1ORCHESTRATE

YOUR COMPETENCES

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: knowledge of the qualities of sound.

CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC:knowledge of music genres.

CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC:knowledge of some uses of noises

in music.

Sound, noise and silence

IN FILM

The Italian composer Ennio Morricone integrates noise into some of his famous melodies,

especially those that he composed for Westerns.

Listen to the theme song from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and notice how Morricone uses noises as if they were

instruments.

The progressive rock group Pink Floyd often used the expressive potential of noise,

such as in the introduction to their song Time.

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Sound does not travel at the same speed in dif-ferent channels. In the

air, it travels one kilometre in three seconds, and travels faster the hotter it is. In water, it travels one and a half kilometres per second!

in the studio

1. SoundLong before we are born, we perceive the sounds that surround us. Thanks to our sense of hearing, we perceive all the sounds in our life: words, the atmosphere in a football stadium, motor racing and music, among many others. Listening is not exclusive to humans; all animals can hear, although many do so in a very different way than us.

Sound is produced when an object vibrates, generating waves that are car-ried through the medium in which it is located. If the vibration is sufficiently intense, it can be captured by a receiver, which could be a dolphin, a micro-phone or the human ear.

For a sound to be perceived, the following are needed: an emitter (the ob-ject that vibrates), a transmission channel (the physical medium that prop-agates the wave) and a receiver (the person who perceives the vibrations).

If the vibration is intense enough for our ears to capture it, we experience a sensation in our brain that we call sound.

1.1 The qualities of sound When we receive sound waves, or in other words, when we hear a sound, we simultaneously perceive all its qualities: its pitch (if it is high or low), its duration (if it is long or short), its intensity (if it is soft or loud), and its timbre, which is the characteristic quality of each sound that allows us, for example, to distinguish a trumpet from a violin being played. If we look at the graphical representations of the waves on a graph, we can see each of these qualities.

Pitch is determined by the frequency of the waves.

The intensity of a sound is determined by the amplitude of the waves.

Duration is determined by how long the wave persists.

The timbre of a sound is determined by the shape of its wave.

Musical notation is the system used to write down music. The most used is the Western system, based on a stave. In this system, pitch is repre-sented by musical notes, duration by figures, intensity by dynamic indications, and timbre by the indi-cations of the instruments or voices that perform the work.

We use our ears to perceive waves that are transmitted through the air, but this is not the only way to listen to sound. Evelyn Glennie lost her hearing at the age of 12, but she developed the ability to listen by perceiving vibrations with her whole body. Today, she is one of the best percussionists in the world.

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1. Name two examples of noise that you find pleasing.

2. Listen to these four excerpts and name the quality that stands out in each sound.

3. Look at the wave graph and say whether it could belong to this music. Why?

in the studio

1.2 NoiseNoise is a type of sound that we find unpleasant. This feeling is subjective, and may refer to sounds with high intensity or that we simply do not want to hear at that moment. Objectively, a noise is a sound without a specific tone. If we compare the waves of an intoned sound and a noise, we see that sounds are regular and periodic (we can perceive patterns) and noises are irregular and confusing.

Noise has always been present in music. Remember that percussion in-struments produce sounds with irregular waves, or in other words, noise. However, since the beginning of the 20th century many musicians have experimented with noise, showing that it can be as expressive as any sound.

1.3 SilenceSilence is the absence of sound, or in other words, the absence of sound waves. Music combines sounds and silences, and silences are just as im-portant in music as sounds. Without silence we could not live, and music would not exist. Therefore it is very important that we value and learn to be aware of moments of silence before and after a sound, as well as the contrasts between sound and silence.

The wave of a sound is regular. The wave of a noise is irregular.

activities

For many people, a Formula 1 race is noisy, but for motor racing fans it is a pleasing sound.

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2. Music genres

In a bookshop or library, books are grouped according to classification cri-teria (novels, poetry, dictionaries, etc.). Criteria are also used in music to classify works into groups known as music genres. We are going to learn about some of the most common genres and their classification criteria..

2.1 Popular music and art musicUp until the 20th century, the popular music and art music genres were distinguished depending on who produced the works. Traditional or folk music was created collectively by the people. As this type of music was transmitted orally, it varied as many people contributed to it. Art music, however, was created by a single person who wrote it down so that future generations could perform it.t.

Today’s criterion is now more flexible because oral transmission is almost non-existent. The name popular music is generally used for works with a short duration and a simple structure. It can be from a wide range of genres such as traditional music, with songs and dances by unknown artists that are part of the cultural heritage of a people, or pop and rock, with their international hits performed by well-known artists. The name art music, also known as classical music, is usually applied to more sophisticated works created by one artist, usually with more complex structures.

The Beatles were one of the most famous and influential popular mu-sic bands in the world. Listen to an excerpt from their song Let it Be.

