Patricia Jimenez

SLM 521

October 8, 2005

Web Drop-in #2

 

Do You Hear What I Hear?

 

There is no such thing as music divorced from the listener. 

Music as such is unfulfilled until it has penetrated our ears.”

-        Yehudi Menuhin

 

This activity will help to develop your music listening skills. You will begin to use the vocabulary of the musical elements to describe the music that you are evaluating.  As you listen perceptively, you will be able to make more connections in understanding how the elements of music relate to the music’s function. 

 

Use the chart on the next page to analyze a selection of music.  You will listen for the elements of music that are listed.  Listen to your selected piece at least three times, adding detail to your description each time you listen to it.  You may use your own vocabulary in addition to the vocabulary in the chart.  Click here to visit Classics for Kids where you will see a list of composers and related compositions.  Scroll down the list and click on the title of your choice.   Click on the “Hear the Music” icon.  Be sure to record the title and composer onto the chart.  Print out your work page and keep it in your music folder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music Elements Listening Assignment

 

Name _____________________________

 

Title ____________________________      Composer ____________________________

 

Element

Related Terms

Descriptions

Melody

Melodic range

Melodic contour

Conjunct / disjunct

Phrase

Scale

 

Timbre

Kind of instruments

Proportion of instruments

Sound production

(bowed, plucked, struck, etc)

 

Texture

Monophony / polyphony

Homophonic

Chordal

Imitative / Nonimitative

 

Tempo

 

 

 

Dynamics

 

 

 

Rhythm

Syncopation

Steady or changeable

Motive

 

Meter

Duple / triple

Irregular / nonmetric

 

Harmony

Consonant / dissonant

Chords:  hollow; sweet;

        major; minor

Drones

 

Form

Section organization

Repetition

Variation

Contrast

 

Text

Language

Strophic

Text painting

 

Other