Piano and Medieval Music: An Overview
The Piano: A String Instrument
The piano belongs to the string family, where the source of vibration determines the classification. String instruments are subdivided based on how the strings are vibrated:
- Bowed strings: A bow is used to rub and vibrate the strings (e.g., violin, viola, cello, bass).
- Plucked strings: Guitar, Harp.
- Plucked strings: Piano.
When a piano sounds, strings are set into vibration. The piano’s development can be traced back to the 18th-century Baroque and Classical periods. Bartolomeo
Read MoreMusic Theory and History: Harmony, Instruments, and Forms
Understanding Harmony in Music
Harmony is the use of different sounds simultaneously, when notes are played together at the same time. Melodies are represented horizontally on the staff, placing one sound after another, and harmonies are represented vertically, placing some sounds above others.
Three or more notes sounded simultaneously form a chord. Most of our music is based on the three-sound chord that we call a triad. Triads are chords created with a root, third, and fifth.
Normally, we distinguish
Read MoreMozart and Elvis: Musical Genius and Rock ‘n’ Roll Myth
Mozart: A Musical Genius
a)
- Mozart can be considered a genius because he was a child prodigy, the youngest person to ever compose music.
- Mozart’s style is unique, representing a synthesis of many different elements, each explored, then partly rejected and partly absorbed.
- The main characteristics of Mozart’s mature music are its melodic beauty, formal perfection, technical flawlessness, unmatched joy, unequaled complexity, richness of harmony and texture, colored by Italian opera and rooted in Austrian
The Mighty Handful: A Movement in Russian Music
The Mighty Handful
Also known as The Five, this group of amateur musicians, each with professions outside of music, formed a movement to elevate Russian music.
Cesar Antonovich Cui (1835-1918)
Considered the group leader, Cui’s music is less known, but he was a significant theorist. His book, La Musique en Russie (Music in Russia), laid the foundation for the movement.
Alekseyevich Mili Balakirev (1836/7-1910)
Imaginative and eccentric, Balakirev founded a music school independent of the St. Petersburg
Read MoreAnalysis of ‘Love Brujo’ and Other Works
Love Brujo
I. – Rhythm:
- a. – Type of rate: Binary
- b. – Compass: 2/4 (two black notes enter each bar)
- c. – Tempo: Moderately fast: “Allegro ma non troppo”
- d. – Other observations:
The rhythm is the most important element of this piece. Increase your force towards the end. Ritual dance has character. Stresses the rhythmic accents of the piano that suggests the beating on the anvil in the forge.
II. – Melody:
- a. – Type of melody: Melody built predominantly with primary grades
- b. – Other comments:
Main melody
Read MoreDebussy, Satie, and Ravel: French Impressionist Music
Claude Debussy’s *Prix de Rome*
Claude Debussy won the *Prix de Rome* with his cantata *L’enfant prodigue*. In Paris, he frequented gatherings with Mallarmé, the symbolist poet whose poems inspired one of his most celebrated works, *Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune*, known for its very original timbre.
Debussy was excited by Maurice Maeterlinck, the chief representative of Symbolist theater, and his drama *Pelléas et Mélisande*, to which he devotedly set music. The action, developed in the
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