Introduction to Musical Concepts

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In order to hear the music examples on these pages you need the Flash Player, Beatnik Player and RealONEPlayer plug-ins installed in your browser. All are free. Click the above links or icons to get them. (For RealONEPlayer, look for the link to the free version)

Also needed is the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in

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...On the Side

November 29, 2006

• Review material for the final is now online. E-mail me if you have a question about the material or if you want to set up a review session.

• Here is a Music Player with the two songs we'll use to review for your Intelligent Listening paper. Here's a completed example Checklist for the Clapton record.
     Note: because we are discussing the Beatles and Clapton records in class, you can not use either one for your checklist paper.

November 17, 2006

• To get started on the reading material for the last month of the semester, start with Part Five - More Materials of Form and Part Six - Eighteenth-Century Classicism.
     We'll go over what's required in Parts Seven and Eight next class.

October 31, 2006

• Because I was out yesterday, we are going to move the next quiz from November 8 to November 15 so we have more time to prepare. (Sorry about yesterday. My turn to have the flu.)

October 18, 2006

Look under the section of our home page labelled Acid Links... More... Look under the section of our home page labelled Acid Links for where you can get the free version of Acid to install on your computer, as well as where you can Acid loops to use with the program.

We'll do more with the program in class Monday.

If you have a Macintosh computer, see if you have Garage Band on your machine. It's a program which is similar to (some say better than) Acid.

October 5, 2006

There are now two links under For Your Ears for the Mozart Piano Sonata we discussed in class Wednesday. More... There are now two links under For Your Ears for the Mozart Piano Sonata we discussed in class Wednesday.

First, the Flash Movie listed there contains the opening of the sonata found on the page of music you received in class together with images of the score synched to the music. Follow along on the screen or the "sheet" music you received. Try to follow the notes as they go "up and down."

Second, the Music Player link contains all three movements of the piece.

Traditionally, movements in a piece like this are referred to by their tempo markings and these three movements are marked "Allegro", "Andante" and "Rondo Allegretto". You should know what Allegro and Andante mean from your studies and here's what Allegretto means.

By the way, Rondo does not refer to the tempo of the last movement, it refers to the form of the movement, i.e. how the movement is organized. Here's what rondo means. In some of those definitions of Rondo you'll see something like this -- ABACADA. This is a diagram of the form of the movement and we'll start learning how to diagram the form of popular songs after the quiz. Look at Looking at Form to get an idea of how this works.

We'll talk more about this piece in class Monday and you'll read about Mozart later on in the semester. Meanwhile, here's more about him as the music world celebrates the 250th anniversary of his birth.

One last word you should know -- here's what sonata means.

October 4, 2006

There are some new links on the home page: More... There are some new links on the home page:

1) Looking at Form gives you an analysis of the structure of several popular songs. Form is a topic we'll discuss throughout the rest of the semester, especially how to do this type of analysis

2) The two new Music Players under For Your Ears contain music from the textbook CDs. Use these players to become familar with the music you'll be reading about through the rest of the semester, especially if you didn't get the CDs when you purchased your textbook. (Or, login to WebCT to hear better quality recordings)

3) Under the Aaron Copland Music Player there are links to where you can get some information about him. When you get a chance you should visit these pages and read about this Brooklyn-born composer who helped define a twentieth-century American sound

Previous On the Side items

Instructor: John Meschi
Office: Room 204, Fine Arts Center
(516) 299-2105 (Office)
(516) 299-2474 Department
E-mail: jmeschi@liu.edu
Office hours by appointment