Understanding Basic Music Theory, 2013a

86 CHAPTER 2. DEFINITIONS
can play much higher and lower notes than a beginner. An exceptional trumpet player may be able to play -
with good sound and technique high notes that the average high school trumpet player cannot play at all.
Other instruments may be a mix of absolute and indenite ranges. For example, on any string instrument,
nobody can play lower than the note that the lowest string is tuned to. But experienced players can easily
play very high notes that inexperienced players have trouble playing well.
So it is sometimes useful to distinguish between a possible range, which includes the notes that a very
experienced player can get, and a practical range, that includes all the notes that any competent player
(including a good younger player) can get.
note: Outside of the instrument's practical range, it may be a strain for even a very good player
to play long or tricky passages. So if you are composing or arranging, it's a very good idea to be
able to distinguish between these two ranges for the voices or instruments you include.
Some sources even list the power range of an instrument or voice. This is the part of the range where the
instrument or voice is particularly strong. It may be in the middle of the range, or at the top or bottom,
but writing in the power range should guarantee that the part is easy to play (or sing), sounds clear and
strong, and can be easily heard, even when many other instruments are playing.
2.8 Classifying Music 49
One of the rst things needed when you begin the study of any subject is a little introduction to the "lingo."
Since music is such a huge subject, some of the words used to talk about it are the terms that divide it up
into smaller subjects, the way science is divided into biology, physics, and so on. So here are a few terms
that may be useful if you are wondering what kind of music you want to learn more about.
2.8.1 Western and Non-Western
Most of the music books you'll nd on the shelf are about Western music. From the end of the Middle
Ages to modern times, composers and performers in western Europe gradually developed widely accepted
standards for tuning (Section 6.2), melody (Section 2.3), harmony (Section 2.5), meter (Section 1.2.4),
notation (Section 1.1.1), form (Section 5.7), counterpoint (Section 2.6) and other music basics. These rules
are a sort of grammar for the language of music. Just as the basic rules for putting together sentences and
paragraphs help people understand each other, knowing what to expect from a piece of music helps people
understand and like it.
Of course, music, like language, changes through the centuries. A Bach invention, a Brahms symphony,
and a Beatles song are dierent forms in dierent genres, and at rst they may sound as if they have nothing
in common. But they all use the same musical "language" and follow basically the same rules. They are all
examples of Western music, and are all more like each other than they are like a Navajo lullaby, a Chinese
opera, or a west African praise song.
Wherever Europeans went during the colonial era, they took their music with them. So, in places like
Australia and the Americas, not only do most of the people speak European languages, much of their music
also sounds Western. What are the rules of this European musical language? A complete answer to that
question would be long and complex, since Western music, like any living language shared by many dierent
communities, has many "local dialects". The short answer is: Western music is generally tonal (Section 2.8.3:
Tonal, Atonal, and Modal Music), based on major (Section 4.3) or minor (Section 4.4) scales, using an equal
temperament tuning (Section 6.2.3.2: Equal Temperament), in an easy-to-recognize meter (Section 1.2.4),
with straightforward rhythms (Section 2.1), fairly strict rules on harmony (Section 2.5) and counterpoint
(Section 2.6), and not much improvisation. This is, of course, a huge generalization. Twentieth century
art music, in particular, was very interested in breaking down or even rejecting these rules. But because
they are exible enough to allow plenty of interesting but easy-to-grasp music, the rules are still widely
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