CHAPTER 3

You made it to the second half of this learning package. Give yourself that well-
deserved pat on the back for giving your best in every step of the learning process.
On this unit, you will get to know and experience various art works and how they
shaped up the different artistic eras and movements throughout history. You shall find
out how style, content, medium, and perspective has shifted through time.
You will also get to experience how to internalize art by tapping your
subconscious and seeking meaning from your innermost thoughts. Basically, you will get
to know more about yourself through the help of art.

Fernando Amorsolo is called by one of

many names such as the Father of Filipino
Landscape, The Painter of Endless Summer
Days, and the Grand Old Man of Philippine Art.

He is one of the greatest Filipino artists.

He developed the backlighting technique which
became his trademark in his paintings.

His work underscores all of his years of

creative activity which have “defined and
perpetuated a distinct element of the nation’s
artistic and cultural heritage” said Nick Joaquin.

[Fernando Amorsolo in painting]. (n.d.). https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/295408056789342599/

Our very own artists and artisans will also be highlighted along with the
renowned artists and artisans of the world. In this effect, you will have an insight as to
the time, effort, and resources at stake in making such intricate and precious crafts as
well as works of art.
As you move on to the next lesson, you will get a special crash course on Music
101 and some of the most prominent figures in each musical era.

Course Learning Outcomes:

CLO 1 Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of arts in general, including their

function, value and historical significance

CLO 2 Analyze and appraise works of art based on aesthetic value, historical context,
tradition, and social relevance

CLO 3 Create their own works of art and curate their own production or exhibit.

CLO 4 Utilizing art for self-expression and for promoting advocacies.

COL 5 Discover and deepen their identity through

1 art with respect to their nationality, culture,
and religion.
 LESSON 1
History of Art
We should always dig into the history of a concept, person, or event in order to
completely know its origins and foundations on how a certain idea came to be the way it
is.
In this lesson, we will focus on the numerous artistic trends that have occurred
over the years, as well as the account of how these techniques have changed over time.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this chapter, you are expected to be able to achieve the following:
A. Identify the different artistic movements in history;
B. Create a timeline of the series of artistic movements; and
C. Identify some day-to-day objects and the artistic movement behind it.

Let Us Engage on This!

Ponder on this:
“It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So, we must
dig and delve unceasingly.”- Calude Monet

From prehistoric times to the twenty-first century, art history encompasses the
entire history of humanity. You can uncover visual arts that engage your artistic side and
stimulate you to find pleasure in manmade forms, whether you prefer caveman paintings
or Botticelli angels.
Art history has evolved into a discipline that teaches people how to analyze and
understand works of art out of their own standpoint in current times. Because the
concept of what is beautiful changes from person to person, art history has been
chastised for its subjectivity. Depending on the forms of art you already know, you can
enhance your aesthetic perception by learning to critique what you see.

Line, color, shape, texture, and value are all design elements in art history, and
you must analyze and characterize with what you see in terms of them. You can
compare one artwork to another once you've written a response to it. An option is to
make direct comparisons among artists and their creative expression with the mind’s
gaze.
2
Timeline of Art History
1. Prehistoric Art
As long as humankind has been conscious of itself, it has been creating art to
represent his self. The earliest cave paintings that we are aware of were created roughly
40,000 years ago. We have found paintings and drawings of human activity from the
Paleolithic Era under rocks and in caves. We cannot truly know the reason why these
early humans began to produce art. Perhaps painting and drawing were a way to record
their lived experiences, to tell stories to young children, or to pass down wisdom from
one generation to the next.

These prehistoric rock paintings are

in Manda Guéli Cave in the Ennedi
Mountains, Chad, Central Africa. Camels
have been painted over earlier images of
cattle, perhaps reflecting climatic changes

Stanley, D. [prehistoric rock paintings are in Manda Guéli Cave in the Ennedi Mountains, Chad,
Central Africa]. (2015). https://artincontext.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Early-Periods-of-Art.jpg

2. Romanesque Period (1000-1300)

Romanesque art developed during the rise of Christianity 1000 AD. During this time,
only a small percentage of the European population were literate. The ministers of the
Christian church were typically part of this minority, and to spread the message of the
bible, they needed an alternative method.
Christian objects, stories, deities, saints, and ceremonies were the exclusive subject
of most Romanesque paintings. Intended to teach the masses about the values and
beliefs of the Christian Church, Romanesque paintings had to be simple and easy to
read.
At the most fundamental level, paintings of the Romanesque period serve the
purpose of spreading the word of the bible and Christianity. The name of this art era
stems from round arches used in Roman architecture, often found in churches of the
time.

3
 The Altar frontal
from Avià is a
rare Romanesque altar
frontal exhibited at
the National Art Museum of
Catalonia in Barcelona. It is
the front of the altar of the
church of St. Mary of Avià,
in the county of Berguedà,
later moved to MNAC
Barcelona, while the church
has a replica in place. It is
dated to the 13th century or
earlier, and was painted by
[Altar frontal from Avià]. (n.d.). https://artincontext.org/art-periods/ an unknown artist
3. Gothic Era (1100-1500)
One of the most famous eras, Gothic art grew out of the Romanesque period in
France and is an expression of two contrasting feelings of the age. On one hand, people
were experiencing and celebrating a new level of freedom of thought and religious
understanding. On the other, there was a fear that the world was coming to an end. You
can clearly see the expression of these two contrasting tensions within the art of the
Gothic period.

Just as in the Romanesque period, Christianity lay at the heart of the tensions of the
Gothic era. As more freedom of thought emerged, and many pushed against conformity,
the subjects of paintings became more diverse. The stronghold of the church began to
dissipate.
Duccio was the
preeminent Sienese painter in the early
years of the fourteenth century. He
infused the prevailing Byzantine style
with a more naturalistic, narrative
mode.

The Gospel according to John

(11:1–44) tells how when Lazarus fell
ill, his sisters Martha and Mary sent for
his friend Jesus. By the time Jesus
arrived in Bethany, Lazarus was
already dead four days. Duccio shows
the moment when Jesus called Lazarus
forth from the tomb, prefiguring his own
Resurrection.

4
 Buoninsegna, D. (1310). The raising of Lazarus. https://artincontext.org/art-periods/

4. Medieval Art (5th century- 1400)

A highly religious art beginning in the 5th Century in Western Europe. It was
characterized by iconographic paintings illustrating scenes from the bible.
Religious themes, topic resemblance, symbolism instead of realism, storytelling, and
larger sizes of art works are all characteristics of this style. As early as the 14th century,
the early Medieval period was alluded to as the "Dark Ages" by Petrarch (1304-1374),
an Italian poet and scholar who saw no redeeming features in cultures after the loss of
the classical world in knowledge and training until the Renaissance. Throughout this
period, the church emerged as a powerful force essential in European unification.
Petrarch had us assume that the Middle Ages were as dismal as he would have us
believe. It was an age of thrilling artistic interchange, with the emergence of modern
universities and cities.
Medieval Art was made up of
various artistic mediums, such
as sculpture, illuminated
manuscripts, Photo stained
source: glass,
tapestries, Visual arts cork.comand
mosaics,
metalworks. Numerous artworks
were made using these different
styles, which went on to have a
higher survival rate than other
mediums like fresco wall
paintings.

