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  • Dixons Music Service
  • KS3 Units
  • *OLD* AQA GCSE
  • BTEC Unit 1
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  • About
  • Payment
AoS2 - Harmony & Tonality

CHORDS

CADENCES

INTERVALS

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AOS2 - Key Words

Tonality
       
Tonality –the key of the music. The piece will be built mainly from a particular scale.  The tonality can be:
      
    Major– a happy uplifting sound (play C-C to get used to the sound)
    Minor– a sad, more serious sound (play A-A, replacing the G with a G# to get used to the sound)
    Tonal – will have a sense of key/tonal centre.
    Atonal– music with no sense of fixed tonality/key. May sound rather ‘random’.
    Pentatonic– a five note scale. Often used in Chinese, African and Celtic Folk melodies        
    Modal – came before scales.  E.g. play D-D on the white notes-this is the Dorian mode.  Often used in early music, folk and jazz.
    Whole tone – a scale made up of only whole tones.  (Sounds quite mysterious – remember The Sea Music project from Year 8.) C, D, E, F#, G#, A#



Harmony
        
Harmony– two or more notes of different pitch create harmony.
       
Chromatic-­ scale made up of semitones (smallest interval e.g. C-C#).
 
Diatonic harmony uses only the notes that belong to the major or minor keys. 
         
Consonance- music/harmonies that sound nice (consonant).
        
Dissonance –clashing music/harmonies (dissonant).
        
Discords –harsh, dissonant sounding combination of notes. 
        
Close harmony – where the notes are close together within the separate parts e.g. Barber shop singing
      
Drone –long held note, usually in the bass. Often 2 notes held together.  Used a lot in Indian music.
        
Modulation –to change key/tonality. For example if the piece is in the key of C major you could modulate to the key of G major or A minor... It’s a good way of developing a piece of music.  Stevie Wonder uses loads of modulation in his songs. Listen to ‘Golden Lady’ on you tube.

Tierce de Picardie – when a piece in a minor key finishes with a major chord

Cadences – a cadence is formed by the two chords that come at the end of a musical phrase:

    Perfect cadence V-I.  Sounds final and complete.
    Plagal cadence IV-I. Also sounds complete, but not as strong.  Used for the “Amen” at the end of hymns.
    Imperfect cadence I -V. Unfinished feel to the music.
    Interrupted cadence V-VI.  Your ears expect it to go to the tonic as in a perfect cadence, but instead it goes to the VI chord – so it is the 
    surprise cadence!
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