STUDENT_______________________________COURSE_______________

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INDEX

1. SOUND........................................................................................ 3

2. THE HEIGHT................................................................................12

3. THE DURATION...........................................................................19

4. THE INTENSITY...........................................................................25

5. THE RINGER............................................................................29

6. RHYTHM, MELODY AND HARMONY.............................................41

7. THE TEXTURE..........................................................................46

8. THE SHAPE.............................................................................49

9. GUITAR..................................................................................52

10. STORE AS.............................................................................54

11. THE MEDIA......................................................................................59

12. THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES............................................................63

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1. HE SOUND
Music is made of sound, but what is sound made of? What is it? When we
hit an object, when we pluck a stretched string, when we blow through a
tube, when we talk and sing, we produce sounds.
Nature is also full of sounds. The churning wind, rain, birds, ocean
waves, etc., and of course the noisy sound of cities, traffic,
shopping malls and bars. All sounds around us are produced and
they come to us in the same way.
For sound to become music, it must have an expressive intention.
HOW IS SOUND PRODUCED?

Sound is produced when a body vibrates and that movement is

transmitted in the form of a sound wave until it reaches our ear. The
vibration of a taut string, of a rubber band, of our vocal cords, of the
head of a drum, of the air through from a tube, from any object that
is hit, is what produces the sound.

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Sound travels at high speed. The waves travel through the air at 340 meters
per second and are transmitted in the same way that waves spread in water
when we throw a stone.
When sound waves encounter an obstacle in their path, they are
reflected, that is, they bounce and return in the opposite direction
towards the source of the sound. If we are in a room and we clap
our hands, the sound bounces off the walls, floor and ceiling, which
makes it prolonged and takes longer to die out. This effect is called
reverberation and explains why music does not sound the same in
a concert auditorium, a sports hall, outdoors or in a church.
Echo is a type of reverberation in which sound repetition occurs
because the time that elapses between the emitted sound and the
reflected sound is so long that they are perceived separately.
Normally, sound travels through the air, but it can also be transmitted through other
media such as water or soil.

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solid bodies. In fact, sound travels at a higher speed in water (1,435
m/s) and even faster in materials such as wood (3,900 m/s) or iron
(5,000 m/s).

THE HUMAN EAR

The ear collects sounds through the eardrum, which is a very thin
membrane that connects the outer ear to the middle ear. When
sound waves hit the eardrum, they make it vibrate, then
converting the variations in air pressure into nerve impulses that
send the information received to the brain.
The human ear cannot capture all sounds. We cannot hear all the
pitches of sound or all the intensities. Regarding height, we only
perceive frequencies between 20 and 20,000 hertz (Hz), that is,
between 20 and 20,000 vibrations per second. These limits constitute
the so-called “infrasounds” and “ultrasounds”.
Regarding intensity, we cannot perceive a sound whose amplitude is
less than a certain minimum value. The minimum intensity is called
“audibility threshold” and corresponds to
10 decibels (dB). The maximum intensity bearable for the ear is
120 dB, and is called the “pain threshold.”

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ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN EAR

WHAT DIFFERENCES ARE THERE BETWEEN SOUND AND NOISE?

Sound is an auditory sensation that is produced by the

vibration of bodies whose waves propagate through physical
media until they reach our ear. But noise also responds to these
same characteristics.

Physically, sound and noise are differentiated by the periodicity

of the wave: the vibrations that produce what we call sound are
regular or periodic vibrations. The vibrations that produce what
we call noise are irregular or aperiodic vibrations, without fixed
intonation, which generate a confusing sensation.

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However, the most significant, and at the same time most

subjective, difference between sound and noise depends on
psychological factors or personal tastes. We understand noise as an
annoying or unpleasant sound and we call sound what we like or
what gives us a more pleasant sensation.

WHAT IS SILENCE?

Silence is the total absence of sound or noise, the absolute lack

of auditory sensation.
But, in reality, absolute silence does not exist. Even if we could
completely isolate ourselves from outside sounds, we would still hear
the internal sounds of our own body.
When we talk about silence in music, we understand it, therefore,
as something relative, as “the white space of music.”

Sound in music is as important an element as sound . It is

the essential precondition for the enjoyment of music: we start
from silence to listen to and interpret a musical work. It fulfills the
function of rest, of taking breath and is often used as a resource of
great expressive force. A silence at the right time can take on
greater meaning than the best of sounds.

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NOISE POLLUTION

In today's society, silence is becoming one of the rarest goods. In

fact, among the many agents of environmental pollution, noise is
perhaps one of those that increases the most, causing greater
direct discomfort to humans.

Noise pollution causes serious injuries to the organism,

causing physical damage, but also psychological problems.

Among physical injuries, hearing loss is probably the most

obvious, but our body interprets noise as a warning signal that
affects the entire organism and also causes physiological
alterations in the cardiovascular, digestive and central nervous
systems.

The state of alert and constant tension that noise produces in

our body also causes psychological problems such as sleep
disturbances, loss of concentration, anxiety, irritability, stress,
etc.

Experts consider a dose of 65 dB to be the limit for mental and

physical health. For this reason, the World Health Organization
(WHO) recommends a maximum of 55 dB during the day and
45 dB during the night. Unfortunately, these limits are rarely
respected.

