Instrumental music composition style of 3 musicians - Quang Hai, Nguyen Van Nam, Ca Le Thuan

The history of musical development has proven that musical genres are always supplemented with new forms originating from the creative exploration of musicians. Over time, musical genres are increasingly perfected, enriched, sometimes with a difficult-to-distinguish blend of genres.

1.2.3. Theme melody

The famous Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev wrote in a letter to his friend Tikhon Khrennikov:

“ I have never questioned the importance of melody. I love melody, and I consider it the most important element in music” (8) [68: 459].

Theoretical researcher Nguyen Thi Nhung also commented that:

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“Melody is almost always used to express a basic content of the work. In most tunes, folk songs or in certain sections of multi-part works, melody is presented in an independent, complete and regular organization. In multi-part music, melody is understood as a leading part representing the most important aspects of the work's visual content” [49: 11].

The most important elements that make up a melody are tone and rhythm. Tone is the relationship of pitch between sounds, while rhythm is the relationship of time between them. Rhythm is created by elements such as tempo, type of beat, and tempo. In addition, there are other factors that affect the nature of the melody such as intensity, range, instrument color, and performance technique.

8 “I have never questioned the importance of melody. I love melody, and I regard it as the most important element in music.”

The unique characteristics of the melody’s tone, rhythm and structure reflect the characteristics of the musician’s mind and soul who created it. Melodies with tight, balanced structures express coherent, concise thinking. Free, soaring melodies express an open, romantic soul. Free, humming melodies are narrative and narrative…

The theme melody of a work also has other conditions such as condensation, typical characteristics and motivational factors for the later development of the entire work. “ Each musical theme represents the uniqueness of each era, each style as well as each certain genre” [49: 24]. The theme melody of Johann Sebastian Bach - the great German composer, is often stable and gives us the feeling of tightly controlled emotions. But also another great German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven, the music is often strong and always feels like it is exploding. That difference not only shows the artistic personality of each author but also reflects the era and social context in which the musicians were living. In Bach's time, music mainly served the church and religious ceremonies. Therefore, emotions in music must always be controlled at a balanced level, not too happy, too sad or too angry... not creating too sudden contrasts or too long silences. Beethoven lived in a period of revolutions taking place throughout Europe, of changing human values. Therefore, his music is somewhat rebellious, massive, powerful, his emotions are not suppressed but can explode at any time. Beethoven's melodies are often breakthroughs, decisive and unexpected without prior preparation; Besides, we must also mention the thoughtful, profound music that opened a period of romantic music, promoting the expression of inner thoughts and personal feelings that lasted for more than 100 years after that.

Melodies are also influenced by the geographical and cultural characteristics of each region. In the treasure trove of Vietnamese folk music, which is extremely rich and diverse,

In terms of genre and performance form, each region has different characteristics in terms of melody. Speaking specifically about Ho in Southern folk songs, Musician Tran Kiet Tuong made the following comments:

“Can Tho folk songs sound immense, graceful, optimistic and full of life (...) Dong Thap folk songs sound as vast and boundless as the vast fields of Thap Muoi with its vast reed forests (...) My Tho folk songs are not long-winded, but their deep and deep melodies evoke warm and graceful feelings. Ben Tre folk songs sound very strong, expressing the strength of farmers clearing forests, reclaiming mountains, and working diligently” [61: 744].

Associate Professor of Music Aesthetics Duong Viet A also commented that melody is developed from the intonation of the voice, and from there creates differences in the melodic characteristics in folk music of each region: North, Central, and South:

“From high, low, high and low tones… of intonation, they are raised and created into the pitch and melody of music; from long, short, slow, fast tones… of intonation, they are raised and created into the duration of music; from strong, weak… they become intensity; from fast, slow… they become tempo…” [1: 8].

