Technical University of Kenya

Department of Music & Performing Arts

ACME 1102: Introduction to Music History - Course Outline
Class Time: Wednesdays 1 pm – 2 pm Venue: Virtual
Instructor: Dr. P.N. Wakaba Semester 1, 2024

Course schedule (may be altered when need arise)

Week DATE TOPIC ASSIGNMENT/READING

1 09/09/2024 Introduction/distribution of course Course introduction,
outline & Course Review distribution of course
13/09/2024 outline and music score
2 16/09/2024 Fundamentals/Elements of music: Pitch, Google or read Lecturer’s
Dynamics, & Tone color; Melody; Notes. Find the meaning of
Rhythm: Beat, Meter, each musical term & listen
20/09/2024 Accent/Syncopation & Tempo to selected pieces
3 23/09/2024 Harmony: Consonance, dissonance, Read notes and listen to
Triad, & Broken Chords; Music relevant pieces & identify
27/09/2024 Notation: Notating Pitch, Rhythm, & the performing media
Silence
4 30/09/2024 Key/Tonality/Tone: Key Signature,
Major, Minor & Chromatic Scales; “
Modulation; Musical Texture:
Monophonic, Polyphonic, &
04/10/2924 Homophonic; Musical Form: Repetition,
Contrast, Variation, Binary & Ternary
5 07/10/2024 Performing Media: Voices & CAT 1: Take away
Instruments: String, Woodwind, Brass,
Percussion, Keyboard, & Electronic
11/10/2024 instruments
6 14/10/2024 The Art of Listening to Elements of Performance: Messiah: Any
18/10/2024 Music pieces. Join Dip 2 or B.mus
2
7 21/10/2024 Historical Periods & Individual Read your notes and listen
25/10/2024 Composers Musical Style to listed pieces
8 28/10/2024 The Middle Ages 450-1450; The Music
of the Middle Ages, Secular & Sacred “
01/11/2024 Music
9 04/11/2024 General Characteristics of Middle Ages
08/11/2024 Music “
10 11/11/2024 Revision/Study Week Revise your notes and listen
22/11/2024 to listed pieces
12 02/12/2024 Term Exams Final Exam
Course Description
ACME 1102 is an introduction course designed to provide students with a general
understanding of the fundamentals of music. The course will also introduce students to the art
of listening to different elements of music in selected pieces, historical and individual
composer’s musical style, especially the music of the Middle Ages. Students will use knowledge
gained from the class as a foundation study of the music of the later periods.
Course Objectives
 Help students learn appropriate terms to the study of music history.
 Provide students with an understanding of basic music concepts in relation to the
history of Western music
 Provide students with an understanding and appreciation of music.
 Help students become aware of musical styles of different composers that may not be
previously known to them, and thus allowing them to expand their interests in music.
 Help students become intelligent consumers of music by increasing their understanding
of music
Required Course Materials
Kamien, R. (2008). Music: An Appreciation, 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Co. Inc.
Yudkin, J. (1999). Understanding Music 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Machlis, J & Christine, F. (1990). The Enjoyment of Music. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Wright, C. (1996). Listening to Music, St. Paul MN: West Pu. Co.
Hammer, E.R & Malcolm, S.C. (1992). Guided Listening. Dubuque, IA: Wim. C. Brown pub.
Grout, D. J. & Palisca, C. V. (2006) A History of Western Music. (7th ed.) New York: W.W. Norton
Expectations
Attendance: Attendance is required at all virtual sessions. You should notify the instructor of
this course ASAP of any possible conflicts, including health-related issues.
Class Participation: Students are expected to actively participate in discussion during virtual
sessions. Lack of participation may lower your grade.
Assignments: Students are expected to complete all assignments to receive a letter grade for
the course. They should continuously/repeatedly listen to the selected pieces listed below, and
practice to sing the assigned piece for end term evaluation.
Evaluation - CAT 1 - 15%; CAT 2 (Performance) 15%; Final Exam - 70%
Listening List
1. Anonymous: Alleluia: Vidimus Stellam
2. Hildegard of Bingen: O Successores
3. Anonymous: Estampie
4. Leonin: Viderunt Omnes
5. Guillaume de Machaut: Since I am forgotten by you
6. Guillaume de Machaut: The Notre Dame Mass: Agnus Dei
7. Ludwig van Beethoven: Ode to Joy
 ACME 1102 – INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC HISTORY
The Music of the Middle Ages
New Terms/Key words
To understand the music of the Middle Ages (Medieval), you require to know the
meaning of the following terms/words. Please, google and learn the meaning of
each term. Additionally, listen repeatedly to the listed pieces at the bottom of the
course outline. Your final exam will have a listening section, definition, analysis of
a score, and essay-type sections.
New Words/Terms
Gregorian Chant/Plainchant/Plainsong Church modes Organum
Monophonic Homophonic Polyphonic Unison Rhythm-free
Meter-free Measured-rhythm Strophic Syllabic Neumatic
Melismatic Troubadour Trouvere Minstrels Jongleurs
Rondeau Liturgical