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SOUND QUALITIES

Sound is the raw material of music, that is, the element with
which music is built. The study of its qualities and its way of
organizing constitutes what we call musical language, the
language of music. A temporal language because, unlike other
materials, sound cannot be seen and does not occupy space, it
is only perceived in time.

In the same way that we refer to the qualities of a person to

identify them by indicating whether they are blonde or dark, tall
or short, thin or thick, or the color of the shirt they are wearing,
we must learn to distinguish the qualities of sound to know it.

The qualities of sound are its “fingerprints”, the properties that

allow us to identify it: pitch, duration, intensity and timbre.
If we try to describe in words a sound that we have made or heard,
we will have to indicate:

If it was a high-pitched or rather serious sound, that is, we will

have to indicate the pitch .

If it was a long or short sound, we will be indicating the

duration it had.

Whether we have heard it loud or soft, that is, the intensity or

volume of the sound.

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If the sound comes from a voice or a certain instrument, we

will be indicating the characteristic timbre of the sound emitter.

ANECDOTARY

Decibel : is the unit of

measurement used to
express the intensity of
sound or acoustic power.

Insects can be distinguished by

how quickly they move their wings.
For example, moths produce about
60 vibrations per second and
mosquitoes about 510 vibrations,
which is why their sound is more
perceptible. The ships take advantage
of the eco to know the
depths of the sea. They
The negative effects of noise on health send sounds that bounce
have been known for many centuries: off the bottom, so the
longer it takes for the
Pliny the Elder in his Natural History (c. sound to return, the deeper
I) says that the people who lived near the sea. The sound can
the Nile Falls “went deaf.” also hit a large school of
Around the year 600 BC. C., the fish; This way, fishing boats
sybarites (inhabitants of the ancient know where to cast their
Greek city of Sybaris) prohibited nets.
working metals with hammers within These devices are called
the city limits. probe .

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ACTIVITIES

1. Prepare a conceptual map of the topic with the main ideas.

2. Defines sound.

3. What is reverb.

4. What differences are there between sound and noise.

5. What is silence?

6. Name three situations in our daily lives that generate noise

pollution.

7. Write a brief comment on this topic.

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2. THE HEIGHT

If pitch is the quality that allows us to distinguish between low

and high sounds, now we need to know what elements we use in
musical language to be able to identify and register the different
pitches of the sound.

The evolution of notation throughout history has been the

result of the different needs required by the music of each
moment. Thus, height notation was the first to be developed,
beginning to be written accurately as early as the 11th century.

The pitch of sound is one of the most important components of

music, since the succession of different pitches configures the
melody of a work.

HEIGHT

The pitch of the sound depends on the wave frequency, which

is the speed of vibration. It is measured in units called hertz
(Hz) which indicate the number of vibrations per second.
At higher frequencies (faster vibrations) the sound is higher
pitched.

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At a lower frequency (slower vibrations) the sound is deeper.

HE LANGUAGE MUSICAL HAS A SERIESOF ELEMENTS

THAT DETERMINE THE HEIGHT

THE NOTES

We should never confuse notes with musical figures, they are different things.

The musical notes are DO-RE-MI-FA-SOL-LA-SI.

HE they organize in scales, that they can be ascending
or descending.
Notes are written on the staff, a set of five lines and four spaces.
In it, we place the notes in an easily recognizable way. If we need
to write notes that do not fit on the staff because they are too low
or high, we use the additional lines.

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THE KEYS

Clefs are signs that are placed at the beginning of the staff to
indicate the name that the notes will receive.

The G clef on the 2nd line tells us that the note located on the
second line is called G. From that reference, we can deduce the
name of the other notes on the staff.

Throughout history, various clef signs have been used to

comfortably cover all the registers on the staff without having to
use too many additional lines.

Currently, the most frequent clefs are SOL in the 2nd line for the
high register and FA in the 4th line for the low register.

TONES AND HALFITONES

The difference in pitch between notes is measured in tones and

semitones.

Our natural scale from C to C' is composed of 5 tones and 2

semitones distributed as follows:

DO RE MY FA SUN THE
YEAH DO' 1 1 ½ 1 1
1 ½

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Semitones are found between the notes E-F and B-C.

If you look at the distribution of the black keys on a piano

(those used to make the semitone distance), you will see that
between the notes E-F and B-C there are no black keys.

THE INTERVALS

We call the distance between two notes the interval.

If the notes appear arranged horizontally, one after the other, we speak of melodic intervals, because they
are the basic element for the construction of the melody, that is, of the sounds arranged successively.

If the notes appear vertically, one above the other, we speak of harmonic intervals, because they are the
basic element for the construction of harmony, that is, of sounds arranged simultaneously.

In the melodic intervals we can then distinguish whether they

have an ascending direction (from low to high) or a descending
direction (from high to low).

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To analyze an interval, we first compare the number of notes it

contains (including the first and last). Thus we can define the
scope or width of the interval indicating whether it is 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
etc., depending on the number of notes it includes. Then, we will
count the tones and semitones of distance between the notes that
make up the interval.

THE ALTERATIONS

Alterations are signs that modify the pitch of the notes by a

semitone. We have three signs of alteration:

The SUSTAINED, raises the note half a step.

