Lesson video

Hello, welcome to today's lesson entitled "Music for Small Ensembles." My name is Mr. Norris.

Today, we're gonna be exploring some of the range of small ensembles that are a really key part of the Western classical tradition, and we're gonna be having a look at some of the ways that different composers have used those over different periods of time.

Our outcome is that "I can identify key small ensembles and describe key features of chamber and solo music from across the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods." Some keywords.

First, we've got "chamber music." This is music composed for small ensembles such as a string quartet.

"String quartet." This is a key ensemble in the Western classical tradition consisting of two violins, a viola, and a cello.

"Piano trio." This is another common small ensemble, typically consisting of piano, violin, and cello.

"Trio sonata." This is a common Baroque style of chamber music with two melodic instruments and continuo, or basso continuo.

And then "solo." This is a performance by one instrument.

Sometimes compositions for an instrument with a piano accompaniment are also called a solo.

So the first part of today's lesson is looking at chamber music.

Music written for small ensembles is called chamber music.

It was traditionally written to be performed in small rooms or chambers rather than large venues like concert halls.

So that's where the name comes from.

There are many different types of chamber music ensemble, and we're gonna be exploring some of the most key ones today.

In the Baroque period, one of the most popular styles of chamber music was the trio sonata.

We can see an artist's depiction of a trio sonata performance in that image.

The word "trio" means a group of three; however, there are sometimes four instruments in the trio sonata.

So the name can be a little bit misleading if we don't understand exactly what a trio sonata is.

A typical trio sonata includes: two melodic instruments, so two instruments that are playing the melody lines, and usually, most commonly, that's violin, but sometimes you get flute, recorder, or other instruments playing the melodic lines as well.

And then basso continuo, which consists of a harpsichord or sometimes organ or lute playing the chords, and then a bass string instrument such as the cello.

So we've got those two melodic parts and then the basso continuo.

And it can be four instruments because basso continuo often includes two instruments, the harpsichord and the cello, for example.

So if we add up the two melodic instruments and the two instruments in basso continuo, it could be four instruments.

But it's still called a trio sonata: two melodic instruments, and then an accompanying group.

I'd like you to listen to this trio sonata.

Can you hear the two parts of the basso continuo? So can you pick out both the bass instrument and the harpsichord? Can you also identify what the two melodic instruments are that are playing the melody? Pause my video and have a listen.

In that example, then, there were two violins playing the melody supported by basso continuo, which consisted of cello and harpsichord.

So there were actually four instruments.

The two melodic instruments were violins, and then we had the basso continuo with those two instruments there as well.

Well done if you managed to identify that.

Let's check your understanding.

And think carefully here.

How many melodic instruments are in a trio sonata? Is it two, three, or four? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is two.

Remember, there are two melodic instruments accompanied by basso continuo.

Other chamber music ensembles are often named after the number of players.

Some of the most common examples are duet, where there are two players; piano trio, which consists of three players, "trio" meaning three; string quartet, where there are four players, "quartet" meaning four; and then a quintet, where there are five players.

And we're gonna explore some of these and others as well.

A duet encompasses any group of two instruments that are of equal importance.

So this can include two melodic instruments, such as singers.

You might have a vocal duet with a separate accompaniment, for example, piano.

So the key here is how many melodic instruments are there that are of equal prominence.

Some common examples include: piano duets, where you might have two performers on one piano; that's called four-hands duet.

Or you might have two performers on separate pianos.

Vocal duets, where you might have two singers, either with or without accompaniment.

And then there are many other types of other instrumental duets as well, such as a violin and cello duet.

Listen to this duet.

Which two instruments are playing? Pause my video; have a listen.

Well done if you identified that that was for cello and violin.

So we would say this is a violin and cello duet.

The piano trio is the most common type of trio that we get in the Western classical tradition, and it was particularly common in the Classical and Romantic periods.

If we think about why that might be, well, the piano hadn't been developed in the Baroque period, so it only became possible in the Classical and then the Romantic periods.

The piano trio includes a piano and two other instruments, all of which share the melodic lines.

So the piano will be playing some melody lines, and the other two instruments as well.

But the most typical combination for a piano trio is piano with a violin and cello.

I'd like you to listen to this example.

Which of these three instruments in this piano trio plays some of the melody? So what can you hear playing some of the melody? Pause my video and have a listen.

And that example is really typical because we've got all three instruments playing part of the melody: the piano, the violin, and the cello.

Obviously, the piano is doing more because it can play multiple notes at the same time, but they share the melody between all three.

And that's the typical technique that is used in piano trios.

The string quartet is probably the most popular chamber music ensemble.

