Write a five page paper with the following criteria
MUSICAL CONTEXT (FACTS):
WHAT (title, style, genre)
WHO (performer, composer, group)
WHERE (place, region, country)
WHEN (date, time/historical period)
WHY = CULTURAL/HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
Why is/was it written?
Why is/was it performed?
Why is/was it important?
Why does/did it have meaning?
Why do/did people play it?
Why do/did people listen to it?
Why do/did people participate in it?
HOW = MUSICAL ELEMENTS:
1. RHYTHM (temporal organization)
beats – pulses
meter – regular beat groupings
tempo – speed or pace of the music
free rhythm – irregular or with no discernable pulse
Tempo – speed or pace of the music identified by beats or pulses
Strong Beat – accented or emphasized
Weak Beat – unaccented
Beat groupings – duple, triple, compound, additive
Meter – regular organization of beats
Downbeat – strong first beat in a group
Rubato – flexible tempo
Free rhythm – often based on the rhythm of speech
SYNCOPATION: strong accent or emphasis on a normally weak beat.
OSTINATO: (It. for obstinate) a musical figure, motive, melody, harmony, or rhythm that is played over
and over again (i.e., a stubborn rhythm).
RIFF: repeated melodic-rhythmic units.
Often associated with jazz and blues.
Incorporated into melody.
Provides the foundation for soloing.
2. TONALITY (sonic organization)
Instruments – type (Hornbostel & Sachs if unknown), quantity
Voices – single gender, mixed
Text – language adds meaning.
Vocal style – full, nasal, gritty, etc.
Dynamics – change in volume
Pitch – fundamental (lowest) frequency of a tone
Melody – linear (horizontal) pitch relationships (intimate relationship with rhythm)
Harmony – simultaneous (vertical) pitch relationships.
3. TEXTURE (qualitative organization)
Monophonic [one] – a single melody by one or more instruments or voices
Homophonic [same] – melody with accompaniment (most common)
Polyphonic [many] – simultaneous occurrence of independent melodies
Heterophonic [different] – similar melodies not played together.
4. DENSITY (quantitative organization)
Number and volume of instruments/voices
Dense versus sparse
5. FORM (structural organization)
Lyric – based on text
Melodic – based on melodic phrases
Harmonic – based on accompaniment
Temporal – based on units of time
Sectional – based on repetition and/or variation of large segments of the music.
select a musical performance to analyze using the concepts and technical
vocabulary learned in the class. Each paper will be at least five pages long. The Paper
should combine Historical and Analytical approaches. This report should be about the
analysis, theory, development, or performance practice of a specific genre/style of music or
performer.
2. The paper must be well organized with good paragraphs, proper grammar, spelling, and
punctuation.
3. Citation style must be Chicago or MLA.
4. Written in 12-point, Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.
5. Paper includes a cover page with the title of your paper, name, instructor’s name, and
course title.
6.With 3 supporting SCHOLARLY REFERENCES (no Wikipedia, blogs,
and non-scholarly sources can be used
