New Junior Cycle Music Book 2 - higginsandhiggins.ie

New Junior Cycle Music Book 2

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Features of Irish Music

Traditionally, Irish singing is solo, which allows the performer a lot of freedom for personalexpression and interpretation. While dynamics do not feature, the singer performs as iftelling a story. The rhythm follows the rhythm of the words.

The features of Irish music: The features of Irish performance:• it may be modal • it is a solo performance• there is often a repeated final note • there is ornamentation• gap scales occur • free rhythm• the tunes have a wide range • few dynamics

Sean O’Riada (1931 - 1971)

Sean O’Riada was an arranger of traditional airs and a composer of both classical, religiousand Irish music. Fusion of traditional elements with other styles is a feature of his music. Hewrote Mise Eire 'I am Ireland', in 1959 to accompany an RTE documentary on the foundationof the Irish Republic. It is written for orchestra but includes traditional songs and airs such asRoisin Dubh, and features ornamentation and free rhythm. The piece is unmistakeably Irish.The use of a solo horn at the start, over tremolo strings, brings the idea of ‘solo tradition’ toa different level. O’Riada’s music is full of these fusions. Listen to the opening track from theMise Eire score - the Awakening. One of his well known compositions is Ceol an Aifrinn (the Mass) which includes Ag Críost an síol, (Offertory of the Mass) and Ár nAthair.

Brother Ben Hanlon (b. 1952), Ár nAthair (The Lord’s Prayer), 2014

Brother Ben has been at the forefront of choral music in Ireland for many decades. As a teacher, composer, conductor and arranger, he has successfully fused traditional Irish features into religious music, as O’Riada did before him. This Ár nAthair, was written for the De La Salle, Waterford, choir, a male voice choir (TTBB). Notice the many religious and Irish features.

The direction at the start is to sing this ‘freely’. The rhythm is dictated by the words.

drone provided by baritone and bass

organum

Bars 1 - 5 - full score (TTBB), sung a capella

Bars 6 - 11, melody only The final Amen

time signature changes.

A solo baritone sings the melody over a vocal drone fornine bars from bar 12 - 20. It features ornamentation.

Ends on a major chord.

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Composing a Rap

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• Brainstorm ideas to find a selection of wordsand phrases associated with the topic.

• Look for rhyme clusters for the couplets.• ‘Spit’ the words out loud to get a sense of flow• Change the word order to make the words flow.• If you get lost, just spit nonsense syllables that

rhyme until you remember the words.• On the audio tracks, choose either…

70bpm, 80bpm or 90bmp• Rappers refer to a full line of words as a ‘bar’.

Bar 1 • Describe the problem (e.g. climate change or ocean pollution or waste)• Speak in the first person (‘I’ and ‘me).• Use the Present Tense (e.g. ‘it worries me’, not ‘it worried me’)• Use images to highlight the situation. Paint a picture.• What caused you to have these worries? Did something happen?

Bar 2

Bar 3

Bar 4

Bar 5 • What do your friends and family think about the problem?• Do they agree with you? Are they afraid? Angry?• What do they say? Quote them.• What did you read in school or see in a television programme?• Have you any other detail you heard somewhere?

Bar 6

Bar 7

Bar 8

Bar 9 • What are you going to do to improve the situation?• What action will help you to survive the problem?• Have you plans? When will you start? Who will you try to influence?• What is your advice to the general public?• What is your advice to politicians?

Bar 10

Bar 11

Bar 12

Bar 13 • How will you celebrate when you are successful?• Be positive and strong in this section of the rap.• How will everybody feel?• Imagine your life in the future without this problem.• How will life on Earth improve?

Bar 14

Bar 15

Bar 16

Structure Of Your Rap

Rap is a form of poetryIt is more fluid than spokenverse although some words and syllables require emphasis. There are rhyming couplets and there is a strong hip-hop beat.

That future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money. It was stolen from us every time you said that the sky was the limit, and that you only live once. You lied to us.

- Greta Thunberg (2019)

We are running out of time, but there is still hope.

