Conductor leading group

16. Recital
• One or two soloists, plus an accompanist is
typical
• Singers, pianists, violinists most common
• Famous Instrumentalists also perform
recitals (e.g., flute, cello)

17. Vocal Ensembles--Secular
• Large Secular Groups
– Chorales
– Choral Societies
– Women’s and Men’s Choruses, Glee Clubs
– Collegiate Choirs
• Usually accompanied by piano, but
sometimes by small orchestras

18. Vocal Ensembles--Secular
• Small Choirs
– Madrigal Choirs
– Chamber Singers (1 or 2 singers per part)
– Jazz Choirs
– A Cappella Choirs (no accompanist)
• Accompaniments Can Vary

19. Religious Choirs
• Large or small number of singers
• Often perform in churches
• Often accompanied by organ
• Worship or concert format

20. Opera
• Singing: Soloists, Small
Ensembles, Chorus
• Dramatic Action
• Elaborate Costumes
and Sets
• Sung Poetry (Libretto)
• Orchestra
• Choreography--very
specific steps

21. Broadway Musical Theater
• Singing--Soloists, Small Ensembles,
Larger Chorus
• Spoken Lines
• Orchestra
• Staging and Sets
• Elaborate Costumes
• Elaborate Choreography

22. Ballet
• Blending of Arts: Sets,
Dance, Costumes,
Music
• Highly Trained Dancers
• Orchestral
Accompaniment
• Based on a Story
• Choreography: Specific
movements, Steps, and
Combinations

23. Preparing for A Concert
• Learn About the • Learn About
Music Musical Styles
– Find out what will be • Learn About
played Composers’ Lives
– Listen to it ahead of • Learn About the
time--Library,
Artist(s),
Internet, Classical
Radio Orchestra, or Choir
Performing

24. What do I Need to Know?
• Arrive early
• Program(pg. 11)
• Keys/Tonality
• Dates
• Catalogue
System(pg. 12)
• Tempo/Expression
Terms(pg. 13-14)

25. Concert Etiquette
• Warm up/Lecture
• Concertmaster
• Tuning
• Entrances/Exits
• When to Applaud

26. The Conductor
• Music scholar
• Baton
• Communication
• Downbeat
• Conducting patterns
• Left hand
expressions
• Cueing

27. Some Important Information
for Opera Goers
• Supertitles--Text is flashed across a screen
over the stage
• Libretto--the actual text of the opera
• www.metopera.org/synopses/
source for information about most operas;
site operated by NY Metropolitan Opera

28. Preparing for the Ballet and
Opera
• Ballet • Opera
– Learn About the – Read the libretto
Music – If the libretto is
– Read About the based on another
Composer and the source, study the
Librettist original story
– Read the Story – Learn About the
– Learn About the Composer
Dancers and the – Read about the
Company Soloists

29. An Introduction to Musical
Styles

30. Musical Styles & Periods
• Music-adjectival
form of “Muse”
– Association with
astronomy,
mathematics
– “Music of the
Spheres”

31. The Nine Muses
• Daughters of Zeus
– Calliope Epic Poetry
– Clio History
– Uterpe Lyric Poetry
– Thalia Comedy, Pastoral Poetry
– Melopomene Tragedy
– Terpsichore Dancing
– Erato Love Poetry
– Polyhymnia Sacred Song
– Urania Astronomy

32. Style Periods of Concert
Music
 Medieval Period (450-1450)
 Renaissance (1450-1600)
 Baroque (1600-1750)
 Classical (1750-1820)
 Romantic (1820-1900)
 20th Century (1900-2000)

33. Musical Styles & Periods
• Style of music not confined to particular
place or time
• Named for historical period it is most
associated with
• Dates are approximate
• Technical factors, i.e.-system of
notation, unknown tuning of
instruments, lack of recording-slowed
music’s development more so than art
or literature