And as we can see there, it features four instruments.

We've got two violins, a viola, and a cello.

And this was extremely popular in the Classical and Romantic periods.

This was really when it became a crucial ensemble in Western classical music.

There are other types of quartet as well, but the string quartet is probably the most well-known.

We'll explore some more of this later in the lesson.

Let's check your understanding.

How many players are in a quartet? Two, three, four, or five? I'll give you a few seconds, and the correct answer is four.

And the correct answer is four.

"Quartet" means four players.

Well done if you got that one.

One common ensemble features a piano with two other instruments.

I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer is a piano trio.

And we saw that most common instrumentation, which is piano, violin, and cello.

Now there's a huge diversity of larger chamber music ensembles as well, but the trio and the quartet are by far the most common.

A quintet includes five players, and there are various different combinations of instruments that might be used.

Some of the more common examples are: a string quintet, which will be a string quartet with one other string instrument added.

A piano quintet, which is a piano with four other instruments.

Often it might be a string quartet with a piano added.

A brass quintet featuring five different brass instruments, or a wind quintet, which would most often be four woodwind instruments with a French horn.

Have a listen to this clip.

Which of these quintets is playing here? Pause my video and have a listen.

And really well done then if you identified that that was a wind quintet.

Hopefully, you could hear the flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon playing with that French horn.

When you're listening to chamber music, use the number of players to help you determine the ensemble.

So start by thinking, how many different instruments can I hear playing? And then you'll name it based on that.

So for two players, we've got a duet, or you might sometimes hear the word "duo." For three, trio.

Four, quartet.

Five, quintet.

For six players, it's a sextet.

Seven, a septet.

And eight, an octet.

And all of the roots of those words come from the words for those numbers.

So octagon is a shape with eight sides.

Octet is an ensemble with eight performers.

The name usually comes from the instrument that is used or the family of instruments, and it'll depend on the exact combination.

So you might have a clarinet trio if there are three clarinets playing.

You might have a brass quintet if there's five different brass instruments playing.

Or you might have a vocal duet if there are two singers.

And composers throughout the period experimented with lots of different combinations of instruments to find things that work for them.

Let's check your understanding.

What would we call an ensemble consisting of five string instruments playing together? I'll give you a few seconds to work it out.

And the correct answer here is string quintet.

First part is the type of instruments.

They're all in the string family, so string.

And the second part is the number of players.

We know it's five players, so it's a quintet.

For task A, complete the table to name the different-sized ensembles.

I've completed rows six and seven for you.

They're the slightly more unusual ones you don't come across as much, but I'd like you to fill in the rows for two, three, four, five, and eight players.

Once you've done that, I'd like you to move on to question two.

And in this, you're gonna listen to each clip and identify the ensemble.

Start by considering the most common ensemble.

So the trio sonata, which, remember, is two melodic instruments with basso continuo, string quartet, and the piano trio, which most commonly is piano with violin and cello.

If none of those fit what you can hear, listen to the number of players you can hear and the type of instruments they're playing.

And choose a name of the ensemble based on that.

So you can pause my video now and give question one and question two your best shot.

Okay, it's time to review this task.

So, question one, here are the correct answers.

For two players, we would have a duet, or you might have said duo.

For three, trio.

For four, quartet.

For five, quintet.

And then for eight octets.

Really well done if you managed to get some of those.

For question two, the first extract was a string quartet: two violins with a viola and cello.

Well done if you picked up on that.

The second one was a piano trio with the traditional instrumentation of piano, violin, and cello.

The third example was a trio sonata where we had two violins playing with basso continuo, and that consisted of the harpsichord and cello.

And then finally, extract four was a slightly unusual combination, which is a clarinet and cello duet.

So well done if you managed to get some of those there.

Now we're gonna move on to focus in on the string quartet.

The string quartet was the most popular chamber music ensemble in the Classical period and remained popular in the Romantic period and beyond.

It's a really key part of the Western classical tradition, just like the orchestra.

It consists of the following four instruments: we've got first violin, second violin, then a viola, and a cello.

And you might notice a parallel there with the string section in an orchestra, where there are first violin, second violins, violas, and cellos.

In a string quartet, we don't have any double basses like you would in an orchestra.

Composers can use the four instruments in slightly different ways; however, they each have a typical role, particularly when we're thinking about the Classical and Romantic periods.

I'd like you to listen to this clip.

Can you identify what each instrument is doing here? What's its role in the ensemble? Pause my video and have a listen.

Let's dig into that then.

So the first violin is playing the main melody, and normally these are the highest-pitched lines.

If we think about the range of the instruments in the string quartet, the violin has the highest range, so it's likely to be playing those highest, most prominent melodic lines.

