GRAB A SEAT AND A PILE OF PAPERS AND NOTECARDS!

Before we get started…

1. Let’s assume that you’ve been studying the book,

“Night” by Elie Wiesel…

2. Let’s also assume that like many middle school

students, you’re also currently enrolled in some kind

of music appreciation class.

Now… let’s go!

“I see what I hear and I hear what I see.”

The Tone Poem and the Written Poem

Music AppreciationLanguage Arts and English

Ms. D’Angelo

Using the note cards you have been given, write down 3 words or phrases using SENSORY LANGUAGE to describe what you see, hear, smell, feel or taste.

Now listen to this example.How would you describe

this piece of music?What story does it tell you? Use a piece of paper to jot

down your thoughts.

Music that tells

a story is

called

Programme

Music.

But all music

can tell a

story…

Modest Mussorgsky composed his piece “Night on Bald Mountain” to paint a musical picture depicting a witch’s sabbath. Leopold Stokowski popularized the piece in the 1940 film Fantasia in which we hear his version of the piece shown with images of Chernobog (black god) summoning ghosts and demons – a similar picture intended by Mussorgsky.

+Element 3: It’s going down, I’m yelling TIMBRE!

Timbre (not to be confused with Ke$ha’s song Timber) is a way of describing all of the aspects of a musical sound that do not have anything to do with the sound's pitch, loudness, or length. In other words, if a flute plays a note, and then an oboe plays the same note, for the same length of time, at the same loudness, you can still easily distinguish between the two sounds, because a flute sounds different from an oboe. This difference is in the timbre of the sounds. It would also mean WHAT is playing?

+What words would I use then if someone asked me to describe Timbre? Reedy

Brassy

Clear

Focused or unfocused

Breathy Rounded

Piercing

Strident

Harsh

Warm

Mellow

Resonant

Dark or Bright

Heavy or Light

Flat

Having much, little, or no vibrato (a controlled wavering in the sound); or narrow or wide, or slow or fast, vibrato

+

MORE TIMBRE LINGO

Element 6: DynamicsDynamics refer to the loudness and softness of whatever you’re listening to. It is described in special terms we like to call Italian.

TEMPO

ELEMENT 9:

Do not go gentle into that good night…

The ghetto was awake. One after the other, the lights were going on behind the windows. I went into the house of one of my father’s friends. I woke the head of the household, a man with a gray beard and the gaze of a dreamer. His back was hunched over from untold nights spent studying.“Get up, sir, get up! You must ready yourself for the journey. Tomorrow you will be expelled, you and your family, you and all the other Jews. Where to? Please don’t ask me, sir, don’t ask questions. God alone could answer you. For heaven’s sake, get up…”He had no idea what I was talking about. He probably thought I had lost my mind.“What are you saying? Get ready for the journey? What journey? Why? What is happening? Have you gone mad?”Half asleep, he was staring at me, his eyes filled with terror, as though he expected me to burst out laughing and tell him to go back to bed. To sleep. To dream. That nothing happened. It was all in jest…My throat was dry and the words were choking me, paralyzing my lips. There was nothing else to say.At least he understood. He got out of bed and began to dress, automatically. Then he went over to the bed where his wife lay sleeping and with infinite tenderness touched her forehead. She opened her eyes and it seemed to me that a smile crossed her lips. Then he went to wake his two children. They woke with a start, torn from their dreams. I fled.

- pages 14-15 Elie Wiesel’s Night

English HOMEWORK!Using the following passage we read and discussed together in class from Elie Wiesel’s Night, select a musical piece that elicits the same emotions, feelings, thoughts or story you felt while reading the selection. In 2-3 paragraphs please explain why you chose the piece and how it connects to the reading passage. You will need to use a combination of sensory language in describing what you saw and felt while reading and musical terminology (in at least 2 instances) while making your connections. Please ensure that your thoughts are organized and cohesive – using the thought organizer provided may help as a starting point.

Note: While your musical selection doesn’t necessarily need to be from the appropriate time period, you will need to provide ample evidence discussing why you believe it is appropriate for the passage.

Requirements: 3 paragraphs, double spaced, Times New Roman size 12 font.

