| Pitch, Scale, Melody, Major and Minor | |
| Pitch | |
| The highness and lowness of sound is determined
by the speed of vibration a moving object makes. The pitch of an instrument or voice
is determined by how
many times per second it's music making object (reed,
string or whatever) vibrates back and forth. The faster the vibration
the higher the pitch. The slower the vibration the lower the pitch
The human ear has a normal hearing range of between 16 and 20,000 vibrations per second. Some high fidelity systems have a range above the ability to hear by the human ear, but the upper harmonic tones enrich the fundamental tones that do lie within the ears range. Animals can hear tones above the normal human range of hearing. Certain dog whistles are pitched in this high area so that they can be heard by a dog but not by a human being Some high instruments (fast vibrations) are the flute and piccolo. Some low instruments (slow vibrations) are the cello and bassoon. Human voices are categorized as follows:
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| Scale | |
| A collection of pitches available for
making music. A scale is a series of pitches from which melodies and
harmonies are based. The two most commonly used scales in Western music
are called major and minor. Major refers to the greater or larger
interval found between the first degree of the major scale, (the tonic),
and the scales third degree. Minor refers to the lesser or smaller
interval found between the first and third degree of the minor scale.
Because of the size and arrangement of the intervals in major or minor
scales they have very different characteristics of spirit and mood.
Major can be the cheerful or bright scale, where as minor can be
serious, sad and sometimes the more romantic scale. But there are many
exceptions to this rule. Pieces such as the Largo from Dvorįk New
World Symphony is a beautiful melancholy melody written with the
major scale. The happy melody of Greensleeves
is actually written with a minor scale.
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| Melody | |
| A
succession of musical pitches played or sung to a certain rhythm. Melody
can also be thought of as the direction and shape of a musical
"line" given by a pattern of pitches. Most melodies are
derived from scales and melodies are considered the most
expressive element in music, (rhythm the most physical). This is perhaps
due to the fact that the first instrument was the human voice and there
as many varieties of melodies as there are human emotions.
Other concepts that will help you understand the make up of melody are:
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