Baroque Music Research Report

In this research report, I aim to gain an understanding of how music is written and to gain knowledge of baroque music.

The baroque period was preceded by the Renaissance period and followed by the Classical period. Tonality was introduced in the baroque period. Tonality is the approach of writing music in a specific key. Basso continuo (figured bass) provided the harmonic structure for music at this time. At least one instrument capable of playing chords had to be included, and any number of bass instruments could be playing the bassline. Music ornamentation (adding elements such as trills) became more frequent and richer, and polyphonic pieces were becoming more common. The term baroque is derived from the Portuguese barroco, meaning“oddly

The pieces are continuous - for example, a piece is either happy or sad and is unlikely to switch between moods. In the case that a piece changes moods, they do not lead or swell into each other, it is rather abrupt. This same concept applies to other forms of contrast - a legato section will be followed by a staccato section. These changes are a new section of music and must last several bars. There is a continuous melodic drive, meaning the rhythms are consistent. For example, you will often see long runs of eighth or sixteenth notes with no rests. The instrumentation is orchestral, with very little percussion. Dynamic shifts are abrupt. This is because instruments in the baroque period were incapable of producing dynamic changes, so the only way to make music louder or softer was to add or remove instruments. There is a balance of homophonic and polyphonic textures. Homophonic means that there is one part moving in the same rhythm, but it could be moving as single notes or in intervals, such as contrary motion. This is different from the term monophonic, which means there is only one note moving at a time. Below are some helpful, however not baroque-specific

There is much to learn about music theory, but you need to know the basics to write anything. You could go in knowing very little or absolutely nothing and hope for the best and figure out what sounds good, but that is not the best idea. You need to understand a few basic things, such as simple time signatures, tempo, note duration and pitch to start writing. You also need some knowledge of scales and chords, and what notes and chords are in the scales. Ideally, the more knowledge of theory you have, the better. It would be beneficial to study theory from a textbook, such as having done RCM theory. To write music well, it would be good to know about cadences, triads, chords, musical terminology and transposition. Knowing harmony is useful to write any genre other than baroque. To write baroque, you need to study counterpoint. These are both studied in the grade 10 RCM