De la Cruz, D. (1495). Christ of Mercy between the Prophets David and Jeremiah.
https://artincontext.org/famous-medieval-paintings/

5. Renaissance (1300-1600)
This is a word that signifies "rebirth" or "revival." The Ottoman Turks captured
Constantinople in 1453, and the restoration of Graeco-Roman knowledge promoted
rationalism, which sparked the Renaissance movement. As a result, a scientific mindset
and a passion for inquiry developed. This encouraged a spirit of exploration and
discovery.
The Renaissance era is possibly one of the most
well-known, featuring artists like Michelangelo and
Leonardo da Vinci. This era continued to focus on the
individual human as its inspiration and took influence from
the art and philosophy of the ancient Romans and Greeks.
The Renaissance can be seen as a cultural rebirth.

Mona Lisa, also called Portrait of Lisa Gherardini,

wife of Francesco del Giocondo, oil painting on
a poplar wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, probably the
world’s most5 famous painting. It was painted sometime
between 1503 and 1519, when Leonardo was living
in Florence, and it now hangs in the Louvre
Museum, Paris, where it remained an object of pilgrimage
in the 21st century. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her
unproven identity have made the painting a source of
6. Mannerism (1520- 1600)
Not all of the art produced in this era is what we would understand today as “kitsch”.
What we understand kitsch to mean today is often artificial, cheaply made, and without
much ‘classic’ taste. Instead, the reason we describe the art of this period as being
kitsch is due to the relative over-exaggeration that characterized it. Stemming from the
newfound freedom of human expression in the Renaissance period, artists began to
explore their own unique and individual artistic style, or manner.

The small S-curve of the human body that

characterizes the Renaissance style is transformed
into an unnatural bending of the body. This is the
first European style that attracted artists from
across Europe to its birthplace in Italy.

Madonna and Long Child with Angels and

St. Jerome, is an Italian Mannerist oil painting
by Parmigianino, dating from 1535-1540 and
depicting Madonna and Child with angels.

The painting is popularly called Madonna

of the Long Neck because the painter, in his
eagerness to make the Holy Virgin look graceful
and elegant, has given her a neck like that of a
7.
swan.
8. Parmigianino has distorted nature for his
9. own artistic purposes, creating a
typical Mannerist art. Jesus is also extremely large
10. for a baby, and he lies precariously on Mary's lap
as if about to fall at any moment. The Madonna
11. herself is of hardly human proportions—she is
almost twice the size of the angels to her right. Her
12. right foot rests on cushions that appear to be only
13. a few inches away from the picture plane, but the
foot itself seems to project beyond it, and is thus
14. on "our" side of the canvas, breaking the
conventions of a framed picture.

Parmigianino. (1535). Madonna and Long Child with

Angels and St. Jerome. https://artincontext.org/art-
periods/

6
15. Baroque (1590-1760)
The progression of art celebrating the lives of humans over the power of the divine
continued into the Baroque era. Kings, princes, and even popes began to prefer to see
their own power and prestige celebrated through art than that of God. The over-
exaggeration that classified Mannerism also continued into the Baroque period, with the
scenes of paintings becoming increasingly unrealistic and magnificent.
Baroque paintings often showed scenes where kings would be ascending into the
heavens, mingling with the angels, and reaching ever closer to the divinity and power of
God. Here, we really can see the progression of human self-importance, and although
the subject matter does not move away entirely from religious symbolism, man is
increasingly the central power within the compositions.

Quaglio, G. (1703). [Baroque ceiling frescoes of Cathedral in Ljubljana, Slovenia]. https://artincontext.org/art-periods/

16. Rococo (1720-1780)

The paintings from the Rococo era are typical of the French aristocracy of the time.
The name stems from the French word rocaille which means “shellwork”. The solid
forms which characterized the Baroque period softened into light, air, and desire.
Paintings of this era were no longer strong and powerful, but light and playful.

The colors were lighter and brighter, almost transparent in some instances. Many
pieces of art from this period neglected religious themes, although some artists like
Tiepolo did create frescos in many churches.

7 Francois Boucher
garnered acclaim as a painter
of large mythological scenes,
like his jubilant Triumph of
Venus (1740), which depicts
the goddess Venus after her
 Boucher, F. (1740). Triumph of venus. https://artincontext.org/art-periods/
17. Classicism (1770-1840)
Classicism, like the Rococo era, began in France in around 1770. In contrast to
the Rococo era, however, Classism reverted to earlier, more serious styles of artistic
expression. Much like the Renaissance period, Classism took inspiration from classic
Roman and Greek art.

The art created in the Classicism era reverted to strict forms, two-dimensional
colors, and human figures. The tone of these paintings was undoubtedly strict.
Colors lost their symbolism. The art produced in this era was used internationally to
instill feelings of patriotism in the people of each nation. Parts of Classicism include
Louis-Sieze, Empire, and Biedermeier.
An idyll is a poem, prose
piece, or event depicting a rural
and tranquil scene, usually in
idealized terms. The girls in this
painting are images of idyllic
innocence.

Bouguereau probably
created this painting during one
of his frequent trips to La
Rochelle, modeling it after local
peasant children. Childhood
Idyll reflects the classicism of
academic painting in the late
1800s, which referred back to the
art of ancient Greece and Rome.

Bouguereau, W. (1900). A Childhood Idyll. https://artincontext.org/art-periods/

18. Romanticism (1790-1850)

8
 You can see from the dates that this art era occurred at around the same time as
Classicism. Romanticism is often seen as an emotionally charged reaction to the stern
nature of Classicism. In contrast to the strict and realistic nature of the Classicism era,
the paintings of the Romantic era were much more sentimental.

Romanticism is an attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works

of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western
civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century. Romanticism can be
seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and
rationality that typified Neoclassicism in general. It was also to some extent a reaction
against the Enlightenment and against 18th-century rationalism and physical materialism
in general. Romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the
imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the
transcendental.

Delacroix, E. (1830). Liberty Leading the People. https://artincontext.org/art-periods/

Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating

the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X of France. A woman of the people
with a Phrygian cap personifying the concept of Liberty leads a varied group of people
forward over a barricade and the bodies of the fallen, holding the flag of the French
Revolution – the tricolour, which again became France's national flag after these events – in
one hand and brandishing a bayonetted musket with the other. The figure of Liberty is also
viewed as a symbol of France and the French Republic known as Marianne.

19. Modern and Contemporary Art (1880s-present)

Modern and contemporary art are of two different time periods.

Modern art refers to art created from the 1880s up to the 1970s. While
modern art is more recent than the Renaissance or classical art periods, it is by
9
no means current. Contemporary art describes current works of art. Usually, those
still living and creating artworks or those who have only very recently died or
retired.

Modern art is primarily drawing or painting. However, the rapid rise in

technology has drastically increased the mediums available to contemporary
artists since the modernist period ended. Today’s contemporary artists are more
experimental with their mediums. Contemporary art could be on almost any
medium you can think of – video art, object design, tech-enabled artworks,
graphic arts, etc.

This art movement will be better discussed in details on the final lesson of
the fourth chapter of this learning package.

Let us do this practice!

