Briefly what is a melody. What is the nature of music? Is it difficult to change the ringtone on your phone?
EXPRESSIVE MEANS OF MUSIC
Melody
"Melody will always be the purest expression of human thought"
C. Gounod
The expressive means of music are rich and varied. If an artist in drawing and paint, a sculptor in wood or marble, and a writer and poet in words recreate pictures of the surrounding life, then composers do this with the help of musical instruments. In contrast to non-musical sounds (noise, grinding, rustling). Musical sounds have a precise pitch and a specific duration. In addition, they can have different colors, sound loud or quiet, and be performed quickly or slowly. Meter, rhythm, mode and harmony, register and timbre, dynamics and tempo are all expressive means of musical art.
The most important means of musical expression is MELODY. It is the basis of every work. P. I. Tchaikovsky, this great creator of melodies, said: “Melody is the soul of music.” For where, if not in it - sometimes bright and joyful, sometimes anxious and gloomy - do we hear human hopes, sorrows, anxieties, thoughts ... "
The word "melody" comes from two words - melos - song, and ode - singing. A melody is a monophonic musical idea expressed. In general, a melody is something that you and I can sing. Even if we don’t remember the whole thing, we hum some of its motives and phrases. After all, in musical speech, just like in verbal speech, there are sentences and phrases. Several sounds form a motive - a small particle of melody. Several motifs make up a phrase, and phrases make up sentences.
Folk music is an inexhaustible treasury of wonderful melodies. The best songs of the peoples of the world are distinguished by their beauty and expressiveness.
Here, for example, is a Russian folk song “Oh, there’s a sticky thing in the field”. Its melody is light and graceful. Agile tempo, smooth movement, light major coloring help to express a joyful mood, a feeling of youth and happiness.
A different character of the melody in the song "Oh, you little night". The girl’s sad mood is compared here to a dark autumn night. A broad melody flows slowly in a minor scale.
"Serenade" by F. Schubert– one of the most soulful lyrical melodies created for the voice. Like any other serenade, it is sung at night in honor of the beloved...
In the melody of “Serenade” we guess all the feelings with which the lover’s heart lives at this hour of the night; and tender sadness, and longing, and hope for a quick meeting. Probably Schubert’s “serenade” is about happy love: the day will come, the lovers will meet, and yet its melody reveals a lot to us - something that is not in words and which is very difficult to talk about. Youth, a beloved, a night song flying towards her - this is the content of the work, which lists everything except the most important thing. The main thing is contained in the melody, which tells us how much sadness there is even in the happiest love and how sad a person can be even in his joy.
There are many cheerful melodies in the world, born in moments of joy or holidays. Even among the serenades - mostly sad and thoughtful - one can find cheerful and moving melodies, full of charm and optimism. Who is not familiar with the charming and graceful “Little Night Serenade” by W. A. Mozart, whose melody is full of light and charm of a festive night!
In 18th-century Vienna, it was customary to organize small night concerts under the windows of the person you want to pay attention to. Of course, the meaning of the music performed in his honor was not at all lyrical and intimate, as in a love serenade, but rather funny and slightly mischievous. Therefore, several people took part in such a night concert - after all, joy unites people! To perform Mozart's serenade, a string orchestra was required - a collection of virtuoso and expressive instruments that sang so magically in the silence of the Viennese night.
The melody of “A Little Night Serenade” captivates with its subtlety and grace; listening to it, we do not think that this is just everyday music, written to order for a night concert. On the contrary, in its sounds the image of old Vienna lives for us, an unusually musical city, where day and night one could hear wonderful singing, then playing the violin, and even the lightest music was unusually beautiful - after all, Mozart wrote it!
Fascinated by the bright Mozart melodies, the Russian singer F. Chaliapin expressed his attitude towards the great Viennese classic: “You go into a house, simple, without unnecessary decorations, cozy, large windows, a sea of light, greenery all around, everything is welcoming, and a hospitable owner greets you, makes you sit down, and you feel so good that you don’t want to leave. This is Mozart."