The BEMOL lowers the note half a step.

The BECUADRO cancels the effect of the sharp and the flat.

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THE ENHARMONIC NOTES

We call enharmonic notes those that have a different name but

the same sound.

On a piano the black keys are used to make the semitone

distance, they are the accidental keys, for the sharp and the flat.
In this way, all the black keys on the piano can be given two
different names (one as sharp and one as flat) and, therefore, they
are all enharmonic notes.

ANECDOTARY
The tuning fork is a fork-shaped metal bar that, when vibrating, produces the note A (440 Hz) and

THE MUTTING OF THE VOICE

During puberty, the development or “molting” of the voice occurs. Th

In boys, the vocal cords increase from 15 to 30 mm in length. In girls

The lengthening of the vocal cords makes the voice deeper. The cha

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ACTIVITIES

1. What is height?

2. What are the names of musical notes. The Anglo-Saxons call

them differently, relating the two ways of naming them.

3. Briefly write what you know about the keys.

4. What are tones and semitones.

5. What are intervals?

6. What are alterations?

7. What are enharmonic notes?

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3. THE DURATION

If duration is the quality that allows us to distinguish between

long and short sounds, now we must learn what elements of
musical language we use to be able to identify, register and
interpret the different durations.
Duration is the most essential quality of sound since music is
perceived in time. The organization in time of the durations of
sound and silence is the fundamental axis on which the
composer builds his music.
The combination of different durations of sounds and silences
configures the rhythm, which many understand as “the engine of
music.”
Throughout history, the concept of measurement and rhythm
has evolved and changed significantly. It took musicians a long
time to find a suitable and precise notation to represent
durations.

DURATION
The duration of the sound depends on the wave persistence,
which is the time it takes for the vibration to die out.
The greater the persistence (longer the vibration time), the longer
the sound.
The less persistence (shorter vibration time) the sound is shorter.

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HE LANGUAGE MUSICAL HAS A SERIES OF ELEMENTS

THAT DETERMINE THE DURATION

THE FIGURES

The figures are some signs that represent the different

durations of sound.

THE COMPASSES

The measures serve to divide time into equal parts and to

specify the value of figures and silences.

Depending on the number of beats, the measures can be:

Binaries: they are divided into two times. STRONG WEAK.

Ternary: they are divided into three times. STRONG-WEAK-WEAK.

Quaternaries: HE divide in four time. STRONG-

WEAK- STRONG-WEAK.

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THE DIVISION LINES

To separate some measures from others, the bar or dividing
line is used. It is a line that crosses the entire staff vertically.

SIGNS OF PROLONGATION
They are signs that serve to prolong or lengthen the duration
of figures and silences.
There are three ways to prolong a figure.

THE POINT
It is a small dot that is placed to the right of the figures or
silences and adds half of their value. Therefore, the duration of
the point depends on the value it accompanies.

THE LIGATURE
It is a curved line that joins two or more notes of the same sound
by adding their durations.

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THE TIME

We call tempo the speed of interpretation of a musical work.

The tempo affects the absolute value of the durations, since a

four-beat round, for example, does not last the same if it is played
at a fast speed than at a slow one.

To indicate the different tempos, Italian terms are used such as:
Largo : very slowly
Adagio : slowly
Andante : calm Allegro
: quickly Presto : very
quickly
Vivace : very very quickly

THE METRONOME

The metronome is a device with a mechanism similar to a clock

and a pendulum whose oscillations mark the number of beats
per minute. Using a weight and a graduated scale, the
metronome is adjusted to a specific speed.

Sometimes the initial indication of the tempo can be varied

momentarily throughout the work, speeded up, slowed down or
made freer, and then returned to the original tempo.

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These modifications are also indicated with Italian terms, or with

their abbreviations, and the most frequent are:

Accelerating (accel ): increase speed little by little .

Ritardando (rit) either grating (rall):
decrease the speed little by little.

ANECDOTARY
ACTIVITIES
The metronome was patented in 1816 by the Austrian
mechanic Johann Nepomuk Mälzel.
Before this invention, composers used the human pulse as a
reference speed (about 80 beats per minute).
Beethoven, so meticulous and demanding with his works,
was the first composer to use metronomic indications.
However, other composers continued to opt for a freer and
more expressive musical interpretation, far from the
mechanical precision of the metronome.

1. What are musical figures.

2. What difference is there between figures and notes.

3. What are dividing lines?

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4. What is the point?

5. Writes the main terms italians referents to

the duration.

6. What is a metronome?

7. What is tempo.

8. What is the cauldron?

9. What is ligature?

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4. THE INTENSITY

If intensity is the quality that allows us to distinguish between

strong and soft sounds, now we must know what elements of
musical language we use to be able to indicate and interpret the
different intensities.

The work of sound intensity constitutes what we call musical

“dynamics” and is a resource of great expressive force that
composers began to develop from the 17th century onwards.

INTENSITY

The intensity of sound depends on the wave amplitude, which

is the distance from the maximum point of vibration to the rest
point of the body.
The greater the amplitude, the louder the
sound. The lower the amplitude, the softer
the sound.

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HE LANGUAGE MUSICAL HAS A SERIESOF ELEMENTS

THAT DETERMINE INTENSITY

To reflect changes in sound intensity or volume we use a set of

indications called nuances . Nuances can be expressed in three
ways.