- David Attenborough (2019)

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In rap, a ‘bar’ is a line of words

RHYME CLUSTERSfor couplets

- pollution and solution

- rain and __________

- worry and ___________

- bear and __________

- ice and _________

BRAINSTORMINGphrases

- global warming

- climate __________

- polar ____________

- melting _________

- fossil _______

Listen to I know I can by Nas

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Practice Run

Step 1: Create a rhythm ostinato in the drum part

• Set up your score in your notation program for three instruments: electric guitar,double bass and any type of drum.

12 bars in 4/4 time, at metronome mark q = 95 will last 30 seconds.

• Use a rhythmic ostinato on the drum to give the impression of a march.Choose one of these bars for the rhythmic ostinato. Copy and paste it into the 12 bars,beginning on bar 1.

Step 2: Create a drone in the bass part

• On the bass stave, you will make a drone effect. You are using a bowed string instrument as it is capable of sustaining a note. On the double bass, the pitch you hear will be an 8ve lower than written.

• Begin the drone in bar 3, after two bars of drumming. The drone consists of an A, lastingeight beats.

• Play the drone from bar 3 to the end, tying every second semibreve to the next one.

Step 3: Create a melodic ostinato in the guitar part

• Create a 2-bar melodic ostinato for the electric guitar. This melodic ostinato consists offour notes - ABCB.

• Begin this in bar 5 and repeat it to the end.

• Descant 1: Add a note a 3rd higher to the melodic ostinato, from bar 7 to bar 12.

• Descant 2: Add a further 3rd higher from bar 9 to bar 12.

• Finally, make the last chord major by changing the note C to C#.Classical composers call this a Tierce de Picardie (Picardy 3rd)

• This is what the electric guitar part looks like:

Training Steps

Compose Music for a Computer Game

• Compose a 30-second introduction to a scene in a computergame. It is based on the Celtic Myth of the Táin Bó Cúailnge.

• In the story, the teenage hero Cúchulainn defends Ulster onhis own, against the armed forces of Queen Maeve.

• You have to give a sense of the fighting that will happen.• You were asked to end with a sense of hope.• Let’s do a practice piece before you attempt your own.• You will begin with your notation program.

Ex Bk: 28 - 29

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Soundwalks are Aural LandscapesThe aim of a soundwalk is to experience and promote the ambiance and underlying rhythms, pitches, tempi, textures and dynamics heard along a specific route. Like a landmark, any articularly distinctive and unusual sound is called a soundmark.

Participating in a soundwalkmakes us more aware of oursonic environment.

Acoustic ecologists encouragepeople to go on a soundwalk.

A soundwalk is not music.

This walker passesthrough five distinctlocations:

• Station Road,

• Watermill Road,

• St. Anne’s Park,

• Bull Island and

• St Anne’s Golf Club.

This is a distance of 3.5kms. Five sets of soundscharacterize the route.

Identify the five sets of sounds and classify them by ticking one description for each.

1. ____________________________________________ man-made natural both





Exercise 8 Soundwalk in Raheny, Dublin 544

Think-Pair-Share

Are there any examples of sounds in the soundwalk above that could be classified as noise?With the person beside you, discuss noise pollution. Suggest ways of improving the acoustic ecology in your own area. Share your ideas with the group.

Activity

Each soundwalk celebrates thewonder of a particular time and place.

- Katharine Norman (2001)

A soundwalk is any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment. Itis exposing our ears to every soundaround us no matter where we are.

- Hildegard Westerkamp (1974)

Take Note:

Environmental noise means “unwanted or harmful

outdoor sound created by human activities”.

Noise nuisance is defined as “a noise so loud, so

continuous, so repeated, of such pitch or duration

or occurring at such times that it give a person

reasonable cause for annoyance”.

(Information taken from the website of the Dept of Communications,

Climate Action and the Environment, Ireland.)

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Map data ©2019 Google

Prelude No 1, in C, BWV 846, Book 1

bars 1 - 8,

The final three bars

35 bars long51

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48 Preludes and Fugues for The Well-Tempered Clavier.These are split into two books of 24, one for each key.A fugue is a contrapuntal piece for at least two ‘voices’,built around one theme and featuring imitation. A prelude is an introduction to a fugue with no specific form.

