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.

IES Las Encinas 1º de ESO Proyecto Bilingüe

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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'.