Chapter 3: Color, Texture, and Form

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Chapter 3 Color, Texture, and Form
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Dynamics How loud or soft the music is

• Terminology in Italian

Term Musical Symbol Definition
Fortissimo ff Very loud
Forte f Loud
Mezzo forte mf Moderately loud
Mezzo piano mp Moderately soft
Piano p Soft
Pianissimo pp Very soft
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Color

• Color / Timbre
• Voice Classified by range into 4 parts
• Soprano, (Mezzo soprano), Alto, Tenor,
  (Baritone), Bass

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Musical Instruments

• Instrument families have the same basic shape and
  are made of the same materials
• Strings, woodwinds, brasses, percussion, keyboard
  

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Strings

• Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass (Listening Guide, p.
  36)
• Core of the Western symphony orchestra
• Different string playing techniques
• Vibrato
• Pizzicato
• Tremolo
• Trill

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• Harp
• Glissando
• Arpeggio
• 
  

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Woodwinds

• Flute
• Piccolo
• Clarinet
• Oboe
• English horn
• Bassoon
• Contrabassoon The lowest instrument of the
  orchestra
• Saxophone
• Listening Guide pg. 37-38

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Brasses

• Trumpet
• Mute A plug placed in the bell of the instrument
  to lessen the sound
• Trombone
• French horn
• Tuba
• Listening Guide, pg. 38

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Percussion

• Some percussion instruments are pitched
• Timpani percussion instrument most often heard
  in classical music
• Non-pitched percussion instruments
• Snare Drum, Bass drum, Cymbals

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Keyboard Instruments

• Pipe organ
• Stop

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Keyboard Instruments

• Harpsichord

• Piano

• Most popular during the Baroque Era

• Invented around 1700

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The Symphony Orchestra

• Originated during the seventeenth century
• Early 18th century 15-25 musicians
• Late 18th century 25-80 musicians
• 19th century around 100 musicians
• Around 1800, a conductor became necessary as
  ensembles expanded and pieces became more complex
• Orchestral score
• Listening Cue Practice identifying instruments
  of the orchestra on CourseMate Listening Exercise
  3.1

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Texture

• Texture
• Vincent Van Goghs Branch of an Almond Tree in
  Blossom (1890)

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Three Primary Textures in Music

• Monophony
• Unison
• Homophony

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• Polyphony
• Counterpoint

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Identifying Texture

• The Hallelujah chorus from The Messiah by
  George Frideric Handel (pg. 45)

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FORM

• Form
• Use of statement, repetition, contrast, and
  variation

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Five Favorite Musical Forms

• Strophic Form AA
• Listening example pg. 47 (Lullaby by Brahms)
• Theme and Variations A A1 A2 A3 A4
• Listening example pg. 48 (Variations on Twinkle
  Twinkle by Mozart)

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• Binary Form A B
• Listening example pg. 48 (Andante from
• The Surprise Symphony by Haydn)
• Ternary Form A B A
• Listening example pg. 49 (Dance of the
• Reed Pipes from The Nutcracker by
• Tchaikovsky)

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• Rondo Form ABACA or ABACABA
• Listening example pg. 50 (Rondeau by Mouret)