Karl Wilson Gehrkens

“ As music grew more and more complex, and especially as writing in several parts came into use (cf. rise of organum, descant, and counterpoint) , it became increasingly difficult to express musical ideas on the basis of the old notation, and numerous attempts were made to invent a more accurate and usable system. Among these one of the most interesting was that in which the words of the text were written in the spaces between long, parallel lines, placing the initial letters of the words tone and semi-tone at the beginning of the line to indicate the scale interval. ”

“ The student of some interesting modern developments will also speedily discover that the adoption of the so-called whole-tone scale as a basis of music is, except upon a keyed instrument tuned to the compromise of equal temperament, unnatural and impossible. ”

“ Imitation is the repetition by one part, of a subject or theme previously introduced by another part. If the imitation is exact, the term strict imitation is applied, but if only approximate, then the term free imitation is used in referring to it. The repetition need not have the exact pitches of the subject in order to be strict; on the contrary the imitation is usually at the interval of an octave, or a fifth, or a second, etc. Fig. 57 shows an example of strict imitation in which the third part comes in an octave lower than the first part. ”

“ Thus if an organ has forty speaking stops, all running through the entire keyboard, then each time one key is depressed forty pipes will speak, and if a chord of five tones is played, two hundred pipes will speak. The object of having so many pipes is not merely to make possible a very powerful tone, but, rather, to give greater variety of tone-color.
The pipe-organ usually has a pedal keyboard on which the feet of the performer play a bass part, this part often sounding an octave (or more) lower than the notes indicate. ”

“ The clue to the general idea is usually given at the beginning of the music in the form of a poem or a short description of the thing in the mind of the composer, but there are many examples in which there is no clue whatsoever except the title of the composition.
Program music represents a mean between pure music (cf. the piano sonata or the string quartet) on the one hand, and descriptive music (in which actual imitations of bird-calls, whistles, the blowing of the wind, the galloping of horses, the rolling of thunder, etc., occur) , on the other. ”

“ When a concerto is played on two pianos (without orchestra) , this does not mean that there is no orchestral part, but that there is no orchestra to play it, and so the parts that should be played by the orchestral instruments have simply been arranged for a second piano (sometimes organ) .
156. A symphony is a sonata for full orchestra. In general its construction is the same as that of the sonata, but it is usually of much larger proportions and has in it much greater variety of both tonal and rhythmic material. ”

“ The tone is intensely mellow but incapable of any extensive [Pg 124] variation, but in spite of this lack of variety the tone itself is so wonderfully beautiful that the instrument is one of the most useful in the orchestra both in solo passages and to fill in the harmony. The horn (as well as the trumpet and trombone) differs from most of the wood-wind instruments in that its mouthpiece contains no reed, the lips of the player constituting the vibrating body as they are stretched across the mouthpiece and air is forced against them. The horn is used in bands as well as in orchestras. ”

“ The chromatic scale [18] is one which proceeds always by half-steps. Its intervals are therefore always equal no matter with what tone it begins. Since, however, we have (from the standpoint of the piano keyboard) five pairs of tones [19] which are enharmonically the same, it may readily be seen that the chromatic scale might be notated in all sorts of fashions, and this is in fact the real status of the matter, there being no one method uniformly agreed upon by composers. ”

“ Quoting from the report at this point:—"A great deal of confusion is more apparent than real between note and tone, between step and degree, between key and tonality. No practical harm is done by speaking of the first note of a piece when really first tone would be more [Pg 148] accurate. To say that a piece is written in the key of B♭ is more convenient than to say that it is written in the tonality of which B♭ is the tonic. ”

“ In classifying intervals two facts should be constantly kept in mind:
(1) The number name of the interval (third, fifth, sixth, etc.) , is derived from the order of letters as found in the diatonic scale. Thus the interval C—E is a third because E is the third tone from C (counting C as one) in the diatonic scale. C—G is a fifth because G is the fifth tone above C in the diatonic scale.
It should be noted however that the same number-names apply even though one or both letters of the interval are qualified by sharps, flats, etc. ”

“ Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, and Timbre (or tone-color) .
179. Rhythm is the regular recurrence of accent. In music it is more specifically the regular recurrence of groups of accented and non-accented beats (or pulses) —according to some specified measure-system. Since rhythm implies continuity, there must usually be at least two such measure groups in order to make musical rhythm possible. (See p. 44, Sec. 97.)
180. A melody is a succession of single tones of various pitches so arranged that the effect of the whole will be unified, coherent, and pleasing to the ear. ”

“ Since all sound is caused by vibration, acoustics may be defined as the science which treats of the phenomena of sound-producing vibration.
2. All sound (as stated above) is produced by vibration of some sort: strike a tuning-fork against the top of a table and see the vibrations which cause the tone, or, if the fork is a small one and the vibrations cannot be seen, hold it against the edge of a sheet of paper and hear the blows it strikes; or, watch one of the lowest strings of the piano after striking the key a sharp blow ”

“ A recent writer [43] on vocal terminology makes the following statement as an introduction to certain remarks advocating a more definite use of terms relating to tone production by the human voice:—"The correct use of words is the most potent factor in the development of the thinker." If this statement has any basis of fact whatsoever to support it then it must be evident to the merest novice in musical work that the popular use of many common terms by musicians is keeping a good many people from clear and logical thought in a field that needs accurate thinkers very badly! ”

“ Tonality scales give rise to a feeling of alternate periods of contraction and relaxation—an active tone (or chord) followed by a passive one, but no such effect is possible in the whole-step scale, and it seems suitable therefore only for that class of music whose outlines are purposely intended to be vague and indefinite—the impressionistic style of music writing. ”

“ In the early days of instrumental music it was necessary to introduce graces of all sorts because the instruments in use were not capable of sustaining tone for any length of time; but with the advent of the modern piano with its comparatively great sustaining power, and also with the advent in vocal music of a new style of singing (German Lieder singing as contrasted with Italian coloratura singing) , ornamental tones were used less and less, and when found now are usually written out in full in the score instead of being indicated by signs. ”

“ As in the case of words referring to tempo, the expressions referring to dynamics are always relative, never absolute; it is possible to indicate that one measure is to be louder than another, but it is not possible (nor desirable) to indicate exactly how loud either is to be. Thus dynamics, perhaps even more than tempo, will be seen to depend on the taste of the performer or conductor. ”

“ From the standpoint of the eye, a measure is that portion of the staff found between two bars, (in certain cases this space may be less than a measure, as e.g., at the beginning and end of a movement) ; but from the standpoint of the ear a single, isolated measure is not possible, and the term must therefore be defined in the plural form.
Measures are similarly accented groups of evenly-spaced beats, each group having at least one accented and one non-accented beat. The strongest accent falls normally on the first beat in the measure. ”

“ A concerto is a sonata for a solo instrument with orchestral accompaniment, the form being usually somewhat modified so as to adapt it to a composition in which there must [Pg 73] necessarily be opportunity for a good deal of technical display. There are usually but three movements in the concerto.
The great majority of concertos are for piano and orchestra, but examples of concertos for violin, cello, flute, oboe, and other solo instruments (all with orchestral accompaniment) have also been written. ”

“ The highest string of the violin (viola and cello also) is often called the chanterelle because it is most often used for playing the melody. The violin ordinarily produces but one tone at a time, but by stopping two strings simultaneously and so drawing the bow as to set both in vibration, two tones may be produced at the same time, while three and four tones can be sounded almost simultaneously. ”

“ In formulating the definitions themselves an attempt has been made to use such words as note, tone, et cetera with at least a fair degree of accuracy, and while the attitude of the author on this point may be criticized as being puristic and pedantic, it is nevertheless his opinion that the next generation of music students and teachers will be profited by a more accurate use of certain terms that have been inaccurately used for so long that the present generation has to a large extent lost sight of the fact that the use is inaccurate. ”

“ The fugue differs from the canon also in that the subject is given in complete form before the answer begins, while in the canon the imitation begins while the subject is still going on. The fugue is not nearly so strict in form as the canon and gives the composer much greater opportunity for expressing musical ideas. A canon may be perfect in form and yet be very poor music ”

