Len's Music Blog

Counterpoint (entry for 9/27/2024) In the last post we talked about Voice Leading, we now need to backtrack a bit chronologically and talk about a time in music, called the Contrapuntal Era, from where the idea of Voice Leading originated. ‘Counterpoint’ is a particular style of music, and Contrapuntal is an adjective describing that style. The basic idea of the style is to have independent ‘lines’ of music that play off against each other (‘counter to’ each other, which is where the name comes from). The adjective comes from the word ‘Contrapunctus,’ which comes from a Latin saying, “Punctus contra punctum,” which literally means “Note against note.” What do we mean by ‘lines’? We’re talking about at least two different ‘melodies’ that co-exist with each other and that sound good together. Being aware of them as melodies, rather than harmonies, is a way of thinking about music that is called a ‘horizontal’ or ‘linear’ approach. That is, how the music sounds over time, rather than at o...

           Voice Leading (entry for 9/20/24) In the last post we started talking about four-part harmony. It’s time now to bring up a concept that has a definite affect on how that kind of harmony is worked out in actual practice: voice leading. The first thing you need to realize, if you don’t already know, is that ‘voice’ in this sense is not talking about the human voice, but about a melodic or semi-melodic line that is independent of what type of instrument (or vocal apparatus) is producing it. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the notion of voice leading did grow out of the way human voices were being composed for at one time. But, by the time so-called Classical Music came along, the word had expanded to mean what it means now. To make this a bit clearer (I hope!), dwell for a moment on the idea of a children’s ‘Round.’ For example, think about the last time you sang “Are You Sleeping?” (The first four notes are at the top of this blog post, on the...

           Four-Note Chords (entry for 9/13/2024) In the last post we talked about three-note chords called triads. Now it’s time to talk about four-note chords and the related topic of four-part harmony. If you’ve ever sung from a hymnal, or listened to a traditional mixed-voice choir, or played in a string quartet, you have already been exposed to the concept of four part harmony, whether you realized it or not. (‘Barber Shop’ Quartets sort of count too, but only sort of.) Many musicians believe that the famous Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach invented four part harmony, mostly in his 371 vocal chorales. It’s true that he more or less perfected the idea, but he didn’t invent it. It had been around for at least two hundred years before he was born. In the Middle Ages, most religious music had two parts: one for men and one for boys. This had sort of a bare-bones feel to it, as it consisted mostly of perfect fourths and fifths, with other intervals be...

  Triads (entry for 9/6/2024) The study of music is traditionally broken up into three parts: melody, harmony, and rhythm. The first and last are easy. Melody is the study of how pitches in a single line go through time, and rhythm is the study of how that time is organized. Harmony is a bit harder. Harmony is the study of how different pitches affect each other when played or sung together at the same time. Another way of saying this is that melody is pitch arranged horizontally and harmony is pitch arranged vertically. Mostly, harmony is about ‘chords,’ which are made up of intervals. Having talked about Intervals two posts ago, and Transpositions, last post, it is now time to talk about Chords. But to be safe, let’s define the word before we begin using it. A chord is three or more different pitches sounding simultaneously. (That is, ‘in accord.’ Get it?) I hear you ask, ‘Why not two pitches?’ The answer is that, technically, two simultaneous different pitches go by the name ‘du...