Read and analyze the following statements and identify the word that would best fit in
the context of the sentence from the pool of words below. Write only the letter of your
answer. One point per item.
Do this in your worksheet.

a. Contemporary Art b. Classism c. Renaissance d. Modern Art

e. Romanesque Art f. Gothic Era g. Prehistoric Art h. Medieval
i. Rococo j. Baroque k. Mannerism

1. The ___________ style is characterized by exaggerated motion and clear detail

used to produce drama, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting,
architecture, literature, dance, and music. Its iconography was direct, obvious,
and dramatic, intending to appeal above all to the senses and the emotions.
2. In its purest form, ____________ is an aesthetic attitude dependent on principles
based in the culture, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, with the
emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, clarity of structure, perfection,
restrained emotion, as well as explicit appeal to the intellect.
3. The term used for art of the present day is ____________. Usually the artists are
alive and still making work. It is often about ideas and concerns, rather than

10
 solely the aesthetic or the look of the work. Artists try different ways of
experimenting with ideas and materials.
4. The type of art produced where artifacts made before there was a written record
is called ____________. Long before the oldest written languages were
developed, people had become expert at creating forms that were both practical
and beautiful.
5. The _______________ art, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and literature
produced during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries in Europe under the
combined influences of an increased awareness of nature, a revival of classical
learning, and a more individualistic view of man.
6. It is characterized by lightness, elegance, and an exuberant use of curving
natural forms in ornamentation. The word ___________is derived from the
French word rocaille, which denoted the shell-covered rock work that was used
to decorate artificial grottoes.
7. A time of artwork that was characterized by iconographic painting illustrations of
Biblical scenes. The ___________work emerged from the early Christian church
influence as well as the Roman Empire heritage.
8. This art evolved from Romanesque art and lasted from the mid-12th century to
as late as the end of the 16th century in some areas. __________ sculpture was
closely tied to architecture, since it was used primarily to decorate the exteriors of
cathedrals and other religious buildings. The earliest sculptures were stone
figures of saints and the Holy Family used to decorate the doorways, or portals,
of cathedrals in France and elsewhere.
9. This exaggerated ____________ art is typically associated with attributes such
as emotionalism, elongated human figures, strained poses, unusual effects of
scale, lighting or perspective, vivid often garish colors.
10. Churches used _____________art, largely painting and sculpture,
to communicate important things. For one, art was used as visual reminders of
biblical stories, which helped teach the faith to an illiterate population

11
 LESSON 2
Soul Making in Art
When you see an artwork, do you try to evaluate its content and find meaning
behind those images. Do you merely look at it on face value? Or do you tap your
emotions in understanding the context of its message?
Have you ever considered putting yourself in the perspective of an author, artist,
or a craftsman? Or do you look at things on your own point of view based on your
thoughts and background knowledge? However way it is, your ideas and interpretation
on a piece of art will always be valid, because you are you.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this lesson, you are expected to achieve the following:

1. Explain how meanings can be derived from art; and

12
"Soulmaking is an alternate
place to know oneself and
to look at the depths and
meaning of what we do
in our daily lives.”
"Soulmaking is an alternate
place to know oneself and
to look at the depths and
meaning of what we do
in our daily lives.”
"Soulmaking is an alternate
place to know oneself and
to look at the depths and
meaning of what we do
in our daily lives.”
"Soulmaking is an alternate
place to know oneself and

13
to look at the depths and
meaning of what we do
in our daily lives.”
Soulmaking is an alternate
place to know oneself and
to look at the depths and
meaning of what we do
in our daily lives.”
“Soul making is an alternate place to know oneself and to look at the depths and
meaning of what we do in our daily lives” said Dr. Norman Narciso, one of the prominent
thought leaders in the country’s world of art. It is said to be that soul making is a
stepping stone towards a deeper understanding of how the world is perceived and how
your own personality is portrayed and seen by you.
This plays a major role in the production of art. Soul making is an avenue of
making stories, converting brief moments into pictures, making use of symbols that
brings people together, embodying tolerance, understanding a certain culture, promoting
peace and imagination.
Knowing Yourself
“Who are you”, this is the statement that will serve as your guide in undertaking
this process. It starts with being conscious. To begin the process of soul making, you
have to embrace and realize your truth, history, and existence. Once you have done this,
soul making may now come into play as this is the core of soul making. It is, therefore,
not focused on the production that we take into consideration but we do consider the
method of perception.
Depth and Essence
Soul making is more than just a perspective on religion. When we speak of soul,
it is your unique individuality that is shown on your behavior. And since one of the
human expressions is art that is highly symbolic and valued, an individual make use of
various forms of art in order to express himself and communicate emotions. In this
effect, the desire to actualize his very being is highly substantiated with soul making.

14
What are We Doing?
Art enables us to have a sense of purpose through what we are doing. Just like
any form of art is an expression of our emotions, realities, feelings, and perceptions, the
solution to our personal growth is through such forms of expressions. Through soul
making, we are able to make use of our experiences and make ourselves be a better
person.
Everyday Life
Our life is full of adventures. Understanding that every person has a different
perspective of seeing things and understanding that there will always be a challenge for
each adventure will make us happily dwell in life. The soul making process is not just
reserved for artists, anyone can do this process as everybody is creative in their own
right. This is just a matter of losing yourself in the world of art and detaching yourself
from you to see things in a different perspective.

Let Us Do This Practice!

Are you familiar with the game Four-pics, One Word? You are to do a similar
activity.
Choose four pictures (e.g. picture of yourself, your family, your pets, your
friends, or things) and describe yourself based on these four pictures.
Do this in your worksheet.

15
 LESSON 3
Artist and Artisan

If you are to work on a certain field of art, what piece of art would you like to take
up and make a profession of? Some people may take art leisurely, but there are people
who took years of training, arduous apprenticeship, and impeccable sense of mastery in
their craft.
The words artist and artisan are very confusing for most people. Some even
interchangeably use them. In this lesson, you will be informed of the distinctions
between the two. Let us find out.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, you are expected to be able to achieve the
following:
A.Differentiate the concept of artist and artis; and
B.Create a poster appreciating the works of the artists and artisans in the community.

[Painter Made DJirna displays the natural flow of an

artist]. (n.d.). https://bit.ly/3KqyxCn

Let Us Engage on This!

Look at the image above. What do you think is the person doing in the picture? Do
you think the art that he is making is for functional use or for visual purpose only?
Write your insights on your worksheet.

16
Artisan
An artisan is defined as a skilled worker who construct crafts by hand (French:
artisan, Italian: artigiano). An artisan’s work may range from functional to strictly
decorative ones, for example furniture, sculpture, decors, jewelry, clothing, food items,
household items and tools. Mechanical tools such as handmade clocks and other simple
machines are also part of the artisan’s work. Artisans may reach the level of an artist
through experience and aptitude.
The adjective "artisanal" is sometimes used to put emphasis on the hand-
processing as compared to machine processing. Some businesses have used the term
in marketing and advertising as a buzz word to add prestige to their products such as
bread, beverages or cheese. Products like these have traditionally been handmade, but
are also now commonly mass-produced using automated mechanization in factories and
other industrial areas.

Before the invention of advanced machineries during the Industrial Revolution,

artisans were the dominant producers of consumer products.
In ancient Greece, artisans frequented the agoras where they built workshops
nearby.

