Concept Of Music Flashcards
Colle Voce
Follows the voice (Duration)
Polyphonic
Different melodies playing at once (Texture)
Pizzicato
Plucking (Tone colour)
Glissando
a continuous slide upwards or downwards between two notes.
Vibrato
a rapid, slight variation in pitch in singing or playing some musical instruments, producing a stronger or richer tone.
Allegro
at a brisk speed.
Dissonance
Unstable Harmony (Pitch)
Syncopation
Off Beats
Tremolo
a wavering effect in a musical tone, produced either by rapid reiteration of a note, by rapid repeated slight variation in the pitch of a note, or by sounding two notes of slightly different pitches to produce prominent overtones.
Adagio
slow time
Tessitura
Singers comfortable range
Legato
Smooth
Monophonic
having a single melodic line without harmonies or melody in counterpoint.
Accents
an emphasis placed on a particular note, either as a result of its context or specifically indicated by an accent mark.
Binary Form
A B
Moulation
Changing Key (Pitch)
Accelerando
Speeding up (Duration)
Staccato
with each sound or note sharply detached or separated from the others.
Rubato
he temporary disregarding of strict tempo to allow an expressive quickening or slackening, usually without altering the overall pace.
Canon
piece of music in which two or more voices (or instrumental parts) sing or play the same music starting at different times
Melisma
a group of notes sung to one syllable of text.
Staggered Entry
When instruments come in at different times throughout a piece of music
Tonality
Eg. Minor, Major, Pentatonic scale (Tone Colour)
Falsetto
a method of voice production used by male singers, especially tenors, to sing notes higher than their normal range.
Forte
loud; strong
Ostinato
a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, usually at the same pitch.
Harmony
the use of simultaneous pitches (tones, notes), or chords
Fugue
contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition.
Oblique Motion
One voice holds one note and another voice sings all the notes around it
Contrary Motion
motion in opposite directions
Similar Motion
Moving in the same direction
Crescendo
a gradual increase in loudness in a piece of music.
Diminuendo
a decrease in loudness in a piece of music.
Drone
make a continuous low humming sound.
Fortissimo
very loud or loudly.
Performing Media
Instrumental
Sonata
a composition for an instrumental soloist, often with a piano accompaniment, typically in several movements with one or more in sonata form.
Improvisation
is the creative activity of immediate (“in the moment”) musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians.
Arpeggio
Goes beyond the octave
Double stop
2 notes played at once on the violin
Block Chords
a chord or voicing built directly below the melody either on the strong beats or to create a four-part harmonized melody line in “locked-hands” rhythmic unison with the melody, as opposed to broken chords.
Octave
a series of eight notes occupying the interval between (and including) two notes, one having twice or half the frequency of vibration of the other.
Double Octave
Octave above or below
Unison Octave
Exact Octaves played together
Embellishment
musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony), but serve instead to decorate or “ornament” that line.
Piano
….
Microtones
the use in music of microtones—intervals smaller than a semitone, which are also called “microintervals”.
Tempo
describe the timing of music, or the speed at which a piece of music is played