This was written for the clavier or harpsichord, both having a detached sound. The bass notes are sustained, while the treble clef notes are detached. Question: on the piano, should we play detached? Or should we play as if it had been written for the piano?

Listen to tracks 4 and 5. The first 8 bars printed above are played two different ways, both on a piano. Do you notice any difference? Do you have a preference? Is there merit in both?

Activity

Take Note:The Preludes and Fugues are numbered sequentially:No 1: C major, No 2: C minor,

No 3: C# major, and so on ….

Listen and Discuss

Calculate the key of Prelude and Fugue No. 15 and No. 21 No. 15 ______ No. 21 ______

Exercise 2

track 51 - played ona harpsichord

The total beats forthis D is …..

¾ 1

1¾ 2

The middle section,(not printed here),uses chromatic notesand is more dramatic.

The LH and RH usedifferent harmony.Sometimes, theseclashes work well.

The music resolves tothe tonic in last bar.

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Ex Bk: 34

The Final Amen

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Vocal Part of Lacrimosa

The soprano sings the melody throughout this movement with alto, tenor and bass support.The basset horn and bassoon double with the singers. It lasts 30 bars and is in D minor.

bars 1-8. (These are the bars Mozart completed himself).

bars 9 - 28

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Mozart uses two dynamics in this song - p and f.

Do these help convey the meaning of the words?

Explain

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Exercise 7

bars 29 - 30

Notice the timpani roll

Plagal cadence

Picardy3rd;thenote israised

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Section B, bars 102 - 149, A major.

This is a contrast to section A in tonality. Also, rather than two main themes, there are a number of little motives used. The triplet rhythm from the end of section A is present. The dactyl rhythm features on the double bass, played pizzicato, making it sound very percussive.

Theme 1: bars 102 - 116, clarinets and bassoons Theme 2: bars 117 - 122 clarinets and horns imitate at a 2-bar distance.

Theme 3: bars 123 - 130, oboes, clarinets and horns in unison. Notice the long sustained notes and the triplet rhythm

There are broken chord, triplets, arpeggios and scales in the accompaniment. Brass family feature a lot in this section. These bars are repeated.

Section Al: bars 150 - 224. This is section A rhythmically altered; semiquavers, triplets andbroken chords feature. Bars 183 - 198 feature a fugal version of theme 1.

Section B: bars 225 - 239, theme 1 only.

Coda: bars 249 - 278, features theme 1, in dialogue between the wind and brass; strings playpizzicato. Listen for the dactyl and spondee rhythm; notice the ‘clash ‘on the second last chord.

Compare these two symphony movements. Some of the answers have been inserted already.

Feature Haydn Symphony 101, Beethoven 7th Symphony, 2nd movement 2nd movement

Tonality G major A minor

Instruments

Tempo

Form ABAlBl Coda

Compositionaltechniques

Melody

Accompaniment

Dynamics

Mood/Story light and comical. Haydn gives usavarietyof‘tick-tocks’

Instrumentaltechniques

Other

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Giovanni Bottesini (1821 - 1889), Italy

Bottesini was an Italian Romantic composer, conductor and double bass virtuoso. He’s beencalled ‘’the Paganini of the double bass’’! He was also an acclaimed conductor. When conducting opera, he was often known to bring his double bass on stage during the intermission and play fantasies on that evening’s opera. His Elegia for double bass and piano is one of the most recorded works of the 20th century and was said to be Bottesini’s favourite.

Sir Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934), England

Unlike many composers, Elgar was self taught and as a result, always felt like an outsider.However, after composing his Enigma Variations, he became immediately popular at home and abroad. In 1889, he dedicated his short violin and piano piece, Salut d’Amour to his future wife as an engagement present.

