Category: lectureNotes_musth4

Last year’s post walks you through the basics. Look it over and make sure you understand the formula and how to use it for both tempo modulation (metric modulation to some) and polytempo. Just to include it here and reiterate: The formula can be stated in a simple, easy to remember way: original_tempo * (original_grouping_number…

I want to include a chapter 6 clean-up to make sure all are clear about the major concepts. This post from last year summarizes the topics very briefly, except for polytempo and tempo modulation.

Friday we covered two Bartok Mikrokosmos pieces: No. 115, Bulgarian Rhythm; and No. 133, Syncopation. Additive Rhythm and Additive Meter (“Bulgarian Rhythm”) Bulgarian Rhythm is an example of additive meter. The 5/8 meter is expresses as both (3+2)/8 and (2+3)/8. Additive rhythm is related to some folk rhythmic practices (African drumming, for example), where there…

Test 1 will be Wednesday, covering chapters 1 – 5. You can review my previous posts: Twilight of the Tonal System Integer Notation Scale Formations Chords and Verticalities Melody and Voice Leading Harmonic Progression and Tonality You should also review pieces we’ve covered in class. I will include some analysis of pieces that we have…

My chapter 5 review from last year still applies.  

Given the wide range and variety of post-tonal music, one cannot find any unified set of characteristics that define post-tonal melodies. Still, we can outline some usual, if sometimes contradictory characteristics: more disjunct than tonal melodies (less lyrical, less vocal, less flowing, more angular, more fragmented) wider pitch range unconventional rhythms (less regular than tonal…

I covered most chord structures in this post from last year. Two things I didn’t cover were mixed-interval chords and whole-tone chords. We talked about whole-tone chords when we looked at scales in the last chapter. Dominant seventh chords with a lowered fifth (enharmonically equivalent to a French augmented sixth chord) and raised fifth are…

My notes from last year are still good.

I’ve heard that bookstores may be out of the Burkhart Anthology. It is available through Amazon and other online sellers, but be sure to get the 7th edition (from 2011). If you already have the previous edition (we used the one with the Postmodern update until this year), it will work. You will just need…