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Harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harmonic objects such as chords, textures and tonalities are identified, defined, and categorized in the development of these theories. Harmony is broadly understood to involve both a "vertical" dimension (frequency-space) and a "horizontal" dimension (time-space), and often overlaps with related musical concepts such as melody, timbre, and form. A particular emphasis on harmony is one of the core concepts underlying the theory and practice of Western music. The study of harmony involves the juxtaposition of individual pitches to create chords, and in turn the juxtaposition of chords to create larger chord progressions. The principles of connection that govern these structures have been the subject of centuries worth of theoretical work ...
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Tonality
Tonality is the arrangement of pitch (music), pitches and / or chord (music), chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived ''relations'', ''stabilities'', ''attractions'', and ''directionality''. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or the root (music), root of a triad (music), triad with the greatest ''stability'' in a melody or in its harmony is called the tonic (music), ''tonic''. In this context "stability" approximately means that a pitch occurs frequently in a melody – and usually is the final note – or that the pitch often appears in the harmony, even when it is not the pitch used in the melody. The ''root'' of the tonic triad forms the name given to the key (music), key, so in the key of C major, C major the note C can be both the tonic of the scale (music), scale and the root of the tonic triad. However, the tonic can be a different Musical tone, tone in the same scale, and then the work is said to be in one of the mode (music), ''modes'' of that ...
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Elementa Harmonica
''Elementa harmonica'' (''Ἁρμονικὰ στοιχεῖα'' in Greek; ''Elements of Harmonics'' in English) is a treatise on the subject of musical scales by Aristoxenus, of which considerable amounts are extant. The work dates to the second half of the 4th century BC. It is the oldest substantially surviving work written on the subject of music theory. Title The work is generally known as ''Aristoxenou Harmonika Stoicheia'' or ''Elements of Harmonics''. ''Oxford Paperback Reference''(anWorld Cat It is also known by the shorter title ''The Elements,'' rendering Greek Στοιχεία. The Work Historical context Aristoxenus's work departs from prior studies in which music was studied only in relation to an understanding of the ''Wikt:kosmos, kosmos''. The study of music in the Pythagorean school c.500 had focused on the mathematical nature of harmonia. Aristotle, whose Peripatetic school Aristoxenus belonged to, addressed the subject in his work ''On the Soul''. Aristoxen ...
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Chord (music)
In Western music theory, a chord is a group of notes played together for their harmony, harmonic Consonance and dissonance, consonance or dissonance. The most basic type of chord is a Triad (music), triad, so called because it consists of three distinct notes: the Root (chord), root note along with Interval (music), intervals of a Third (chord), third and a Fifth (chord), fifth above the root note. Chords with more than three notes include added tone chords, extended chords and tone clusters, which are used in contemporary classical music, jazz, and other genres. Chords are the building blocks of harmony and form the harmonic foundation of a piece of music. They provide the harmonic support and coloration that accompany melodies and contribute to the overall sound and mood of a musical composition. The factor (chord), factors, or component notes, of a chord are often sounded simultaneously but can instead be sounded consecutively, as in an arpeggio. A succession of chords is ca ...
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Pythagoreans
Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek colony of Crotone, Kroton, in modern Calabria (Italy) circa 530 BC. Early Pythagorean communities spread throughout Magna Graecia. Already during Pythagoras' life it is likely that the distinction between the ''akousmatikoi'' ("those who listen"), who is conventionally regarded as more concerned with religious, and ritual elements, and associated with the oral tradition, and the ''mathematikoi'' ("those who learn") existed. The ancient biographers of Pythagoras, Iamblichus () and his master Porphyry (philosopher), Porphyry ( ) seem to make the distinction of the two as that of 'beginner' and 'advanced'. As the Pythagorean cenobites practiced an esoteric path, like the Greco-Roman mysteries, mystery schools of antiquity, the adherents, ''akou ...
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Chord Progressions
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chord (music), chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the Common practice period, common practice era of Classical music to the 21st century. Chord progressions are the foundation of popular music styles (e.g., pop music, rock music), traditional music, as well as genres such as blues and jazz. In these genres, chord progressions are the defining feature on which melody and rhythm are built. In tonal music, chord progressions have the function of either establishing or otherwise contradicting a tonality, the technical name for what is commonly understood as the "Key (music), key" of a song or piece. Chord progressions, such as the extremely common chord progression I-V-vi-IV, are usually expressed by Roman numeral analysis, Roman numerals in Classical music theory. In many styles ...
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Music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all human societies. Definitions of music vary widely in substance and approach. While scholars agree that music is defined by a small number of elements of music, specific elements, there is no consensus as to what these necessary elements are. Music is often characterized as a highly versatile medium for expressing human creativity. Diverse activities are involved in the creation of music, and are often divided into categories of musical composition, composition, musical improvisation, improvisation, and performance. Music may be performed using a wide variety of musical instruments, including the human voice. It can also be composed, sequenced, or otherwise produced to be indirectly played mechanically or electronically, such as via a music box ...
