VO on Music Theory Print

Vocal harmony

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In art music#

Vocal harmonies have been an important part of Western art music since the Renaissance-era introduction of Mass melodies harmonized in sweet thirds and sixths. With the rise of the Lutheran church’s chorale hymn singing style, congregations sang hymns arranged with four or five-part vocal harmony. In the Romantic era of music during the 1800s, vocal harmonization became more complex, and arrangers began including more dissonant harmonies. Operas and choral music from the Romantic era used tense-sounding vocal harmonies with augmented and diminished intervals as an important tool for underscoring the drama of the music. With contemporary music from the 1900s and 2000s, composers made increasingly difficult demands on choirs which were singing in vocal harmony, such as instructions to sing microtonal notes or make percussive sounds.

Vocal music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

World traditions#

Indian classical music is based on a rich vocal tradition, wherein even instruments are evaluated on their ability to follow the human voice, imitate it, or recreate the same expressions.
Elaborate untexted vocal improvisation was and still is an important element in Turkish and Middle Eastern music traditions. Such music existed prior to the 13th century and the First Crusade into Palestine and the city of Jerusalem, possibly even before the year 900.
The modern descendants of the ancient Kung tribes and clans of Southern Africa utilize similar traditional music techniques.
A form of improvisation known as thillana is a very important feature of Carnatic music from South India.
Tuvan throat singing often features wordless and improvised song. The sygyt technique is a particularly good example of this.
The Anglo-Saxon and Gaelic communities.
Hasidic Jews use a form of voice improvisation called nigunim. This consists of wordless tunes vocalized with sounds such as “Bim-bim-bam” or “Ai-yai-yai!” often accompanied by rhythmic clapping and drumming on the table.
Puirt a beul, also known as “Mouth Music”, is a Scottish vocal technique imitating the sounds of bagpipes, fiddles, and other instruments used in traditional Scottish music. It was popularized in North America by Scottish immigrants, and has been incorporated into many forms of American music from roots music to bluegrass.
The Cante Alentejano is just based on vocal music. It is one of two Portuguese music traditions part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, the other being Fado.

European classical vocal music#

Solfege, a vocalized musical scale, assigns various syllables such as “Do-Re-Mi” to each note. A variety of similar tools are found in traditional Indian music, and scat singing of jazz.

Vocalese

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition#

Vocalese uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos, as opposed to scat singing, which uses nonsense words such as “bap ba dee dot bwee dee” in solos. In the “first wave” of vocalese creation, that sometimes took the form of a tribute to the original instrumentalist. The word “vocalese” is a play on the musical term “vocalise”; the suffix “-ese” is meant to indicate a sort of language. The term was attributed to Jon Hendricks by the jazz critic Leonard Feather to describe the first Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross album, Sing a Song of Basie. Most vocalese lyrics are entirely syllabic, as opposed to melismatic. That may lead to the use of many words sung quickly in a given phrase, especially in the case of bebop.

Volkslied

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The earliest songs in German appeared in the 12th century. Art songs were created by minstrels and meistersinger while cantastoria (Bänkelsänger) sang songs in public that were orally transmitted. Song collections were written from the late 15th century, such as Lochamer-Liederbuch and Glogauer Liederbuch. Georg Forster’s Frische teutsche Liedlein was first printed in 1536. In the period of Sturm und Drang, poets and authors became interested in that which they saw as simple, close to nature, original, and unspoiled (nach dem ). Johann Gottfried Herder coined the term ‘Volkslied’ in the late 18th century, and published Von deutscher Art und Kunst (On German ways and artistry) in 1771. In 1778/79, a collection Volkslieder was published, promoted by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, which mentioned neither an editor nor authors, in an attempt to suggest the songs as an expression of the soul of the people (). Friedrich Silcher (1789–1860) composed a great number of Lieder, many of which became Volkslieder, and he edited collections of Volkslieder. In the middle of the 18th century, the Berliner Liederschule promoted songs with simple melodies im Volkston (i.e. in the Volkslied style). Songs written following the concept include “Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust” and “O Täler weit, o Höhen”. In the early 20th century, the repertoire was broadened by workers’ songs and students’ songs. In 1914, John Meier founded the Deutsches Volksliedarchiv, a research and archive of Volkslied. The Wandervogel movement turned to singing while wandering, with the collection published in 1909, and reprinted until 1933. <!–

Volkstümliche Musik

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Closely related to the German schlager genre, many titles stress a Heimat affect, being presented in regional dialects (e.g. Bavarian, Upper Saxon, Low German) or colloquial language (e.g. Rhinelandic) and invoke local and regional lifestyles and traditions, particularly dances. Brass and Alpine musical instruments, such as Alphorns, Zithers, acoustic guitars, violas, and harmonicas are frequently featured, although most commercial productions nowadays employ drum machines and synthesizers. Yodeling is also common.

