Assignment Paper

Please read Chapter 7, EAST ASIA and Chapter 8, MIDDLE EAST
2. Watch the following videos:
EAST ASIA


After watching the assigned videos, choose four videos and write four 200 – 300 word essays (one for each of your choices) discussing some of the
following musical components below:
I. TIMBRE: tone quality or “color” of a musical sound
II. Medium: object or being that produces the sound
A. Vocal, instrumental, or both
B. Solo or ensemble (duet, trio, choir, orchestra, etc.)
C. Instrument type (aerophone, chordophone, idiophone, membranophone)
III. PITCH: a tone determined by its frequency level
A. Tuning system: the pitches common to the musical tradition
B. Scale: the pitches used in a particular performance arranged in order
C. Interval: the difference between two pitches
D. Range: all the pitches that a voice or instrument can potentially produce
E. Melody: an organized succession of pitches forming a musical idea
F. Melodic contour: the general direction and shape of a melody
G. Ornamentation: an embellishment or decoration of the melody
H. Text setting: rhythmic relationship of words to melody
1. Syllabic: one pitch per syllable
2. Melisma: several pitches per syllable
IV. RHYTHM: organization of the duration of sound
A. Beat: a regular pulsation
B. Accent: an emphasized beat
C. Tempo: relative rate of speed of the beat
D. Meter: a system of grouping beats into individual units
E. Syncopation: accenting on a normally deemphasized beat
F. Free rhythm: music with no regular pulsation
G. Rhythmic density: quantity of notes between periodic accents or over a
specific unit of time
V. TEXTURE: relationship between different sounds
A. Monophony: a single line of music
B. Polyphony: multiple lines of music