Barstow Community College Music Gymnopédies by Erik Satie Questions

First  topic

1-In your responses, please answer every question I ask below and explain yourself thoroughly. Also, please do NOT plagiarize any part of your response.

Make sure you write enough to answer every question posed in the discussion prompt. 

This week in Module 1, we discussed some of our basic musical materials, including melody, rhythm and harmony. These three materials form the basic building blocks of all music. I am aware that listening for these musical materials with a critical ear can be difficult, but these are skills that can be built with practice, much like learning an instrument. Even if you are having a hard time identifying these materials in this first week, try your best to voice what you hear in the music. This is the easiest way to improve! 

(6 points) Prompt: After listening to all of our listening examples for the week, choose one example to discuss. I have posted the list at the bottom of the discussion of the available works. First, explain why you chose the piece. Then, describe your choice’s melody, listening for melodic range and contour. Next, you will discuss rhythm, including meter and anything that stands out in the rhythm. Finally, you will cover the music’s harmony and musical mood. 

Again, don’t worry about having the “wrong” answers, I want you to practice listening and discussing with these materials in mind. 

Make sure to address and cover each material as listed below in your discussion:

Make Sure to Address:

What piece did you choose? Why did you choose this piece? 

Your choice’s melody. What about the melody’s range and contour?

Your choice’s rhythm. Is there anything special you notice about the rhythm? What meter do you think it is in (Two, Three, or Four)?

1. Your choice’s harmony. Does it overall sound Major (Happy)? Or Minor (Sad)? 

What musical mood does it evoke in you when you listen to it? 

Choose a Piece From the List Below:

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C? minor No. 2, “Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig Van Beethoven

Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor “Fur Elise” by Ludwig Van Beethoven

Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 by J.S. Bach

“Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walkre by Richard Wagner

Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525 “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“1812 Overture” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

“Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” BWV 565 by J.S. Bach

“Der Hölle Rache” or the “Queen of the Night’s Aria” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

“Gymnopédies“ by Erik Satie 

“Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah, HWV 56

2 – (2 Points For Each Response) Respond to TWO other student‘s posts: Make sure to discuss the subject matter in detail and engage the other students with respectful commentary. I want thought out discussion responses that ask new questions of your classmates.

• ————————second topic.
• 2-Hello and welcome to our Module 1 writing assignment! These assignments will continue to reinforce the material that we have learned in this week’s lesson. In this week’s discussion, we applied our knowledge of Melody, Harmony, Rhythm and MusicalMoods to some of our “Classical” listening examples from the module. While this is great practice, I know many of you are not entirely familiar with Classical music and the different listening experience and ear it sometimes requires.For this assignment, I would like to discuss our musical materials in the context of music that you do know and listen to regularly. The music you choose to analyze does not have to be a “Classical” work at all! You will choose a song or work from any genre and discuss the melody, harmony, rhythm and musical mood of your choice. More information can be found in the bullet pointed list below!As far as format, think of these writing assignments as at least one page minimum essays in MLA format.Points will be deducted for short papers. Make sure to cover everything I ask below in detail and do not leave any questioned unanswered. Write a one page minimum essay in MLA format.Topics to Address:

Pick a piece of music you know from any genre. Make sure it is something you are familiar with and are able to listen to repeatedly. 

• What is your choice? Who is the artist? Why did you choose this piece?

How would you describe the Melody of your choice? Is the range of the melody wide or narrow? How would you describe the contour of the melody?

• Who performs the melody? Is it an instrument or a singer? Does the work have lyrics? If so, what do they discuss?

Is there anything special about the Rhythm of your choice? Is the beat fast or slow? 

• What meter do you think the music is in? Two time? Three time? Four time?

How would you describe the Harmony? Is it uplifting and happy (Major)? Or dark and sad (Minor)?

What Musical Mood would best describe the piece? Why? What about it makes it feel that way? 

REQUIRED MATERIALS

ONE TEXTBOOK FOR OUR COURSE

Forney, Kristine, Andrew Dell’Antonio, and Joseph Machlis. The Enjoyment of Music. 13th edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.

ISBN: 978-0-393-63903-2

In most cases, you will receive a package of a few things along with the textbook. It will likely include the physical textbook and a code which provides an e-book and access to the book’s online resources. The resources provide listening examples and listening guides that we will use through throughout our course. These resources can be found at: The Enjoyment of Music. Links and specific references to these resources can be found in our lectures. You will have to sign up for an account and input your access code at the above link as well. If you are having any issues please let me know and I can help you!

