Step 1

A.  Rickett's Hornpipe Colonial America

 This sounds like what you would picture if someone says "Folk Music". It sounds very upbeat and happy, and I don't believe anyone could be unhappy listening to such an upbeat song. The combination of strings and what sounds like a flute playing high notes together gives off a very pleasant feeling. Overall, the song is very happy and gives you a picture of a much older America before most technology was created and advanced.

B.  Valkyries by Wagner

 This song has a very intense and rapid feeling. It almost feels as though it was written for people preparing for battle or already in battle. It has a fight-song sort of feeling to it. This makes me feel very tense, awaiting for the song to become more loud and intense after it has become quiet. In the middle, the descending sounds start to make this song develop the picture of an ocean during a big storm. As the song goes up into a higher octave, it starts to feel like the storm starts to lighten before another big downfall.

C.  Prelude in C by J.S. Bach

 This tune is very familiar to me and gives off an very peaceful feeling. It makes you feel like you're wandering through a forest during the morning and there is dew everywhere. I feel as though I am very calmed and my mind is perfectly clear. It almost makes you feel calmed enough to just fall asleep. Overall, it is a very simple piece, yet it makes you feel comfortable and calm.

Step 2

1. To what extent does pitch vary throughout the piece? 

 The pitch goes from below the bar line to above the bar line, giving it a very wide range of pitch throughout the piece.

2. How do changes in pitch reflect changes in mood?

 Whenever the pitch goes towards the lower octaves, it gives the song a very eery feeling, as though you're traveling through a dark and mysterious place, but it isn't that scary. When the pitch goes towards the higher octaves, it starts to have a happier and calmer feeling to the whole piece.

Step 3

1. What types of instruments were featured?

 Trombones, Tubas, Violins, Flutes, Piccolos, Mallets, Timpani, Cymbals, Cellos, Clarinets, Trumpets, Snare Drum, Bassoon

2. Describe musical elements demonstrated in J.P. Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever.

 It gives off a very patriotic and pleasant feeling throughout the piece. It somewhat makes you feel like you just won a very large and difficult battle. There are tons of crescendos and decrescendos throughout the piece to give a great fading feeling as the volume decays. At certain parts, it feels as though the notes are written as staccato because they are very short compared to the rest of the notes in the piece. There are also a few solo parts that feature specific instruments, such as the Piccolo.

Step 4

Dynamics:

The volume increases over time as the melody repeats and more instruments are added into the bunch. The song seems to start at a nice pianissimo, and gradually increases to piano then mezzo piano. It finally transitions to mezzo forte, forte, and the very ending seems to be a fortissimo or even louder.

Tempo:

The tempo slowly starts to increase over time, each time the melody is played it seems to speed up a bit more each time. The very beginning feels like it is adagio, and as time goes on it slowly speeds up to andante and allegro. Towards the very end, it feels like the piece is at presto or prestissimo.

Step 5

Rhythm:

The percussion instruments seems to play only on the quarter notes, they won't play on every beat but they do play on the downbeats. As for the other instruments, they all seem to play notes that are faster than quarter notes.Towards the middle, low brass has a greater impact on the overall piece and plays what feel like half, dotted half, or whole notes.

Tone/Timbre Color:

The overall tone feels very frantic and rapid. The piece seems to move very quickly, playing quick and staccato notes all throughout the song. Although it feels frantic and rapid, it tends to keep a nice and moderate pace, so nothing is random or out of place and everything is in time.

Step 6
Does this music from Mozart's Symphony 40 in g minor feel like it is grouped in 2 or 3 beats per measure?

3 beats per measure
Does this music from Haydn's Symphony 94 'Surprise' feel like it is grouped in 2 or 3 beats per measure?

2 beats per measure

Step 1

Notes: Rhythm is the actual arrangement of durations in a particular melody. Beats are the basic unit of measurement for music. Beats are usually accented, making them different from the sound of a clock ticking. Meter is a recurring pattern of strong and weak beats. A measure or bar is each occurrence of this repeated pattern, consisting of a principal strong beat and one or more weaker beats. Duple meter is in groups of twos (2/4 and 4/4 time are examples of this). Triple meter is in groups of threes (3/4). When the main beats are divided in twos, the meter is called a simple meter. Dividing the main beats in threes creates compound meters with two or three main beats and six or nine quicker ones. In nonmetrical music, the rhythms suggest no underlying pattern of strong and weak beats at all. Syncopation moves the beat emphasis onto beats that aren't usually emphasized. Tempo is the speed of music and the rate at which the regular beats of the meter follow one another. A metronome is a device that ticks out beats at any desired tempo. Italian tempo terms such as vivace are meant to refer to not the speed, but the mood of how the music should be played.

Step 2

Listen Site Reading & Listening Quizzes:

Step 1

Notes: Sound is produced by vibrations that occur when an object is struck, plucked, stroked, or agitated in some way. These transmissions travel through the air and are picked up by our ears. The range of sound that humans can hear extends from around 20 to 20,000 cycles per second. The vibrations are very small and are hard to be heard. They often need to be amplified electronically or with the aid of something physical that echoes or resonates along with the vibrating body. Sounds can be high/low (pitch), loud/soft (dynamics), and can take on different qualities depending on the materials used to produce them (tone color). The rate of sound vibration is frequency. The musical term is called pitch. Musicians virtually never use the full range of pitches, but use a select limited number of fixed pitches that are calibrated scientifically, given names, and collected in scales. Amplitude is the level of strength of sound vibrations, or more precisely, the amount of energy they contain and convey. The musical term is called dynamics. Musicians have never worked out a set scale of dynamics like they have for pitch. The main categories are forte and piano. Adding "-issimo" or mezzo can change the volume of which those two categories are played. Musical sounds differ in their general quality, which is called tone color and timbre. Lengths played in half, quarter, or eigths are called vibration overtones. They are softer in volume than the regular tones. Musicians make no attempt to describe tone colors, even though it is the most recognized of all musical elements. The most distinctive tone color is the human voice.

Step 2

Listen Site Reading & Listening Quizzes: