This is a guest post from former VCE student Erin Lancaster for VCE Music. If you want to write a guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

MELODY

Function, shape, register, phrasing, tonality, general character

• Theme
• Statement
• Subject
• Counter-melodies
• Focus lines
• Competition
• Riff

Shape/Contour

• Ascending
• Descending
• Angular
• Undulating
• Consistent
• Inconsistent
• Arch like
• Sequential
• Fragmented
• Continuously unfolding
• Symmetrical
• Asymmetrical
• Short phrases
• Extended phrases
• Balanced, even

Melodic Devices

• Climax
• Question and Answer
• Internal variation
• Repetition
• Contrasts (inversion, retrograde)
• Sequence
• Imitation
• Conventional/unique
• Unresolved

Register and Range

• Small range
• Big range
• Big leaps; disjunct
• Small intervals; conjunct
• Chromatic
• Appeggiated
• Scalic

Character

• Simple
• Straight
• Predictable/unpredictable
• Subtle
• Child-like
• Gentle
• Faint
• Ornamented
• Embellished
• Florid
• Complex
• Improvisatory
• Virtuosic
• Runs
• Interlacing/interweaving
• Angular
• Jagged
• Rigid
• Speech-like
• Flowing
• Lyrical
• Undulating
• Dawdling
• Meandering
• Wending
• Lilting
• Rousing
• Triumphal
• Animated
• Catchy
• Bouncy
• Dramatic
• Brooding
• Menacing
• Throbbing

Short melodic motifs reminiscent of the melodic contour

Interact

Heightening the excitement

The rhythm of the melody is shaped around the syllables of the words

RHYTHM

Beat, Pulse, Tempo, Rhythmic details. Use of silence, Articulation, Length of Phrases, General Character

Beat/Pulse/Tempo

• Steady
• Even
• Regular/isometric
• Clear underlying beat
• Free flowing
• Slow
• Fast
• Speeding up/down/accelerando
• Stringendo
• Reinforced
• Strong
• Well marked
• Changing
• Pulse
• Weak
• Unmarked
• Suppressed
• Syncopated
• Cross rhythms
• Polyrhythmic
• Ambiguous metre
• Rubato
• Triplets
• Groupings
• Patters: waltz, rap,
• Allargando

Rhythmic Details

• Short
• Long
• Fast flurries
• Swung
• Begins with upbeat
• March-like
• Dance-like
• Repetitive patterns. Motifs
• Ostinato
• Staccato
• Legato
• Sequences
• Multimetric (changing time signatures)
• Rhythmically extended
• Rhythmic embellishment
• Dramatic pauses

Articulation

• Legato
• Smooth
• Accented
• Rough
• Marked

Length of Phrases

• Complex
• Simple
• Improvisatory
• Layering of percussive effects

General Character

• Driving
• Virtuosic
• Lilting
• Erratic
• Fluctuating
• Bouncy
• Sporadic
• Relentless
• Throbbing
• Pulsating
• Thumping
• Hammering
• Beating
• Grinding
• Insistent
• Accented

“throbbing ostinato”

“bubbling sensation of crotchet movement”

“the simple swing groove of the drum kit and bass allows him to syncopate and move around the time”

TEXTURE

• What layers of sound can I hear?
• Background/foreground?
• What role does each instrument play in the layers?

Texture

• Monophonic
• Polyphonic – two or more voices
• Homophonic – one melody stands out from accompaniment
• Heterophonic – same melody different embellishments
• Contrapuntal
• Antiphonal (Call and Response)
• Number of lines
• Opposing
• Complementary
• Solo and accompaniment

Motion between instruments

• Contrary
• Similar
• Oblique (one voice is stationary, the other one moves)
• Parallel
• Imitative
• Staggered
• Cascade
• Discrete- separate and distinct
• Continuous
• Canon
• Fugue

Level of Activity

• Sparse
• Dense
• Cluttered, busy, crowded
• Tangled
• Closely woven
• Wash of sound/ walls of sound
• Confused
• Well defined
• Level of dependence
• Clear
• Disconnected events

