FUNDAMENTALS OF MUSICIANSHIP

7- INTENSITY AND ACCENT

Most sounds, such as those produced by tapping, clapping, or sounding a note

on the piano, are loudestmost intenseat the moment of inception. They

gradually die away, unless renewed by another attack. The regular pulsation,

or feeling of the time unit in music, is also characterized by this greater intensity

coinciding with the beginning of the unit, as well as by the regularity in time of

the sounds which create that unit.

In music, this moment of intensity is called accent. We feel the beats in music

not only by the fact that many of the tones occur upon these beats, but because

of the greater intensity of the tones upon the .beats as compared with the tones

between the beats.

Accent may be expressed physically by the application of greater muscular

effort at a given time. Thus, in performing the circular movement described

above, if the hand and arm are moved with the same amount of effort throughout

the entire circle, little feeling of time will result, for it is impossible to tell or feel

where the circle begins and where it ends. Furthermore, it is necessary to exert

a constant muscular effort to keep the arm in motion, and this soon becomes

tiring. If, however, at a given point in the circle, an especially strong muscular

effort is made, the effect will be to accelerate the circle at that particular point,

giving the movement a definite beginning. Also, the arm can then be relaxed,

and by the force of the momentum imparted to it, it will carry itself around the

circle to the starting point. The best place for this muscular effort or accent is

at the moment that the hand begins to move away from the body on its upward

movement.

Thus the time unit accent or beat accent may be expressed physically, and will

take on the nature of a series of contractions and relaxations, an effort followed

by a period of repose, a fundamental principle in the expression of time in music.

PRACTICE ASSIGNMENT

TAPPING DRILLS

(a) With the end of a pencil held in the right hand, tap as regularly as pos-

sible on a table, creating equal time intervals. With the left hand, express

at the same time the time unit; that is, perform the circular movement as

described.

Be sure that a vigorous muscular effort is made at the beginning of each

circle, and that this muscular accent coincides exactly with each tap of

Generated on 2015-01-08 03:51 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015009595607

Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google

the pencil.

Adopt first one tempo, then another, in performing this drill.

(b) Starting at a slow tempo, perform an accelerando, tapping and making

the circular beat as in (a). Then perform a ritardando until the original

tempo is reached.

Then start at a fast tempo and perform first a ritardando, then an acceler-

ando.

CORRELATED LISTENING MATERIAL

t. Collections of piano pieces

a. Marches for Schools, Concord Series No. 5. E. C. Schirmer Co.

b. Album for the YoungTchaikowsky.

c. Scenes from ChildhoodSchumann,