Artist
An artist is a person engaged in the creation, practice and performing an art. In
its common usage, the term has come to be most often associated with the practitioner
in the visual arts only. This is also oftentimes used in the entertainment industry,
specifically is the context of business, for musicians and other performers as well as
writers and actors.
Awards and citations
Two major awards in the Philippines:
1. Orden ng Pambansang Alagad ng Sining (Order of the National Artists) –
Among all state-sanctioned awards, this award is given to Filipinos who have
made a significant contribution in the development of the Philippine arts,
consequently the highest award given to an artist. This is conferred by President
of the Republic of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the
Philippines (CCP). (NCAA, 2015).

2. Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (National Living Treasures Awards)—or

GAMABA for short is awarded to Filipino traditional artists whose works “reflect
the diverse heritage and cultural traditions”. The award is also administered by
the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA).

17
Let Us Do This Practice!
Do the following tasks on your worksheet:
1. Identify and select one artist/ artisan that you admire from your locality.
2. Fill out the graphic organizer below to describe the artist/ artisan and his/her
work.
Picture and
description of the
medium used by
the artist/artisan

Picture and Picture and

description of the description of the
Picture and name
product produced technique used by
of the
by the the artist/artisan
artist/artisan
artist/artisan

Picture and
description of
people involved in
the work of the
artist/ artisan

18
 LESSON 4
A Survey of European Music History:
From the Middle Ages to the 21st Century
Are you fond of listening to music? What sort of songs do you usually listen to?
What mood and vibe do you get when you listen to these sorts of music? Find out the
music history and how it brought life and artistry around the world.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to achieve the following:

1. Identify the characteristics of the music of the different periods of music

through the representative music examples;
B. Listen to representative music examples of every period of music studied;
C. Differentiate one period style from another using the elements of music; and

Let Us Engage on This!

Do you have a Spotify playlist? Or a playlist on your phone of the songs that
you usually listen to?
List down the top 20 songs on your playlist. Do this in your worksheet and find out
later what type of songs you are fond of.

Music is an art which occupies time, distinct from other arts, say sculpture, which
occupies space. The march of time has a direct bearing on the styles of music that have
existed and accumulated over time. Style refers to a characteristic way of using melody,
rhythm, tone color, dynamics, harmony, texture, and form. How these elements are put
together can result in a distinctive sound, and we can speak of the musical style of one
composer, a group of composers, a country, or a period in history.
Musical styles change continuously from one historical era to the next. Below is
a short survey of these period styles in music history.

19
I. Music in the Middle Ages (450 – 1450 Common Era). A thousand years of
European history are spanned by the phrase “Middle Ages” - a time of migration,
upheavals, and wars, which began about 450 C.E. with the disintegration of the Roman
Empire. The later Middle Ages were a period of cultural growth: Romanesque churches
and monasteries (1100 – 1150 C.E.) and gothic cathedrals (1150 – 1450 C.E.) were
constructed. Towns grew and universities were founded. A sharp division existed
among the three main social classes: nobility, peasantry, and clergy.

Gregorian chant. The church modes were the basic scales of western music in
the Middle Ages and were used in secular as well as sacred music. For over 1,000
years, the official music of the Roman Catholic Church has been the Gregorian chant. It
consists of a melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung without accompaniment (a
cappella), and is monophonic in texture. These chants were meant to create the
atmosphere for specific prayers and rituals in the church service and has a calm,
otherworldly quality that represents the voice of the church rather than any individual. Its
rhythm is flexible (not good for disco nor hip-hop) and are without time signature. The
result is a floating and free character (good for meditation). Gregorian chant is named
after Pope Gregory I (the Great, reigned 590- 604 C.E.).
(Note to the Instructor: Show a performance of a Gregorian chant from YouTube.)

Notation of Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy) in the Liber Usualis; note
that thestaff has only four lines, noteheads are square-shaped,
unlike the oblong-shaped noteheads used in modern
standard notation.

The next stage of innovation was the addition of voices above or below the old,
pre-existing Gregorian chants. This type of harmonized music was called organum or
organa (plural). The best known composers of organum are Leonin and Perotin. I
mention this in case you want to explore further this kind of music, as they are available
on YouTube and other media online.

II. Music in the Renaissance (1450 – 1600 C.E.). Among other things, this was the
age of “rebirth” of creativity. It was a period of exploration and adventure which saw the
voyages of Columbus and Magellan and produced Leonardo da Vinci – who was a
painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist, and a fine musician.
The dominant intellectual movement, called humanism, focused on human life
and accomplishments, and the humanists – though devout Christians – were captivated
by the pagan cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.
Characteristics of Renaissance Music:

20
 1. Treatment of words/texts. As in the Middle Ages, vocal music was more
important than instrumental music during the Renaissance. Composers wrote music to
enhance the meaning and emotion of the text, using a technique called word/text
painting – a musical representation of specific poetic images. For example, the words
descending from heaven might be set to a descending melodic line, and running might
be heard with a series of rapid notes. The two most important choral genres, the secular
madrigal and the sacred motet, employ word painting.

(Note to the Instructor: Example of madrigal – “As Vesta was Descending” by

Thomas Weelkes, English. Example of motet - “O vos omnes” by Don Carlo Gesualdo,
Prince of Venosa, Italy. Gesualdo’s uses extreme chromaticism in his works, which is
not typical of the style of the period. But, adventurism has its benefits. Enjoy listening to
his works and note how “experimental” they sound. If you need an alternative example of
Renaissance motet you may try “Ave Maria…Virgo Serena” by Josquin Desprez (about
1440 – 1521), the Netherlands.

2. Texture. The texture of Renaissance music is basically polyphonic. A choral

composition can have four, five, or six voice parts of nearly equal melodic interest. This
period was called the “golden age” of a cappella (unaccompanied) choral music.
Rhythm and Melody. In Renaissance music, rhythm is more a gentle flow than a
sharply defined beat. This is because each melodic line/voice part has a lot of rhythmic
independence, a characteristic of polyphonic texture. When one voice part is at the
beginning of its melodic phrase, the other voice parts may already be in the middle of
theirs. This can be very be both a pleasure and a challenge, because each singer must
maintain an individual rhythm. Fortunately for performers, pitch patterns in Renaissance
melodies are easy to sing and the melodies move by steps (conjunct motion) with very
few leaps (disjunct motion).
The other composers of this period are Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, Giovanni
Gabrieli, dela Victoria, Morley, Gibbons, Byrd, and Monteverdi (the last great composer
of the Renaissance and the first great composer of the Baroque).

21
.
Des Prez: Ave Maria…. Virgo serena. Notice the melody
of each voice entering with the same notes (G, C, C, C, D,
E, C. This is device is called imitation, usually found in
music using polyphonic texture.
III. The Music of the Baroque Period (1600 – 1750). Artists such as Bernini, Rubens,
and Rembrandt filled spaces with action and movement and exploited their
materials to expand the potential of color, detail, ornament, and depth. They wanted to
create totally structured worlds.
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 Seventeenth century scientific discoveries are exemplified in the works of Galileo
and Newton. Their works represented a new approach to science based on the union of
mathematics and experiment. They discovered mathematical laws governing bodies in
motion. These scientific advances led to new inventions and the gradual improvement
of medicine, mining, navigation, and industry during the Baroque era.
In music, the Baroque style flourished and culminated with its two greatest
composers – George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. Other great
composers of this period are Monteverdi, Purcell, Corelli, and Vivaldi.
During the Baroque period, most music was written to order; it was
commissioned by aristocratic courts, churches, opera houses, and municipalities, all of
which employed musicians and were constantly demanding new music. For the first
time instrumental music became as important as vocal music. The operas of Monteverdi
conveyed unprecedented passion and dramatic contrast.

