Chapter 8: Music and Words

Question 1

Nonlexical syllable

Answer 1

Syllable that does not carry specific meaning; a nonsense syllable, often sung in madrigals

Question 2

Scat-singing

Answer 2

A Jazz style that sets syllables without meaning (vocables) to an improvised vocal line

Question 3

Vocalise

Answer 3

A textless vocal melody, as in an exercise or concert piece

Question 4

Secular music

Answer 4

Nonreligious music; when there is text, it is usually in the vernacular

Question 5

Vernacular

Answer 5

The common language spoken by the people as distinguished from the literary language, or language of the educated elite

Question 6

Sacred music

Answer 6

Religious or spiritual music, for church or devotional use

Question 7

What language is much of Western sacred music sung in? Why?

Answer 7

Latin; It is the language of the Roman Catholic Church

Question 8

Syllabic

Answer 8

Melodic style of one note set to each text syllable

Question 9

Neumatic

Answer 9

Melodic style of three to five notes set to each syllable

Question 10

Melismatic

Answer 10

Melodic style characterized by several notes sung to a single text syllable

Question 11

Word-painting

Answer 11

Musical pictorialization of words as an expressive device; a prominent feature of the Renaissance madrigal

Question 12

Stanza / strophe

Answer 12

A unit or verse of poetry

Question 13

Refrain

Answer 13

Text or music that is repeated within a larger form

Question 14

Chorus

Answer 14

Words and music that recur after each stanza

Question 15

Music with words that are in the language of the people is said to be __________.

Answer 15

In the vernacular

Question 16

A song in which the music is repeated for each stanza of the poem is called _____.

Answer 16

Strophic

Question 17

Which terms describe the relationship between the number of notes and each syllable of a text?

Answer 17

Syllabic, neumatic, melismatic

Question 18

True or False: The text of a song is always written before the music is composed.

Answer 18

False

Question 19

Which terms describe singing on syllables that have no meaning?

Answer 19

Scat-singing, vocalise, nonlexical

Question 20

Composers use the ________ technique to emphasize the meaning of the text through music.

Answer 20

Word-painting

Question 21

In the medieval and Renaissance eras, Latin was the language of which institutions?

Answer 21

Universities and the Roman Catholic Church