Yale Music Theory Course
1. Introduction
Professor Wright introduces the course by suggesting that "listening to music" is not simply a passive activity one can use to relax, but rather, an active and rewarding process. He argues that by learning about the basic elements of Western classical music, such as rhythm, melody, and form, one learns strategies that can be used to understand many different kinds of music in a more thorough and precise way -- and further, one begins to understand the magnitude of human greatness. Professor Wright draws the music examples in this lecture from recordings of techno music, American musical theater, and works by Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy and Strauss, in order to introduce the issues that the course will explore in more depth throughout the semester.
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Listening to Music
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">03:23 - Chapter 2. Why Listen to Classical Music?
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">12:14 - Chapter 3. Course Requirements and Pedagogy
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">21:11 - Chapter 4. Diagnostic Quiz
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">33:56 - Chapter 5. Pitch
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">42:04 - Chapter 6. Rhythm
Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu
Lecture 2. Introduction to Instruments and Musical Genres
This lecture provides an introduction to basic classical music terminology, orchestral instruments, and acoustics. Professor Wright begins with a brief discussion of the distinctions between such broad terms as "song" and "piece," briefly mentioning more specific terms for musical genres, such as "symphony" and "opera." He then moves on to describe the differences between a "motive" and a "theme," demonstrating the distinction between the two with the use of music by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Following this, he calls upon three guest instrumentalists on French horn, bassoon, and viola to give a brief performance-introduction to each instrument. He concludes the session with a discussion of acoustics, focusing on the concept of partials, and then brings the lecture to a close with commentary on Richard Strauss's tone-poem, Death and Transfiguration.
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">00:00 - Chapter 1. Distinguishing "Songs" from "Pieces": Musical Lexicon
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">04:23 - Chapter 2. Genres, Motives, and Themes
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">16:51 - Chapter 3. Introduction to the French Horn and Partials
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">23:02 - Chapter 4. The Bassoon and the Viola
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">29:14 - Chapter 5. Mugorsky and the Basic Principles of Acoustics
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">40:30 - Chapter 6. Dissonance and Consonance in Strauss's Death and Transfiguration
Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu
Lecture 3. Rhythm: Fundamentals
In this lecture, Professor Wright explains the basic system of Western musical notation, and offers an interpretation of its advantages and disadvantages. He also discusses the fundamental principles of rhythm, elaborating upon such concepts as beat, meter, and discussing in some depth the nature of durational patterns in duple and triple meters. The students are taught to conduct basic patterns in these meters through musical examples drawn from Chuck Mangione, Cole Porter, REM, Chopin, and Ravel.
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">00:00 - Chapter 1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Musical Notation
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">14:41 - Chapter 2. Beats and Meters
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">23:09 - Chapter 3. Exercises Distinguishing Duple and Triple Meters
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">31:27 - Chapter 4. Conducting Basic Meter Patterns: Exercises with REM, Chopin, and Ravel
Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu
Lecture 4. Rhythm: Jazz, Pop and Classical
Professor Wright begins this lecture with a brief introduction to musical acoustics, discussing the way multiple partials combine to make up every tone. He reviews fundamental rhythmic terms, such as "beat," "tempo," and "meter," and then demonstrates in more depth some of the more complex concepts, such as "syncopation" and the "triplet." Professor Wright then moves on to discuss the basics of musical texture, giving detailed examples of three primary types: monophonic, homophonic, and polyphonic. The class is then taught the basics of rhythmic dictation -- skill that entails notating the rhythm of a piece after listening to it. Each of these disparate threads is brought together in the conclusion of the lecture, in which Mozart's Requiem is shown to weave different rhythms, textures, and pitches together to depict the text effectively.
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Multiple Partials
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">04:30 - Chapter 2. Syncopation and Triplets
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">14:33 - Chapter 3. Basics of Musical Texture
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">21:57 - Chapter 4. Counting Measures and Musical Dictation
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">38:15 - Chapter 5. Mozart's Requiem: Insights on Varying Textures and Pitches
Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu
Lecture 5. Melody: Notes, Scales, Nuts and Bolts
This lecture explores the basic nature of melody. Touching on historical periods ranging from ancient Greece to the present day, Professor Wright draws examples from musical worlds as disparate as nineteenth-century Europe and twentieth-century India, China, and America. Professor Wright puts forth a historical, technical, and holistic approach to understanding the way pitches and scales work in music. He concludes his lecture by bringing pitch and rhythm together in a discussion of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">00:00 - Chapter 1. The Nature of Melody
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">02:37 - Chapter 2. The Development of Notes and the Scale
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">14:43 - Chapter 3. Major, Minor, and Chromatic Scales in World Music
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">33:03 - Chapter 4. Pitch and Rhythm in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu
Lecture 6. Melody: Mozart and Wagner
This lecture discusses melody and aesthetics; Professor Wright raises the question of what makes a melody beautiful, and uses excerpts from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Wagner's Tristan and Isolde and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro to explore this issue. Throughout the discussion, the foundations of classical phrase-structure and harmonic progressions are used to explain some of the choices these three composers made.
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">00:00 - Chapter 1. What Makes a Melody Beautiful?
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">05:39 - Chapter 2. Puccini's Gianni Schicchi: Cadences and Sequences
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">13:27 - Chapter 3. Wagner's Tristan and Isolde: Exploring Melodic Ascents and Descents
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">32:17 - Chapter 4. Mozart's Marriage of Figaro: Melodic Sequence Analysis
Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu
Lecture 7. Harmony: Chords and How to Build Them
Professor Wright explains the way harmony works in Western music. Throughout the lecture, he discusses the ways in which triads are formed out of scales, the ways that some of the most common harmonic progressions work, and the nature of modulation. Professor Wright focuses particularly on the listening skills involved in hearing whether harmonies are changing at regular or irregular rates in a given musical phrase. His musical examples in this lecture are wide-ranging, including such diverse styles as grand opera, bluegrass, and 1960s American popular music.
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Harmony
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">03:36 - Chapter 2. The Formation and Changing of Chords
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">19:50 - Chapter 3. Harmonic Progressions
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">35:54 - Chapter 4. Major and Minor Harmonies in Popular Music
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">42:38 - Chapter 5. Modulation through Harmony
Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu
Lecture 8. Bass Patterns: Blues and Rock
In this lecture, Professor Wright teaches students how to listen for bass patterns in order to understand harmonic progressions. He talks through numerous musical examples from both popular music and classical music, showing the way that composers from both realms draw on the same chord progressions. The musical examples are taken from Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Wagner, Gene Chandler, the Beach Boys, Badly Drawn Boy, the Dave Matthews Band, and Justin Timberlake.
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">00:00 - Chapter 1. Review of Chord Formation
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">06:44 - Chapter 2. Chord Progressions and Harmonic Change
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">18:21 - Chapter 3. Popular and Classical Music Chord Progressions
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">31:12 - Chapter 4. Three-Chord Progressions
#" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:13px;color:rgb(22,122,198);text-decoration:none;font-family:Roboto, arial, sans-serif;line-height:17px;background:rgb(255,255,255);">37:46 - Chapter 5. Four-Chord Progressions
Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu
신기하네요~
영어 원문이 번역되어 한글로 볼 수 있네요.