Getting Ahead with Exploring
Essentials for Music Theory
This page continues to offer you some essential theoretical skills that might be worth acquiring before the start of the course. In addition to the work on research, here are some relatively simple activities that you may wish to complete to help you with the fundamentals necessary for Exploring Music in Context, which is required for both standard-level and higher-level students.
Photo by NEOM on Unsplash
There is a complete list of skills for this component to be found HERE, but the purpose of this page is to focus solely on music theory and the aspects that will stand you in good stead once the course has begun.
A summary of those skills in relation to Exploring Music in Context (see HERE for an overview of this component) can be summarised as follows:
- presenting music in authentic ways
- explain research findings
- finding connections between musical and extra-musical features
- realising creating conventions of a particular style, AND
- shapes the performing practices of a particular style.
One aspect that I would like to focus on here is "shapes the performing practices". Part of this relies on an understanding of how the music was created and therefore access to and understanding of scores, audio/video recordings and live experiences of music (see p.26 of the Guide) is necessary.
Remember that even if you do not have strong standard Western Art score reading skills, there is still plenty that you can develop through listening experiences.
Pre-listening Task
What are some ways in which you can embellish a melody?
You may wish to consider rhythm, melodic contour, harmony, and expressive techniques appropriate for the style.
Once you have brainstormed this, check the link BELOW, which provides you with aspects that you should carefully consider, in particular the notion that embellishments can overpower a melody when used excessively or at unsuitable times. It is important, therefore, to understand what is stylistically appropriate and this is really at the heart of Exploring Music in Context.
The Art Of Embellishing Melodies And Its Importance In Music
Here is a summary of that page:
- The Importance of Embellishment in Music
- they add variety and interest
- helps to convey the mood and the emotion of a piece
- Different Types of Embellishments
- the most common include: trills, mordant, turns, grace notes, appoggiaturas
- each has a distinctive effect on a melody
- Choosing the Right Embellishments
- understanding the style/mood of a piece is essential here
- one needs to gain an understanding of stylistic "currency"
- Balancing Embellishments
- used sparingly (depending on context) in order to enhance the melody
- trills, for example, are often used at cadence points to highlight moments of harmonic tension
TASK ONE
This opening aria (song) is in ABA form (these are known as Da Capo arias). By listening to the recording AND following the score, what are some of the differences that you hear when the A section is repeated?
It is standard practice to ornament the melody line on the repeat.
What does Kathleen Battle do in this regard?
A portion of this score has been extracted from the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) / Petrucci Music Library! Editor: Jürgen Knuth
https://vmirror.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/7/7d/IMSLP80656-PMLP149297-bwv051.pdf
Here is another Da Capo aria from Händel's Opera Rinaldo: HWV 7a/22. Lascia ch'io pianga - Piau (Forck). What difference do you notice in this recording when the A section is repeated?
How can you link the MUSICAL with the EXTRA-MUSICAL features here? In other words, what were some of the cultural reasons for the repeat and why do you think that vocalists were given that freedom?
With regard to the ornaments used, trills are used very differently in both pieces. Comment on the use of trills in relation to the sustained notes in Bach and how they feature at cadence points in the Handel.
There are variations to the melody in the Handel in the repeats. Suggest reasons why this is the case (and less so with the Bach).
It is important for the component of Exploring Music in Context, that the musical findings and the extra-musical findings are connected. In other words, LINK the context of the music with the musical practices and conventions.
Teacher only boxThere is actually very little (or no difference) on the repeat that Kathleen Battle offers here with regard to the inclusion of ORNAMENTS (or variation to the melody for that matter) likely given its speed. A slower and more harmonically simple aria offers greater scope for the artists of the day to embellish.
Here is the opening of an article that discusses this (click HERE).
Neumann, F. (1986). 19. Embellishments in Repeats. In Ornamentation and Improvisation in Mozart (pp. 275-281). Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691194684-024