Canon (music)

In music, a canon is a contrapuntal (counterpoint-based) compositional technique that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration (e.g., quarter rest, one measure, etc.). The initial melody is called the leader (or dux), while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower (or comes). The follower must imitate the leader, either as an exact replication of its rhythms and intervals or some transformation thereof. Repeating canons in which all voices are musically identical are called rounds—"Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Frère Jacques" are popular examples. An accompanied canon is a canon accompanied by one or more additional independent parts that do not imitate the melody. During the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque—that is, through the early 18th century—any kind of imitative musical counterpoints were called fugues, with the strict imitation now known as canon qualified as fuga ligata, meaning "fettered fugue". Only in the 16th century did the word "canon" begin to be used to describe the strict, imitative texture created by such a procedure. The word is derived from the Greek "κανών", Latinised as canon, which means "law" or "norm". In contrapuntal usage, the word refers to the "rule" explaining the number of parts, places of entry, transposition, and so on, according to which one or more additional parts may be derived from a single written melodic line. This rule was usually given verbally, but could also be supplemented by special signs in the score, sometimes themselves called canoni. The earliest known non-religious canons are English rounds, a form first given the name rondellus by Walter Odington at the beginning of the 14th century; the best known is "Sumer is icumen in" (composed around 1250), called a rota ("wheel") in the manuscript source. The term "round" only first came to be used in English sources in the 16th century. Canons featured in the music of the Italian Trecento and the 14th-century ars nova in France.

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Texture (music)

In music, texture is how the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials are combined in a musical composition, determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece. The texture is often described in regard to the density, or thickness, and range, or width, between lowest and highest pitches, in relative terms as well as more specifically distinguished according to the number of voices, or parts, and the relationship between these voices (see Common types below). For example, a thick texture contains many 'layers' of instruments.

Augmentation (music)

In Western music and music theory, augmentation (from Late Latin augmentare, to increase) is the lengthening of a note or the widening of an interval. Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used. Augmentation is also the term for the proportional lengthening of the value of individual note-shapes in older notation by coloration, by use of a sign of proportion, or by a notational symbol such as the modern dot.

Glossary of music terminology

A variety of musical terms are encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special musical meanings of these phrases differ from the original or current Italian meanings. Most of the other terms are taken from French and German, indicated by Fr. and Ger., respectively. Unless specified, the terms are Italian or English.

The aim of this paper is to argue that complementation is an operation similarly fundamental to music theory as transposition and inversion. We focus on studying the chromatic complement mapping that translates diatonic seventh chords into 8-note scales wh ...

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD2023

The main theme of my thesis will be to use neuro-muscular modeling techniques to study locomotion of terrestrial mammals. Locomotion is the ability of animals to interact with the environment to propel themselves in space. It involves co-ordination and pre ...

EPFL2022

Rhythmanalysis of Urban Events: Empirical Elements from the Montreux Jazz Festival

Luca Giovanni Pattaroni, Guillaume Simon Joseph Drevon, Lucien Jean Delley, Nils Hamel

This article proposes an original approach to urban events mapping. At the theoretical level, the article is based on rhythmanalysis and recent research on urban rhythms. It contrasts with previous research by departing from everyday rhythms to tackle the ...

2020

Harmonic Mean: Music Proportions MATH-124: Geometry for architects I

Explores the harmonic mean in music proportions and its historical significance in architecture.

Time in Music II: Concepts and Terms

Explores metrical structure, groove, and rhythmic modeling in music, including time stealing and syncopation.

Rhythmic Generation Techniques

Covers rhythm generation techniques, including Markov models and hierarchical rhythm generation, with a focus on Nancarrow's Study 14.