Music HOMEWORK!Using what you have learned about the elements of music, sensory language and imagery, select one of the following pieces of Programme Music or Tone Poems. After listening to it, use the attached thought organizer to help you craft a creative piece of writing in which you describe a story to match the music that you hear. Please include at least 5 uses of musical elements in your sensory descriptions.

Requirements: 3 paragraphs, double spaced, Times New Roman size 12 font.

Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson

Rodeo by Aaron Copland

Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche ("Till Eulenspiegel's merry pranks"), op. 28 by Richard Strauss

The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) by Felix Mendelssohn

At the top left hand corner:

NameSubject & SectionTeacher’s NameDateAssignment

Joe JonasMusic 8-3a, H periodMs. D’AngeloSeptember 1, 2014Elements of Music Assignment

The Rectory Heading

Go forth and conquer!

So… what are the Elements of Music?Elements of music are the basics, pieces, fundamentals or features of music that help to describe it! When you talk about music… you can talk about it in many different ways. (just like you can with a painting or one of your friends!)

Element 1: Meter

In order to define meter, let's first define beats. Beats give music its regular rhythmic pattern. Beats are grouped together in a measure; the notes and rests corresponds to a certain number of beats. Meter refers to rhythmic patterns produced by grouping together strong and weak beats. Meter may be in duple (2 beats in a measure), triple (3 beats in a measure), quadruple (4 beats in a measure) and so on.

Parts of a Measure- Clef: voice.

- # and b’s: sharps and flats – what key are you in?

- Time signature: how many beats can you write in one measure and which one gets the beat?

- Duple vs. triple examples:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx-4K7wlovk

ELEMENT 2: TEXTURE

Musical texture refers to the number of layers, as

well as the types of those layers, used in a

composition (a piece of music) and how these layers

are related. Textures may be monophonic

(monophony), polyphonic (polyphony) or

homophonic (homophony). A way of describing

music as thick or thin.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE?

Monophonic music is one line of music – it could mean a lot of

people singing or playing the same thing all at the same time or it

could mean one person doing that!

Polyphonic music is 2 or more lines of music – it could mean a

couple of people are singing something different or 100 people all

singing different things.

Homophonic music is the kind of music you’re all used to

listening to! It’s typically someone singing or playing along with

chords behind it.

SO YOU’VE HEARD MONOPHONY AND YOU’VE HEARD HOMOPHONY…

But what about polyphony? What’s the difference between

Polyphony and Homophony? What are these fancy words you

speak of?

Listen to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yi2MMtIimY

Yeah, polyphony is old. But can you hear a few people singing

things aren’t quite the same? There are no chords behind them,

just a few people singing a few lines of music at the same time!

ELEMENT 4: MELODY

Melody is a group of notes that is put together that YOU as the listener, perceive to be one group. In a song that is homophonic, you would consider it to be the front or the foreground to the chordal background.

Element 5: Harmony

Harmony is the use of different pitches, or notes on top of each other all at the same time. It helps to establish certain chord “qualities” like major and minor. In jazz music (ooh… like the kind we’re studying) certain notes together make a piece sound “bluesy” or “jazzy”. How cool! Listen to the beginning of this piece to hear how nicely harmony works together! (and I bet you can perceive a melody too!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNNQh9wtisc

Element 7: Pitch

Pitch refers to the frequency of vibration in sound. This means that notes have a mathematical number assigned to them. For example – the note A vibrates at 440 hz/sec. Anything faster is perceived as what we call “sharp” or high and anything lower is what we call “flat” or low. It can also refer to the relativity in which you compare two notes. Higher or lower, for example.

Form refers to the structure of music – or the order in which melodies happen. The term is regularly used in two senses: to denote a standard type, or genre, and for melody structure.

Example: Symphony, form and variations both names and forms.The name of a song might not tell you the form – but the form will tell you how the music is put together!

Element 8: Form

THIS ALL HAS TO DO WITH… AFFECT!

All of these elements are what MAKE MUSIC INTERESTING! Actually, it’s what makes music. How interesting! Just like we described the picture at the beginning of class, you can describe what you hear just as well

as what you see. So now…