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: 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. 

THE STRUCTURE OF A POPULAR SONG

              The structure of a song consists on the way the composer organizes the ideas or melodies in different parts or sections of a song. Let`s see what are the main sections in a classical pop-rock song.

                                                          THE STRUCTURE OF A POPULAR SONG:

When you build a song you have to think about the parts that this song has to have.

a)    Introduction: It`s an instrumental part just before the lyrics starts.

b)    Verse: It`s the part of the song that tells the story. It moves the story forward. This section always repeats the music but the words change. 

c)     Pre-Chorus: It's a short transition section. It prepares the coming climax which is the chorus.  It has the same music and the same words. 

d)    Chorus: it`s the most catchy part of the song. A good chorus has to stick in your mind. It`s repeated several times. Music and words are the same and the title of the song is usually included in this part.

e)    Instrumental break: It is an instrumental section or interlude during a song. Its main function is to take a break from the main parts of the song.

f)     Bridge: It normally differs melodically, lyrically and rhythmically from the other parts of the song. It gives the song contrast before the final chorus.

g)    Coda: It’s an Italian word for tail. It`s an optional addiction to a song and it represents the end of a song.

         Click on this link to listen to a song as an example of a classical song structure.

       EXAMPLE

THE ROMANTICISM: BEETHOVEN. 5TH SYMPHONY

In this two videos you will listen to the  fifth symphony by Beethoven as an example of music made by romantic composers. This work was composed between the years 1804 and 1808 and was released in december the 22th in 1808.  The beginning of this symphony is one of the most famous in music history ( the fate knocking to the door).  As every symphony it has four movements and it is music performed by an orchestra. 

In the video on the left you can follow the music reading the music score. 

HOW THE PIANO WORKS

Take a look at this video where you will see the different pieces of a piano and what happen when a key is pressed. 

THE MUSIC FROM THE CLASSICISM

In this video you will see and example of music composed by W. A. Mozart. This music has most of the characteristics from the Classicism; beauty, simplicity, serenity, elegance, clarity and of course BALANCE. 

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.