Voluntary (music)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

English organ voluntaries of the late Baroque#

During the late 17th century, a ‘voluntary’ was typically written in a fugal or imitative style, often with different sections. In the 18th century, many organists and other musicians of high prominence, particularly in London, published collections of voluntaries - usually ten or twelve -‘for organ or harpsichord’, establishing the genre as a serious addition to the standard repertoire. Whilst almost always the harpsichord is indicated alongside the organ, subsequent markings which frequently appear in the music, such as swell or eccho suggest the organ was the chief instrument in mind. The form typically begins with a short slow movement followed by a contrasting more substantial fast movement, either a fugue or movement for a solo stop on the organ. Two movements are very common although three and four are also encountered. Some imitate the character of the French overture, with a slow movement of dotted or double-dotted rhythms, followed by a fugue. Others begin with a slow movement making use of close-written harmony and suspensions, followed by solo writing for the right hand and one-line accompaniment for the left hand, such as the trumpet voluntary or the cornet voluntary. In the latter the eccho manual and/or the swell or full organ to give ripieno effects are often employed, and it is typically non-fugal. At the time, organ builders such as Renatus Harris had been building organs with stops imitating certain instruments such as the trumpet and cornett. Some composers, such as John Bennett (ca. 1735–1784) made more use of the slow introduction than, say, John Stanley whose introductory movements tend to be shorter and simpler in comparison. In Bennett’s case, the introductions can easily stand alone as movements in their own right. With most composers, the slow introductory movement sometimes ends with an imperfect cadence inevitably leading into the next movement. Others finish with a perfect cadence. Many of the fast movements end with a short adagio section, particularly those of William Goodwin, John Bennett and, to a lesser extent, William Boyce. In 18th century England, the word ‘fuge’ is often encountered. English style ‘fuges’ (or fugue) do not follow the strict theoretical form of German-style fugues and are only notionally such. They are more related to the ‘fugues’ written by Italian composers of the time, being generally imitative without substantial development and length. One noteworthy example of a substantial voluntary is that of Pepusch, which has 13 movements in total. Several of the movements are named after organ solo stops or mixtures (bassoon, cornet, trumpet, sesquialtera, flute, twelfth, etc.). Pepusch had been the teacher of Bennett and other younger composers. Some voluntaries were called double voluntaries. These were pieces written for organs with two manuals (keyboards). The pieces contrasted a loud manual with a soft one. One of the most prolific composers of voluntaries from this period was John Marsh whose copious volumes contain prefaces which tell us something of the role of voluntaries in his day. In general, the English organ voluntary of the 18th century arguably does not have the more profound, devotional flavour of the chorale prelude of, say, J S Bach who had died in 1750. A new style was developing, the galant style, which emphasised lighter elegance. The writing can be clichéd, based on rapid scales, arpeggios and sequences which sometimes can be perceived as superficial and repetitive. Variation between the style of one composer and the next is sometimes not greatly obvious. However, the very best still represent originality and exploit fully the possibilities of the instruments of the time. Of the many composers active in London, those of Maurice Greene, William Goodwin and John Bennett arguably show the most inventiveness and variety in character. The voluntaries of John Bennett demonstrate the greatest variety of textures and profundity of character.

Votive Mass

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The principle of the votive Mass is older than its name. Almost at the very origin of the Western liturgies (with their principle of change according to the Calendar) Mass was occasionally offered, apparently with special prayers and lessons, for some particular intention, irrespective of the normal Office of the day. Among the miracles quoted by Augustine of Hippo in his seminal “”, XXII, 8, is the story of one Hesperius cured of an evil spirit by a private Mass said in his house with special prayers for him—essentially, a votive Mass for his cure. The first sacramentaries contain many examples of what would now be called votive Masses. So the Leonine book has Masses "" (ed. Feltoe, pp. 123–26), "" (ed. Feltoe, 142), "" (ed. Feltoe, 27), and so on throughout. Indeed, the Masses for ordination and for the dead, which occur in this book and throughout the Roman Rite and Gallican Rite, are examples of votive Masses for all kinds of occasions, for ordinations (ed. Wilson, pp. 22–30, etc.), for those about to be baptized (ed. Wilson 34), anniversaries of ordinations (153–54), nuns (156), for the sick (282), for marriages (265), kings (276), travellers (283), the dead (301 sq.), and a large collection of Masses of general character to be said on any Sunday (224–44). In this book the name first occurs, "" (p. 367; Rheinau and S. Gallen MSS.). The Gregorian Sacramentary, too, has a large collection of such Masses and the name "" (e.g., , LXXVIII, 256). Throughout the Middle Ages the votive Mass was a regular institution. The principle came to be that, whereas one official (capitular) high Mass was said corresponding to the Office, a priest who said a private Mass for a special intention said a votive Mass corresponding to his intention. The great number of forms provided in medieval Missals furnished one for any possible intention. Indeed, it seems that at one time a priest normally said a votive Mass whenever he celebrated. John Beleth in the thirteenth century describes a series of votive Masses once said () each day in the week: on Sunday, of the Holy Trinity; Monday, for charity; Tuesday, for wisdom; Wednesday, of the Holy Ghost; Thursday, of the Angels; Friday, of the Cross; Saturday, of the Blessed Virgin (Explic. div. offic., 51). This completely ignores the ecclesiastical year. But there was a general sentiment that, at least on the chief feasts, even private Masses should conform to the Office of the day. The Feast of the Holy Trinity began as a votive Mass to be said on any Sunday after Pentecost, when there was no feast.