Shared Music

When? 1820 - 1900 (Romantic Period).

Who? Shubert, Schumann, Brahms.

Where? Confined setting such as a private house to a small audience during romantic period, but in concert halls today.

What?

• Solo voice (usually singing German poetry) and piano (or sometimes orchestra in the late 19th century).
• Texts based on emotional themes such as love and sadness.
• A melody and accompaniment texture.
• A strophic (each verse set to same music) or through-composed (each verse set to different music) structure.
• Music reflects the mood and emotion conveyed in the song.

Who? Elton John, Mariah Carey, U2, Christina Aguilera.

What?

• Usually played by piano, strings, guitar and saxophone.
• Expressive vocal performance with ornamentation, melismas, rubato, a large vocal range and long held notes.
• Sentimental and romantic lyrics.
• A slow harmonic rhythm and slow tempo with 4 crotchets in a bar.
• Verse-chorus form.

When? c. 1750-1820 (Classical Period).

Who? Mozart, Haydn.

Where? Grand concert halls across Europe.

What?

• Played by orchestra, usually with only one soloist. Solo sections (only soloist playing) and tutti sections (full orchestra playing) alternate.
• A cadenza - unaccompanied solo passage usually at the end of the first movement.
• Virtuosic playing - rapid scales and arpeggios, large leaps and ornamentation.
• Themes exchanged between soloist and orchestra.
• General features of Classical Period; question and answer phrases, homophonic or melody and accompaniment textures, as well as crescendos and diminuendos.

When? Early 20th century.

Who? Louis Armstrong (singer and trumpeter), Duke Ellington (pianist), Miles Davis (trumpeter), Chick Corea (pianist).

Where? Originated in the southern states of America.

What?

• Largely improvised with simply chord accompaniment played by piano (this is called comping).
• Syncopation and swung rhythms.
• **** singing - singing to nonsense syllables instead of words.
• Blues scale (major scale with flattened third, fifth and seventh degrees) and 12-bar blues chord pattern - I I I I, IV IV I I, V IV I I.
• Staccato chords played by brass instruments and glissandos (a slide from one note to another).

When? Dates back to 1700BC.

What?

• Played by sitar (plucked string instrument with frets and over 20 strings which plays melody), sarod (similar to sitar but has no frets allowing glissandos), sarangi (bowed string instrument), bansuri (bamboo flute), tanpura (plucked string instrument with four strings which plays drone), and tabla (pair of small drums).
• Melody played with a specific raga (scale of notes associated with a particular time of day, season or mood) and pitch bends, glissandos, rapid scales, ornamentation and dialogue (sitar imitates rhythms played by tabla).
• Rhythm is based ona cycle of beats called a tala. There are a range of talas, each with a set number of beats, some of which will be accented - the most common tala is tintal, with a cycle of 16 beats. The tabla player improvises rhythms around the tala, which gradually become more complex as the piece progresses.
• There is a drone played throughout a piece by the tanpura, and is based on the most important notes in the raga - it is the alternative of a harmony.
• Most pieces have three main sections: Alap (free, slow, no tabla), Gat (tabla enters) & Jhalla (becomes faster).

Where? Originates from islands such as Java (Javanese Gamelan from central Java; Sundanese Gamelan from West Java), Bali (Balinese Gamelan) and Indonesia. It is played anywhere from courts and temples to village squares, often accompanying an event that involves dance or ritual.

What?

• Played by gongs, which usually hang from a frame at the back of the gamelan; metallophones, which are like xylophones with metal bars, one of them being the saron which usually plays the main melody; usually two or three drums in one ensemble, the kendang being the main one; the suling, a bamboo flute; the gambang, a xylophone; and the rebab, a bowed string instrument.
• Tuned to one of two scales: slendo, a pentatonic scale in which the five notes are equally spaced within the ocatave; or the pelog, a seven-note scale that rises in unequal steps.
• A short melody is repeated continuously, usually by the sarons - cylic. The other instruments basically play this same melody but at different speeds, creating a heterophonic texture.
• There are different cycles, one of which is called a gongan - it is broken down into 4-beat groups, one of which is called a keteg, which is is like the equivalent of a bar; and its end is marked with a stroke on the large gong.
• There isn't any notation or a conductor to follow, so the gamelan players have to listen to each other very carefully to make sure they stary together - the drummer usually leads the group and signals changes in tempo, volume, texture or structure.