These sincere words reflect only one side of Mozart’s music - the one that is associated with the brightest images and moods. But, perhaps, in the entire centuries-old history of music you will not find a composer whose melodies would be only joyful and harmonious. And this is natural: after all, life is never only bright, only clear; losses and disappointments, mistakes and delusions are inevitable in it.
It is in art that the feelings and thoughts by which a person lives most clearly manifest themselves.
And therefore, one should not be surprised when the same Mozart who wrote “A Little Night Serenade” is the same Mozart whom the composer A. Rubinstein called Helios - the sun god of music, about whom he exclaimed: “Eternal sunshine in music - your name is Mozart!”- creates one of the most mournful works in all world art - his Requiem.
The dying composer, who devoted the last months of his life to this work, wrote about it in one of his letters: “Before me is my funeral song. I can’t leave it unfinished.”
The Requiem was ordered from Mozart by a stranger dressed all in black, who one day knocked on the composer's house and handed over this order as an order from a very important person. Mozart set to work with enthusiasm, while his illness was already sapping his strength.
A. S. Pushkin conveyed Mozart’s state of mind during the period of the Requiem with enormous dramatic power in the small tragedy “Mozart and Salieri.”
My black man gives me no rest day and night.
He follows me everywhere like a shadow.
And now it seems to me that he is the third one sitting with us.
Mozart did not have time to complete his Requiem. After the composer's death, the unfinished sections were completed by his student F. Süssmayr, who was thoroughly initiated by Mozart into the plan of the entire work.
Mozart stopped at the beginning of “Lacrimosa”; he could no longer continue. In this part, which is part of the climax zone of the composition, after the anger, horror, and darkness of the previous parts, a state of sublime lyrical sorrow sets in. Melody "Lacrimosa" ("Tearful Day") based on the intonation of sighing and crying, at the same time demonstrating an example of deep sincerity and noble restraint of feeling.
Tchaikovsky's Christmas musical fairy tale is full of beautiful bright melodies: sometimes tense and dramatic, sometimes quiet and gentle, sometimes song, sometimes dance. One can even say that the music in this ballet has reached its utmost expressiveness - it tells so convincingly and authentically about the events of Hoffmann’s sublime and touching fairy tale.
Despite the appeal to a fairy tale plot from German literature, the music of “The Nutcracker” is deeply Russian, like Tchaikovsky’s music in general. Both New Year's dances and magical pictures of winter nature - all this in the ballet is imbued with intonations that are close and understandable to every person who grew up in Russia, in the atmosphere of its culture, music and customs. It is no coincidence that P. Tchaikovsky himself admitted: “I have never met a person who is more in love with Mother Rus' than I am... I passionately love the Russian person, Russian speech, Russian mentality, Russian beauty of faces, Russian customs.”
Listening to the melody Pas de deux from the ballet “The Nutcracker”, You’re surprised how much music contains from the living expressiveness of human speech! Probably, in this property, the origin of the melody from the intonation of the human voice reveals itself again and again. The slightest shades are accessible to her - a question, an exclamation, and even an ellipsis...
Listen to the intonation development of the music of this fragment - and you will be convinced that it contains all the diversity of emotional statements. But there is also something in it that the great romantic G. Heine said: “Where the words end, the music begins.” Perhaps the correctness of these words is especially obvious when it comes to melody: after all, it is melody that is closest to the intonation of living speech. And yet - is it possible to convey the content of the melody in words? Remember how touching, how unusually expressive "Melody" (Eurydice's Complaint) from the opera K. Gluck "Orpheus and Eurydice" and how much she can say without resorting to words.
In this fragment, the composer turned to pure melody - and this melody itself managed to conquer the whole world!
Doesn’t it follow from what has been said that melody is a language that is close and understandable to everyone - people who lived in different times, speaking different languages, children and adults? After all, for any person joy is expressed in the same way, and human sadness is the same everywhere, and gentle intonations can never be confused with rude and commanding ones, no matter what language they are spoken in. And if we carry images and hopes that are dear to us, then in moments when a melody that excites us sounds, they become brighter, more alive, and tangible.
