Music terminology made simple

Last week I gave US$20 to a cashier at a supermarket counter for some fruit juice priced at US$1,80 and she gave me US$18 change and asked me if I was interested in a credit note of 80 cents. I said that I wanted one for 20 cents and she was puzzled and thanked me for my generosity. I spent a few minutes correcting her on the mistake that she had made. After a while she realised her mistake. I thought to myself if this busy supermarket employs several people of her calibre who make such mistakes, it would be prejudiced of hundreds of dollars on a daily basis.

Let’s face it, everyone makes mistakes, but the greatest mistake one can make in life is to be continually fearing that you will make one. It’s easy to judge the mistakes of others, but difficult to recognise your own mistakes!
The many things I have learnt throughout my life are chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions and not by my exposure to wisdom and fountains of knowledge. For instance, on January 19, in this column, I wrote about Pio Farai Macheka whom I said was born in 1963 but died in 2008 at the age of 41. One does not have to be a mathematical genius to realise the mistake that I made here.

A friend of mine, Obert Munetsi, even called me asking, “What’s the trap, Fred? Are you trying to provoke readers to react?” There was no trap, I told him. It was a genuine mistake. I simply got mixed up. I received another call from Shepherd Mutamba of Tuku Music and scores of other people on the same issue. For someone whose first degree is in mathematics, I should be ashamed. To err is human and to forgive is divine. I hope I am forgiven.

There are also many music terms we often use but are not sure of their real meanings. For instance, I have often heard presenters on ZTV programmes requesting musicians who come for interviews to sing a song, acapella, at the end of each interview. What I think they are asking these people to do is to sing without the accompaniment of musical instruments, but acapella is actually unaccompanied choral music and one person cannot form a choir alone. Chorus, choral or choir refer to a group of voices and not just one.

I have heard “Good Morning Zimbabwe” television presenters make this mistake too often and last Sunday on “Weekend Morning”, during a Masters of the Arts segment, Anna Miti made the same error.
Some of the music technical terms which we often assume knowledge of but make unintended mistakes include:
Melody

When a series of musical notes which are pitched at differing levels are organised and shaped to make musical sense, they form what is known as melody. Of course, melody depends on how the listener perceives it. It is like painting. If one looks at a picture of abstract art he or she may decide to describe it as meaningless jumble while someone else is able to make sense out of it. Reaction to melody is therefore a personal matter.

This explains why some people are moved by what they feel to be magically expressive melodies while others remain unmoved. A lot of Zimbabweans are moved by the melodies coming from sungura sounds, while others are moved by Rhythm and Blues (R&B), yet there are some who prefer roots rock reggae and are not moved by dancehall at all. The melodies which have survived in music over the years are those which are easy to remember, easy to sing, whistle or hum. Examples include Bob Marley’s “One Love”, Oliver Mtukudzi’s “Perekedza Mwana” or Brenda Fassie’s “Vhuli Ndlela”.

Many English nursery rhymes such as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Baa Baa Black Sheep” and “Polly Put the Kettle On” have survived for more than 500 years because they are easy to remember and easy to sing. Many people still remember these songs from their childhood days.
Rhythm

The amount of stress or accent which is placed on a musical sound is what is often referred to as rhythm. A composer may want to group together musical sounds according to duration and a pattern of beats. The steady pulse or “heart beat” of the music against the ear measures rhythm. Some beats have a stronger accent than others; this gives us the time or metre of the music.
For instance, when music is grouped into two beats to a bar, it is referred to as Duple metre. The triple metre would therefore carry three beats to a bar while the quadruple metre would have four beats to a bar (ONE

two THREE four). Music students know about this. Rhythm section in a band therefore means the parts that keep the beat going by supplying the rhythm such as the rhythm guitar.
Harmony

When two or more musical notes are sounded simultaneously, and the two or more parts are in apt agreement, harmony is heard. These notes together produce what is referred to as a chord. Harmonies are often used to describe the flow or progression of chords throughout a musical progression.

Timbre

Timbre is a special sound quality which enables the ear to distinguish between instruments. For example, when one is listening to a song with different backing instruments in the background, he or she is able to tell the different instruments used in the song. A guitar sounds differently from a trumpet. The trumpet sounds differently from the piano.
The characteristic sound of each instrument makes it possible for one to recognise it immediately. The special sound quality of each instrument is the timbre of that particular instrument. A musician or composer may wish to blend similar timbres together such as clarinets, bassoons, cellos and horns.

Texture
The differences in the density of musical sound make up its texture. Some pieces of music present thin sounds while other present dense or rich sounds which are complicated and smooth flowing. Texture represents the different ways in which musical sounds are woven together in a musical composition.

The simplest kind of musical texture is called the monophonic texture. It has a single melodic line with no supporting harmonies. It is simply a plain song often performed by one musician or by several in unison; it may also be accompanied by percussion instruments.
When a musical sound is heard against choral accompaniment with basically the same rhythm moving in all parts at the same time giving a melody plus accompaniment situation, it is referred to as homophonic texture.

The polyphonic or contrapuntal texture therefore consists of two or more equally important melodic lines. Several different melodies may be combined in a polyphonic texture.
The above are just a few of the thousands of terms and concepts used in music. Today, readers have had a free lesson in music and we hope the mistakes often made will now disappear.

Finally, on a lighter note, to all those youngsters who enjoy wearing saggy trousers (i.e. wearing their pants below their butts) I have it from reliable authority that this trend was born in the United States prisons.
Prisoners who were willing to have sex with other prisoners needed to invent a signal that would go unnoticed by the prison guards so that they would not suffer the consequences of homosexual practice.

By particularly showing their butts, they showed that they were available to be penetrated by other inmates. So if you are not a battyman, be warned. Dropping your pants might be a big mistake!