“ The sonata, symphony, opera, modern piano piece, etc., are also largely monophonic, though polyphonic passages by way of contrast are often to be found. [Pg 64]
138. In polyphonic music each voice is to a certain extent melodically interesting, and the "harmony" is the result of combining several melodies in such a way as to give a pleasing effect, instead of treating a melody by adding chords as an accompaniment or support. Counterpoint, canon, round, fugue, etc., are all polyphonic in style. The word contrapuntal is often used synonymously with polyphonic. ”

“ A prime is the relation between two tones whose pitches are properly represented by the same degree of the staff.
A perfect prime is one whose tones have the same pitch. Middle C sounded by piano and violin at the same time would offer an example.
An augmented prime is one whose second tone is one half-step higher than the first. Ex. C—C♯.
186. A second is the relation between two tones whose pitches are properly represented by adjacent degrees of the staff. (The first line and first space are adjacent degrees, as are also the third line and fourth space.) ”

“ Quality (timbre) .
By pitch is meant the highness or lowness of tone. It depends upon rate of vibration. If a body vibrates only 8 or 10 times per second no tone is heard at all: but if it vibrates regularly at the rate of 16 or 18 per second a tone of very low pitch is heard. If it vibrates at the rate of 24 the pitch is higher, at 30 higher still, at 200 yet higher, and when a rate of about 38,000 per second has been reached the pitch is so high that most ears cannot perceive it at all. ”

“ The mathematical ratio referred to on page 134, if strictly carried out in tuning a keyboard instrument would cause the half-steps to vary slightly in size, and playing in certain keys (especially those having a number of sharps or flats in the signature) would therefore sound out of tune. There would be many other disadvantages in such a system, notably the inability to modulate freely to other keys, and since modulation is one of the predominant and most striking characteristics of modern music, this would constitute a serious barrier to advances in composition. ”

“ Thus e.g., the human voice, the violin, the organ enclosed in a swell box, and certain wind instruments, are all capable of sounding a tone softly at first and gradually increasing the volume until the maximal point of power has been reached. But on the piano, organ not enclosed in a swell-box, kettle drum, etc., the power of the [Pg 58] tone cannot be varied after the tone has once been sounded, and a crescendo effect is therefore possible only in a passage, in rendering which each succeeding tone is struck more forcibly than its immediate predecessor. ”

“ It is probable that a reaction from this state of affairs will come in the near future, for in any art it is necessary that there should be at least enough semblance of structure to make the art work capable of standing as a universal thing rather than as the mere temporary expression of some particular composer or of some period of composition. ”

“ A chord is a combination of several tones sounding together and bearing an harmonic relation to each other. The simplest chord is the triad, which consists of a fundamental tone called the root, with the third and fifth above it. C—E—G is a triad, as are also D—F—A, F—A—C, and G—B—D.
197. Triads are classified as major, minor, diminished, or augmented.
A major triad has a major third and a perfect fifth, i.e., it is a major third with a minor third on top of it. Ex. C—E—G.
A minor triad has a minor third and a perfect fifth, i.e., it is a minor third with a major third on top of it. Ex. ”

“ A key is a number of tones grouping themselves naturally (both melodically and harmonically) about a central tone—the key tone. The word tonality is often used synonymously with key in this sense.
The difference between key and scale is therefore this, that while both key and scale employ the same tone material, by key we mean the material in general, without any particular order or arrangement in mind, while by scale we mean the same tones, but now arranged into a regular ascending or descending series. ”

“ Any one who has observed the teaching of school music in any considerable number of places in this country cannot fail to have remarked the great diversity of statement employed by different teachers regarding the facts which we are engaged in teaching, and the equal diversity of terminology used in teaching the symbols by which musicians seek to record these facts. ”

“ Recitative is a style of vocal solo common to operas, oratorios, and cantatas, especially those written some time ago. Its main characteristic is that the word-text is of paramount importance, both rhythm and tone-progression being governed by rhetorical rather than by musical considerations. ”

“ It is because of this non-flexibility that the canon is so little used as a form at the present time: the modern composer demands a plan of writing that is capable of being varied to such an extent as to give him room for the exercise of his own particular individuality of conception, and this the canon does not do. ”