When? 1675-1750 (Late Baroque Period).

Who? Bach.

Where? Originally performed in a 'chamber' or small room, but in concert halls today.

What?

• Usually played with either one melody instrument and an accompaniment (solo sonata), or two melody instruments and an accompaniment (trio sonata). Accompaniment played froma continuo part which provided both a bass line (usually played by a cello) and directions for the chords to use (which would be improvised on a harpsichord, organ or lute).
• Contain at least four short movements, all or mostly in the same key, creating the same mood throughout. Slow and fast movements usually alternatve, and many are in various dance styles of the period.
• Often contrapuntal texture.
• Sudden changes in dynamics, creating terraced dynamics.
• Ornamentation used frequently, especially in any repeated sections of a piece.

When? c.1750-1820 (Classical Period)

Who? Mozart.

Where? Originally performed in a 'chamber' or small room, but in concert halls today.

What?

• Name of Classical chamber ensemble determines the number of players: 'trio' for three, 'quartet' for four, and so on. String quartets (two violins, viola and cello) & wind quintets (flute, oboe, clarinet, basoon and horn) were the most common types of ensembles.
• Usually follows a four-movement plan: a fast first movement in sonata form; a slow second movement; a minuet and trio (a type of dance with three crotchets in bar); and a final fast movement (often in rondor form. These contrasts between each movement create changes in mood.
• Often has a melody over an accompaniment.
• Dynamics may change gradually.
• Ornamentation used less often than in Baroque chamber music.

When? Baroque period to the present day.

Who? 'Messiah' by Handel (Baroque), 'The Creation' by Haydn (Classical), 'Requiem' by Verdi (Romantic), 'Carmina Burana' by Orff (20th Century).

Where? Churches, Cathedrals, Concert Halls.

What?

• Choir is usually made up fo sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. They may sing a capella for short sections, but are more often accompanied by an orchestra or organ. There are also soloists who may have the mentioned or different ranges such as mezzo soprano for females; and treble, countertenor or baritone for males.
• Most common structure is the oratorio, which contains a number of movements including: Aria - a movement for the soloist(s), accompanied by an orchestra; Recitative - a short section for a soloist, which often sounds more like speech than song, accompanied by just a few instruments; Chorus - a movement for the choir and orchestra.
• Text is often religious, hence they are performed in chuches and cathedrals.
• All singers and instrumentalists are led by a conductor.

Who? Ladysmith Black Mambazo (all-male), Soweto Gospel Choir (mixed).

Where? Religious Ceremonies, Weddings, Funerals.

What?

• African a cappella, Zulu from South Africa being the most well-known today, is an oral tradition, so the songs are performed from memory. Whilst there is usually no conductor in an African a cappella group, there is often a soloist to lead.
• Melodies are often very repetitive, with descending phrases which seem to die away at the end and call and response being common features. The texture is usually homophonic, with different parts moving together in a parallel motion.
• The rhythms are complex and syncopated. They are also very fluid as they follow the natural rhythms of the words.
• Key is usually major. Harmonies arfe diatonic and repetitive, moving together in parallel 3rds.
• Ensemble will sometimes sing with force to create a strident and nasal sound, and other times without to create a soft and mellow blend which, combined with the rises and falls in dynamics, gives a gentle rippling effect. Unusual vocal effects are also frequently used; tongue clicks, glissandos and ululating (which creates a high-pitched, wavering sound) are examples.