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MUFHL 308Introduction to Music:

Rock & Roll

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Fundamentals of Music

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Basic Elements

• Musical terminology and Vocabulary The three major elements of music (any

idiom)

•Rhythm

• Sometimes you can tell a song just by the rhythm

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Basic Elements

• Melody A series of notes which express a musical idea

• Note - the sound and symbol for a pitch.• A melody always includes a rhythm

• Harmony two or more different notes sounding at the same time.

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Musical Terms

• Scale A series of pitches dividing the octave

• European is DO RE ME FA SOL LA TI • Octave

An entirely consonant harmony Mathematics shows us that 2x’s the number of

vibrations results in an octave higher. These pitches, no matter how high or low, share the same note name.

European Scale divided into 12 equal parts. African scales differed according to region, but none divided it the same as Europeans.

Results: Traditional African scales were not playable on European instruments so Africans generally assimilated European scales with African rhythms.

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Musical Terms

• Measures

small equal units of a piece (composition) usually containing 2-8 beats.

• Progression

Flow of harmony to a resting point

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Musical Terms

• Chords (harmony was 2 or more notes)

Chords have 3 or more notes occurring at the same time that have a harmonic relationship.

• Improvisation

Instantaneous creation of melody harmony and/or rhythm