Do You Speak Music?
Published on Nov 19, 2015
No Description
MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
SOUND
the sonic identity
of each instrument
Piano. Trumpet. Guitar. Each sound different. Each have a sonic fingerprint. All instruments do. All voices do. Each one a unique color. Blend them together for new colors. Ask yourself, "What instruments am I hearing right now?" That's SOUND.
Photo by hilighters
RHYTHM
the pattern of sound in time
Sound happens in time. Sounds repeat. Those repetitions create patterns. Pretty soon you're tapping your feet. When the patterns are really good you start moving your whole body. That's RHYTHM.
Photo by Andy Magee
MELODY
the shape of one pitch after another
The thing that you sing. The action going on in the foreground. The main character and what they're doing, not the location or the costumes or the special effects. The line of a pencil on paper as it draws a shape that you begin to recognize. That's MELODY.
Photo by Webb Zahn
HARMONY
the color and mood
of the music
Not the thing that you say, but the way that you say it. The context of your story. The sarcasm that reverses the meaning of a compliment. The color that fills in the shape and turns a circle orange, then blue, then green. The person is the same, but sometimes they are joyful and sometimes depressed. That's HARMONY.
Photo by Will Montague
FORM
the story the music is telling
One thing happens. Then another. Then another. Soon you start to expect something. The plot takes shape. Will it happen? Will you be proved correct? Or will you be surprised. The future is uncertain. how will the story unfold? That's FORM.
Photo by Robert S. Donovan
Now put on some music
- SOUND: what instruments are playing?
- RHYTHM: feel the beat, hear the patterns
- MELODY: can you hum the tune?
- HARMONY: what's the color? emotion?
- FORM: what will happen next?
Take these 5 parts of musical speech and put them together when you listen. Here are some questions to ask of your music. See if you start to hear it differently now.