The Middle Ages – 450 -1450

 The cathedral was the center of musical life
 Most important musicians were priests/monks and worked for the church
 An important occupation of monasteries was liturgical singing
 Boys received music education in schools associated with churches and
cathedrals
 Women were not allowed to sing in church but did make music in convents
 Most medieval music was vocal, though musicians also performed on a
wide variety of instruments
 Church officials required monks to sing with proper pronunciation,
concentration, and tone quality
 The church frowned on instruments because of their earlier role in pagan
rites
 After about 1000, however, organs and bells became increasingly common
in cathedrals and monastic churches
  Sometimes the clergy complained about the noisy organs that distracted
worshipers
 Today, little is known about how medieval music sounded; few medieval
instruments have survived and music manuscripts of the time do not
indicate tempo, dynamics, or names of instruments
Middle Ages Musical Style
 This is the music of the 12th, 13th, and 14th Century
 Makes little use of contrapuntal imitation
 The music of the 12th and 13th century favors triple meters and repetition of
rhythmic patterns
 14th century music favors duple meter and more flexible rhythms; three-
voice polyphony prevails.
 Although instruments are employed, vocal music predominates over
instrumental.
 The harmony sounds unorganized; often harsh and thin
 The modes are the tonal basis of the music; the effect is modal
The Characteristics of the Music of the Middle Ages
The Plainsong/Plainchant/Gregorian Chant
 Monophonic
 Vocal
 Nonmetric/Meter-free - no meter
 Rhythmically free – no clearly defined rhythm
 Modal – Written in church modes
 Latin – common language used in church music
 Tend to move by step within a narrow range of pitches
 Text structure may be melismatic (many notes sung to a single syllable);
others are neumatic (two-four notes per syllable) or syllabic (one note to a
syllable) depending on the nature, occasion, and importance of the text.
 A combination of two or three text structures may be found in a piece.
 Gregorian chants are liturgical music (designed for use in the Christian
(Roman Catholic) liturgy.
 Examples of Gregorian chants of the Middle Ages are the Alleluia: Vidimus
Stellam (We have Seen His Star), and O successors (You Successors)
Fundamentals/Elements of music:

 Pitch - The relative highness or lowness of a sound. In music, a sound that

has a definite pitch is called a tone. The distance in pitch between any two
tones is called an interval. The distance between the lowest and highest
tones that a voice or an instrument can produce is called its pitch
range/range. The highest note in a melody is usually the climax.
 Dynamics – The degree of loudness or softness in music is called dynamic. A
gradual increase in loudness is called crescendo, while a gradual decrease
in loudness is called decrescendo/diminuendo
 Tone color/timbre – This is the quality of a tone color. Each instrument or
voice has its specific quality that distinguishes it from the other. For
example, a trumpet sounds different from a flute.
 Melody – This a series of single notes that add up to a recognized whole. A
melody begins, moves, and ends; it has direction, shape, and continuity; the
up-and-down movement of its pitches conveys tension and release,
expectation and arrival; it’s called the melodic curve or line; a melody
moves by small intervals called steps or larger ones called leaps/skips; A
step is the interval between two adjacent tones e.g., d, r, m; a leap is the
interval between two non-adjacent notes e.g., d, m, s; how the tones are
performed can also vary the effect of a melody i.e, they may be sung or
played in a smooth, connected style called legato or in a short, detached
style called staccato; many melodies are made up of shorter parts called
phrases; phrase can be balance/ symmetric or unbalance; phrases are
made of motives (fragments of a theme); phrases can be antecedent or
consequent; an antecedent phrase ends in an incomplete cadence, while
the consequent ends in a complete cadence; a repetition of a melodic
pattern at a higher or lower pitch is called a sequence.
 Rhythm: Beat, Meter, Accent/Syncopation & Tempo – rhythm is the flow of
music through time; rhythm has four components; 1) Beat – this is the
regular, recurrent pulsation that divides music into equal units of time; they
 form the background against which a composer places notes of varying
length; a combination of notes of different lengths create rhythm; 2) Meter
– this is the organization of beats into regular groups; a group containing a
fixed number of beats is called a measure; the first, or stressed, beat of a
measure is called the downbeat; the last beat in a measure is the
off-beat/upbeat; examples of meter include duple, triple, quadruple,
sextuple (6 quick beats to a measure), quintuple (5 beats to a measure) or
septuple (7 beats to a mesure); 3) Accent and syncopation – an accent is
how individual notes are stressed or emphasized; one way to emphasize a
note is bay giving it a dynamic accent i.e., playing it more loudly that the
notes around it; when an accented note comes where we would normally
not expect it, the effect is known as syncopation; a syncopation occurs
when the stress comes between beats; 4) Tempo – this is the speed of the
beat or music, which is usually indicated at the beginning of a piece; terms
that show tempo include largo, grave, adagio, andante, moderato,
allegretto, allegro, vivace, presto, etc; tempo indications are often made
more specific by qualifiers such as molto, non troppo, a piece tempo may
change in the course of a piece; gradual speeding up may be indicated by
accelerando or slowing down by ritardando; all these terms as in dynamics
are relative and approximate; different performers interpret them
differently and there is no one ‘right’ tempo for a piece.
 Harmony: Consonance, dissonance, Triad, & Broken Chords/arpeggios –
Harmony refers to the way chords are constructed and how they follow
each other. A chord is a combination of three or more notes sounded at
once. Essentially, a chord is a group of simultaneous tones, while a melody
is a series of individual tones heard one after another. Some chords are
considered stable and restful, while others are unstable and tense. A stable
tone combination is a consonance; consonances are points of arrival, rest,
and resolution; an unstable tone combination is a dissonance; its tension
demands an onward motion to a stable chord. A dissonance has its
resolution when it moves to a consonance. A great variety of chords are
used in music. Some consist of three different tones; others have four, five,
or even more. The simplest, most basic chord is the triad, which has three
 tones. The bottom tone is called the root; the middle is a third and the top
is a fifth above the root – i.e., do, mi, soh. A triad built on the first, or tonic,
note of the scale (do) is called the tonic chord; it’s the main chord of s
piece, the most stable and conclusive, and traditionally would begin and
end a composition. Next in importance is the triad built on the fifth note of
the scale (so), the dominant chord (so – ti – re). The dominant chord is
pulled strongly toward the tonic chord; the progression from the dominant
to the tonic gives a strong sense of conclusion. The progression from the
dominant to the tonic chord is called a cadence. When the individual tones
of a chord are sounded one after another, it is called a broken chord, or
arpeggio.
 Key/Tonality/Tone – almost all familiar melodies are built around a central
tone toward which the other tones gravitate and on which the melody
usually ends; this central tone is the keynote, or tonic. A keynote can be
any of the twelve tones of the octave.
 Key Signature – when a piece of music is based on a major key, then it is in
a major key; when it is based in a minor key, then it is in a minor key. Each
major and minor scale has a specific number of sharps or flats, from none
