20th-century music styles {tone row} {twelve-tone technique}| {12-tone technique} {basic series} can place the twelve octave tones and half tones in sequence, with no repetition, so all twelve notes have equal representation. The same intervals separate the twelve tones. The twelve tones have no special relations, and so no dissonance, consonance, or tonality. Tone rows can be original series, its inversion, its reverse, or inversion of reverse. Whole tone row can rise or fall by any pitch amount {transposition, tone row}. Tone-row notes can change to octave higher or lower. Tone-row tones can simultaneously sound in chords or counterpoint.
Renaissance choral singing {a capella}| can use no instruments except voices.
Musicians can play antiphon parts simultaneously {a tutti}.
Baroque recitation style {arioso} used more melody than before.
The twelve octave tones can have no dissonance, consonance, or tonality {atonal}|.
Repeated figures {basso ostinado} can have ground bass.
Baroque style can use extended melodic periods {bel canto}|.
Renaissance choral singing {bicinium} can use paired voices.
13th=century music {chase, music} {cacia} can repeat melody in phrase middle or use incomplete repeated phrases.
Works can have end sections {cadenza}| {cadence}. Common cadenzas are progressions from dominant or dominant seventh chord to tonic chord.
Dissonance between notes causes beat frequency {chromaticism}|. In chromaticism, leading tones point toward tonic. Chromaticism began with Bach. Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin used it. Wagner's Tristan und Isolde uses chromaticism.
Long melisma {coda}| {caudae} can extend syllables.
Sopranos began singing without words in 17th century Italy {coloratura}|.
Harmony rose as melody fell or harmony fell as melody rose, until they met at same tone {contrary organum}.
Melody and harmony can have equal loudness {counterpoint}|.
Mannerist phrases {cross-relation} can use two tones, separated by a halftone, sung one after the other, while instruments play antiphon parts simultaneously {a tutti, Mannerism}.
Gregorian chants can have a second part above {descant}.
12th century Catholic Church music {descant style} {modified counterpoint style} {organum purum} used one, two, or three harmony notes {duplum} for each melody note. Melody was in range lower middle. A 12th century French style used two independent melodies, one moving up and the other down, with fourth, fifth, or octave intervals between simultaneous notes.
Chords can sound tense or harsh {dissonance, chord}, such as intervals major second, minor seventh, minor second, major seventh, diminished fifth, and augmented fourth. In dissonance, interval root becomes unstable. Dissonance decreases at higher frequencies, because critical bands are smaller.
In 14th and 15th century music, highest voice can sing melody, one voice can sing sixth below, and one voice can sing fourth below, so bottom two voices have third between them {faux bourdon} {false bass}. Instrument can be a voice.
In Baroque period, one bass line accompanied voice {basso continuo} {thorough bass} {figured bass}. Accompanist improvised triad above bass. Bass note can be harmony fundamental note {fundamental note}, with other notes a third above each other: fundamental, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, and so on.
Chords {figured chord} can have harmonic tones.
Music can use chord series {harmony}.
In polyphony, two parts can sing alternate notes {hocket}.
Chordal accompaniment to melody can move in same direction and time as melody {homophony}, as in early Italian opera.
Successive chord, harmony, or melody tones {leitmotif}| can recall past or future emotions, as in Wagner.
Music can have many notes per syllable {melisma}| {melismatic style}. Notes typically join.
Baroque music {monodic composition} {monody, music} can use one melody, which can imitate human-voice inflections.
Music {monophony} can use only one voice, which sings or plays melody. Oriental, Greek, and Gregorian monophony used complex percussion.
Mannerist music used diatonic scale and musical phrases. Mannerist and 19th century music used key to indicate mood and key changes {motif}| to indicate emotion changes. Musical phrases represented emotions. Grief and sadness used small melodic intervals. Harshness and anger used large intervals. Slow notes were for sorrow, and fast notes were for happiness. Long notes were for accented syllables, and short notes were for unaccented syllables. Minor intervals were for grief, and major intervals were for aggression. Dissonance and clashes in harmony were for harshness or bitterness. Ascending melodies denoted height, and descending melodies denoted depth. Short rapid notes were for laughter, and rests were for sighs.
First melody-phrase note can substitute for sharp or flat notes {oblique organum}.
Medieval Catholic Church music used one soloist who sang trope at constant fourth below, fifth above, or octave below melody sung by choir {organum} {parallel organum}. In England and France, trope in parallel organum was always in counterpoint.
Slow, repeated bass theme was in 3/4 time {passacaglia}.
In 13th century, Catholic-Church music and secular music began to have four independent parts {polyphony}|. Soprano soloist sang one octave above melody. Soloist sang one-fifth above melody {captus}. Choir sang melody as tenor part. Bass soloist sang one octave below melody.
organum
To maintain parallel organum, singers used occasional sharp or flat notes or substituted first melody-phrase notes for sharp or flat notes. Harmony rose as melody fell, or harmony fell as melody rose, until they met at same tone.
instruments
Instruments played tenor, contratenor, and highest part {triplum, music part}.
endings
Harmonic cadences in stanza middle {open ending} or end {closed ending} divided music into phrases.
Romantic music styles {serial technique} can use tone sequences. One note sequence follows regular time and emphasizes unity and harmony. Another note sequence contrasts with regular time and emphasizes variety and discord, making irregular rhythm and dissonance.
Baroque bass instruments were for harmony and contrasted with melody {stile concertato} {concerted style}.
Baroque music used rapid succession of 16th notes to express wrath and indignation {stile concitato} {excited style}.
Camerota groups staged Baroque plays with singing and invented musical recitation style {stile recitativa}.
In 14th century, music started to combine perfect and imperfect time. Tenor voice used one rhythmic pattern {tolca} and one style {isorhythm} {syncopation}|.
Number of chord notes {texture, chord} can be several tones {thin texture} or many tones {rich texture}.
Bells {tocsin} can warn or sound alarms.
Tonic note can be central note {tonality} {tonal music}. Chord inversion relates each note to tonic note.
Three tones or halftones {triad, music} can have thirds between them.
types
Minor third can follow major third {major triad}, so triad can have fundamental, major third, and perfect fifth tones. Major third can follow minor third {minor triad}, so triad can have fundamental, minor third, and perfect fifth tones. These two triads are the most-consonant chords.
Major third can follow major third {augmented triad}. Minor third can follow minor third {diminished triad}.
dominance
Triad can use the fundamental as dominant tone {dominant triad}. Triad can use tonic as fundamental tone {tonic triad} {tonic chord}. Triad can use fundamental as subdominant tone {subdominant triad}. Triad lowest tone can be not the fundamental {inverted triad}.
Organ stop {voix celeste} {celeste} uses pipes tuned sharp or flat to produce beats when used with main pipes.
Outline of Knowledge Database Home Page
Description of Outline of Knowledge Database
Date Modified: 2022.0225