Characteristics of Baroque Music:

1. Unity of mood – A Baroque piece usually expresses one basic mood – what
begins joyfully will remain joyful throughout. Emotional states, called affections, like joy,
grief, and agitation were expressed through music. Specific rhythms or melodic patterns
were associated with specific moods.
2. Rhythm – Unity of mood in Baroque music is conveyed first by continuity of
rhythm. Rhythmic patterns heard at the beginning of the piece are repeated throughout
it. This rhythmic continuity provided a compelling drive and energy. This forward motion
is rarely interrupted.
3. Melody – Baroque melody also creates a feeling of continuity. An opening
melody will be heard again and again in the course of a piece. Even when a melody is
varied, its character tends to remain constant. This sense of directed motion is
frequently the result of melodic sequence – successive repetition of the melodic pattern
at higher or lower pitch levels. Many of these melodies sound elaborate and
ornamental, and they are not easy to sing or remember.
4. Texture - Late Baroque music is predominantly polyphonic in texture, with two
or more melodic lines compete for the listener’s attention. However, not all Baroque
music was polyphonic. A piece might shift in texture, especially in vocal music, where
changes of mood in the words demand musical contrast.
5. Words and Music – Like their Renaissance predecessors, Baroque
composers used music to depict the meaning of specific words. The word “heaven”
might be set to a high tone, and the word “hell” to a low tone. Rising scales represented
upward motion; descending scales depicted the reverse. Descending chromatic scales
were associated with pain and grief.
(Note to the instructor: A good example of the use of descending chromatic scale
to depict grief can be found in Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas, in a song called “Dido’s
Lament” (When I am laid… on earth…).

23
 Purcell: “Dido’s Lament” from Dido and Aeneas (excerpt);
In measure 9 (indicated with “Tasto solo” in the staff
with the F clef), this group of 10 chromatically descending
notes is repeated throughout the piece (an aria). This is a
ground bass. This unchanging part holds the harmonic
pattern of the whole piece. The descending chromatic scale
gives us the idea that the scene is sad and presages death-
a suicide, we learn later.

Baroque composers emphasized words by writing many rapid notes for a single
syllable of text (called melisma). This technique also displayed a singer’s virtuosity.
24
 Excerpt above - G. F. Handel: “Every valley,” Aria from Messiah, an oratorio.
Notice the many notes involved in the singing of the syllable “alt” (from the word
“exalted”) - 53 notes in 15 beats! This is an example of a melisma. Present-day singers
also use melisma. Listen to the introductory vocal run in Mariah Carrey’s “Visions of
Love,” as an example.

25
IV. Music in the Classical Period (1750 – 1820). In the Baroque period, the scientific
methods and discoveries of geniuses like Galileo and Newton greatly changed people’s
view of the world. By the middle of the 18 th century, the power of reason was so highly
valued that it began to undermine the authority of the social and religious establishment.
People believed in progress, claiming that reason, not custom or tradition, was the best
guide to human conduct. This thought prepared the way for the American and French
revolutions at the end of the 18 th century. Revolutions in thought and action had
corresponding shifts of style in the visual arts and music.
Characteristics of the Classical Style in Music:
1. Contrast of Mood – While a late Baroque piece may convey a single emotion,
a Classical composition will fluctuate in mood. Dramatic, turbulent music might lead into
a carefree dance tune. Mood in Classical music may change gradually or suddenly,
expressing conflicting surges of happiness and depression. But such conflict and
contrast were under the firm control of masters like Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, who
were able to impart unity and logic to music of wide emotional range.
2. Rhythm – Flexibility of rhythm adds variety to Classical music. While a
Baroque piece contains a few patterns that are repeated throughout, Classical
compositions include unexpected pauses, syncopations, and frequent changes from
long duration notes to shorter ones.
3. Texture – In contrast to the polyphonic texture of late Baroque music,
Classical music is basically homophonic. However, texture is treated flexibly as
rhythm, with the music shifting smoothly or suddenly from one texture to another.
4. Melody – Classical melodies are among the most tuneful and easy to
remember. You can whistle them once you learn some of these compositions. The
melodies (called “themes”) of even highly sophisticated and long compositions may have
a folk or popular flavor. Classical melodies often sound balanced and symmetrical
because they are usually made up of two phrases of the same length. Much like our
Waray folksongs.
(Note to the Instructor: Choose a short Waray folksong for phrase analysis
(periodicity). You will notice that the phrases are very balanced in terms of number of
measures in every phrase.)
5. Dynamics – The Classical composers’ interest in expressing shades of
emotion led to the widespread use of gradual dynamic change – crescendo and
decrescendo. Crescendos and decrescendos were an electrifying novelty when first
introduced that audiences sometimes rose excitedly from their seats.

V. Music in the Romantic Period (1820 – 1900). The early 19th century brought the
flowering of Romanticism, a cultural movement that stressed emotion, imagination, and
individualism. Romantic writers broke away from time-honored conventions and
emphasized freedom of expression. Romantic painters used bolder, more brilliant colors
and preferred dynamic motion rather than the gracefully balanced poses.
Emotional subjectivity was a basic quality of Romantic art. The overflow of
powerful feelings made much Romantic literature biographical. The American poet Walt
Whitman expressed this subjectivity when he began a poem, “I celebrate myself, and
26
sing myself.” In exploring their inner lives, the Romantics were especially drawn to the
realm of fantasy: the unconscious, the irrational, the world of dreams. Edgar Allan Poe’s
stories and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are tales of horror and the supernatural.
The Romantic preoccupation with fantasy was paired with interest in exoticism
and the past – “long ago and, oh, so far away,” (as a pop song would have it). Romantic
novels set in the Middle Ages include Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (1819) and Victor
Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831).
In music, among the most significant Romantic musicians were Franz Schubert
his (“Ave Maria, gratia plena…” is still heard in funerals these days), Robert Schumann,
Clara Wieck Schumann, Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn (the “Wedding
March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream is still performed in weddings), Hector Berlioz,
Bedrich Smetana, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Johannes Brahms, Giuseppe Verdi,
Giacomo Puccini, and Richard Wagner (composer of another all-time wedding march
favorite, “Wedding March” from the opera Lohengrin).
Romantic musicians, inspired by the image of Beethoven as a “free artist,” often
composed to fulfill an inner need rather than to fulfill a commission or meet the demands
of an aristocratic or church patron. They composed primarily for a middle-class
audience, which rose as a powerful socio-economic group. The rise of the urban middle
class led to the formation of many orchestras and opera groups. You don’t have to
belong to the aristocracy to attend an opera or symphonic performance as long as you
can pay the subscription fee.

