SAT阅读材料:A Brief History of Western Music.

2017-08-05 作者: 403阅读

  SAT阅读题重点考察考生的美国大学教材的快速阅读能力、理解能力及判断能力。SAT阅读除了检测考生的词汇量外,还要考察考生的理解及判断的综合能力。下面来看一篇阅读材料:A Bri History of Western Music。

  澳际教育《SAT Essay真题汇总2013版》 下载地址>>>>

  Western music is generally broken down into six periods. Each of these periods have certain characteristics which have shaped it and remained with it throughout its duration. However, lesser characteristics may change within any given period, and so you have works which fall into, say, the early Romantic period as opposed to the late Romantic.

  The Medieval Period (400-1400)

  Prior to about 900, nearly all the music we have any record of is a simple, one line structure called a plainchant. This was made up of one melodic line sung in unison by everybody. More complex music existed, but as it was secular and not sacred, we have very few, if any, written accounts of it.

  Gradually, over the next 500 years, people began to expand on this simple structure by adding voices. At first, these voices sung a fixed interval1 above or below the original line. This was called an organum.

  At some point, someone got the idea of having two different lines moving at the same time but not having a fixed interval. Usually the higher of these lines would be fairly florid, while the lower was a slower, pre-existing plainchant2.

  By 1300, three and four voice compositions were being written. These works are rerred to as polyphonic (many voices), to distinguish them from the monophony (single voice) of the simple plainchant.

  The Renaissance (1400-1600)

  By 1400 or shortly thereafter, several composers were writing polyphony in a slightly different way. Instead of using a slower bottom voice and faster upper voices, they made all voices equal in rhythmic variety. And instead of using four different chants, they used a single chant which was stated in each of the voices, upon their entrance, and the developed differently from one voice to the next. This led to a more unified sounding work, and gave rise to a number of contrapuntal (note-against-note) forms, such as the Canon (exact repetition in all the voices), the Canzon (a succession of themes, each developed and then discarded3), and the Fugue (one theme developed extensively).

  Most of the development during this period was made in Italy. This is only natural as the Catholic church was the dominant force during this period, and was headquartered in Rome. Many of the best musicians wrote masses and other works for the church; nearly all of these works are in Latin, as this was the language used for services at the time. However, with the Rormation and rise of Protestantism in the latter half of the 16th Century, the nature of music had to change.

  The Baroque Period (1600-1750)

  One of the major changes in daily life around 1600 was the switch from the Catholic church to various Protestant religion4. The result of this change was that the language of the services switched from Latin to German. Because most people had not spoken Latin, the masses could be as ornate as the composer desired. But if the language was understandable by the majority of the people, the music should be simple enough that they could understand the words. As a result, the Catholic Latin mass was no longer needed, but new German services were. New hymns (chorales) were written to provide music for these services. These were primarily homophonic (simple chordal structure) in nature, contrasting with the polyphony that continued in instrumental and Latin works.

  以上就是为大家推荐的一篇SAT阅读材料。每一篇文章均有其主要观点或中心主题。典型的围绕文章主要观点的问题大多是:在这篇文章中作者的主要目的是什么?这篇文章主要涉及什么问题?这篇文章主要建议是什么?这篇文章总体上想要回答什么问题等。读完每一篇素材,我们都要针对文章想想这几个问题。

留学咨询

更多出国留学最新动态,敬请关注澳际教育手机端网站,并可拨打咨询热线:400-601-0022
  • 专家推荐
  • 成功案例
  • 博文推荐
  • 高国强 向我咨询

    行业年龄 11年

    成功案例 2937人

    留学关乎到一个家庭的期望以及一个学生的未来,作为一名留学规划导师,我一直坚信最基本且最重要的品质是认真负责的态度。基于对学生和家长认真负责的原则,结合丰富的申请经验,更有效地帮助学生清晰未来发展方向,顺利进入理想院校。

  • Tara 向我咨询

    行业年龄 6年

    成功案例 1602人

  • 薛占秋 向我咨询

    行业年龄 10年

    成功案例 1869人

    从业3年来成功协助数百同学拿到英、美、加、澳等各国学习签证,递签成功率90%以上,大大超过同业平均水平。

  • Cindy 向我咨询

    行业年龄 18年

    成功案例 4806人

    精通各类升学,转学,墨尔本的公立私立初高中,小学,高中升大学的申请流程及入学要求。本科升学研究生,转如入其他学校等服务。

  • 墨尔本大学商、法、教育三大学院见面会 & 咨询会 | 北京 · 武汉 · 南京精彩启程!

    1287人阅读 查看原文

  • 活动预告 | 蒙纳士大学携手英国文化教育协会雅思官方与你鹏城有约,飞跃无限

    1079人阅读 查看原文

  • 惊喜加倍|2024蒙纳士大学中国开放日(上海)和中国学生见面会(深圳)共同起航!

    1332人阅读 查看原文

  • 走进世界顶尖学府|悉尼大学中国招生见面会开启报名!

    1370人阅读 查看原文

我要查

澳际服务

我要读

热门国家申请