Reading and Listening

LISTENING

For the listening portion of the module, I encourage you to use the WWNorton website associated with the textbook.

Make sure you listen to all of the pieces I referenced in this lesson as they may be used as discussion on a future assignment, quiz, midterm or final. Even if you have heard these songs/compositions, listen to them again after reading this lesson and reading the materials in the book. You will start to notice that you will listen to music differently and more critically. Music that you might have not enjoyed before will become more interesting the more you listen. When listening, try and identify the materials in music we have discussed throughout the course. Keep in mind the work’s melody, harmony, rhythm, musical moods, instruments, etc.

This week’s listening assignments are some of the most famous classical works in history, you will certainly recognize many of them. You can find these specific selections on the WWNorton website. If you do not have access to the textbook website, you can also use YouTube, iTunes, Spotify or Amazon Music:

1. 1. Piano Sonata No. 14 in C? minor Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig Van Beethoven
   2. Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, “Fur Elise” by Ludwig Van Beethoven
   3. Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 by J.S. Bach
   4. “Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walkre by Richard Wagner
   5. Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525 “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
   6. “1812 Overture” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
   7. “Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” BWV 565 by J.S. Bach
   8. “Der Hölle Rache” or the “Queen of the Night’s Aria” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
   9. “Gymnopédies“ by Erik Satie
   10. “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah, HWV 56.

READING

Read Pages 1-20 of the textbook. These pages discuss basic musical materials that we will build upon in future lessons. After reading, proceed to the lectures on the next pages, which will clarify the material. I know these early chapters can seem dense, but I will clarify many of these concepts in this module’s lectures! We also will not being using quite all of the musical materials presented in these early chapters, so do not worry.

Please use the bolded topics and the things we discuss in detail in lecture as study topics for our quiz!

You can read more than I assign but I will never give a quiz or exam from a part of the book I didn’t discuss or assign.

Elements of Music, Music Appreciation

Hello all! Welcome to our first week of Classical Music Appreciation. In this lesson we will be discussing different materials that make up music itself. We will also cover the emotional connection we feel to the music we listen to.

This course is unique in that we will cover all of the material needed for our class in the first 3 weeks. In these lessons we will learn the actual building blocks that make up music. I know this is a bit strange, but we will then apply these materials throughout music history for the rest of the course. Do not be worried if you do not grasp these materials perfectly right away, as we will have the rest of our class to practice with them!

Now we will be discussing, corresponding with the book, the materials of music which will use for the rest of this course. For the first few lessons, we will focus on the materials of music and instruments/musical ensembles. Some of these will be discussed in Module 1, while others will be left for Module 2 and Module 3. The following is a list of our musical materials that we will be covering through the next three weeks.

OUR MATERIALS OF MUSIC:

1. Melody: Musical Line
2. Rhythm and Meter: Musical Time
3. Harmony: Musical Depth
4. Musical Texture
5. Musical Form
6. Musical Expression: Tempo and Dynamics
7. Voices and Instrument Families
8. Western Musical Instruments
9. Musical Ensembles

MELODY

Before we discuss melody, it is important for us to know what a pitch is. The definition of pitch is “the quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone.” Every pitch we hear has a certain highness or lowness. It is easy to think of a pitch as one single musical note. Next time you hear a piece of music, pay attention to the pitch of the notes and try to determine if the pitch is high or low.

A whole melody, on the other hand, is a series of pitches put together. Melodies are the most important aspect of a musical work. They are what we remember and hum after the music is over. A good melody keeps the listener engaged. Try right now to recall a song you’ve heard recently. The first thing that pops into your head is most likely the melody.

The following are some terms that make up the individual parts of a melody. We will use some of these when we discuss melodies in our discussions and assignments.

• Range: The range is the distance between the highest and lowest notes of the melody. Some melodies have a wide range, while others stay around the same place throughout. It is easy to think of range in the context of a singer’s range, their highest note to their lowest note.
• Contour: The contour is the overall shape of our melody. Think of a melody visualized as a graph. It can have curves moving up and down. It can be almost straight line that barely moves, or it can move around quite a bit. This “shape” of our melody is the contour.
• Climax: Since we’ve discussed Range above, let’s branch off from that and discuss a melody’s Climax. The climax is the peak of intensity in a melody, or the climax is the highest note of the melody. All melodies have a climax.
• Interval: Finally, an interval is the distance between any two pitches within our melody. Intervals that move closely by step, such as in a scale, are referred to as conjunct. Intervals that leap around are known as disjunct.

