SHOSYS ACADEMY 13 LESSON: Classifying Performance Media And Techniques

SHOSYS ACADEMY 13 LESSON: Classifying Performance Media And Techniques

Kelvin Sholar

1 Introduction To The Blog Series

This series of lessons and tests incorporates an easy music appreciation curriculum for adult beginners who are remote learning, or are self-taught. Lessons are posted on Mondays while Tests are posted on Saturdays. For more in depth and private guidance, I offer personal instruction by Zoom (Personal Meeting ID 8522954569) – for 1 dollar a minute. Time schedules range from a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 60 minutes. Email me at [email protected] to set up personal instruction. I accept payments and cash gifts by Cash App ($KelvinSholar), Zelle ([email protected]) or Paypal (paypal.me/kelvinsholar).

2 Revisiting The Tree Of Knowledge

In Lesson 12, we learned about trends in Western music. In this Lesson, we will learn about classifications of performance media. This knowledge resides in the Ways branch (1.20) of the Tree of Knowledge (1.00), at the fifth leaf from the left (1.23) – Classifications. In “Taxonomy Of Educational Objectives”, Benjamin Bloom describes knowledge of classifications and categories as: “Knowledge of the classes, sets, divisions, and arrangements which are regarded as fundamental or useful for a given subject field, purpose, argument, or problem” (Bloom 71).

2.1 Classifying Performance Media And Techniques

In order to give the study of performance media some structure, music specialists have provided classifications by the nature of the sound generation device. According to Roger Kamien, musical performance media are generally divided into two broad categories: voices and instruments (Kamien 9).

When many people think of making music, the most popular and ancient form of music making is that produced by human voices. Therefore, the most simple classification of voices is by sex: female voices and male voices. Female voices are classified by the range of the pitches that they are able to produce; from highest to lowest range we find soprano, mezzo-soprano and alto classes. Male voices are also classified by the range of the pitches that they are able to produce; from highest to lowest range we find tenor, baritone and bass classes (Kamien 9).

In modern times, music made by instruments is as widespread and popular as music made by voices. The most simple classification of instruments is by the nature of sound generation, and material construction: string, woodwind, brass, percussion, keyboard and electronic. String instruments include harp, guitar, violin, viola, cello, double bass. Woodwinds include flutes, oboes, the English horn, bassoon, clarinets. Brass includes trumpets, French horns, trombones and tuba. Keyboard includes the piano, organ and celeste. Percussion includes timpani, drum kit, cymbals, vibraphone, marimba and xylophone. Electronic includes tape machine, electric guitar or bass, synthesizer, computer and sampler.

Many instruments are made in different sizes to produce sounds in different ranges. For example, (in order from highest to lowest range), the saxophone family includes the sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, bass and baritone saxophones. Other examples include the clarinet and bass clarinet, or the piccolo and the flute.

There are certain performance techniques which are associated with each class of performance media. For example, strings instruments like the violin can use pizzicato, stops (double, triple or quadruple), vibrato, mute, tremolo and harmonics (Kamien 15). Other strings, like the harp or guitar, can be played with or without a pick or plectrum. Brass instruments like the trumpet and trombone can be played with mutes of various kinds.

3 Bibliography

Bloom, B. S.; Engelhart, M. D.; Furst, E. J.; Hill, W. H.; Krathwohl, D. R. Taxonomy Of Educational Objectives: The Classification Of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Company, 1956

Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2018