Thematic melodies in major works of Western Classical and Romantic music also function as a red thread. They are repeated, developed, or linked to other melodies in the work, with varying degrees of variation on themselves or complete contrast. For example, the “Fate” element in the main theme of the first movement of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony appears throughout the movement, including the area of the contrasting sub-theme, where this element is still vaguely seen in other parts of the orchestra.

Until the 20th century, when the harmonic function gradually decreased in importance, making the harmonic connection between parts and stages of music more free, the harmony was linked according to each color block, the linking function of the main melody also decreased. There may appear many

different melodies within a work or even no main theme [92: 60].

In the 20th century, Western symphonic chamber music saw the emergence of new melodic styles such as: the free floating melodies of Claude Debussy, the ornate melodies of Igor Stravinsky, the recitative melodies of the New Viennese School, the graceful melodies of Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith [92: 67]. These new melodies generally had different characteristics in that they were quite freely combined in terms of tone and rhythm, no longer dominated by the functional harmonic elements in the direction of development as well as the balance that had been strictly established over the previous 300 years.

1.2.4. Multi-part music

Polyphony is the art of combining many melodic lines together, which has existed for dozens of centuries in both folk and professional music. Western professional music, also known as Academic Music, was formed from church music in some European countries such as England, Italy, the Netherlands... and then developed strongly over many periods, spreading around the world. Although originating from folk music, it has really broken through and achieved extremely great achievements, reflecting not only the soul, emotions but also the scientific knowledge and intelligence of humanity.

Academic music theory divides multi-part music into four forms of presentation: polyphony, alliteration, tonality , and harmony [32: 8]. But the most notable of these are polyphony and tonality , two forms of presentation that are tightly organized with highly unified principles based on certain aesthetic standards in each period.

Polyphony is a form of multi-part musical presentation that had a unique position during the Renaissance period, until the early 18th century when it reached the peak of artistry and erudition associated with the name of the great German musician Johann Sebastian Bach. Polyphony emphasizes horizontality, emphasizing uniqueness.

established in each part. The parts are opposed to each other by combinations of regular and discordant intervals according to the classical point of view, and by the diversity in rhythm and direction of movement of each part. From the second half of the 18th century, professional music escaped the influence of church music, the presentation of thematic music developed strongly, parallel to it was the foundation of the functional harmonic system based on two major - minor modes. According to this system, the main - secondary functions are determined, the tones in the mode, the changes of tones, and the nuances of color are all arranged in a related order.

Unlike polyphonic music that emphasizes the independence of each part, tonal music usually has one main part, the melody represents the main image of the work, the rest are other parts that follow or reinforce the main part in terms of harmony. Music pays great attention to vertical combination, chords are built according to the principle of combining thirds, the contrast is clearly seen in the two major colors.

- minor. As a result, the music of this period had more personal nuances, was richer in emotions, and especially the musical images were more clearly depicted, the thickness of sound was enhanced, creating great power. And just like that, the harmonic function system played an extremely important role, covering and dominating all other means of musical expression such as: melody, rhythm, color, structure... Until the end of the 19th century, polyphonic music still played an important role but was often only a part of a larger structure and was present to create a certain contrast in musical images and content.

In the early 20th century, musicians gradually tended to reconsider tonality and abandon the harmonic function. Because they began to pay attention to the unique identity of many folk musics that existed for thousands of years without relying on the harmonic function system. Thus, other means of musical expression were paid more attention to: rhythm, tempo, color and even melody with the characteristics of each tone itself without being dominated by the harmonic function. Of course, other modes were also used in accordance with

Its original properties such as: pentatonic scale, ancient scale, whole scale, semitone, and artificial scales...