By LETTERS .
They are fixed intensity indications and, therefore, remain at the
corresponding volume until a different indication appears.
The most common, from lowest to highest intensity, are:

pp (pianissimo): very soft

p (piano): soft
mp (mezzopiano): medium
soft mf (mezzoforte): medium
strong F (forte): strong
ff (fotíssimo): very strong

sfz (sfuendo): strongly reinforcing or accentuating

Fp (fortepiano): loud and immediately soft

By TERMS .
They are progressive or gradual indications of intensity, in such a
way that the volume of the sound goes through different degrees
to gradually go from soft to loud or from strong to soft.

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crescendo (cresc.): growing in intensity little by little.

decrescendo (decresc.): decreasing in intensity little by little.
diminuendo (dim.): decreasing the intensity little by little.

By REGULATORS.
They are signs in the shape of an angle that represent, like the
terms, a gradual or progressive change in intensity.

With the vertex to the left (equivalent to crescendo )

With the vertex on the right (equal to decrescendo or
diminuendo )

PHRASING AND ARTICULATION

They are signs that mark the structure of the phrases of a
musical work and the way in which the different motifs and
notes should be interpreted.

To differentiate the musical ideas of a work, in addition to the

silence signs, other signs are used as guides for phrasing.

Phrasing ligature : covers a musical phrase and indicates that

the performance should be ligated and uncut.

Apostrophe or comma : marks a brief pause to breathe at the

end of a sentence and before starting the next.

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ANECDOTARY

MUSIC SPEAKS ITALIAN

As with tempo terms, intensity

indications also use Italian terms or THE SAXOPHONE
their abbreviations, since Italian
composers were the first to begin The saxophone, better known by
developing a nomenclature for the name saxophone, is an
expressive indications in music. instrument created by Adolphe
Sax in the mid-1840s, when
Bizet was still a child. Georges
Bizet was one of the first
composers to include it in his
orchestrations.
ACTIVITIES

1. Prepare a conceptual map of the topic with the main ideas.

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5. THE DOORBELL

Timbre is the quality of sound that allows us to identify who

produces the sound, since each voice and each instrument have
a unique and characteristic timbre.

The timbre is, therefore, the emitter of the sound. The body
through which the other musical elements, melody, rhythm,
dynamics, etc. are presented.

We can consider timbre as “the color of music.” Just like colors

in painting, the timbre of different instruments and voices has a
certain personality whose combination gives music an
extraordinarily varied palette of colors.

In order for the composer to properly instrument a musical work,

he must know the technical and expressive characteristics of the
different voices and instruments.

DOORBELL

The timbre depends on the mixture of the sound mainly with its
harmonics.

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Harmonic sounds are those that accompany the fundamental

(with greater amplitude) and make each voice and each
instrument have its particular timbre, since each voice and each
instrument has its own harmonics.

When we hear a sound, it is never a pure sound, but rather a

mixture of sounds with different frequency and amplitude of
vibration.

Just as the combination of different colors produces another

color, the combination of harmonic sounds produces different
timbres.

THE HUMAN VOICE

The voice is the most beautiful and perfect instrument. When
we speak or sing our brain sends a set of signals to different
areas of the body so that they become operational.

Like any other instrument, the production of the voice requires an

elastic material that vibrates, a mechanism capable of making it
vibrate, and a sound box that amplifies and modulates the sound.

The main organs of the respiratory system are the lungs. They
are found in the thoracic cage, delimited by the

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ribs, sternum and diaphragm.

To breathe, we first take in air (inspiration) and then expel it
(exhalation). Between these two moments there is an
intermediate phase in which we maintain the inspired air
(retention).

A good respiratory technique therefore includes mastery of these three phases.

inspiration-retention-expiration.

THE BREATHING

There are two basic types of breathing:

Upper breathing : this is what we normally do when we want to

breathe deeply. We raise our shoulders and fill our chest with air. It
is not the most advisable practice because we only use the upper
part of the lungs, the smallest, and therefore breathing is shorter
and more forced.

Abdominal breathing : it is the breathing that we generally

practice when we are relaxed. The belly rises and falls due to the
action of the diaphragm. During inspiration the belly expands and
the diaphragm lowers, allowing the lower part of the lungs to fill
with air. During expiration, the diaphragm rises and expels air from
the lungs.

Abdominal breathing is the most appropriate and the one that

is always used for singing, since it allows the best possible filling
of the rib cage.

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ANATOMY OF THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

HOW IS THE VOICE PRODUCED?

The voice is produced in the speech apparatus, whose main

organ is the larynx, where the vocal cords are located. The
larynx is located above the trachea and in front of the pharynx.

The air we expel from the lungs reaches the vocal cords
through the trachea and larynx.

The vocal cords are two small muscles joined together, which
contract and vibrate as air passes, thus producing the voice. The
sounds will be different depending on the separation and tension
of the vocal cords.

