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IES Las Encinas 1º de ESO Proyecto Bilingüe
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UNIT 3:
MELODy AND HARMONy 3.1. Melody
3.1.1. Intervals
3.1.2. Accidentals
3.1.3. Scales
3.1.4. Structure of a melody
3.2. Harmony
IES Las Encinas 1º de ESO Proyecto Bilingüe
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Basic Vocabulary
Accidentals: alteraciones accidentales.
Cadence: cadencia.
Chord: acorde.
Consonant: consonancia.
Dissonance: disonancia.
Harmony: armonía.
Interval: intervalo.
Key signature: armadura
Melody: melodía.
Minor/Major: menor/mayor.
Motif: motivo.
Phrase: frase.
Scale: escala.
Theme: tema.
Whole/Half step: tono y semitono.
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3.1. Melody
We call melody the lineal sequence of pitches of sound that expresses
a musical idea. All melodies are made within a certain system of scales,
that is, within a certain organization of pitches of sound.
3.1.1. Intervals
An interval measures the distance between two notes. We obtain its
name by counting the number of notes. The first and last note must be
counted and you must know the order of the musical notes to be able to
count the notes.
However, not all intervals of the same numerical classification are of
the same size. That is why we need to specify the quality by finding the
exact number of tones (whole step) and semitones (half steps) in the
interval.
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3.1.2. Accidentals
Accidentals are symbols that modify the pitch. The sharp (#) symbol
raises a note by a semitone, while the flat (b) symbol lowers the note,
also by a semitone. The becuadro cancels the effect of the sharp or the
flat.
Sharp Flat Becuadro
3.1.3. Scales
A scale is a series of notes
arranged from low to high or vice
versa. Most of the our western music
is built upon the diatonic scale. It is
made up of five tones and two
semitones. Depending on the
distribution of tones and semitones,
diatonic scales can be major or minor.
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Diatonic major and minor scales have the following sequence of tones
and semitones:
1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½
1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1
Since scales can be made beginning with any note, we need to
maintain the distribution of tones and semitones of the pattern using
accidentals so that they keep the same sonority. These accidentals,
characteristic of each scale, are always placed at the beginning of the piece
and behind the clef, forming what we call the key signature.
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3.1.3. Structure of a melody
The same way we distinguish syllables, words, sentences, etc. in
spoken language, which are placed to express an idea, in the language of
music melodies are also made up of small structures. Therefore, in a melody
we can distinguish:
Motif: it would be the equivalent of a word, or a small group of notes
with musical meaning. It is the basic cell of the melody.
Phrase: it is the same as in a grammatical sentence; a melody with
actual meaning which ends in a cadence.
Cadence: it is the equivalent of pauses in languages. Cadences can
have more or less conclusive nature. A phrase will end with a
weaker or stronger cadence depending on if it is an antecedent
(when the musical idea is not finished) or consequent phrase
(when the musical idea is finished).
Theme: it is the melody that becomes the core of a musical piece.
The main idea around which the whole composition is built.
Melodic motion is the line or direction that the notes follow in a melody:
horizontal, ascending, descending, etc.
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2. Harmony
In Western music, harmony is the
use of different simultaneous pitches and
often refers to the "vertical" aspects of music,
distinguished from ideas of melodic line, or
the "horizontal" aspect.
Three or more notes sounded simultaneously form a chord. We can feel
different sorts of feelings when we hear a chord. Normally, we differentiate
between consonant (relaxation) and dissonance (tension). Typically, a
dissonant chord (chord with a tension) will become a consonant chord. A
good harmonization usually sounds pleasant to the ear when there is a
balance between the consonant and dissonant sounds. To simplify, that
occurs when there is a balance between "tension" and "relax" moments.
Due to this, tensions are usually 'prepared' and then 'resolved'.