For example, the Alphabet Song is conjunct. All of the notes of the melody are close to each other, often moving in close steps like a musical scale. On the other side, The Star Spangled Banner is disjunct. The notes of the melody are distant and separate from each other, which is why it is quite difficult to perform.

These three aspects above are the individual pieces that make up a melody. In our course, we will more focus on Range, Climax, and Contour as Intervals are more difficult to hear in context of a larger musical work. Now, let’s zoom out a bit and view a melody in larger pieces. Let’s discuss the actual structure of melody.

• Phrase: A phrase is a unit of meaning within a larger structure. Phrases are different sections of a melody that make up the entire melodic structure. They have a starting point and an ending point. Think of each phrase as a sentence in a paragraph. A paragraph is our entire melody, but is made up of individual phrases to make a whole.
  • Some phrases can also leave the listener feeling unresolved, or wanting more. Other phrases can leave the listener feeling satisfied or with a sense of rest and finality. This speaks to the larger structure of music, which is built upon the creation of tension and the release of that tension. This will be easier if we think of an example.
  • Everyone probably knows “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” so this will be our example! Our first phrase is the opening phrase of the melody. Sing the first line, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” This first line in itself is a phrase and also leaves the listener unresolved if the music ended there. Now sing the next line, “How I Wonder What You Are.” This is also a phrase and leaves the listener feeling satisfied and resolved if the music ended there.
  • The best way to identify phrases in a melody is to go with what feels right natural to you. This will lead you in the right direction, as the composers we study want these things to feel natural to your ear.
• Cadences: Often times, many people think of a drum cadence when discussing cadences, but in our case, it is a bit different. A cadence is a resting place at the end of the phrase. Each example phrase of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” we discussed has a cadence at the end of each line. Some cadences feel tense and unresolved and some feel restful and resolved.
• Countermelody: A countermelody is a contrasting melody that is played simultaneously with the primary musical line. Usually one can tell which melody is the primary melody, but as music evolved throughout history, the lines became blurry. We will not worry about countermelodies too much as they are far more complex than we need to worry about. I do want you to be aware of them however, as we will briefly return to them we discuss musical texture in a future module.

I know these are a lot of terms to throw at you in our first lesson, but again we will continue to work with these concepts and practice them throughout the rest of the class. Also, as Melody is the most important musical material in a piece of music, we spent quite a bit of our first week’s lesson on the concept.

RHYTHM AND METER: MUSICAL TIME

By definition, Rhythm is the movement of music in time. Without rhythm, musical notes would have no duration, speed or time, which would be fairly boring. The basic unit that we measure rhythm by is known as a beat. When you listen to a piece of music, what you tap your foot or clap along to is the beat! You will notice that some beats are stronger in a given piece of music, while others are weaker. We then take these beats and organize them, which we will discuss below.

• Meter: The organization of these beats into a set system is known as Meter. Let’s discuss some of the aspects of meter below.
• Measures (or bars): A measure is a way of organizing music into contained groupings by rhythm. Each measure has a consistent amount of beats in it. These are separated by thin bar lines.
• Metrical Patterns: With the knowledge of measures, you will start to notice consistent patterns of beats emerging when you listen to music. The most common pattern you will notice is Quadruple Meter, or 4 beats in a measure. Everything you hear on the radio is probably in “4” time. Triple Meter also exists, which is exemplified in “Waltz” patterns, which feature a strong 1 beat, followed by 2 and 3. Finally, Duple Meter, or 2 beats in a measure, exists mostly in March music.

These are the different materials that make up Rhythm and Meter. Again, I know this might be an overload of technical terms, but rest assured we will have plenty of practice these concepts through discussion and listening. Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out if any of these concepts are difficult to understand. We will be using them to analyze some famous musical works in our discussion this week and we can discuss them further then as well!

HARMONY: MUSICAL DEPTH

Harmony is a simultaneous combination of pitches. If melody, as we have discussed, is a horizontal concept, Harmony is a vertical concept, with several notes occurring at the same time. Think of several musical notes stacked on top of each other. How those simultaneous notes interact with each other is harmony. For example, when two people are singing together with different pitches but with the same melody, they are singing in harmony.