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ANATOMY OF THE SPEAKER SYSTEM

Like any other instrument, the voice needs a soundboard that

amplifies the sound and allows it to be modeled.
The resonator apparatus is made up of the rib cage, trachea,
nose, forehead and mouth.
It is in this last phase where each person, each voice, acquires its
characteristic timbre.
To speak and sing correctly it is very important to learn to
properly use the voice resonators, trying to prevent the sound
from coming out of the throat.
The use of the different resonators is related to the different
voice registers. Thus, singers use the so-called “head register”
for high notes and the “chest register” for low notes.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE HUMAN VOICE

Men's voices sound an octave lower than women's. Children's, or

white, voices correspond to the tessitura of female voices.

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FEMALE VOICES

SOPRANO................... TESITURE: ACUTE

MEZZOSOPRANO......TESSITURE: MEDIUM

CONTRALTO................TESSITURE: SERIOUS

MALE VOICES
TENOR................... TESITURE: ACUTE

BARITONE..............TESSITURE: MEDIUM

LOW.....................TESSITURE: SERIOUS

CLASSIFICATION OF INSTRUMENTS

All instruments are characterized by the existence of three basic

elements for the production of sound:

1. An elastic material that generates vibration.

2. A mechanism capable of making that material vibrate.

3. A sound box that amplifies the sound.

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The instruments are classified by families:

ROPE (CORDOPHONES) SOUND OF A STRING VIBRATING

WIND (AEROPHONES) SOUND OF A COLUMN OF AIR

WHEN VIBRATING

PERCUSSION (MEMBRANOPHONE AND

idiophones) sound OF A MEMBRANE OR A BODY
VIBRATES

STRING INSTRUMENTS
They are divided into three groups:

RUBBED ROPE. The string vibrates when rubbed by a bow.

PLUCKED. The string vibrates when plucked with the fingers or a

plectrum.

PERCUSTED ROPE. The string vibrates when struck.

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THE WIND INSTRUMENTS

They are divided into two groups:

WOOD WIND. Those wind instruments that are made of wood, or

in ancient times were built with this material.

METAL WIND. Those wind instruments that are made of metal.

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PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS

They are divided into two groups:

MEMBRANOPHONES. Sound is produced by the vibration of a
membrane.

IDIOPHONES. The sound is produced by the vibration of the entire

instrument.

ELECTRICAL INSTRUMENTS

Sound is produced by means of an electric current.

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ANECDOTARY
“THE CASTRATI”
The fact that women were prohibited from singing in churches
forced composers to use as high voices those of children
educated under the protection of the various chapels. But when
the children grew up, they lost their white voice and their high
register.
Thus, in the s. XVI, the custom began in southern Europe of
castrating children who had a gift for music before they began to
change their voices. The oblation of the genitals prevented the
growth of the larynx and therefore the vocal cords, maintaining
a child's white voice in an adult body with the thoracic capacity
of a man. The young Cattrato received complete musical,
literary and historical instruction free of charge for ten years.
Afterwards, they were usually adopted or protected by some
high figure of the aristocracy or the Church who made sure to
provide them with a brilliant career.
Their high and crystalline timbre, together with the technical virtuosity and power of their voices, made the
castrati the most acclaimed singers during the 17th and 18th centuries in Italian opera houses and in much of
Europe. Composers such as Monteverdi, Handel, Gluck, Mozart and Rossini entrusted castrati with the roles of
heroes and gods in their operas.
The most famous castrato of all time was Carlo Broschi (1705-
1782), known as Farinelli, who was said to be able to travel three
octaves by trilling each note. Farinelli

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He finished his career in Madrid, in the service of King Ferdinand

VI, to whom he sang the same arias every day.
In 1770, Pope Clement XIV authorized women to sing in church
and prohibited castration. However, the last known castrato,
Alessandro Moreschi, was “improved” (as they said at the time) in
1868 and sang in the Sistine Chapel until 1913.

ACTIVITIES

1. Name the four families of classical instruments.

2. What instruments are of the most recent invention.

3. Write four string instruments.

4. Write four brass instruments.

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5. Write four woodwind instruments.

6. Write four percussion instruments.

7. What produces sound in wind instruments and string

instruments.

8. That differences there is between a organ, a

piano and a synthesizer.

9. What are the differences between a membranophone and an

idiophone.

10. Make a diagram explaining the different human voices, both

male and female.

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6. RHYTHM,
MELODY AND
HARMONY

RHYTHM
Rhythm is not an exclusive element of music. We can discover
its presence in other manifestations: the change of the seasons
of the year, day and night, breathing, walking, etc. All these
realities have in common their cyclical nature, that is, the
repetition of moments of tension and rest, of ups and downs.
Rhythm is, therefore, the succession of two opposite states.

Musically, rhythm is defined as the ordering of sounds and silences in time.

This rhythmic arrangement is carried out according to the distribution of the
regular pulses that mark the measures, in which we distinguish strong or
accented beats and weak beats.

Rhythm is the most primitive element of music. All researchers

believe that the history of music began with the percussion of a
rhythm.

Even today we can verify this statement when listening to the

music of primitive people in documentaries or films. It is almost
exclusively rhythmic music.

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MELODY
The most important musical element after rhythm. If rhythm is
associated with physical movement, the idea of melody is
associated with emotion, with feelings.

We call melody the linear succession of sound pitches that

express a musical idea.

All melodies are built within a certain system of scales, that is,
within an organization of sound pitches.