Doesn't this mean that the melody guesses ourselves - our hidden feelings, our unspoken thoughts? It is no coincidence that they say: “strings of the soul” when they want to designate what gives us the opportunity to perceive and love the boundless beauty of the world around us.
Let's summarize:
1. What is a melody, and what types does it come in?
2. In which musical genres is melody most often dominant?
3. Remember several melodies that would express different intonations: sad, affectionate, cheerful, etc.
4. How do you understand the words of P. Tchaikovsky: “melody is the soul of music”?
5. How does the content of music affect the character of the melody?
Presentation
Included:
1. Presentation: 17 slides, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
“Oh you, little night”, Russian folk song (performed by Dmitry Hvorostovsky), mp3;
“Oh, you little night”, Russian folk song (performed by the male choir of the St. Petersburg courtyard of the Optina Pustyn Monastery), mp3;
“Oh you, little night”, Russian folk song (performed by Fyodor Chaliapin), mp3;
Glitch. “Melody” from the opera “Orpheus and Eurydice”, mp3;
“Ay, there’s a liponka in the field”, Russian folk song (performed by Sergei Lemeshev), mp3;
Mozart. Little night serenade, mp3;
Mozart. Requiem “Lacrimosa” (“Tearful Day”), mp3;
Chaikovsky. Pas de deux from the ballet “The Nutcracker”, mp3;
Schubert. Serenade, mp3;
3. Article, docx.
Music accompanies us all our lives. It can be different: from beautiful melodic passages to large harmonious works. A melody is a sequence of sounds that is perceived as a single whole.
Melody concept
At the heart of every composition is a melody. It represents a skeleton onto which other sounds are built to create a piece. Melody is a chant (translated from Greek). In music theory, this concept is used to isolate one voice from the texture of a piece.
Moreover, it always represents a solidary sequence of sounds. It also has a certain tempo, timbre and tonality. The melody is what sets the character of the entire work. If you pick out a melody from any popular composition, you will recognize the work by it.
Using ringtones
Melody is the basis for writing the music that we all hear in the hits of our favorite artists, on dance floors, on radio and television. Interestingly, composers create their melodies for different occasions with certain rules. For example, for hits and advertising, they need to make compositions that are simple. For this, the simplest sequences of sounds characteristic of folk music are taken. They are easy to remember and reproduce. It is precisely because of the simplicity of the melodies that some hits or advertising fragments are well remembered.
Ringtones are used everywhere from classical polyphonic works to the sounds of alarm clocks and phone calls. Any folk song or world-famous hit can be turned into a melody by writing the work note by note. This technique is used when creating versions of any musical composition for piano.
Learning the basics of playing any musical instrument begins with simple melodies. They are the easiest to remember. The composer, when creating any work, begins by composing a melody, and only then adds additional sounds to it by combining instruments that set the rhythm and volume of sound.
The use of ringtones in mobile phones
The use of ringtones peaked with the advent of mobile phones. This was especially true of the first models, the ringtones of which were polyphonic or completely mono. Ringtones began to be used to replace sounds that are unpleasant to the ear (classic signals of analog rotary phones) with more harmonious and non-irritating ones.
However, it cannot be said that ringtones were used for the first time on mobile phones. Stationary models with a push-button dialing system also gave signals with harmonious modulations. Most often, such melodies were based on classical works.
Nowadays, every smartphone has a preset set of melodies in its memory that the user can use at his own discretion. You can set melodies separately for each call signal. It is possible to choose an alarm clock so that it does not irritate you in the morning. And a notification about an incoming SMS message can be displayed with just one sound.
Is it difficult to change the ringtone on your phone?