Spaniard Tomás Luis de Victoria, one of the most important musicians of the 15th century, only composed re-ligious works. Listen to an excerpt from his motet O quam gloriosum.

Maurice Ravel composed art music and accurately wrote down every detail in the score. Listen to an ex-cerpt from his Sonatine.

The work of Dmitry Kabalevsky, one of the most comprehensive bodies of work of the 20th century, is al-most exclusively secular. Listen to an excerpt from The Comedians.

Traditional music, such as the music that accompanies feast days, is pop-ular music. Listen to Pasacalles de la Hierbabuena.

2.2 Religious music and secular musicSince the dawn of man, religion has played a key role in the development of musical language. Though people have always played music that is not linked to religion, like dances or love songs. Religious music accompanies a religious ceremony or has a religious theme, and secular music has no connection with religion.

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4. Listen to the following pieces of music and name three genres that describe each one.

in the studio

2.3 Prgram music and absolute musicThe source of inspiration allows us to classify music into two genres. DPro-gram (or descriptive) music is inspired by a landscape, a painting, an event in history... or any idea not related to the music itself. A great deal of motion picture music composed specifically for a film can be classified as program music. Absolute music originates from a purely musical element: a melody, rhythm, etc.

2.4 Vocal, instrumental and vocal-instrumental musicWe can also classify works by the artists that perform them. One of the most common ways is to distinguish between vocal music, instrumental music and vocal-instrumental music depending on whether they are per-formed with the voice, instruments, or both in turn.

Manuel de Falla, inspired by Granada’s Alhambra, composed Noches en los jardines de España. Listen to how he evokes the sound of Alhambra’s water fountains.

The German composer Felix Mendelssohn excelled in all three genres. Listen to an excerpt from three of his works.

His song Auf dem See is an example of vocal music.

His Symphony No. 4 “Italian”, is an example of instrumental music.

His Symphony No. 2 “Lobgesang” is an example of vocal-instrumental music.

Johannes Brahms wasn’t inspired by anything extra-musical, or in other words, that did not come from mu-sic itself. Listen to an excerpt from his Piano Concerto No. 2.

Genres are not incom-patible with each other and no genre is better

than the others. Each one has good music. Sometimes it is not easy to identify what genre a piece of music is from, but the more you listen to mu-sic, the easier it is to distinguish them.

activities

Sanctus, G. Fauré

Symphony No. 40, W. A. Mozart

Boy From New York City, The Manhattan Transfer

Ave Maria, J. Busto

Jota de Tudela, Gaiteros de Estella

Castilla, I. Albéniz

Patio de la Acequia at the Alhambra in Granada.

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1. What genres do you think The Typewriter belongs to?

a popular music d secular music

b classical music e instrumental music

c religious music f vocal music

2. Look at the following excerpts from the work. Which did you hear first?

3. Play the rhythm of the first bars of the typewriter, first at a slow tempo and then fast.

activities

The composerLeroy Anderson was one of the most popular composers of light orchestral music and his music is played throughout the world. His cheerful orchestral miniatures are rooted in American popular culture. In some of his works he made use of objects from everyday life, like sandpaper in Sandpaper Ballet. In other works, the instruments in the orchestra imitate sounds from everyday life, such as the wall clock in The Syncopated Clock, a dog bar-king and a cat meowing in The Waltzing Cat, or a sleigh pulled by horses in Sleigh Ride.

The workOne of his best-known works is The Typewriter, in which the solo instru-ment is a typewriter. Anderson uses three distinctive sounds: the sound of the keys printing characters on the paper, the bell warning that it had arri-ved at the end of the line and the lever to move the roller. The comedian Jerry Lewis used the piece in one of his most famous scenes from the film Who’s Minding the Store?

The Typewriter, by Leroy Anderson

audio

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activities

In 2012, the young composer Anna Meredith composed a work for the National Youth Orchestra in which musicians left their instruments and used their own bod-ies. The composition, called HandsFree, lasts twelve minutes, and although almost all of its sounds are noises, their pitch, duration, intensity and timbre are combined with the same variety as if they were intoned sounds. At the end, spectacular cho-reography is added to the musical part when the entire orchestra plays in unison. We have chosen an excerpt from the last two minutes performed by the National Youth Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

1. Say which of the following statements about the work are true.

a The rhythms of the work are simple.

b All the musicians play the same thing.

c There is no melody.

d There are no changes in intensity.

e The sounds originate from the bodies of the musicians themselves.

2. Various signs appear throughout the video. Match them with the following definitions.

1 the musicians play the same rhythm at the same time

2 the intensity of the sounds decreases

U the intensity of the sounds increases

3. Observe what the orchestra does when the letter C appears and select the correct answer.

a They all sing as a choir whilst picking up their instruments.

b Different groups continue in the form of a canon, with each one ending one beat later than the previous

one.

c At a signal from the conductor, everyone pauses.

d They improvise noises and body percussion, so each group ends on a different time in the bar.