STRUCTURE OF THE MELODY

In the same way that in verbal language we distinguish syllables,
words, phrases, paragraphs, etc., which are arranged to compose
an idea, in musical language the measures are also made up of
smaller structures. Thus, in a melody we can distinguish:
REASON-PHRASE-CADENCE-TOPIC
REASON
It would be the equivalent to the word, that is, a small set of notes with musical meaning. It is the basic cell
of the melody since the chaining and development of the motifs build the musical phrase.
PHRASE
Like the grammatical phrase, it is a melody with its
own meaning that ends in a cadence.

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CADENCE
Equivalent to pauses in language, it serves to separate different
musical phrases. The cadences can have a more or less conclusive
character depending on the note they use as the final note. The
perfect cadence is the one that ends on the tonic.

ISSUE
It is the melody that becomes the center of a musical work, the
main idea on which the entire composition is built. Therefore, it is
usually a recognizable melody, easy to identify and remember.

Normally, the theme is composed of a musical phrase that we can divide into two
semi-phrases. The first, as a question, is called antecedent. The second, response,
is called consequent.

HARMONY
A harmonic interval is one in which the notes sound at the
same time. Harmony is then the part of music that deals with
the study of sounds that are produced at the same time.

The harmony HE It represents of shape vertical, placing

some

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sounds on top of others to indicate that they occur at the same time.
A harmonic interval, that is, two sounds heard at the same time,
can produce in the listener two different sensations that we call
consonance and dissonance.

Consonance is the sounds that the ear perceives in a relaxed and

balanced way, which complement or merge almost as if they were
a single sound.

Dissonance is the sounds that the ear perceives with tension,

which seem to repel or collide with each other, and two different
sounds are clearly distinguished.

In traditional music theory, consonance was defined as intervals

that were pleasant to the ear, and dissonance as those that
produced an annoying or unpleasant sensation.

Obviously, the evolution of music throughout history has also

caused a transformation in the way we listen to and appreciate
sounds, such that today we can understand as consonant sounds
those that long ago were considered dissonant.

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ANECDOTARY
FROM MOZART
ACTIVITIES
It is said that Mozart had such melodic facility that he could compose mentally while
doing other things. Then he wrote it all down in one go... and without making a mistake!
This anecdote shows that the melody, for certain composers, flows with the same
1. What iswith
naturalness rhythm?
which the phrases are linked in spoken language.
The composition of melodies depends a lot on intuition; It does not obey strict rules.

WE WANT VACATIONS!
2. Basic rhythms.
The musicians at the Esterházy palace were upset because they had to work in the
summer and could not enjoy vacations with their families. As a protest, Haydn
composed Symphony No. 45, The Goodbyes. In this symphony, the musicians
gradually stop playing and leave the stage, one after another, until it is empty. The
3. What is the melody.
prince took the hint and gave the palace musicians a vacation.

4. What is harmony?

5. What is the difference between dissonance and consonance.

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7. THE TEXTURE

Texture can be compared to the way of weaving the possible

voices or melodic lines of a composition.
Just like with the sense of touch, we can check the texture of a
fabric or any surface. Our brain captures the roughness or
softness of the materials that make it up. Our ear can capture
the texture when we distinguish different simultaneous sounds,
which make up certain musical works. Sometimes this sound
texture sounds good to our ears, if the musicians have known
how to interpret and direct the sounds correctly; other times we
will find an unpleasant texture, and we make a strange face,
when we detect that what sounds is not pleasant to our ears and
our “musical sense”. The latter will happen to us when we see a
color combination that is not aesthetically correct to our tastes.
WHAT IS TEXTURE
By TEXTURE we understand the musical framework of a work,
the result of the arrangement of its different parts or voices. The
musical texture is thus defined depending on how the melodic-
harmonic “threads” are arranged.
The texture is reflected in the visual aspect of the score, in its way
of writing, in such a way that we can distinguish two main types of
texture: horizontal writing and vertical writing.

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TYPES OF TEXTURE

Monodic or monophonic texture: composed of a single melodic

line. Although several interpreters are involved, they all do the
same thing at the same time. It is the texture we normally use
when we sing in a group.

Polyphonic or contrapuntal texture: it consists of several melodic

lines that sound at the same time. The voices are independent of each
other and the use of imitation is frequent. The clearest example of
polyphonic texture is the canon.

Accompanied melody texture: consists of a main melody that is

accompanied by other voices through chords.
Current popular music is the clearest example of accompanied
melody: a leading singer supported by other voices and
instruments.

ANECDOTARY
PIANO NAME

The name piano is a simplification of “pianoforte”, the original name of the instrument that alluded to its
It was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1709.

CHARLES CHAPLIN

He is the most representative actor of silent cinema, although he also participated in sound films.
He was dressed like a gentleman, although with a slightly narrow jacket and very large shoes, and acc
In addition to being a great actor, Chaplin was the composer of the music in most of his films.

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ACTIVITIES

1. Defines accompanied melody.

2. Defines harmony.

3. What is monoday?

4. What is homophony.

5. What is polyphony.

6. What is texture?

7. Make a small outline with the main ideas of the topic.

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8. THEORMA

All music, from the simplest to the most elaborate composition,

needs a structure on which to build. But of course, music is an
art that is perceived very differently from the rest of the arts. In
a painting, in a sculpture or in an architectural construction, we
can observe the form at a glance, but we cannot perceive the
music at a glance. Music takes time to develop and appreciate, it
is a temporary art. With every second that passes, we hear
something new and the old fades away.

