An Introduction to Music

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Contents

Why living Music is so Important

What is Music

Fundamental Blocks for Music– Melody– Harmony– Rhythm– Lyrics*

Mapping between key terms in Indian and western music

Expressing Emotions through Music

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Why live Music

• Human Brain has natural affinity towards music. A musical activity improves intellectual brain activity.

• Music skills enhance Self Confidence, Social Bonding and Success in society .

• Playing music helps in bringing down Stress levels and improves overall health and well being.

Music - Essential Life Component

• Actively playing music (living music) is infinitely more enjoyable than passively listening to it

• Every Human being has the potential to evolve into a Musical genius with proper training and Practice

From Loving to Living Music

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Music – Organized Sound evoking Emotions

Organized Sound

evoking

Emotions

Rhythmic patterns

Melodic Phrases

Harmonic Progressions

Pitch / Frequency

Timbre / Voice

Loudness / Dynamics

Wide melodic range, Consistent strong rhythm, Major Chords

Narrow melodic range, Slow rhythm, Minor Chords

Wide melodic range, Rhythm variations, Mixed Chords

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Melody

Building Blocks of Music

Musical Note

Intensity Timbre

Harmony

Chord Progressions

Rhythm

Meter Tempo

Scale Phrase

PitchFrequency

DurationBeats

Lyrics

SyllablesRhymes

Song /

Composition

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Musical Note

• Duration tells how long the note lasts or the Time Value of the note

• This is usually expressed in Beats (measure of time in music)

Duration

• Auditory property helping sound to be perceived as higher or lower

• Depends on Frequency, expressed in Hertz (cycles per second)

Pitch

• A sound of a specific frequency and pitch is referred to as a Musical Tone. In addition to these Tone has following Attributes

Intensity: A measure of loudness • Tones of specific frequency are referred to as Musical Notes and have associated names.

E.g. Notes, C, D, E, F in western music

Tone and Note

Whole note4 Beats

Half Note2 Beats

Quarter Note1 Beat

Eighth Notehalf Beat

Time value of Notes

Higher Notes

Lower Notes

Quarter Note A on Staff = 440 Hz

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Melody – Musical Scales

• A Musical Scale consists of a collection of Notes with pre defined Pitch distances

• Notes with Frequency difference of two times are said to be an Octave apart.

• In a commonly used ‘Equal Tempered’ scale, the Notes are divided equally into several parts, usually 12

• The Ratio of Frequencies of adjacent intervals is fixed – 1.059 approx (12th root of 2)

• Each Step is referred to as a Semitone (S) and 2 steps as Tone (T)

• The Note A above middle C with frequency of 440 Hz is used as Tuning Standard in Western Music

Overview

Middle C (C4)

Music Scale shown over 12 Equal Temperaments

T

261.5 Hz

523 Hz

392 Hz

440 Hz

349 HzS

D

E

F

G

A

B

C5

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Melody – Musical Scales

C D E F G A B C

C D E F G A B C

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do

C D E F G A B CGuitar

Piano

Staff Notation

English Notes

Indian Notes

Spanish Notes

Most of the Music systems in the world use Diatonic Scale as the basic framework for musical Compositions which follows same pattern of Pitch distances T T S T T T S

C1

2

3

T

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

4

5

6

7

8

S

Pitch gaps in a Diatonic Scale Diatonic Notes Names in various Music Systems

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Instrument Ranges

C4Middle C

C5 C3 C2 C1 C0 C6 C7 C8

Human Voice

Guitar

Bass Guitar

Violin

Concert Piano

• Every Instrument has a limited Range of Pitches it can play

• Most Vocalists have a Vocal Range of 2-3 Octaves. Some people can go upto 3.5 or even 4

• Sound of same frequency from different Sources sounds very similar even if tone quality (or timbre) is very different. Sound of Frequency in factors of 2 (Octaves) sounds very similar

Octave

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Musical Phrases

Example of a common Melody

Twin kle Twin kle lit tle star how I won der what you are

• Melody is created using different patterns of Notes in a Musical Scale

• Musical phrase is a unit in Composition which has complete musical sense

• A melody typically consists of several consecutive musical phrases.

• Phrases usually culminate into a more or less definite cadence.

• Cadence is musical melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of Resolution

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Harmony

Example of C Chord on Piano and guitar

C Chord = C + E + G

• Consonance is a chord or Interval that sounds pleasant to most people and appears to be at Rest.

• Consonances are generally points of arrival, Resolution or Rest. Most Harmonies and Melodies end on Consonance Chords

• Dissonance appears to be Unpleasant and at Unrest

Consonance and Dissonance

• Combinations of certain notes sound pleasant and certain others sound annoying (dissonant) based on harmonic interaction between different frequencies

• Simultaneous notes of different pitches produce Chords, which provide fundamental building block for Harmony in Western Music

• The study of Harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions.

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Chord Progressions

• I - IV - V – V• I - I - IV – V• I - IV - I – V• I - IV - V - IV

3 Chord Progressions

• I - V - I

• I - IV - V - I

Circle Progressions

• I - I - I - I • IV - IV - I – I• V - V - I - I

Blues Changes

Examples of Chord Progressions

• Series of Chords that establish a Tonal Function for each Chord to produce Harmonic Flow

• Change of Chord, or "chord change", generally occurs on an accented Beat,

• Most Common Chords consist of Triads (3 notes) Formed using alternate notes. E.g. CEG = C Chord, GBD = G Chord

• Chords created using Bass notes of various Scale Degrees of the Tonic (Key) are often referred to with equivalent Roman Numerals. E.g. in the Key of C, C Chord = I, F Chord = IV, G Chord = V

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Rhythm

• Organization of music into regularly recurring measures of stressed and unstressed "beats“

• Indicated in Western music notation by a time signature and bar-lines.

Meter

• Speed or Pace of a given piece• Can affect the mood and

difficulty of a piece.• Usually expressed in Beats per

minute

Tempo

• Rhythm is regulated succession of strong and weak elements and made up of sounds and silences. • The strong and weak elements (sounds and silences) are put together to form a pattern of sounds which

gets repeated • A rhythm has a steady beat, but it may also have different kinds of beats.

Rhythm

• Basic Unit of time that can be audible

• Also called Beat level• Repeating series of

identical distinct periods

Metric Level

Whole note4 Beats

Half note2 Beats

Quarter note1 Beat

Eighth note1/2 Beat

Beat Level Division LevelMultiple Levels

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Expressing Emotions through Music

Emotion Melody Rhythm Harmony (Chord/ Tonality)

Happiness, Excitement

Wide Range Consistent, Strong, Loud, Fast

Major

Love, Affection, Tenderness

Medium Gentle,Medium Tempo

Major

Sadness flat Slow Minor

Tranquillity flat Smooth, Gentle Major/Minor

Triumph,Ecstasy

Wide Jumps Energetic,Loud, Fast

Power Chord

This is only a Rough Guideline. The infinitely complex musical structures and patterns allow Infinitely Complex Emotions to be Expressed with Music

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We welcome your involvement in living music

THANK YOU

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