[Music] ARLEN, MASTER OF THE SHRINE, COME HITHER

[Kokowam]

I need help. I can't tell the different between a motive/motif, sequence, and a phrase member.

[modern algebra]

How dare you command Lord Arlen. Beg for his forgiveness, swine!

[Tsunokiette]

A motive/motif is a repeated pattern within a song. It can be either be (usually) a melodic motif or a rhythmic motif. A sequence is two or more motifs (in direct succession) in which the following motifs move up or down either diatonically or with a true transposition. (this leads to different kinds of sequences) A Phrase member, I've never heard the term before, but a quick look on google has provided me with a definition.

PHRASE MEMBER: A short melodic unit that comprises a portion of a phrase, usually contains several motives.

[Kokowam]

Oh, thank you. My theory teacher doesn't know what she's talking about most of the time so it gets confusing. It's good to know that motifs make up a sequence.

[Tsunokiette]

If they're part of the sequence, you call it a sequence segment, but yeah. Essentially they are the same thing .

[Moss.]

MY WILL BE DONE THROUGH MY MINIONS

[Kokowam]

IV - I

[Tsunokiette]

You and your silly plagal cadences.

[Moss.]

Amen.

[Kokowam]

ARL, RYAN, LEBER, CLOUDEDSERAPH, I DESIRE YOUR HELP ONCE MORE.

We've been getting into textures lately, and I have no idea what the heck is going on. I can differentiate polyphonic from the others, but what's the difference between monophonic and homophonic? Does monophonic have to be exactly mirrored in the other voices or can they vary a little?

Also, I DON'T GET HOW TO TELL APART PRIMARY MELODIES, SECONDARY MELODIES, HARMONIC RHYTHMIC SUPPORT, HARMONIC SUPPORT, RHYTHMIC SUPPORT, AND ALL THOSE OTHER TEXTURAL ELEMENTS. ;-;

[Moss.]

Monophonic = one voice. Like a singer, singing a melody, all alone, with nothing else.
Homophonic = many voices, but with one unifying rhythm. Like playing chords on a piano or guitar. There's more than one note, or voice, but they all happen at the same time.
Polyphonic = many voices, many rhythms. Pretty much everything most people already know as music.

As for the rest, I was never really taught such specifics about things like that. (not that I wouldn't like to have such a course)
But my guess is that ...

Primary melody is the main melody, the melody of focus, and the secondary melody would be the harmonization of that original melody. Like if a person's singing a melody, and for a measure or two somebody sings with him/her. They sing the original melody, but say a 3rd or 5th higher. So, they're not singing the original melody, but rather are enhancing it. Harmonizing.
It might also simply be another melody, like a counter-melody.

Harmonic Rhythm Support I guess would be like an acoustic guitar or piano just playing chords in the backround.

Harmonic Support might be if, instead of the second singer, a group of singers come in to support the main singer, but instead of singing something similar to the melody the main singer has, the group sings drawn out chords to support the harmony and chord changes taking place in the piece.

Rhythmic Support is percussion, or ANY instrument giving the piece a sense of movement or rhythm. Bass and guitar are used for Rhythmic Support along with drums in most rock songs. You may also know this as a "riff."


Those are my guesses, anyway. Lol.

[Kokowam]

lolk thanks. But I heard homophonic was the one that most people know as "music." ?_?

[Moss.]

Hm. Maybe you're right.

I guess chord-based songs count as homophonic, albeit melody-driven homophony.

And polyphonic is more about two or more independent melodies happening at once.


Sorry, it's been a while since I've been over basics, lol.

[Tsunokiette]

Here's some ways to remember stuff. And if I say anything offensive, it's not supposed to be taken that way, it's just a memory device.

Monophonic - (mono - one, phonic - sound) so a single voice
Polyphonic - (poly  - many, phonic - soudn) so, many voices
Homorhythmic - (homo - same, rhythmic - rhythm) so, everything has the same rhythm (ie. hymn-style)
Homophonic - (homo - same, phonic - sound) so, a melody and an accompaniment. different lines, but sound the same, whereas polyphonic will have multiple melodies. (this is the one that might offend a lot of people, but a girl in my class accidentally read this as "homophobic", so the way a few of the people in my class remember this, is that every gay man needs his partner)(ie. melody - man, accompaniment - partner)

so yeah, once again, it's just a memory device. no offense to anybody

[Kokowam]

LOL WHAT THE. And yeah, lol @ "homo" (no offense to any homosexuals). We have a woman as our teacher who's pretty young and yeah, and basically the class clowns just asked her to repeat the word "homo" over and over a couple of times. P:

ANYWAYS, yeah, I think I understand a bit now. Except textural elements are my biggest problem. Identifying a Primary Melody is easy enough (usually the "right hand" in the music), but determining Secondary Melody, Harmonic Rhythmic Support, Static Support, etc. is ASFDASDFASdfff