To create music, the composer must take into account the

particularities of his art. You must decide not only what materials
you choose, but how and in what order you are going to present
them. That is, you must choose the formal structure of your music.

THE MUSICAL FORM

Musical form is the structure or temporal scheme on which

music develops.

Music is a temporary art, which develops over time, and therefore,

is “lost” in time. This particularity of music means that one of the
formal resources most used by the composer is repetition.

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A writer does not need to repeat in the fourth paragraph what he

has said in the first. The reader has the text in their hands to
review and remember if necessary. A listener, on the other hand,
appreciates the repetition of a musical fragment because it allows
him to guide himself while listening and focus on the work he is
listening to.

But the repetition of a musical fragment does not always have to

be exact. The composer can resort to different procedures to
repeat the same “musical idea” without it being an identical copy.
Thus, we can also understand repetition:
- The sequence: when a fragment is repeated in another
tessitura or tonality different from the original.
- Variation: when a fragment is repeated with slight
modifications.
- Development: when a fragment is repeated with a broader
elaboration that introduces other elements.

Along with the resource of repetition, its opposite is also used:

contrast or non-repetition. Thus we can differentiate the known
parts from those that continue to be introduced. The recognition
in a hearing of what we have already heard before (repetition)
and what appears new (contrast), will allow us to identify the
musical form.
All music needs a structure on which to build. We don't just talk
about form in classical music. Most popular music, traditional
and current, responds to very simple formal structures.

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ANECDOTARY
THE LUTHIERS

Luthiers are artisan makers of instruments. Each workshop, depending on its skill and noble materials

There are luthiers for guitars, violins and all kinds of instruments.
There are also factories where many instruments are built in series, to meet the high demand that mu

There are very famous guitar workshops in Algodonales (Cádiz).

A very famous luthier, whose work has not been equaled, was Antonio Stradivari. Italian violin maker

ACTIVITIES

1. What is musical form.

2. Defines sequence.

3. Defines variation.

4. Defines development.

5. Defines contrast.

6. What is a luthiers?

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9. THE GUITAR

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ANECDOTARY
ACTIVITIES
THE ELECTRIC GUITAR

The electric guitar has a solid wood body, so it lacks a

soundboard. Thus, sound amplification is artificial: pickups or
“pickups,” small magnetic buttons embedded in the body of
the guitar, capture the vibration of the string. They convert it
into an electrical signal and send it to the amplifier. The
amplifier converts the electrical signal into sound. The first
electric guitars were manufactured around 1930.
1. Elaboratehere a little job about the guitar with
the following scheme:

History of the guitar.

Best guitarists in history.

Types of guitars.

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10.SAVE AS...
The fact of being able to record and later reproduce sounds has
been a long-awaited dream of many inventors.
We can go back to archaic times to see the attempts to capture
music, the human voice,... With some failed invention or with
magic and fantastic stories (books that talk, voices trapped in
ice...)
MECHANICAL REPRODUCTIONS

The first sound players can be considered the mechanical devices,

gears and pulleys that have been manufactured since ancient times
and that interpret automaton melodies. Such as music boxes,
automatic carillons, mechanical pianos, or hand-cranked organs.

EDISON'S PHONOGRAPH

In 1877, the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison presented

the phonograph at the French Academy of Sciences, in which
he recorded and played a phrase from the song Mary had a
little lamb (the first official recording in history). The invention
basically consisted of grooves that were marked in a tin or wax
tube, with a needle that collected sound waves through a
resonator tube. By reversing this process, that is, sliding the
needle between the grooves, the sound was heard amplified by
the tube.

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THE BERLINER GRAMOPHONE

In 1886, Emile Berliner presented his gramophone, a machine

quite similar to Edison's phonograph, except that it replaced the
tin or wax cylinder with flat discs made of zinc and other plastic
alloys. This new format allowed a better way of duplicating from
the master disk; And also, since they were flat discs, they were
easier to transport and store.

PHONOGRAPHY

The recording and subsequent reproduction of sound will have

enormous consequences on our habits.

Already in the 20th century, with the appearance of electric

amplifiers and microphones, LPs (long-playing) appeared, where
records manufactured by Vini acquired great prominence.
Stereophonic recordings of increasingly higher quality are being
made.

THE MAGNETOPHONE

In 1898, a engineer Danish called Poulsen presents a

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recording made on a steel wire. This invention developed

towards the magnetic tape that allowed recording, playing and
erasing. It was the German brand AEG, the first to build a tape
recorder with plastic tape.

THE CASSETTE

In 1960, the Philips company manufactured a revolutionary new

tape format, in a small plastic case with a 3.81 mm wide tape that
was wound on two reels. This new version would have great
domestic acceptance.

THE COMPACT DISC (CD)

The CD is a polycarbonate disc with a diameter of 12 cm, which

appeared in 1982, achieving high fidelity sound and a
comfortable musical support.

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OTHER SUPPORTS

Today's MP4s, computer hard drives, synthesizers and telephones

mobiles HE they have converted in
something very usual In our days, where eithe
consumer society has focused, technical possibilities at the user

level seem limitless.