Comparing two pieces

Feature Bottesini’s Elegia Elgar’s Salut d’Amour for Double Bass for Violin

Key and Time Key of D 12/8 38 bars Key of E 2/4 100 bars

Tempo/timing Andante Sostenuto Andantino

Performance Rubato Rubato and pauses

Introduction 2-bar introduction 2-bar introduction

Accompaniment Block chords (12 repeated per bar) Block chords (syncopated, off-beat)

Melody • Through-composed form • ABAl Coda form • Irregular phrases • Clear 4-, 8-, and 16-bar phrases • Wide leaps • Wide leaps • Chromatic notes • Chromatic notes • Ornamentation • Some ornamentation • Sequence • Sequences • Arpeggios • Arpeggios • Scales • Scales • Harmonics • Recurring motives

• Long trill towards the end. • Long sustained note at end (8 bars).

Dynamics Wide range. Some sudden, Wide range. Some sudden, some gradual changes some gradual changes

Mood Emotional and expressive. Emotional and expressive.

Cadence Final cadence is Plagal. Final cadence is Perfect.

Elegia

bars 3 - 4

Salut d’Amour

bars 3 - 6In memory of Karl Kirby (2002 - 2019)

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LET’S CONTINUE… TO USE MUSIC!

In Tones 1, saw how music is represented by music notes on 4-line and 5- line staves,

graphic symbols and waveforms in an audio editor. You used these visual supports to

help you to read, listen to and understand the music.

In Tones 2, you will explore how music is used in different media to help communicate

messages and ideas. When using other people’s music and intellectual property, we

must acknowledge the rights of the owners.

Take Note 1: Write down memorable features about the music you hear in this section, for use in future comparing assignments.

Matching Music to Images, Texts, Film and Video 88

Moods in Instrumental Music 94

Adapting an Existing Piece to an Ad 95

Playlists and Community Events 96

Media Time Allocated to Irish Performers 101

Arranging for an Ensemble 102

Accessing Music and Copyright Issues 103

CHAPTER 7: CONTENTS

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CHAPTER 7: CONTENTS

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CHAPTER 7: CONTENTS


Evanescence - Lacrymoso

This is an alternative metal, gothic Rock, post-grunge song, telling the story of a break-up. Amy Lee used Mozart’s orchestral accompaniment throughout as well as the opening bars of the actual song which are sung by an SATB choir in three different places. The final Amen is also used. The arrangement is transposed up a tone to E minor from the original. Lee wrote a new melody to link all these sections and there is a guitar power chord section in the middle. The instrumentation is piano, guitar, violins and drums. The synthesiser is also used and there are a lot of studio effects added. The song was written to show Lee’s impressive vocal range.

Beethoven’s 7th Symphony - 2nd MovementWhen this work was premiered in 1813, with Beethoven himself conducting, it was wildly applauded and the audience demanded the 2nd movement be encored. The popularity of this movement meant it is frequently performed separately from the complete symphony.

It has been used in a number of films and programmes. The most famous film is possibly, The King’s Speech (2010), where it is used at the moment when King George broadcasts live to the nation, announcing that the country is at war with Germany. Having grown up with a speech impediment, the ordeal of addressing people was something he had to overcome. This pivitol speech was a turning point for him. His live broadcasts were to become memorable for the sense of hope and calm they brought during the dark days of the war.

Using Beethoven's Music in the 21st Century

Activity

(i) The slow build of this Allegretto movement, accents both King George’s struggle with his impediment and his determination to succeed in being there for the people. Discuss.

(ii) There is an irony in choosing this piece, by a notoriously patriotic German composer, to accompany the delivery of a speech by a British King as he declares war on the German people. Discuss

Exercise 7

Having studied the original song, do you think Lee has done Mozart justice with this version? Compare both versions and give a reason for your answer.

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I saw Amadeus when I was nine years old and fell in love with Mozart. The part of hisRequiem called Lacrymoso is my favourite piece of music ever. I always wished we could cover it, but with programming and guitars and make it cool…. so I started messing with it in Protools. Terry wrote some riffs and turned it into this awesome metal epic.

- Amy Lee (Evanescence) (2005)

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Using Mozart's Music in the 21st Century

Documents

New Junior Cycle Music Book 2 - higginsandhiggins.ie