AO3 - Film Music Flashcards
Pizzicato
Plucking the strings
Divisi
Two parts sharing the same musical line
Double stopping
Playing two strings at the same time
Arco
Using a bow to play a stringed instrument
Tremolo
A ‘trembling’ effect, moving rapidly on the same note or between two chords
e.g. using the bow rapidly back and forth
Tongued
A technique to make the notes sound separated
woodwind/brass
Slur
Notes are played smoothly
Muted
Using a mute to change/dampen the sound
brass/strings
Drum Roll
Notes/beats in rapid succession
Glissando
A rapid glide over the notes
Trill
A rapid glide over the notes
Vibrato
Making the notes ‘wobble’ up and down for expression
Theme
The main tune/melody
Motif
A short musical idea
melodic or rhythmic
Leitmotif
A recurring musical idea linked to a character/object or place
e.g. Darth Vader’s motif in Star Wars
Underscoring
Music playing underneath the dialogue
Scalic
Melody follows the notes of a scale
Triadic
Melody moves around the notes of a triad
Fanfare
Short tune often played by brass instruments, to announce someone/something important; based on the pitches of a chord
Pedal note
A long, sustained note, usually in the bass/lower notes
Ostinato/riff
A short, repeated pattern
Ostinato - Classical
Riff - Pop/Rock etc.
Conjunct
The melody moves by step
Disjunct
The melody moves with leaps/intervals
Consonant harmony
Sounds ‘good’ together
Dissonant harmony
Sounds ‘clashy’
Chromatic harmony
Uses lots of semitones/accidentals that’s not in the home key
Minimalism
A style of music using repetition of short phrases which change gradually over time
Rising Interval
Intervals moving upwards
ascending
Falling interval
Intervals moving downwards
descending
Interval
The distance between two notes