It is important to know that musical harmony is built upon musical Scales. There are many scales but we will focus on Major and Minor Scales. To boil it down simply, Major Scales sound uplifting and happy while Minor Scales sound dark and sad. These are the terms we will use when discussing Harmony in our course, alongside a few others below.

• Chord: A chord is three or more notes sounded together. These notes are in harmony with each other as there are at least three notes present simultaneously. We hear chords in all types of music and they are the primary use of harmony. You can play chords on instruments such as a guitar or piano, as they can play many notes at once by themselves. You can play chords on instruments such as a clarinet or flute with several flute or clarinet players, as these instruments can only play one note at once.
• Tonic (Or Tonality): Thinking of a Major Scale, as visualized on page 19 of our textbook, we have 8 notes that make up the entire scale. Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do (Like the Sound of Music Song), are the 8 notes of our musical scale, but they all revolve around the note “Do,” which is why it is present twice in the scale. This note is known as the Tonic note and the entire scale revolves around it. This concept feels natural to the listener’s ear. This tonic is the tonal center of our scale. We will discuss this throughout our course!

Dissonance and Consonance

• As we’ve discussed before, music is a series of tension and resolution. The terms we use to describe that tension versus resolution is Dissonance and Consonance. Consonance is our resolution or place of rest, while Dissonance is our sense of tension. These two concepts sound different to the human ear, with Consonance sounding pleasing to the ear, Dissonance usually does not. Dissonance in harmony is not necessarily a negative thing. as it creates a tension that serves as a contrast to the pleasant sounding consonance.

SONGS VS. COMPOSITIONS

For the purposes of our course, I just want to mention the difference between a song and a composition. Songs are usually strictly musical pieces with lyrics that are sung by a singer. A composition (other names include work or piece) are primarily instrumental pieces of music. As far as our assignments and discussions, I certainly will not be upset if you mix up these terms. I just wanted you to be aware as we move through our lectures.

MOODS AND FEELINGS IN MUSIC:

Finally, I just want to discuss the different moods of music. I am often asked why I pursued music as a career and I answer that I think music, out of all the different art forms, is the strongest catalyst for human emotion. The strongest art form that can move the listener to feel something. With that in mind, let’s discuss musical moods!

Has a musical composition or a song made you feel sad? Or happy? Has a piece of music given you an adrenaline rush? There are many more moods music can put you in than just these three, but let’s focus on these three for now.

Music that makes you feel sad: Often times, Classical Music can make one feel sad or wistful. Sad Classical works utilize Minor sounding Harmony and usually a slow pace to achieve their affect. For example, listen to the first movement of “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven.

A Beethoven listening example and brief lesson

Go to Playlists (Chapter 33- LG 23) and listen to the provided examples.

• Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (Moonlight), I.

Music that makes you feel happy: Classical works have the potential to evoke feeling of happiness, joy or exuberance. The use of consonant major harmonies, a fast pace, as well as quick rhythm contribute to this feeling. For example, listen to “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart.

A Mozart listening example and brief lesson

Go to Playlists (Chapter 31- LG 21) and listen to the provided examples.

• Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525, I and III.

Music that gives you an adrenaline rush: Finally, some works can have a very inspirational or energetic quality. A soaring or stirring melody and quick pace can lend to creating this feeling. The opening of “Ride of the Valkyries” by Wagner is a good example of this.

A Wagner Opera listening example and brief lesson

Go to Playlists (Chapter 45- LG 37) and listen to the provided example.

• Wagner: Die Walküre, Act III, Opening and Finale.

All of the above examples are purely instrumental music, in that they utilize instruments only and feature no voices or text to go with them. Often times, this allows the listener to draw their own thoughts and feelings from the music as opposed to the music having a fixed mood or feeling. We will discuss this in greater detail later in our course, but please think about what music you feel affects you more!

Some musical compositions have multiple parts, or movements within the entire piece. For example, Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.” The first movement makes you feel sad, the second movement has a light melody with a happy feeling and the while the third is fast and gives you an adrenaline rush.

I hope this first lesson has not been too overwhelming with technical terms. Do not be discouraged if it feels like a lot of material. Again, we will have plenty of opportunities to practice these concepts, particularly in this week’s discussion!