Theory & Sight-Singing 

By next class, please:
    Be able to fluently sing this exercise without consulting the chart/music.

     Know basic Italian tempo and articulation.

Week Two-Daily Routine
1. Practice singing up and down the scale. Then work on the d, drd... exercise. Start slow and reading, and progress to fast and memorized.
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2. Work through the musicca.com Rhythm module. Begin the Notes module if you need a change of pace.
Use the path in Ella to work on melodic skills(which also include rhythms).

Work at your own pace. Short sessions daily are more effective than a long slog before class. If you have questions/difficulties, I'm available to coach you. (text (253) 678-2280)

3. Try the daily challenge. If you get stuck, let me know (text (253) 678-2280) and I'll send a clue.

4. Use the videos below(1 &2) to help deepen your understanding and pronunciation of Italian dynamics and tempo terms.

Why is Music Terminology in Italian?

Musicians never say “fast” or “loud”. We say “allegro” or “forte”. But, why is it that Italian became the international language for music terminology?

THE QUICK ANSWER
The easy answer is tradition. Soon after music notation was established, composers began wanting to instruct ensembles not only what notes to play, but how they should be played. Italian composers were the first to adopt music notation, and then the first to add annotations (language to indicate expression) to their scores. The practice became accepted in Italy, and then was adapted and formalized into one language through the rest of Europe, so that all musicians could understand. 

A BETTER EXPLANATION
The more complicated answer is... Italian became the standard language of music for the same reason that the paintings and sculptures by Italian artists were so revered⁠—The Renaissance!

Beginning in the 1400’s the great city-states of Italy, like Florence, Venice, and Milan, were controlled by families of great wealth and power. These families spent large amounts of money on extravagant parties & food, paintings, sculptures, science & architecture, and music. With so much money flowing, artists and composers from around Italy and elsewhere, flocked to the city-states to find work. So, it became common and fashionable for artists to speak Italian.

Up through the early 19th century or later, the majority of people couldn't read or write in their native language, or in any other. Only the wealthy had the time and money for education. Children of wealthy families were taught science, music, art, literature, and languages; Educated young people often traveled to foreign countries to experience the cultures that they had learned about.

Educated people, like most musicians of the time, had no problem understanding annotations in Italian, because it was fashionable to speak the language of one of the greatest countries of Europe. The popularity of Italian language in music was also helped by Italians’ skills at publishing, printing, and distributing sheet music, beginning in the 1600’s. That, and the fact that the seat of the Catholic Church was stationed in Rome.
But, not only did the musicians of Europe adopt Italian terminology, they also borrowed from or copied the musical forms and performance styles that were popular in Italy, such as antiphony, madrigals, and Opera!

MUSIC TODAY
Italian language remained the standard for music terminology in Europe up through the mid-1800's. Amid a surge of nationalism across the continent during the Romantic period, composers began annotating scores in their native languages, or with a mixture of Italian and native language.

This is how music remains today. Many of the symbols and notations used in modern music still have Italian names. But, it is common for composers to use English or another language when indicating expression. It’s important for every musician to have a basic understanding of the most common Italian terminology. But, if you come across a term you don’t understand, a quick Google search will help you interpret even the most complicated Italian phrases. Ciao Bella!
-NOLA School of Music