What does the discipline "Elementary Music Theory" study?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The discipline called "Elementary Music Theory" is intended to be studied in art schools. The course consists of several sections, including: musical notation, means of expression, triads, intervals, meter, rhythm and size, alteration, mode and its elements, tonality, etc. Knowledge of the basics of the subject "Elementary Music Theory" is very important for the successful activity of the future artist. Since all the theoretical information presented in this discipline is directly related to their practical application.

Sound

Every day we hear birds singing, conversations, car noises, etc. All these are sounds that fill the world around us. In turn, they are divided into musical and noise. Sound can be attributed to a physical phenomenon resulting from the vibration of a certain body. A person perceives it as a sensation generated by the brain due to irritation of the auditory organ. Musical sounds have three qualities: loudness, pitch and timbre. Duration is also important. This indicator depends directly on the duration of the oscillation of a particular sound source. Elementary music theory reveals the concept"scale". It is widely used in theory and instrumentation. This is the name of the arrangement of sounds in height, each of which is called a "step". Seven of them have independent names known to many of us: do, re, mi, fa, s alt, la, si. Each of the steps can be raised by half a step. At the same time, a “sharp” sign will appear near the note. And it can also be lowered, which will be indicated by "flat". Part of the scale, which includes the seven steps described above, is called the "octave" - this is the distance between two identical sounds of different heights.

Note writing

Elementary music theory uses certain signs to designate sounds. They are called notes. Signs are written on a staff - a system consisting of five horizontally arranged rulers. The account is usually kept from the bottom up. To determine a more accurate pitch of sounds, a special sign is used - the key.

He is drawn on one of the rulers of the stave. In musical practice, the treble clef is the most common. It is located on the second line of the staff.

Duration

In music theory, an oval is used to designate tones - filled or empty. A calm (stick on the side) with or without a tail can be added to it. Music theory proposes to use an unfilled oval to depict a whole note - the longest duration. Twice as short is a half note. She is depicted using an unpainted oval with a calm. A quarter is half the duration described above. She is depicted withusing a filled oval with a calm. Twice as short as her eighth. On the music staff, it looks like a filled oval with a stem and a tail.

There are also sixteenth, sixty-fourth and thirty-second durations. They are formed by adding additional tails to the stem.

Pauses

The theory of electronic music, just like classical music, uses these signs to mark the boundaries of thematic constructions, phrases, motives, as well as to enhance the artistic expressiveness of the composition. They are written on the staff with certain characters corresponding to the duration of certain notes. Pause translates to "silence".