The elements of music to consider
The score
The score is very detailed - it includes a lot of markings for the performer to follow. These include Held or repeating note on the same pitch, while the chords change above it. markings, fingerings, Refers to the softness or loudness of a piece of music. markings and Italian terms. The pedal markings are given under the bass stave. They show the pianist where to apply the A sustain pedal or sustaining pedal is the most commonly used pedal in a modern piano. It was developed in the Romantic period. (ped.) and release it. The fingerings are given in small numbers on some of the notes.
Structure
Bear in mind the following structural features in Prelude No.15:
- it is written in A musical form in which the opening section returns after a central contrasting section. form (A-B-A1) and has three sections
- section B provides a contrasting middle section to the two A sections
| A | B | A1 |
| Bars 1 to 27 | Bars 28 to 75 | Bars 76 to the end |
| In a major key with long melody repeated several times | In a minor key written with a new melody played mainly in the bass | A shorter version of the opening A section |
| A | Bars 1 to 27 |
|---|---|
| B | Bars 28 to 75 |
| A1 | Bars 76 to the end |
| A | In a major key with long melody repeated several times |
|---|---|
| B | In a minor key written with a new melody played mainly in the bass |
| A1 | A shorter version of the opening A section |
Melody
Chopin has written the melodies in the piece with some of the following devices:
- Notes added to decorate a melody. features, eg a septuplet is preceded by an Note played as quickly as possible before the聽note that follows. as displayed in the excerpt
- the opening four bars of section A contain rises and falls in The frequency of a sound. Sounds with a high pitch have a high frequency.
- the section A melody is predominantly A melody that moves by step.
- Chopin uses A dot after the note increases its value by half again. in his opening section melody
- in section B the treble clef part plays repeated quavers whereas the bass clef part has a rhythmically longer melody left mostly in crotchets
- section B also features Note played with a stronger attack. that reinforce specific notes and beats in a bar
Tempo and metre
There are many foreign terms written in the score which indicate the speeds to play at. Examples of each section's tempo include:
- section A is marked Performing in a slow, sustained way. , meaning that the music should be rather slow and feel held-back
- section B is marked as An Italian term meaning perform more animated.
- the repeated with variation A1 section is instructed to have the same tempo as section A
- the metre is A time meter made up of four beats in a bar. indicated by a \(\textup{C}\). This is the same as the time signature 4/4.