4. What do The Typewriter and HandsFree have in common?

a They both use noises.

b They make us feel relaxed.

c They seek different sound effects to traditional ones.

d Changes in intensity can be heard in both.

HandsFree, by Anna Meredith

video

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1RhythmTo sing or play a song, we have to know what tempo we will use to play it, or in other words, the speed of the beat. The beat of a work is like a heartbeat.

1. These excerpts of music correspond to the same piece of music at var-ious tempos. Mark out the tempo as you listen:

In which is the beat fastest?

2. Clap out the even-numbered beats (2, 4, etc.) in the following excerpt. You will see that they coincide with striking the snare drum.

Sometimes it is not so easy to follow the beat because it can coincide with a silence, or rest. Therefore it is very important to follow the beat internally. Try to follow the beat in your head and mark only the times that appear in the excerpt.

Reading musicIn this section we will gradually learn to read notes. In each unit you will practise with more notes and with different rhythms.

We will start with two groups of three notes:

C D E G A B

3. Practise reading the following notes with a fast beat. The musical figures are semibreves, therefore they last four beats.

playing live

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14. Now read these notes with a slower tempo. Note that semibreves (4

beats), minims (2 beats) and crotchets (1 beat) and their corresponding rests all appear.

MelodyIn this section, we will learn how to play melodies on the recorder. Observe the positions of the fingers, or fingerings, for the notes G, A and B.

G A B B (alternative)

5. With just these three notes you can already play parts of well-known songs, like the French folk song Au clair de la lune:

6. With these three notes you can also play the traditional English song Hot Cross Buns.

7. Now play the first bars of the song Down by the Station, written by Lee Ricks and Slim Gaillard.

playing live

WHen We see tHis sign, We repeat tHe section.

Listen carefully to the au-dio segment and do the dictation with the help of your teacher.

Dictation

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Create different types of waves: sine, square, serrated; modify the length, amplitude and form of the waves with the Audacity program. Experiment with changes in the tempo, pitch and timbre of sounds. Create a wave with noise. Observe and manipulate each cycle of waves that you have created.

Playing togetherIn this section you can play adaptations of well-known songs or works with instruments suggested by your teacher. You can sing them and play them with a recorder, xylophone or percussion instruments.

8. Rehearse your part first and then play it over the backing track.

digital

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1 in summary

The vibration of a body produces sound waves that we can hear.

listen to a sound, we need an emitter, a transmission channel and a receiver.

Sounds are classified into qualities according to their characteristics.

Music genres are criteria used to classify different types of music.

Sound ➔ A sensation we experience when waves reach our ears.

Noise ➔ An unpleasant sensation that we experience when we hear irregular waves.

Silence ➔ The absence of sound.

Quality Characteristic Range Representation

Pitch frequency of the wave high / low key and musical notes

Duration vibration time long / short figures and rests

Intensity amplitude of the wave soft / loud dynamic indications

Timbre wave form nuance performance markings

OriginOral tradition popular music

Composer writes music art music

SubjectReligious religious music

Not religious secular music

InspirationMusical absolute music

Extra-musical descriptive music

Artists

Instruments instrumental music

Solo voices vocal music

Voices and instruments vocal-instrumental music

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Alpine Symphony, by R. Strauss

music and... nature

nature and... sculpture

connecting

Sometimes, musicians compose works inspired by an extra-musical element. Now you know that these works belong to the genre of program music. In fact, all artists can take ideas from the world around them for their work. To start, we present one of the most common sources of inspiration over time: nature.

The locus amoenus is a literary topic, an idyllic place for a romantic encounter and to regain one’s composure after suffering from unrequited love: trees, shade, a stream, a breeze…

The lions on the island of Delos. A row of sixteen lions lead to the temple of the god Apollo. They are guardians who remind us of the power of this deity. Only five lions are still intact.

nature and... literature

The German composer Richard Strauss had a house in the Alps. In 1914, inspired by the landscape, he composed the Alpine Symphony. The work is divided into twenty-two sections, with titles like “Sunrise”, “On Flowering Meadows” and “Entry into the Forest”. One of the most impressive moments is the description of a high mountain storm. Strauss must have been caught out in a storm in the forest more than once. If you have never experienced anything like this, listening to this work can give you an idea of what it is like.

1. Read the script in the five sections of the musicogram. Then listen to the work and see how the music changes.

2. How many thunderclaps are heard before the wind starts blowing?

From far away we hear the sound of thunder telling us that the storm is approaching.

The mountain is calm, but the animals are restless. Birdsong can be heard.

The wind starts blowing harder, and the first drops of rain fall.

A violent storm breaks out with thunder and lightning.

The force of the wind and the rain starts to reduce. The sound of thunder moves further away.