Ringtones on a phone are most often added to its memory. Using the settings, it is easy to select the appropriate ones from several options for the standard package. The first polyphonic phones had an interesting option - the user could create a pleasant melody using a set of sounds. This feature was later removed as it was not in demand. Most people did not use the created ringtones, but preferred to select sounds from the standard package.
The need to compose new melodies disappeared with the development of MP3 phones and polyphony. Almost all popular hits are available in these formats. Now smartphone users have no problem with how to change the ringtone. They just need to download or copy the track of interest from any disk and replace the call or sound of incoming messages with it. You can find a variety of options online.
The development of mobile technologies makes it possible to replace even beeps with melodies. Most mobile operators have made this a paid option, but on some tariff plans you can replace beeps with melodic sounds for free. Sometimes this feature is included in the default tariff. In this case, instead of a beep, the operator’s corporate melody is usually used.
Melody and its types Let's try to answer a simple children's question: what is a melody? - Melody is... music! But music consists not only of melodies, but also of much more. By the way, there is music without melody. And what music! - Melody is... a song! But not only songs have melodies. - Melody is... this... motive! This is a common mistake. A real musician will never call a melody a motive. When we speak, we say not just a set of any incomprehensible words, but exactly what we want to say. What we thought. When we speak, we express our thoughts. Or we retell someone else's. And music is also a language. And they also express thoughts in musical language. But the thoughts are musical. In order for others to understand our thought, it must be expressed clearly - that is, developed and brought to the point. Only such a developed and complete musical thought becomes a melody. But a musical thought can be expressed in different ways. For example, a chain of chords. Will it be a melody? No. As we remember, there are at least three voices in a chord. Or even four or six. And there can only be one voice in a melody. Because Melody (in Greek “chant”) is a musical thought expressed monophonically. Now we know exactly what a melody is. Sometimes music consists only of melody. Often such “lonely” melodies are found in folk songs. There are different melodies: vocal - those that sing or are easy to sing. Instrumental - those that are composed for performance on any musical instrument. They are often difficult to sing as they can be complex, high register or too fast. The melody can sound alone or with accompaniment. The accompaniment of a melody is called accompaniment (French for "accompaniment"). There are two main types of melody in music: cantilena and recitative. Cantilena (Italian for “singing”) is a melodious, flowing melody. The cantilena is characterized by syllabic chants, in which one vowel can be sung into five or six different musical sounds. The musical phrases in the cantilena may not coincide with the phrases of the text. Cantilena can be vocal or instrumental. Recitative (from the Latin “recitare” - “read aloud”) is a musical recitation, singing words without rhyme. Recitative often resembles spoken language. Recitative (from the Italian “recitare” - to recite) is a type of melody that approaches speech intonation. Recitatives can be not only vocal, but also instrumental (naturally, without words). So what have you learned? 1. 2. 3. 4. What is a melody? Which type of melody is called vocal and which instrumental? What is a cantilena? What is recitative? And now your homework: fill out the table after listening to the musical works indicated in it. Work by M.I. Glinka “Lark” S.V. Rachmaninov “Vocalise” S.V. Rachmaninov “Italian Polka” F. Chopin Prelude No. 28 Type of melody (vocal or instrumental) Type of melody (cantilena or recitative)
What kind of music does it have in character? There is hardly a clear answer to this question. The grandfather of Soviet music pedagogy, Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky, believed that music rests on “three pillars” - this song, march and dance.
In principle, Dmitry Borisovich was right; any melody can fall under this classification. But the world of music is so diverse, filled with subtle emotional nuances, that the nature of music is not something static. In the same work, themes that are absolutely opposite in nature very often intertwine and collide. The structure of all sonatas and symphonies, and most other musical works, is based on this opposition.
Let's take, for example, the well-known Funeral from Chopin's B-flat sonata. This music, which has become part of the funeral ritual of many countries, has become inextricably linked in our minds with bereavement. The main theme is full of hopeless grief and melancholy, but in the middle part a melody of a completely different nature suddenly appears - light, as if consoling.
I would like to end with the words of Tolstoy from the “Kreutzer Sonata”:
