Area of Study 03 Texture and Melody Melody

Area of Study 03: Texture and Melody “Melody” AQA GCSE Music

Areas of Study • Ao. S 01: Rhythm and Metre • Ao. S 02: Harmony and Tonality • A 0 S 03: Texture and Melody • Ao. S 04: Dynamics and Timbre • Ao. S 05: Structure and Form

Melody What is meant by Melody? • A melody is a rhythmically organised pattern of single notes arranged in succession, one after the other. In melody the notes are arranged horizontally (whereas in harmony that are arranged vertically) • Or…. . THE TUNE

Melody • Counter Melody – A second, less important tune to support the main melody • Pitch – how high or low the note is • Scale – a group of notes played in ascending or descending order

Melody cont… • Interval – The gap in pitch between two notes Perfect • Arpeggio – Playing the notes of a chord one by one (bit like a broken chord)

Conjunct, Disjunct, Triadic and Scalic • These are all different kinds of melodic note patterns. • Conjunct – notes in the melody move mainly by step (they are mostly next to each other in pitch) • Disjunct – moves mainly by leaps (big intervals between the notes) • Triadic – the melody begins by using notes that belong to the triad (of chord) e. g. C E G (C Chord) • Scalic – melody that is made up of notes that follow the order of a particular scale

See Different Scales Ao S 0 2 H for armo exa ny a mp nd les Ton a • Pentatonic scale – a five note scale. Often used in Chinese, African and Celtic Folk melodies • Whole Tone Scale – a scale made up of only whole tones. E. g. C, D, E, F#, G#, A# • Chromatic Scale – scale made up of semitones • Passing notes are the notes in between the notes of the accompanying chord. • Blue notes the flattened notes in a Blues Scale. Often slide up or down to these notes. They make a piece sound ‘bluesy’. e. g. - C, Bb, G, Gb, F, Eb, C lity

Melody Cont. Cli Or ck H fin ere d t to he e fol xplo de re r w ‘S ith equ the en PP ces’ Ti n. • Sequence – when a tune is repeated a step higher (ascending sequence) or a step lower (descending sequence). • Pitch bend – bending the note on a guitar or any string instrument/voice or keyboard/synthesizer.

Repetition • 3 Words for same meaning – just use the correct word for the style of music • Ostinato – Classical • Riff – Popular music • Loop – Electronic/technology based music

Ornamentation • This is about decorating parts of the melody • Trills – 2 notes that are next to each other played rapidly • 57 seconds and beyond, shows Trills being used. • All instruments perform trills, especially in Baroque Music Video 02

• Double Stopping - Cont. – This is when ‘ 2 notes are played at the same time (Two strings at the same time). This is term only applies to string instruments. • 1 Min 20 Secs shows an example of Double Stopping • There is extensive use of this throughout the piece • 1 Min 8 Secs – Pizzicato, followed by staccato bowed Video 03

Tremolo • • Another string effect, means, ‘trembling’ or ‘quivering’ Rapid up-and-down movements of the bow on the strings, creating an agitated or shimmering effect • Listen and look at the opening to “Bruckner Symphony 9” • The Strings open the piece, using a Tremolo effect. Very short bowing, but very fast to capture that shimmering effect. Video 5

Glissando • Glissando (instruments)/ Portamento (voice) – ‘sliding’ between 2 notes. Track 05 Rhapsody in Blues • Listen to the Slide at the start by the Clarinet – just after the trill On the next slide, look at video of the guitar playing a melody. It focusses mainly on using Glissando’s (slides) Video 04

Video 04

Articulation • Articulation – how the notes are played: • Staccato – short, detached notes (Spikey) Staccato Non-Staccato (Legato) • Legato – notes are played attached, smoothly Legato Sometimes indicated by a ‘slur’ Played Staccato

Articulation cont. Opposites • Pizzicato – Short, plucked notes on a stringed instrument • Con Arco – Simply means, use of Bow Video 01 This example shows extensive use of Pizzicato

Melody Cont. • Phrase – a musical sentence (where you’d naturally take a breath). Often 2, 4 or 8 bars long. Indicated by a curved line above the stave. • Improvisation – when a player makes the music up on the spot. In jazz/blues/pop players will often improvise a solo – commonly on a guitar/sax/trumpet/keyboard.