The second violin and the viola play supporting harmony.

So in this example, they're supporting underneath with a chord or accompanying parts.

And then the cello plays the bass notes, which are the lowest-pitched notes.

So those are the typical roles of each of those instruments in a string quartet.

However, it's really important to say that while those are the typical roles, composers will always experiment with using the instruments in slightly different ways.

You're gonna have to listen carefully to see if they're using slightly different roles to those typical roles.

I'd like you to listen to this example.

How are these roles slightly different to those typical roles that we've just looked at? Let's have a listen.

(melodic classical string music) And well done if you identified there that they all take turns playing the melody, and it's not uncommon for the viola, the cello, and the second violin to play sections of the melody like this.

So when you're listening to string quartets, keep those typical roles in mind, where the first violin usually plays the main melodic lines, the second violin and the viola tend to play accompanying parts, and the cello tends to play the bass line, but also consider that composers do use these instruments in lots of different ways.

Although they experiment with putting the melody on some of the other instruments, maybe getting the first violin to play some accompaniment for a while, and so on.

So it can be quite varied how these instruments are used.

Let's check your understanding, which typically plays a bass line in a string quartet.

Is it the first violin, second violin, viola, or cello? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is the cello.

That's the lowest-pitched of the four instruments that typically plays the bass line.

Which typically plays the main melody in a string quartet.

Is it the first violin, second violin, viola, or a cello? I'll give you a few seconds.

And well done then if you picked the first violin.

Again, the violins are the highest-pitched instruments, and generally, the first violin plays the main melodic lines.

That's parallel to what would happen in the string section in an orchestra, where most of the time, particularly in the Classical period, the first violin is going to be playing the main melodic lines.

Most compositions for string quartet consist of four movements.

And movements are shorter pieces of music that make up the whole.

If you think about a book, this may be equivalent to chapters in it.

And in a string quartet, there are four movements, or chapters.

Typically, this includes: a fast first movement, a slow second movement, a light, upbeat, dance-like third movement, this is usually called a minuet and trio, and it usually has three beats in a bar.

And then a fast, exciting fourth movement that creates a sort of intense and energetic end to the whole quartet.

And these are the typical movements that you would get in a string quartet.

I'd like you to listen to these two extracts of a string quartet.

Which movements do you think they're most likely to come from? And I'll remind you what the typical movements are.

You've got a fast first movement, a slow second movement, the light, upbeat, dance-like third movement with three beats in a bar, and a fast, exciting fourth movement.

So pause my video, listen to these two examples, and see if you can work out which movements they're most likely to be.

And well done then if you identified that the first comes from a second movement; we can tell that from the slower tempo and the more relaxed mood.

And the second comes from a fourth movement because it's fast and it's exciting.

And sometimes it can be difficult to tell by ear the difference between the fourth movement and the first movement because they can both be quite upbeat and lively.

So well done there if you said either the fourth movement or first movement.

Let's check your understanding.

What would you expect the third movement of a string quartet to be? Fast and exciting, light and dance-like, or slow and serious? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is light and dance-like.

The third movement is typically quite light and upbeat.

It'll have three beats in a bar, and it's often called a minuet and trio, or sometimes a scherzo.

For task B, I'd like you to listen to each extract and answer these questions: For extract A, is the first violin playing its typical role? And justify your answer here.

Explain the role of the viola in this clip.

And then, which movement would you expect this to be, and why? For extract B, what is the relationship between the first and second violins, what is the role of the cello, and which movement would you expect this to be, and why? So pause my video now and test your knowledge of the string quartet.

Good luck.

Let's review this task, then.

So for extract A, the first violin was playing its typical role because it plays the melody throughout, and it has the highest-pitched lines.

The role of the viola was to play harmony, supporting the melody.

You might have used the word "accompaniment" or "backing" as well, so it's supporting the main melodic line.

And which movement would you expect this to be, and why? Well, I would probably say the fourth movement because it's fast and exciting.

Again, if you said the first movement, that's not a bad guess because that's usually quite upbeat and can be lively and exciting as well.

But here, this is an example of a fourth movement.

For extract B, the relationship between the first and second violins is that they're playing the melody together.

And here they're playing in unison octaves, so they're playing the same melody at the same time, but an octave apart.

What is the role of the cello? Well, here it's playing the bass notes, or you might have used the word "bass line." And which movement would you expect this to be, and why? Well, here we'd probably say the third movement because it's upbeat, it's quite dance-like and lively, and it has three beats in a bar; that's often a key giveaway of a third movement.

So, really well done if you managed to apply some of that knowledge of the string quartet.