The WALKMAN is the ancestor of our popular MP4s that
accompany us everywhere, it played a cassette tape, was the size
of a pocket book, and became very popular in the years
80s of the 20th century. It was created in 1979 by the Japanese
engineer Akio Morita.

ANECDOTARY
BEETHOVEN STUFF

Beethoven was not a good student at school and, for this reason, spelling mistakes appear in his lette

He often stopped playing in public if he noticed that people weren't paying attention or talking.

He was a great lover of nature, to the point of stating: “I prefer trees a thousand times over any person

BRAHMS STUFF

Brahms was such a perfectionist that he always carried a notebook in

which he wrote down the musical errors he found in the works of other
composers.

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ACTIVITIES

1. What were the first sound players that were invented.

2. What is a phonograph and who invented it.

3.What is a tape recorder and who invented it.

4. Defines phonography.

5. Who invented the cassette.

6.The compact disc is manufactured with__________, in the

year_______.

7. Other very current supports ______, ______, _______ and

are:
________ .
8. What is a Walkman?

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11. THE MEDIA OF

COMMUNICATION

The media is constantly evolving. Surely the first means of

communication was the language of signs and gestures used by
our prehistoric ancestors. Later would come the hieroglyphics
and first alphabets. With the appearance of writing,
communication is perpetuated intergenerationally. Later, the
invention of the printing press would mark the starting signal for
the spread of information and culture throughout the
community. The creation of the written press will later lead to
copying this information technique to the world of radio,
television, internet...
With the appearance of radio and television in the 20th
century, music spread with great ease to an unimaginable
number of people. Melodies and artists can become very popular
thanks to the enormous diffusion they enjoy in these
communication formats.

To the purely musical programs, the tunes of other news

programs, documentaries, contests, etc. should be added. Tunes
that open and close television or radio spaces, spots and musical
backgrounds.

Within television (which in Spain began its journey in 1956),

the dissemination of

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video clips, which in the '80s were going to be quite attractive to young
audiences.

Nor should we overlook the great importance that music has in

the advertising spaces that flood and “finance” the large radio
and television networks. These advertisements, created by
teams of advertisers, psychologists and musicians, try to attract
listeners and viewers to their products, developing melodies
(jingles, which is the name for melodies specially composed for
advertising), and lively and direct slogans that attract and
impact viewers.

WHAT INVENTIONS!

Radio is based on the transmission of sounds using

electromagnetic waves; it owes its invention to an Italian, Marconi,
in 1896.

T he television reviewed the process of a cluster of inventions

developed by several people, we highlight Vladimir Kosma. The
BBC was the first television network, it began broadcasting in 1927.

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THE YOUNGEST MEDIA: INTERNET

It began its journey in the mid-90s and has flooded our lives on all
levels. Within the domestic world, it allows us to exchange music
files, obtain different virtual players and formats.
But it is also a source of controversy due to the incursion of
piracy, and the poor definition of laws that govern the avenues of
information. The debate on the copyright of musical pieces that
circulate on the Internet is open, and in the process of searching
for solutions that satisfy users and artists.

ACTIVITIES

1. What consequences does the appearance of radio and later

television have for music?

2. What is a video clip and in what year it appears.

3.Television in Spain began its journey in the year_____.

4. What is a jingle?

5. Who invented the radio and in what year.

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6. Who do we highlight in the invention of television.

7. What was the first television in the world to broadcast, and

in what year.

8. The Internet began its journey in the middle of the _____ years.

9. “Lights” of the internet.

10. “Shadows” of the internet.

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12. THE NEW

TECHNOLOGIE
S

The Internet has already become the most developed means of

music distribution, with no end in sight for its future. The new
compressed mp3 formats, which appeared at the end of the
'90s, have made the circulation of music files over the Internet
at high transmission speeds.

MP3 AND MP4 PLAYERS

It was in 2001 when the first MP3 player device appeared, being a
true revolution in the market. Its small size and large storage
capacity were the keys to its success. In recent years the speed of
evolution of these devices never stops surprising us, they no longer
only store music files, but also video, images and all types of data.
Connectivity with a computer and other audiovisual media makes
them have uses that are no longer surprising.

NEW TOOLS

The synthesizer emits electronic sounds that imitate the sounds

of traditional instruments. They can also produce newly created
sounds.

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With synthesizers and computers, connected to each other. We

can record, mix, transform and create virtual orchestras. This
union of synthesizers, sequencers and computers uses a code:
midi.

THE MUSICAL SOFWARE

There are numerous computer programs that allow us to work

with music and enhance our personal resources. So we can find
sheet music editors, virtual mixing consoles, midi players, karaoke
machines, video editors...

Some are simpler than others, which each individual can use
within their possibilities.

Thanks to computing, a musician (he or she does not have to

be a professional) can play an instrument and be accompanied
by a virtual orchestra, provided by a midi sequence run by a
computer, or a modern player, of which everyone already
knows. We have it in our living room, or in our pocket (mp4 or
mobile).

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AT

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AT

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MUSICOGRAMS

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AT

NOTES BOX

(Color the score you reach green)

Works to realize

1st evaluation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2nd evaluation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3rd evaluation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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