Musical structures were built and developed throughout the Classical period to the Romantic period, associated with the shaken harmonic function. Starting with the works of the French composer Claude Debussy, musical structures became complex and unconventional, including color blocks built from different tonal systems. Many composers at this time returned to the principles of melody development similar to the principles of polyphonic music, for example, the Dodecaphony technique - created by the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg - which greatly influenced later composers. Among them, techniques such as inversion, retrograde, retrograde inversion, etc. were all commonly used techniques in polyphonic music of the Renaissance period. The highest structural form of polyphonic music is the Prelude and Fugue , which reappears in the works of great composers such as Dmitry Shostakovich, Rodion Shchedrin…, Paul Hindemith's collection of piano pieces Ludus Tonalis - demonstrating his new theory of the correlation between tones in the equal system - also uses polyphonic presentation.

It can be said that 20th century academic music with new, freer musical structures has shown the blurring of the boundary between the two musical presentations of polyphonic and tonal, not disappearing but blending together in a way that is difficult to distinguish.

1.2.5. Time in music

We all know that music is an art form that uses sounds. These sounds are arranged in sequence or overlap, resounding continuously over time. The time factor greatly affects the musical nature, content, and image of the work. Music is presented and developed

over reasonable periods of time to reflect different structures, creating different musical forms.

“Three basic forms of time organization can be distinguished. They are Beat, Rhythm, and Rhythm” (9) [95: 3]. Through these basic forms, we can feel how time is distributed in a musical work. The speed, fast, slow, urgent or leisurely, is also mainly expressed through these elements, they greatly affect the expression of musical images and content.

1.2.5.1. Beat, tempo

Beats in Western music theory are understood as time markers. “The succession of sounds with equal beats in time creates rhythmic movement in music” [62: 40]. Thus, beats are one of a series of regular signals, based on which we can determine the length correlation of sounds (10).

The duration of each beat is specifically determined in each piece of music. For example, beat = 60 bpm (beats per minute), indicating that there are 60 beats in 1 minute. The fast or slow time of the beat creates the speed of movement of the sound. In music, this speed of movement is called Tempo.

Tempos are divided into three basic groups: slow, medium, and fast. To refer to tempo types, Italian is often used.

Slow tempo:

9 “Three basic modes of temporal organization can be differentiated. Rather are pulse, meter, and rhythm.”

10 There are also musical genres where the beat is not clearly expressed, for example in some Ho melodies of Southern Vietnamese folk songs, because the time (duration) of the sounds here does not require precise division, the music hums freely according to emotions.

- Larghissimo – very, very slow (24 bpm, or lower)

- Grave – very slow (25 - 45 bpm)

- Largo – slow (40 - 60 bpm)

- Lento – slow (45 - 60 bpm)

- Larghetto – faster than Largo (60 - 66 bpm)

- Adagio – medium slow (66 - 76 bpm)

Medium tempo:

- Andante – calm, unhurried (76 - 108 bpm)

- Andantino – faster than Andante (80 - 108 bpm)

- Andante moderato – between Andante and Moderato (92 - 112 bpm)

- Moderato – moderate (108 - 120 bpm)

- Allegretto – medium fast (112 - 120 bpm)

- Allegro moderato – medium fast (116 - 120 bpm)

Fast paced:

- Allegro – fast (120 - 156 bpm)

- Vivace – fast, lively (156 - 176 bpm)

- Allegro vivace – very fast (172 - 176 bpm)

- Presto – very, very fast (168 - 200 bpm)

- Prestissimo – faster than Presto (200 Bpm or more) [117] [62: 61]

1.2.5.2. Rhythm, rhythm type

In the rhythmic movement of music, the sounds of some beats stand out more strongly. This is called stress or strong beat. The regular succession of strong and weak beats in a certain cycle is called rhythm.

The beats of a rhythm can be expressed in different durations. “The expression of the beats of a rhythm in a certain duration is called the rhythm type” [62: 41]. For example: The 3/4 rhythm type is a triple rhythm, each beat has the value of a quarter note; the 3/8 rhythm is also a triple rhythm, but each beat has the value of an eighth note, etc.

In various literature, the rhythm type is also called the meter or time signature .

Instrumental music composition style of 3 musicians - Quang Hai, Nguyen Van Nam, Ca Le Thuan - 5

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