Role

• Descant – higher pitched line
• Linear dependence
• Harmonic
• Melodic
• Accompaniment
• Rhythmic support
• Pulse reinforcing
• Countermelodic
• Doubling
• Backing
• Harmonic support
• Open harmony – harmony has wide intervals
• Close harmony – harmony has a narrow range
• Voicing
• Drone

“puncutate texture”

shimmering pads

“melodic line regularly positioned beneath accompaniment”

HARMONY

Qualities of Individual Chords

• Major
• Minor
• Diminished
• Dissonant
• Consonant
• Jarring
• Block chords
• Long held/short chords
• Traditional cadences
• Appeggiated chords
• Diatonic

Chord Progressions

• Slow/fast harmonic changes

• Move in parallel motion
• 12 bar blues
• Unison
• Repeated harmonic pattern
• Functional progressions

Overall Quality

• Simple
• Complex
• Rhythmic unison
• Based on a drone
• Reinforces a strong sense of key
• Close harmonic accompaniment
• Implied harmony – in a solo piece
• Restricted chord movement

“Primary triadic constructions with free addition of dissonance”

“Pizzicato bass line emphasised the root note values of various chords

“Harmony created through contrary motion in double motion”

“functional progressions decorated with motivic interpolations”

TONALITY

• Diatonic
• Major
• Minor
• Atonal
• Bitonal
• Dissonance
• Shifting key centre
• Jazz scale
• Non western/ethnic scale
• Modal
• Modulations occur
• Unity
• Frequent changes

“Key not firmly established”

“Firmly established with repeated use of tonic and dominant chords

Unstable sense of tonality

DYNAMICS

Volume, changes in volume, overall quality and importance

• Loud
• Thunderous
• Abrasive
• Blaring
• Soft
• Distant
• Subdued
• Restrained
• Sudden
• Gradual
• Interjections
• Fading away
• Constant
• Swells

Dynamic contrasts

Balanced

Important in creating drama

The volume relationships are subtle

TONE COLOUR

Sound qualities of individual instruments, overall quality of combination and importance, vibrato, instrumental timbre,

• Mellow
• Velvety
• Sinuous
• Rounded
• Dark/Bright
• Pure
• Clear
• Clean
• Soothing
• Tender
• Brittle
• Muted
• Faint
• Delicate whispering
• Innocent simplicity
• Breathy
• Reverb
• Ringing
• Tinny
• Metallic
• Tinkly
• Brassy
• Reedy
• Strident
• Penetrating
• Blaring
• Biting
• Piercing
• Punchy
• Intense
• Abrasive
• Harsh
• Warm Combination
• Buzzing
• Throbbing
• Trembling
• Fluttering
• Quivering
• Tremulous
• Grinding
• Scratchy
• Unfocussed/Focussed
• Distortion

FORM

• Regular repeated phrases
• Irregular
• Free flowing phrases
• Simple form
• Clear, contrasting sections
• Strophic – one verse following another
• Canon
• Fugue
• Head, solo, break
• Sonata form
• Jazz standard
• Rondo – one section returns repeatedly
• Binary
• Cyclic
• Complex
• Recitative
• Aria
• Developing section
• Contrasting section
• Recurring section – ritornello
• First theme, second theme
• Coda
• Introduction
• Ostinato

“melodic idea fragmented and sequenced”

“drone, static, harmonic backbone”

CONTAST AND VARIATION

• Call and reposnse
• Repetition of….functions like a ritornello
• ….repeated throughout
• repeated patterns

ARTICULATION

Attack and delay, methods of producing sound

• Staccato
• Accented
• Explosive attack
• Clean
• Detached
• Marcato – lots of accents in a row
• Sharp
• Clipped diction
• Legato
• Unaccented
• Notes blurred together
• Long decay
• “lyricism and legato phrasing”
• Portamento – smooth glide
• Sustained
• Connected articulation

Methods of Producing Sound

• Plucked
• Bowed
• Bends
• Glissando
• Tremolo
• Vibrato
• Harmonics

Erin Lancaster has recently survived Year 12 and is looking to move from her small town of Picola (population: 100 people) in Regional Victoria to Melbourne next year to study music. She plays the violin, sings and enjoys writing especially in her blog www.strandedgypsygirl.wordpress.com and will read anything she can get her hands on! Her favourite quote it by Mark Twain, “So let us live so that when we die even the undertaker will be sorry”

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