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Jazz Harmony
Jazz harmony is the theory and practice of how chords are used in jazz music. Jazz bears certain similarities to other practices in the tradition of Western harmony, such as many chord progressions, and the incorporation of the major and minor scales as a basis for chordal construction. In jazz, chords are often arranged vertically in major or minor thirds, although '' stacked fourths'' are also quite common. Also, jazz music tends to favor certain harmonic progressions and includes the addition of ''tensions'', intervals such as 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths to chords. Additionally, scales unique to style are used as the basis of many harmonic elements found in jazz. Jazz harmony is notable for the use of seventh chords as the basic harmonic unit more often than triads, as in classical music. In the words of Robert Rawlins and Nor Eddine Bahha, "7th chords provide the building blocks of jazz harmony." The piano and guitar are the two instruments that typically provide harmony for a ...
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Root (chord)
In the music theory of harmony, the root is a specific Note (music), note that names and typifies a given chord (music), chord. Chords are often spoken about in terms of their root, their Chord quality, quality, and their Chord extensions, extensions. When a chord is named without reference to quality, it is assumed to be major chord, major—for example, a "C chord" refers to a C major triad, containing the notes C, E, and G. In a given harmonic context, the root of a chord need not be in bass note, the bass position, as chords may be Inversion (music), inverted while retaining the same name, and therefore the same root. In tertian harmonic theory, wherein chords can be considered stacks of third intervals (e.g. in common practice period, common practice tonality), the root of a chord is the Musical note, note on which the subsequent thirds are stacked. For instance, the root of a triad (music), triad such as E Minor is E, independently of the vertical order in which the three n ...
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Consonance And Dissonance
In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness, unpleasantness, or unacceptability, although there is broad acknowledgement that this depends also on familiarity and musical expertise. The terms form a structural dichotomy in which they define each other by mutual exclusion: a consonance is what is not dissonant, and a dissonance is what is not consonant. However, a finer consideration shows that the distinction forms a gradation, from the most consonant to the most dissonant. In casual discourse, as German composer and music theorist Paul Hindemith stressed, : "The two concepts have never been completely explained, and for a thousand years the definitions have varied". The term ''sonance'' has been proposed to encompass or refer indistinctly to the terms ''consonance'' and ''dissonance''. ...
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Aristoxenus
Aristoxenus of Tarentum (; born 375, fl. 335 BC) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Peripatetic school, Peripatetic philosopher, and a pupil of Aristotle. Most of his writings, which dealt with philosophy, ethics and music, have been lost, but one musical treatise, ''Elements of Harmony'' (Greek: ; Latin: ''Elementa harmonica''), survives incomplete, as well as some fragments concerning rhythm and Metre (music), meter. The ''Elements'' is the chief source of our knowledge of Music of ancient Greece, ancient Greek music. Life Aristoxenus was born at Taranto, Tarentum (in modern-day Apulia, southern Italy) in Magna Graecia, and was the son of a learned musician named Spintharus (otherwise Mnesias). He learned music from his father, and having then been instructed by Lamprus of Erythrae and Xenophilus (philosopher), Xenophilus the Pythagorean, he finally became a pupil of Aristotle, whom he appears to have rivaled in the variety of his studies. According to the ''Suda'', he heaped insults ...
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Form (music)
In music, ''form'' refers to the structure of a musical composition or performance. In his book, ''Worlds of Music'', Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a piece of music, such as "the arrangement of musical units of rhythm, melody, and/or harmony that show repetition or variation, the arrangement of the instruments (as in the order of solos in a jazz or bluegrass performance), or the way a symphonic piece is orchestrated", among other factors. It is, "the ways in which a composition is shaped to create a meaningful musical experience for the listener."Kostka, Stefan and Payne, Dorothy (1995). ''Tonal Harmony'', p.152. McGraw-Hill. . These organizational elements may be broken into smaller units called phrases, which express a musical idea but lack sufficient weight to stand alone. Musical form unfolds over time through the expansion and development of these ideas. In tonal harmony, form is articulated pr ...
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Polyphonic
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ( homophony). Within the context of the Western musical tradition, the term ''polyphony'' is usually used to refer to music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Baroque forms such as fugue, which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as contrapuntal. Also, as opposed to the ''species'' terminology of counterpoint, polyphony was generally either "pitch-against-pitch" / "point-against-point" or "sustained-pitch" in one part with melismas of varying lengths in another. In all cases the conception was probably what Margaret Bent (1999) calls "dyadic counterpoint", with each part being written generally against one other part, with all parts modified if needed in the end. This point-against-point conception is oppose ...
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