THE BAROQUE: INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

During the baroque period instrumental music achieved a definitive independence from vocal music, thanks to the development of the bowed string family and the birth of the orchestra. As a result new music styles were born. The most important was the BAROQUE CONCERTO. Take a look at these two videos where you will watch  two concertos by Antonio Vivaldi( 1678-1741).  " The 
winter" and " The spring". 
As every "concerto" in the baroque period, these two concerts have 3 movements in different speed ( allegro- andante or adagio- allegro). Also, in a concerto you will always find one o more soloists ( solo players) who make a dialogue with the whole orchestra ( tutti)

THE WINTER
THE SPRING

The sonnets by Vivaldi

Now, take a look at the video below.  It is a concerto by Vivaldi and the soloist in this case is a RECORDER ( the flute that you play in class) 

THE RENAISSANCE

Listen to this music and try to follow the different voices. The title of this piece is "Sanctus" by the English composer William Byrd( 1543-1623). Remember that in the Renaissance the texture of every kind of music used to be polyphonic, having at least four different voices. 

THE MIDDLE AGES: THE NAME OF THE NOTES

In this video you will learn how the names of the notes were created. The responsible was a monk called Guido d`Arezzo,  who decided to use a well - known  song  called " Saint Jonh Hymn". Whit this song he  gives a name to  each sound  according to their pitch.

MIDDLE AGES

Listen to this music. It`s an example of gregorian chant. Check your workbook and have a look at the characteristics of this kind of music. 
1.  the texture of this music is monophonic, because there used to be only one voice or line.
2. there isn't a regular beat. They used to follow the rhythm of the latin words.
3. It used to be played a capella, that means without instruments. 
4. this music used to be sung by a choir with only male voices. 
5. The language used to be latin.

CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

On the right you will find the official video of the famous song "Crazy little thing called love" written by Freddie Mercury in 1979 and included in the album " The Game" released in 1980. This song has been composed in the classical rock and roll style 

20TH CENTURY: POPULAR MUSIC (2)

In these videos you will see the performance of two important  rock and roll afro american artists from the fifties. They are Chuck Berry, the first great guitarist of rock and roll music with the song " Jonny B. Goode" and Little Richard with " Tutti Frutti" and his style full of energy. 

20TH CENTURY: POPULAR MUSIC

In these two videos you will be able to see two of the first songs to be referred to as rock an roll music style. One of them is " Rock  around the clock" recorded by Bill Haley and the Comets in 1954. The other one is a song by Elvis Presley known as " The king of rock and roll". The tittle of this song is " Hound dog" recorded by Elvis in 1956. This kind of music used to be danced and 

                                                   

20th CENTURY Classical Music: EXPERIMENTATION 2

Here you can see another example of experimentation in classical music during the 20th century. However, in this case the music is pleasant, and beautiful. It is also based on some traditional principles of music like the melody. Nevertheless, as always in the 20th century, we can find features of experimentation. 

       1. There is only one melody played consecutively by each instrument of the orchestra. 

 2. There is a big  fifteenth-minute crescesdo from the beginnig to the end of the composition.

      3. There is an "ostinato" ( a repetitive rhythmic pattern )  made by the snare drum along the compositon). 

The piece, called Bolero and premiered in 1928

 is Maurice Ravel's most famous musical composition.

20th CENTURY: EXPERIMENTATION 1

Have a look at this video in which you will see the work composed by the French composer  Edgar Varese between 1929 and 1931 called  " Ionisation". This composition has been written exclusively for percussion instruments. It is the first time that something like this was made. It is an example of experimentation in classical music. 

RIVERBOAT RAG

 Clicking the following link you will have the music score of the rhithmic song RIVERBOAT RAG.

This song is a traditional ragtime style piece with  the characteristic syncopated flow. 

Enjoy it.

RIVERBOAT RAG