MUSIC features for each topic

10 key features for the key topics in each Area of Study

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Musicals

  • Solo - expresses character's feelings
  • Songs instead of words - some dialogue
  • Music in a popular style - e.g. Jazz, Pop, Rock
  • Action song - moves plot forward
  • CHorus number - most of/all cast
  • Broadway - American musical
  • Based loosely around Opera - structure and methods - Oratorio,Overture
  • Lloyd Webber/Rice and Rodger/Hammerstein
  • Convincing characters
  • Orchestral/band accompaniment
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Dance music

  • Loops
  • Cuts
  • Repetition
  • Samples
  • Four to the floor beat
  • Vocoder
  • Musical Instrument Digital Interface
  • Warehouse club in Chicago- 1985- influence for House music
  • Reverberation
  • Equalizer
  • Turntable
  • Techno Kit
  • Jungle
  • Drum n Bass
  • DJ driven - use of decks - must be able to synchronize tracks without hearing a join
  • Remixing
  • Irrelevant - no storyline
  • synthesizer
  • Breakdown
  • Series of episodes over drum/bass foundation
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Ternary

  • ABA structure
  • CLassical period
  • Combination of 19th century character pieces
  • "A" section ends on closed cadence"
  • "B" Section ends on open cadence
  • Da Capo Aria - common song in an opera - ternary form
  • Minuet - dances - instrumental
  • Trio- texture of 3 parts
  • Tchaikovsky - Dance of the Reed Pipes - Nutcracker
  • Early 18th Century suites - pairing two similar dances
  • B section - contrast - Change in key - Change in time
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Experimental

  • Graphic score
  • Aleatoric (chance) music
  • Extended vocal technique e.g. farmyard animals
  • Stockhausen
  • Freedom within certain boundaries of interpretation
  • Manipulation
  • Lack of tonality
  • Stockhausen
  • Flutter Tonguing
  • Silence
  • John Cage 4 mins 33
  • Unconventional
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Minimalism

  • Motific development
  • Addition
  • Subtraction
  • Phase shift
  • Repetition
  • Terry Riley
  • Steve Reich
  • Philip Glass
  • "In C" most famous example
  • Loops
  • Layering
  • Harmony slowly changes
  • Clapping Rhythms
  • Polyrhythms
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Serialism

  • Tone row
  • Schoenberg
  • Inversion - played upside down
  • Retrograde- played backwards
  • Retrograde inversion
  • Monophony
  • ATonal
  • Pantonality -all keys
  • Octave displacement
  • Transposition
  • Random
  • Uses all 12 semitones
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Ground Bass

  • Baroque (1600-1750)
  • Found in many types of Baroque vocal/instumental music
  • More and more complex decorations added as the piece progresses
  • Continous set of variations over the top
  • "Basso Ostinato" - Italian term
  • Melodic sequence
  • Limited Chords
  • Scalic Figuration
  • Slight changes to ground bass throughout the piece
  • Motif (ostinato)
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VAriations

  • Change in features
  • Ground Bass underneath
  • Change in time
  • Change in Key
  • Theme
  • Baroque
  • Used in Rondo, Ternary, and Ground Bass
  • Paganini's Caprice
  • Chaconne - 3/4 time
  • Canonic
  • Passacaglia
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Rondo

  • ABACA
  • Episodes
  • Theme
  • Variation
  • Baroque
  • Contrast
  • Repetition
  • Similar to ternary
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Electronic Music

  • Vocoder
  • Reverberation
  • Repetition
  • Reverb
  • Loop
  • Sample
  • Tape recorder
  • Multitrack
  • Panning
  • DRum Machine
  • Layering
  • Equalizer
  • Musique Concrete - based on everyday sounds
  • Sequenceing used as a composition tool - pieces written to involve a sequencer
  • MIDI (music Instruemnt Digital Interface)
  • John Cage
  • Stockhausen
  • 1950s - technology became widely available
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Britpop

  • Song lyrics based upon everyday life
  • Typical band setup: drums, bass, guitar, vocals
  • Verse, Chorus, Middle 8
  • Simple chord structure
  • The Kinks, The Smiths, The Beatles all inspirational
  • Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Suede
  • Local dialect
  • Use of ideas/motifs and references from influential 60s bands
  • Satirical/Popular modern issues
  • Manchester sound - Stone roses, The Smiths, Oasis
  • North vs South
  • REaction to AMerican Dominance
  • 32 bar song strcture - 8,8,8,8
  • Middle 8 provides contrast
  • Intro and Outro
  • Use of Bar Chords
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African

  • Call and reponse
  • Repetition and Variations
  • Polyphonic rhythms
  • Djembe
  • Donno
  • Cow Bell
  • Talking Drum
  • Harmonies
  • Oral tradition
  • Celebratory
  • Motifs
  • Singing A Capella (without accompaniment)
  • National identity through music
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Indian

  • Alap
  • Jhor
  • Jhala
  • Gat/Bandish (Gat only instruments)
  • Raga
  • Tampura
  • Tabla
  • Sitar
  • Sarod
  • Sam
  • Note Bending
  • Improvisation
  • Cyclic rhythms
  • Drone
  • Motifs
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Fusion

  • Bhangra
  • Bollywood
  • Ornaments
  • Raga,alap, jhor
  • Textured pieces
  • Sitar
  • Drone
  • Upbeat
  • Scalic
  • Motifs
  • African singing with Western pop
  • Call and response
  • Drums
  • Master drummer
  • Ladysmith Black Mambazo
  • A Capella
  • Harmonies
  • Layering
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