Characteristics of Romantic Music:

Composers of the Romantic period continued to use the musical forms of the
preceding Classical era. The emotional intensity associated with Romanticism had
already been present in the work of Mozart and, particularly, of Beethoven, who greatly
influenced composers after him. The Romantic preference for expressive, songlike
melody also grew out of the Classical style. Romantic works tend to have greater
ranges of tone color, dynamics, and pitch. Also the Romantic harmonic vocabulary is
broader, with emphasis on colorful, unstable chords, thereby producing greater tension.
1. Individuality of Style – Romantic music puts much emphasis on self-
expression and individuality of style. Many of them created music that sounds unique
and reflects their personalities. With some listening experience, a music lover can tell
within a few minutes whether the piece is by Chopin or Liszt, Tchaikovsky or Wagner.
2. Expressive Aims and Subjects – The Romantics explored a myriad of feeling
that included flamboyance and intimacy, unpredictability and melancholy, rapture and
longing. Countless songs and operas glorify romantic love. Fascination with the
fantastic and diabolical is expressed in music like the “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath”
from Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony. All aspects of nature attracted Romantic
composers, such as the depiction of a wild horseback ride on a stormy night (Schubert’s
Erlking) and the flow of a river (Smetana’s Moldau).

(Note to the Instructor: The examples mentioned above – Berlioz’s

Symphonie fantastique, Schubert’s Elrking and Smetana’s
27
 The Moldau are good examples to present to the students to
represent the music of the Romantic period. Other examples are
mentioned below.)

3. Nationalism and exoticism – Musical nationalism was expressed when

Romantic composers deliberately created music with a specific national identity, using
the folk songs, dances, legends, and history of their homelands. This was in contrast
with the more universal character of Classical music.
Fascination with national identity also led composers to draw on colorful
materials from foreign lands, a trend known as musical exoticism. For example,
composers wrote melodies in an Asian style or used rhythms and instruments
associated with distant lands. The French composer Georges Bizet wrote Carmen, an
opera set in Spain; the Italian Giacomo Puccini evoked Japan in his opera Madame
Butterfly; and the Russian Rimsky-Korsakov suggested an Arabian atmosphere in his
orchestral work Scheherazade.
4. Program Music – Program music is instrumental music associated with a
story, poem, idea, or scene. Usually the non-musical element is specified by a title or by
explanatory comments called a program. A programmatic instrumental piece can
represent the emotions, characters, and events of a particular story, or it can evoke the
sounds and motions of nature. For example, in Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, an
orchestral work inspired by Shakespeare’s play, agitated music depicts the feud
between the rival families, a tender melody conveys young love, and a funeral march
rhythm suggests the lovers’ tragic fate. And in The Moldau, an orchestral work glorifying
the main river of Bohemia, Smetana uses musical effects that call to mind a flowing
stream, a hunting scene, a peasant wedding, and the crash of waves.
5. Colorful Harmony – The Romantics explored new chords and new ways of
using familiar chords. In seeking greater emotional intensity, composers emphasized
rich, colorful, and complex harmonies. Dissonant, or unstable, chords were also used
more freely. By deliberately delaying the resolution of dissonance to a consonant, or
stable, chord, Romantic composers created feelings of yearning, tension, and mystery.
6. Form: Miniature and Monumental – The 19th century was very much an age of
contradictions. Composers expressed themselves both in musical miniatures and in
large and long compositions. On the one hand are piano pieces by Chopin and songs
by Schubert that last but a few minutes. Such short forms were meant to be heard in the
intimate surroundings of a home. They met the needs of the growing number of people
who owned pianos. On the other hand, there are gigantic works by Berlioz and Wagner
that call for a huge number of performers and last for several hours.

VI. Modern Music: The 20th Century and the Contemporary Scene
The years 1900 to 1913 brought radical new developments in science and art
that overturned long-held beliefs. Sigmund Freud explored the unconscious and
developed psychoanalysis, and Albert Einstein revolutionized the view of the universe
with his theory of relativity. Pablo Picasso’s painting and sculpture distorted human

28
figures and objects with unprecedented daring, showing them from different angles at
once.
In music, too, the early 20th century was a time of revolt. There were entirely new
approaches to the organization of pitch and rhythm and a vast expansion in the
vocabulary of sounds, especially percussive sounds. Chords, rhythms, and percussive
sounds that were baffling in 1913 are now commonly heard in jazz, rock, and music for
movies and television.
The years 1900 – 1950 was a period of great musical diversity. Composers were
especially attracted to unconventional rhythms, sounds, and melodic patterns in folk and
popular music. Igor Stravinsky drew on Russian folksongs; Charles Ives used American
revival hymns, ragtime, and patriotic songs.
Western composers were more receptive and sympathetic to Asian and African
cultures. Echoes of the gamelan - the Indonesian orchestra – can be heard in some of
Debussy’s works; and the exotic rhythmic procedures of Oliver Messiaen grew out of his
study of Indian music. Musicians were fascinated with the syncopated rhythms,
improvisational quality, and unique tone colors and harmony of jazz.
Composers were significantly influenced by the technological and social changes
around them. The 20th century has seen dramatic changes in how music reached its
listeners: radio, television, and recordings have brought music to a much larger audience
and greatly increased the amount and diversity of music available. More women have
been active as composers, music educators, virtuoso soloists, orchestra musicians, and
conductors. Colleges and universities have indirectly become patrons of music, as the
church and the aristocracy once were. Few serious composers can live on commissions
alone; most composers today are also teachers, conductors, or performers.

Characteristics of 20th Century Music:

1. Tone Color – Tone color has become a more important element of music than it was
before. In modern music, noise-like and percussive sounds are often used, and
instruments are often played at the very top (high pitches) or bottom (low pitches) of their
ranges. Uncommon playing techniques have become normal. For example, woodwind
(flute, oboe, etc…) and brass players (trumpet, trombone, etc…) are often asked to
produce a fluttery sound by rapidly rolling their tongues while they play. String players
(violin, cello, etc…) strike the strings with the stick of the bow, rather than draw the bow
across the strings. Composers occasionally call for noisemakers – typewriters, sirens,
and automobile sounds.
2. Harmony
A. Consonance and Dissonance – Up to about 1900, chords were divided into
two opposing types: consonant and dissonant. A consonant chord is stable and
functions as a point of rest or arrival. A dissonant chord was unstable; its tension
demanded onward motion, or resolution to a stable, consonant chord. In modern music
it is not anymore necessary to resolve dissonant chords.
B. New Chord Structures – At the core of traditional harmony is the triad. A
triad might be made up of alternate tones of a major scale, such as the first (do), third
(mi), and fifth (sol). Some 20th century composers create fresh harmonies by pacing one
29
traditional chord against another. Such combination of two chord heard at the same
time is called polychord.
Another technique is the use of chordal structures NOT based on triads, like the
fourth chord, in which tones are a fourth apart, instead of a third.
Harmonic resources have also been extended through the tone cluster, a chord
made up of tones only a half-step or whole-step apart. These clusters may be
performed on the piano by striking a group of adjacent keys with the fist or forearm.

The first example above is a traditional triad; the second example shows
two chords with the lower three notes comprising the A chord and the
three notes above the A major chord is an E major chord; the third
example shows a chord with the distances (interval) between each
note of four steps (E – A is an interval of a fourth, A – D, D – G, G – C
are all separated by four steps); the fourth example shows examples of
tone clusters – much like a cluster of grapes!

