Melody

• sequence of pitches
• interval - distance b/w pitches (hard concept)
  • lowest to highest pitches
• scale - a sequence of pitches within an octave arranged in ascending or descending order

just know the general shape of a melody

• melodic motion - melodies made up of mixture of steps, leaps, and repeated notes
• melodic range - the span from the highest to lowest tone (narrow, medium, wide, range)
• melodic line/shape - is the graphic representation of the sequence of pitches (up/down)
• phrase - “unit” of melody (like a sentence)
• most melodies are diatonic
  • only use the white notes of the piano (7 pitches - CDEFGAB)
• example: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” - AABA structure/form
  • first and second verses are A - same melody
  • refrain is B - different melody

all the tests don’t have to get it in the first try

• play examples four times

Harmony

• simultaneous sounds
• vertical aspect of music
• dissonance/consonance - shifting meaning
  • “what we like” = consonance
    • pleasantly-sounding
  • “what we don’t like” = dissonance
    • necessary for phenomenon of movement
    • does not sound pleasant - a bit disturbing
  • we really don’t understand why this is the music
  • it sounds better when when get the dissonance resolved
    • dissonance → consonance
    • this is the basic why that music works
    • its boring to stay consonant all the time
  • some chords are more dissonant than others
• chord - 3 or more pitches
  • built from particular sets of pitches or scales
• triad - three-pitch chord
  • inversions possible
• tonic - central pitch
  • most common-practice Western music is tonal
  • a place where always want to comeback to
    • example: Someone Like You by Adele → Key of A
  • atonal music

<aside> <img src="/icons/sun_purple.svg" alt="/icons/sun_purple.svg" width="40px" /> Music that uses primarily the major or minor pitch set (two versions of the same thing) is said to be diatonic. Anything else is chromatic.

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