Rhythm, Meter and Melody

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
—Aldous Huxley

Over a five-lecture sequence, we are exploring the elements of music - music broken down into its individual component parts : Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Texture, Timbre and Form.

This lecture (Lecture 2) continues to explore rhythm, and its partner, meter, then moves on to melody.

Topics covered:

rhythm and meter
duple meter
triple meter
compound meter
additive meter
characteristics of melody
melody and notation

Objectives:

learn to distinguish duple from triple meter
hearing beat subdivisions
hearing melodic features
begin to understand musical notation

Assignments:

watch lecture 2 (in multiple parts for quicker download)
review previous chapters, as necessary
read textbook, Chapter 2-3
As you are reading your textbook, go through the Listening Exercises in textbook sequence, listening to the examples provided.

Audio / Video lecture

click lecture segments below in sequence
presented in several segments to reduce download time
total lecture time: approx. one hour 15 minutes (all segments included)

2.1 Rhythm, Part 2

2.2 Compound Meter

2.3 Additive Meter and miscellaneous

2.4 Characteristics of Melody

2.5 Melody and Notation

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