3. Alternatives to the Traditional Tonal System – Tonality, the tendency for a piece of
music to have a central tone (aka, tonic note, aka, “do”), had governed the organization
of pitches since the 1600s. After 1900, the traditional tonal system was modified in
various ways, and some composers discarded it entirely (No more do!).
A 20th century approach to pitch organization was polytonality, the use of two or
more keys at the same time. Think of a pianist whose right hand is playing in the Key of
F, while the left hand is playing in the Key of D!
A further departure from tradition is atonality, the absence of tonality or key
center. Arnold Schoenberg wrote the first significant atonal piece around 1908.
(Note to the Instructor: The atonal piece to explore is Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold
Schoenberg, available on YouTube. It is a piece performed by a singer and an
ensemble of instruments.)
4. Rhythm – The rhythmic vocabulary of music was expanded with increased emphasis
on irregularity and unpredictability. Rhythm is used to generate power, drive, and
excitement. New rhythmic procedures are drawn from folk music all over the world
(world music), jazz, from the Middle Ages. The syncopations and complex rhythmic
combinations of jazz fired the imagination of Stravinsky and Copland.
Rapidly changing meters (aka, time signatures) are commonly found. In some
modern music the meter changes with almost every bar.

30
 Igor Stravinsky: “Ritual of Abduction” from The Rite of Spring

5. Melody – Melody today often contains wide leaps that are difficult to sing. Rhythmic
irregularity and changing meters tend to make 20 th century melodies unpredictable.
Length of phrases, in terms of number of measures, tend to be irregular. In general, 20 th
century music relies less on melodies that are easy to sing compared to Classical and
Romantic music which rely on melodies that are easy to sing and remember.

To recap, the composers whose works are worth exploring (in my opinion) are
Claude Debussy (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun), Maurice Ravel (Jeux d’ eau,
Bolero), Bela Bartok (Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, From the Diary of a
Fly), Igor Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring, A Soldier’s Tale), Arnold Schoenberg (A
Survivor from Warsaw), Alban Berg (Wozzec, an opera), Anton Webern (Five Pieces for
Orchestra, Op. 10), Charles Ives (Three Places in New England), George Gershwin
(Rhapsody in Blue), Aaron Copland (Appalachian Spring, Rodeo), Edgard Varese
(Poeme Electronique), Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (Concerto Grosso, 1985), and John Adams
(Short Ride on a Fast Machine).

Let Us Engage on This!

Read the following quotations below and write your insights about them on your
worksheet.
“Since music has so much to do with the molding of character, it is necessary that we
teach it to our children.” – Aristotle

“Music is not a recreation for the elite, but a source of spiritual strength which all
cultured people should endeavor to turn into public property.” – Zoltan Kodaly

Music, to borrow from the lyrics of a well-known song, “is a many splendored
thing.” It can uplift our mood as we derive pleasure from listening to or performing it,
make us wallow in nostalgia, help us attain a sense of community and nationhood, and
even lessen the negative effect of a sad, even tragic, moments of one’s life.

31
 Listening for Appreciation

The appreciation of music may be defined as the acquired ability to listen to

music intelligently. People have different aptitudes in their musical perceptiveness, no
one is born with this ability – it is acquired. Conscious effort is at all times necessary in
the exercise of intelligent listening.

Enjoyment and appreciation are related terms, but they are not synonymous. It
is quite possible to enjoy music, to derive pleasure from it, without understanding it or
really appreciating it. On the other hand, it is also possible to understand the
technicalities of a musical composition without full enjoyment. However, to obtain the
greatest enjoyment from music you must have some understanding of it. Any additional
understanding which you can bring to the musical experience will enhance your ultimate
pleasure.

Attainment of true appreciation of music depends largely upon your attitude as a

listener. Four types of listening may be identified:

1. Passive Listening - In some situation music is not intended to claim the full
attention of the listener. This may come with a name “background music.” A big
part of the music in the movie soundtrack is intended merely to reinforce the
mood of the scene. Dinner music is intended to enhance the pleasure of dining
and conversation. The listener hears the music but does not really listen to it.

2. Sensuous Listening – Here the listener obtains pleasure from an awareness of

the sheer beauty of the sound. The clear tones of a flute or distant lingganay, the
sound of a massive choir or rondalla – all these are sounds which can be
enjoyed for themselves without the listener having any understanding of the
music. The pleasurable sensations of musical tone have some value to the
listener, but they do not form the sum total of what is meant by true appreciation.

3. Emotional Listening – The listener is concerned mainly with his own reaction to
the music, with the emotions and moods which the music arouses. We tend to
have emotional responses to the music we hear. Music is capable of producing
sublime experience among listeners.

4. Perceptive Listening – This type of listening requires concentration on the music

itself and a sharp awareness of what is going on musically. This results in true
appreciation. In this case, one knows what to listen for, understands what is
heard and has a good basis for experiencing the art of music.

How can we develop perceptive listening? The first requirement is attention.

Some previously acquired attitudes has made it difficult to develop the habit of
concentration. The sedative effect of music, its emotional “tug,” and the tendency to do
other things while listening to music are barriers to overcome.

32
 Next requirement is repetition. It is more difficult to retain auditory impressions
compared to visual impressions. You have to listen over and over a piece of music you
want to understand. Fortunately for us, recorded music is readily available on various
media through the internet. Repeated hearing of a piece of music leads to familiarity.

An additional help in achieving perceptive listening is acquiring a musical

background. Having a musical background – going to concerts, listening to recordings,
singing in choral groups, playing in instrumental ensembles, taking lessons in playing an
instrument, reading musical biography and history, and books on music theory – is a
huge help.
(Trivia: For movie fanatics out there, notice that if a movie is directed by Steven
Spielberg, odds are the composer of the soundtrack is John Williams. He also did the
music of all the Harry Potter movies.)

The Elements of Music

Sound. Music is part of the world of sound, an art based on the organization of
sounds in time. Sound begins with the vibration of an object, like when a string is
plucked or a prepared rice reed (piyanog, in Waray) is blown. The vibrations are
transmitted to our ears by a medium – usually air – and our eardrums start vibrating too.
This results in impulses or signals being sent to the brain, where they are selected,
organized, and interpreted. Musical sound (to distinguish it from noise) is the basic
material of music. Sound has four main properties:

1. Pitch – highness or lowness

2. Dynamics – loudness or softness
3. Tone color or Timbre – quality of sound
4. Duration – time elapsed in the performance of the sound

In writing the representation of these pitches (aka, tones), musicians use

notation. Music and language have some things in common. Both can be heard by the
ear when played or spoken and seen by the eye when represented on the page. The
printed words (or they can be handwritten) that you see here are one way of
representing spoken language on the page. Likewise, notation is a way to represent
music or sound on the page. Letters are the basic symbols for writing language. Notes
are the basic symbols for writing music. Notation is a means by which musical sound is
represented on a page.

Pitch is indicated by its position on a group of five lines and four spaces called
the staff. The higher a note is placed on the staff, the higher the pitch. The lower the
note is placed on the staff, the lower the pitch.

At the beginning of every staff, you will find the clef – either a G clef (or treble
clef) or the F clef (or bass clef; “It’s all about the bass, ‘bout the bass, no treble…”).
When you combine two staffs, with one staff using the g G clef and the other staff using
the F clef, you have the grand staff.

