Musical Styles and Influential Figures

Musical Styles and Figures

• Balinese Gamelan: Known for its complex tradition.
• Harpsichord: Widely used in Renaissance and Baroque eras.
• Piano Double Escapement: Allows for quick repetition of notes.

Baroque Music Genres

• Opera: A theatrical work with costumed singers and orchestra.
• Oratorio: A long, sacred work for singers and orchestra, not staged.
• Cantata: A short religious work for solo singers, chorus, and orchestra.
• Recitative: Speech-like singing with sparse accompaniment.
• Aria: Tuneful singing with a steady meter.
• Basso Continuo: The Baroque backing band, usually harpsichord and cello.
• Suite: A set of contrasting instrumental dance movements.

Hip Hop Pioneers

• The Sugarhill Gang: Produced the first mainstream rap hit, "Rapper's Delight".
• Afrika Bambaataa: Hip Hop artist influenced by electronic music.
• The MPC 3000: AKAI machine, used for seamless musical backing tracks.
• The TR-808: Early drum machine, popularly used.
• Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Innovative DJ and MC group, moved to social commentary.

Early Piano Issues

• Early pianos couldn't quickly repeat the same note.

Modern Music Styles

• Prepared Piano: Attaching objects to piano strings for unusual sounds.
• Sprechstimme: Half-spoken, half-sung singing on approximate pitches.
• MIDI: Language allowing computers and digital music devices to communicate.
• Impressionism: An understated, static style.
• Serialism: Compositional technique based on a pre-arranged series of 12 notes.
• Polytonality: Music sounding in two or more keys simultaneously.
• Minimalism: Hypnotic repetition/distortion of short patterns.
• Expressionism: Ultra-shocking, dissonant style.
• Chance Music: Aspects of the work are left to chance.
• Atonality: Music with no tonal center.

Composers and Works

• Varese: Poeme Electronique: Musique concrete.
• Glass: Einstein on the Beach: Minimalist opera.
• Cowell: The Banshee: Tone clusters.
• Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire: Song cycle.
• Bernstein: West Side Story: Jazz-influenced musical theatre.
• Copland: Appalachian Spring: Symphonic poem.
• Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun: Symphonic Poem.
• Cage: 4'33": Chance music
• Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw: Serialism.

Non-Western Music

• Non-Western Cultures: Lack the concept of "art music" (formal concert music).
• Call and Response / Polyrhythm: Important aspects of many African musical traditions.

Musical Innovations

• Scratching: First developed by DJ Kool Herc.
• Organ Keyboard: Called a manual.
• First Electric Synthesizer: Invented by Robert Moog in 1964.
• First Piano: Invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1709.
• First Commercially-Available Analog Synths: Made by Robert Moog in 1964.

Hip Hop Elements

• Four Primary Hip Hop Elements: Rapping, Graffiti, Breakdancing, DJing.

Chamber Music

• Chamber Music: Interplay of parts is essential.
• Chamber Ensemble Examples: String Trio, String Quartet, Brass Quintet, Piano Trio, Wind Quintet.

###Early Hip Hop Figures and Movements

• Def Jam Founders: Rick Rubin & Russell Simmons
• Early Hip Hop Spoken Word Poet: Gil Scott-Heron
• Birthplace of Hip Hop: The Bronx.
• Hardcore: Style combining social consciousness and Afrocentric message (Public Enemy), or gangster lifestyle descriptions (N.W.A).

Classical Music Genres and Forms

• Rondo Form: Easy-to-recognize melody returning after contrasting sections.
• Theme and Variations: Main idea undergoing variations.
• Minuet and Trio Form: Standard 3rd movement form.
• Scherzo and Trio Form: After 1800, the usual 3rd movement design.
• Sonata Form: Standard 1st movement design, with Exposition, Development, and Recapitulation.

Classical and Romantic Instruments

• Organ: Air forced through pipes.
• Harpsichord: Plectrum plucks strings.
• Piano: Hammer strikes strings.
• Synthesizer: Electrical current through microchips.

Baroque Composers

• Purcell: Greatest native English Baroque composer.
• Vivaldi: Composer of over 500 concertos and 50 operas.
• Handel: Composer of operas, oratorios, and instrumental music.
• Bach: Greatest master of Baroque counterpoint.
• Corelli: First Western composer to write instrumental music exclusively.
• Monteverdi: Initiated Baroque with new vocal music approach.

Music Elements

• Dynamics: Relative loudness/quietness of musical sound.
• Harmony: Vertical relationship of pitches.
• Rhythm: Element of "time" in music.
• Tone Color/Timbre: Characteristic sound of instrument/voice.
• Melody: Horizontal presentation of pitch.
• Form: Structural design.
• Texture: Interrelationship of simultaneously-sounding musical lines.

Non-Western Music Emphasis

• Non-Western Music: Generally less focused on harmony than Western music.