Lau-Development+of+Major+and+Minor+Tonalities

__**Development of Major and Minor Tonalities in the Baroque Period**__ - Amy Lau

>  Today's contemporary music; sounds and seems very different from music in the Baroque. On the contrary, Baroque Music is what has shaped modern music to what it is today. One of the major elements that modern music and Baroque music share is its similar major and minor tonality. In this wikipage I will be exploring how major and minor tonality was developed in the Baroque period and how it as progressed to modern music.
 * Elements of this page: **
 * Introduction
 * Description of my topic
 * Analysis of my topic
 * Listening Clips of Musical Examples
 * References
 * Introduction**

In the Baroque Period, between the years 1600 and 1750, was the period after the Renaissance Period and the Classical Period. Music from this period is still wildly heard. It was in this period that major and minor tonality was developed, a very important factor in Baroque music, especially in France and Italy. This change in tonal direction was the biggest and most important change and characteristic of Baroque music. Tonality, is a strong pull to the tonic of the melody, and finishes with a cadence for a sense of finality. This was a very important factor to It differs from the Renaissance Period because of this tonality – music in the Renaissance Period was modal. A factor within the Baroque period is the complex counterpoint which was changed to simpler and slower moving harmonies that are shown in the Classical period. Since the music from the Renaissance period was not based on chords and harmonies in major and minor keys, this shows the definite transition of the periods of music and how major and minor tonality was developed into more of the modern music that we hear today.
 * Description**

In this period, tonal change was the one of the most important changes in this period. Composers used major and minor chords, alike the chords and cadences that are demonstrated in modern music. In the early Baroque Period, there was no sense of tone direction, but experimentation with major and minor tonal harmony led to a definite tonality trait in the Baroque Period. With the use of major and minor chords that were experimented with throughout the Baroque Period is that they began using thirds, while in Renaissance Music they used more fifth and fourth intervals. The significance of the use of thirds is how modern music is based; with triads being a structural basis of musical technique. This is also how modern music is derived from. This development of the tonality of major and minor keys really helped to shape music into the style of music that we hear now.
 * Analysis**

**Listening Clips** media type="custom" key="6022791"

In this clip, Minuet in G by Johann Sebastian Bach is played. Bach was a Baroque Composer, using major tonality in this piece. This piece is in G major, you can hear the strong pull of the tonic in this piece, ending each phrase of the piece in a G in the melodic part.

media type="custom" key="6024127" This clip, the first part of Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Winter. This is the first part of the fourth movement of the Four Seasons concertos. As the clip is played you can hear that this concerto is in F Minor. The minor tonality in this piece is very evident, as the main chord is the F-A b -C.

//Music of Baroque Era//. (2002, Feburary 2). Retrieved May 1, 2010, from http://www.aug.edu/~cshotwel/4350.Baroquetraits.html Schmidt-Jones, C. (2007, July 10). //Music of the Baroque Period//. Retrieved April 27, 2010, from Music of the Baroque Period: http://cnx.org/content/m14737/latest/
 * References**