33
 Using the staff with G clef, the beginning pitches of Lupang Hinirang may look
like this in notation.

Letter
Name: C B D C G D E F E D E C
So-fa
Syllable: do ti re do so (or sol) re mi fa mi re mi do

Lupang Hinirang (excerpt); Music by Julian Felipe. The lowest pitch is a

G (sol) on the syllable “liw”; the highest pitch is an F (fa) on the syllable “ng.” The letter
names of the notes got their designation from the letter name of the line or space on
which the noteheads are written. These letter names are fixed. They do not change
from key to key.

Melody.

A melody is a coherent succession of single pitches. The excerpt from “Lupang

Hinirang” above is the first four measures of the melody of the song. A melody may go
up (sometimes extremely high) and down (sometimes extremely low), which determines
its range and shape. Wavelike, descending, ascending are words to describe the shape
of the melody. Melodies that move principally by small intervals (stepwise) in a joined,
connected manner are called conjunct, while those that move in disjointed intervals (by
skips or leaps) are described as disjunct.

34
 The first phrase of “Pamulinawen” (Ilocano folksong), exhibits a wavelike shape.
Except for a skip on the syllables “pu” and “suc,” the movement is stepwise or conjunct.

“Ako Magtatanom” (Waray folksong), shows a wavelike shape, too, but in

addition there are many disjunct movements. A leap up from A to D in the first two notes
of the song (on the word “Ako”), and combinations of skips and leaps in all the
movement of notes in measures 2, 5, and 6.

Rhythm

Rhythm moves music forward in time. The basic unit we use to measure time is
the beat, a regular pulse heard in most of the music we know. Some beats are stronger
than others – these are accented or strong beats. These strong beats occur at regular
intervals – every other beat (duple), every three beats (triple), every four beats, and so
on. We tend to perceive all the beats in groups of two, three, four, or more. These
patterns into which rhythmic pulses are organized are called meters.

Meter is the measure of time. It refers to the number of beats in a measure and
the placement of accents within the measure. The first beat of each measure usually
receives the strongest accent. Duple meter has two beats per measure, triple meter has
three beats per measure, and quadruple meter has four beats per measure.

In notating rhythm, we usually use the different kinds of notes to represent the
various durations of sound. The following are the kinds of note based on their duration:

Whole note

Half note

Quarter note

Eight note

Sixteenth note

In the diagram above, one whole note has the equivalent duration of two half
notes; one half note has the equivalent duration of two quarter notes, and so on. This
information is of much use when we notate using time signatures like 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 2/2,
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etc… In a 2/4 time signature, the upper number “2” means that there will be 2 beats in
every measure; while the lower number “4” refers to the kind of note that will receive
one beat, in this case a quarter note. To restate, there will be two beats in every
measure and a quarter note (the kind of note) will receive one beat.

In 3/4, there will be three beats in every measure and a quarter note will receive
one beat. In 2/2 time signature, there will two beats in every measure and a half note
(2/2) will receive one beat. If the lower number is eight, as in 3/8, the kind of note that
will receive one beat is an eight note.

Tonality

Most of the familiar melodies we know are built around a central tone toward
which the other tones gravitate and on which the melody usually ends. This central tone
is the keynote or tonic. Key involves not only the central tone but also the central
chord and scale. When you are in the Key of C, your central tone is and your central
chord is based on the C note (C+E+G notes combined).

The scale, the basic notes used in a piece of music arranged in steps of
ascending or descending order, has been the basis for music as early as the late 1600s
and is still used today.

C D E F G A B C

The scale in the Key of C major. Lowest note is C (first additional line below the
staff; highest note is also C (third space) in a higher register.

E F# G# A B C# D# E

The scale in the Key of E major. Lowest note is E (first/lowest line); highest note
is also E (fourth/highest space of the staff) in the higher register.

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Notes:(C,E,G) (D,F,A) (E,G,B) (F,A,C) (G,B,D) (A,C,E) (B,D,F) (C,E,G)
Chord
Name:Cmajor Dminor Eminor Fmajor Gmajor Aminor Bdiminished Cmajor

In this series of 15 measures, there are 15 different key signatures (the sharps
and flats found at the beginning of staffs) of 15 different major keys and the
corresponding 15 relative minor keys. Also written are the tonic note of each key. The
tonic note is the “home” note or the “do” of the key, with which they key get its name, like
“Key of D major,” or “Key of F# minor,” etc…

1. Number 1 is the key signature for G major and its relative minor, key of
E minor. The first half note is the tonic note of G major. The second half note is the
tonic note of E minor, the relative minor of G major. The sequence in the presentation of
the tonic notes of major key then to minor key will be followed in the subsequent
discussion of this topic.

2. Number 2 is the key signature for D major and its relative minor, B minor.
3. Number 3 is the key signature for A major and its relative minor, F# minor.
F# (read as F sharp) because the key signature shows a sharp on the F line, therefore
all F will automatically be sharped. So are the notes C (C#) and G (G#).

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 4. Key of E major and its relative minor, C# minor (aka, c#; no need to put
the word “minor” because of the lowercase “c.”).
5. Key of B major and its relative minor, G# minor (aka, g#).
6. Key of F# major and its relative minor, D# minor (aka, d#).
7. Key of C# major and its relative minor, A# minor (aka a#).
8. Key of F major and its relative minor, D minor (aka, d).
9. Key of Bb (read as “B flat”) major and its relative minor, G minor (g).
On its key signature, there is a flat sign written on the B line.
10. Key of Eb major and its relative minor, C minor (c).
11. Key of Ab major and its relative minor, F minor (f).
12. Key of Db major and its relative minor, Bb minor (bb).
13. Key of Gb major and its relative minor, Eb minor (eb).
14. Key of Cb major and its relative minor, Ab minor (ab).
15. Key of C major and its relative minor, A minor (a). There is no sharp nor
nor flat in the key signature of these two keys.

Songs in the minor keys usually have a sad mood, though NOT ALL songs in the
minor keys are sad. Looking at “Ako Magtatanom” again:

Notice that the song has a key signature of one flat, but the last note of the song
is not an F note but a D note. The final note will give you the clue that the song is not in
F major but in D minor, the relative minor of F major. Its tonic note (home note, aka the
“do” of the key) is the D note, not the F note. Therefore, we say that the song is in the
minor key, specifically the Key of D minor (or d).

Some trivia: Many of Beethoven’s famous compositions are in the minor keys,
like Symphony No.5 in C minor (“Kinse na lang, kinse na lang,” according to the
McDonald’s ad), Symphony No. 9 in D minor (“Choral Symphony” – one of its melodies
is used as music for soccer games in Europe), Sonata Opus 13 (“Pathetique“Fur Elise”
which is written in the key of D minor. Many Waray folksongs are in the minor key: “An
Lubi” (“maupay nga tanaman…”), “Bahal nga Tuba,” “An Balud,” “Kamote Ragayday,”
“Hain Ka Na Niyan,”

Let us do this practice!

Select a song of your choice from the varied musical periods discussed (i.e.
Middles Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical Period, Romantic Period, Modern)
and analyze the song you have chosen by identifying the elements of music as
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discussed on this lesson.
Do this on your worksheet.