Classcial Period Concepts Flashcards
What is as grace note?
A short ‘crushed’ note coming just before the main note.
What is modulation?
When the music changes key, most often from major to minor, or vice versa.
What is a broken chord?
A pattern of notes which makes up a chord, but are played individually in turn.
What is a accent?
When a note or chord is played much stronger then the rest of the music. It’s written as a symbol above the note/chord.
Describe the clarinet.
It was not regularly used until the classical period.
What is an Alberti bass?
A base line in which the notes of the chord are presented in the order:
Low, high, middle, high.
What is a coda?
A section of music which is ‘tagged on’ to the end of the piece to help finish it off.
What is a cadenza?
A passage in which the orchestra stops playing and the solo player shows of their skills as a player. Because the orchestra have stopped playing, it often includes pauses and can end on a trill to help the orchestra know when to rejoin.
What is theme and variations?
A structure which presents a main theme, which is then followed by similar material with slight changes each time.
What is a symphony?
A piece of music written for an orchestra, and is normally written in ‘movements’ with stops in between. Classical symphonies were normally in 4 movements with each movement having a different characteristic.
What is a opera?
Singing to orchestral music to tell a story.
Key signatures ?
No sharps or flats means that it is either C major or A minor, to tell listen for minor and major sounds.
One flat means that it’s F major
One sharp is G major