And hopefully, now you feel like you're getting used to the conventions of a string quartet, particularly in the Classical and Romantic periods.

Now we're gonna move on to look at solo music.

And solo music is still a type of chamber music because it's written for small ensembles.

Music for a solo instrument, which is one performer, is most often composed for an instrument that can play multiple notes at the same time.

And that's because instruments like the piano or the guitar can play melodies, and they can accompany the melodies at the same time because they can play multiple notes.

Listen to this example.

What instrument is playing solo here? Pause my video.

And in that example, that was a solo acoustic guitar.

And guitar is one of the more common instruments to have playing a solo completely on its own, again, because it can do these different notes and different parts at the same time.

Often, solos are composed to be accompanied by a keyboard instrument such as the piano or the harpsichord.

And this is still referred to as a solo performance because although there's more than one player, the soloist is playing the main melodic lines, and the other instrument is providing the backings and the accompaniment.

So you can have a solo where there's that main instrument and accompaniment on another instrument, and it's still classed as a solo.

Can you name the two instruments performing in this typical example from the Romantic period? Pause my video, have a listen.

And in this example, there was a violin, which was the solo instrument, and it had piano accompaniment.

And that's a very common combination of instruments to have in a solo, particularly from the Romantic period.

Solos have been written for pretty much every main instrument in the Western classical tradition.

The most popular solo instruments changed during the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods.

And this was partly due to the abilities of instruments and how they developed and changed over time.

For example, in the Baroque period, brass instruments were not often used for solos because, at the time, they had a limited range of notes that they could play.

In the Romantic period, instruments that could play really virtuosic, technically impressive music became quite popular because that fitted with a lot of what composers were trying to do at the time.

And this partly explains why piano and violin solos were so popular because they're instruments that are capable of playing really flashy, impressive, technically demanding music.

In the Romantic period as well, the vocal solo became a very popular genre.

In particular, many German and Austrian composers wrote what are called lieder, which is the German for "song" or "songs" in this case.

And these are for solo voice and piano.

This example by the German composer Franz Schubert is quite typical.

I'd like you to notice how the piano provides the accompaniment, but occasionally it also plays fragments of the melody and copies the vocalist.

So it's not as simple as it's just playing some simple chords in the background; it's interacting with the vocal melody as well.

Pause my video and see if you can pick out some of those moments.

Let's check your understanding.

What is the most common instrument used to accompany solos? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is the piano; that is the most common in the Western classical tradition, particularly since the Classical and Romantic periods.

For task C, then, you're gonna listen to each extract and answer the questions.

For extract A, what is the solo instrument, what is the accompanying instrument, and which period do you think this is from, and why? So, justifying that answer.

And then for extract B, what is the role of the piano here, what is the solo instrument, and which period do you think this is from, and why? You can pause my video now and give this task your best shot.

Let's review this task.

So for extract A, the solo instrument was a cello, well done if you identified that.

The accompanying instrument was a harpsichord.

And therefore, that suggests that this is from the Baroque period, because the harpsichord was typical of the Baroque period, and in the later periods, we would tend to have a piano instead.

So well done if you correctly identified that.

For extract B, the role of the piano was to accompany the solo instrument, so it's providing the accompaniment for the main instrument.

The solo instrument was a bassoon, and really well done if you identified that.

It's a slightly more unusual instrument to have doing a solo.

And which period do you think this is from, and why? Well, this is from the Romantic period because it's very expressive music and it has chromatic harmony, and we can rule out the Baroque period because the piano only existed from the Classical period onwards.

So we can narrow it down just from that fact alone to the Classical and Romantic periods.

Really well done if you managed to identify that.

And if you said Classical period there, that's not a bad guess because you've identified that the piano only existed from the Classical period onwards.

Let's review today's lesson, then.

Chamber music is music in the Western classical tradition written for a small ensemble.

In the Baroque period, the trio sonata was the most common form, featuring two melodic instruments with basso continuo.

And remember that could consist of harpsichord with a bass instrument as well.

In the Classical period, the string quartet was very popular, but many other combinations of instruments were also used.

These included trios, duets, quintets, and others.

Compositions for solo instrument, either with or without accompaniment, have also been popular throughout all of the periods.

So that brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Hopefully, now you feel like you've got a good grounding in what chamber music is and how it evolved through the three periods, and you've got an idea of some of the key ensembles.

Maybe now you're a bit more familiar with them, you'll even be inspired to use some of these in your own composition.

Maybe experimenting with a string quartet or an interesting combination of instruments, or even trying playing some music that was written for one of these ensembles as well.

Thanks very much for taking part in today's lesson, I'll see you in another one.