to seven; to indicate the key of piece, a key signature – consisting of sharp
and flat signs following the clef at the beginning of the staff – is used. The
key signature makes it unnecessary to put/add a sharp or flat sign before
every sharpened or flattened note in a piece.
 Major, Minor & Chromatic Scales – a major scale is made up of seven
different tones and an eighth tone that duplicates the first an octave
higher; its pattern consists of an interval of a half step at 3 rd - 4th and 7th -
8th degrees of the scale; the rest of the notes have an interval of a whole
step apart; the minor scale – like the major scale – consists of seven
different tones and an eighth tone that duplicates the first an octave
higher; its pattern of intervals however differs from the major scale. A
minor scale on the other hand, has an interval of half steps at 2 nd – 3rd and
5th – 6th degrees of the scale; the twelve tones of the octave – all black and
white keys in one octave on the piano – form the chromatic scale; the tones
of the chromatic scale are all a half step apart.
 Modulation/change of key – most short melodies remain in one key from
start to end; but in longer pieces, variety and contrast are created by using
more than one key; a shift from one key to another within the same piece is
called a modulation; it is like a temporary shift in the center of gravity – it
brings a new central tone, chord, and scale.
 Musical Texture: Monophonic, Polyphonic, & Homophonic – at any
moment within a piece, we may hear one unaccompanied melody, several
melodies, or one melody with harmony; the term musical texture refers to
how many different layers of sound are heard at once, whether they are
melody or harmony, and how they are related to each other; texture is
often described as dense, thin, thick, heavy, or light; variation in texture
create contrast and drama. Monophonic texture refers to a single
unaccompanied melodic line – one sound; for example, if you sing alone,
you make monophonic music. Homophonic refers to music in one melody
accompanied by chords; the focus here is on the melody, which is
supported and colored by sounds of subordinate interest. Polyphonic
texture refers to performance of two or more melodic lines of relatively
equal interest; here, several melodic lines compete for attention; the
technique of combining several melodic lines into a meaningful whole is
called counterpoint; polyphonic music often contains imitation, which
occurs when a melodic idea is presented by one voice or instrument and
then restated immediately by another.
 Musical Form: Repetition, Contrast, Variation, Binary & Ternary – the word
form is associated with shape, structure, organization, and coherence; form
in music is the organization of musical elements in time; in a musical
composition, pitch, tone color, dynamics, rhythm, melody, and texture
interact to produce a sense of shape and structure; composers uses a
variety of techniques to create musical form; these includes repetition,
contrast, and variation; repetition creates a sense of unity; contrast
provides variety; and variation retain some elements of a musical thought
while changing others, thus producing unity and variety. In repetition, a
musical idea returns creating balance and symmetry. Contrast includes
techniques such as; loud vs soft, strings vs woodwinds, fast vs slow, major
 vs minor, etc,.Other examples of contrast include: thematic contrast, key
contrast, tempo contrast, register, timbre, texture, meter, and dynamics. In
the variation of musical idea, some of its features are retained while others
are changed. Examples include: melodic variation, rhythmic variation,
harmonic variation, tonal variation, change of timbre, register, and
accompaniments.
 Types of musical form – composers have traditionally organized musical
ideas by using certain forms or patterns. Examples include: Three-Part
(Ternary) form (ABA); this can be represented as 1) statement (A), contrast
or departure (B), and return (A). When the return of A is varied, the form is
outlined A B A’. The other common form is the two-part (binary) form A B.
Here, a composer divides the piece into two large sections. This can be
represented as follows: statement (A) and counterstatement (B). One or
both sections can be repeated, thus creating a pattern AAB, ABB

Performing Media:

 Voices & Instruments – Voice: Singing has been the most common and
familiar way of making music; the singer becomes an instrument with a
unique ability to fuse words and musical tones; singing well is not easy; in
singing we use wider ranges of pitch and volumes than in speaking, hold
vowels sounds longer, and need a greater supply and control of breath; the
range of a singer’s voice depends on both physical makeup and training;
the classification of voice ranges for men and women is as follows: women
– soprano, mezzo-soprano, and alto; men – tenor, baritone, and bass.
Musical instruments: an instrument is any mechanism – other than the
voice – that produces musical sounds; western instruments are usually
classified in six broad categories: strings, woodwinds, brass, keyboards, and
electronics; compositions are written for solo instruments and
combinations of two or more instruments up to orchestras with over 100
musicians; a group may include instruments of only one category or several
categories; modern symphony orchestras have strings, woodwinds, brass,
 and sometimes keyboards; orchestras and bands – as well as choruses – are
usually led by a conductor; many conductors hold a thin stick called a
baton.
 The String
 The Woodwinds
 Brass
 Percussion
 Keyboard
 Electronic instruments
 Performing Media:

The Art of Listening to Elements of Music

Historical Periods