Music Concepts Online: Sound and MIDI:

Sound

Lecture and FAQs

To begin to understand sound, take a look at the lecture entitled Sound: The Loud and the Soft of It, and also Sound FAQs.

Terms and Concepts

The terms and concepts you should understand from this chapter are:
  • sound
  • time
  • frequency
  • pitch
  • registers
  • texture
  • melody
  • polyphonic
  • contrapuntal
  • harmony (or harmonies)
  • homophonic
  • chorale style
  • melody with accompaniment
  • dynamics (and dynamic markings)
  • MIDI
  • harmonics
    Note: you don't have to memorize these terms, just understand them.

    Exercises and Assignments:

  • Read Chapter 1
  • Do Computer Exercises 1 (Sound Demonstration: Chapter 1) and 155 (Musical Terms: Dynamic Indications: Chapter 12).
  • Do Music for Study, pp. 8-10
    This involves listening to three musical exerpts, while looking at the score of the music. Here are the instructions:
    • Ex. 1: "Hunting Song"
      MIDI file: This is part of the Exercises as Drill # 1
    • Ex. 2: "The Washington Post March (Trio)"
      MIDI file: This is part of the Exercises as Drill # 1
    • Ex. 3: "The Egmont Overture"
      1. MIDI file: This is part of the Exercises as Drill # 1
      2. CD track: "The Egmont Overture" is Track 1 on the CD disk which comes with the book.

    Sound FAQS

    For answers to your questions about Sound, see Sound FAQS.

    MIDI

    Terms and Concepts

    The terms and concepts you should understand about MIDI are:
  • MIDI
  • MIDI file
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