Ch. 3 The Elements of Music Flashcards
Pitch
How high or low a musical not is.
The Clef Sign
Symbol designates pitches on the staff and tells us whether the basic range is low or high.
Tie
Curved line connecting notes, they will be heard as one note.
Measure (Bar)
A single vertical line appearing at regular intervals along the staff
Time Signature
Tells how many beats (top number) and what types of notes receive a beat (bottom number).
Melody
A succession of pitches heard as a unit
Tune
When a unit is easily recognizable, memorable.
Described as tuneful.
Range
Distance between highest and lowest notes
Intervals
Distance between one pitch and the next
Disjunct
Melody contains significant number of large intervals
Conjunct
When a melody contains smaller intervals
Phrases
Rests that allow singer a break to breath, defines melodic units
Cadence
The ends of a phrase
Open Cadence
Ending that seem incomplete, like commas or question marks
Closed Cadance
Ending that seem complete, like periods or exclamation marks.
Lyrical
Melodies played by instruments that mimic a vocal style of limited range, conjunct movement and regular reoccurring phrases.
Motive
A small melodic idea that can serve as part of a larger melody, or stand on its own.
Theme
Melody that is reoccurring within a work
Texture
Relationship of a melodic line to other musical material in a given passage.
Homophonic
A single dominant melody with accompaniment or music with no dominant tune.
Monophonic
Presentation of a single melodic line without any musical material.
Contrapuntal
Counter Point
The presence of two or more equal melodies.
Imitation
When the melodies are counter point and similar to each other.
Fugue
The development of one or more themes in imitative counterpoint, full length fugues are rare.
Harmony
Music created when two or more pitches are produced at the same time.
Chord
The simultaneous sound of three or more pitches.
Dissonance
When the pitches of a chord clash, creating tension
Tritone
The diminished 5th, augmented 4th, creates tension melodically and harmonically
Chromatic
Abandoning the two 7-scales and using all 12 pitches found in an octave.
Microtones
Units smaller than a half step.
Beat
Structured series of reoccurring pulses.
Tempo
The speed at which the pulses are heard
Meter
The regular pattern of beats of strong and weak pulses.
Syncopation
Placing musical accents on weak beats or in between beats of an established meter.
Timbre
The color or tonal quality produced by voices/instruments or both.
Orchestration
Assigning various musical ides to voices/instruments.
Orchestrator
Assists the composer by suggesting possible instrumental combinations and writing out individual orchestral parts.
When Refering to Voices.
- Vocal color
- Voice type
- Number of singers
- Text
- Style
Types of Symphonic Instruments
Strings, Brass, Woodwinds, Percussions
Pizzicato
The act of plucking a stringed instrument.
Electronic Instruments
Theremin and Ondes Martenot, Moog Synthesizer
Create and eerie oscillating sound.
Historic Instruments
Recorders, Viols, Lutes, Mandolins, Harpsichord
