Fine Arts - Music Terms Flashcards
Song that is written to capture the essence of a scene, paint a picture by sound, and help the listener create a visual image
Art song
The liturgy of the Roman Catholic Eucharist. In music, a mass is a choral setting of the mass that contains five sections: Kyrie, Gloria, credo, Sanctus, and Angus Die.
Mass
A composition in several movements for orchestra and chorus often with a sacred text, and utilizing recitatives, arias, and choruses.
Cantata
A polyphonic composition for choir based on a sacred Latin text and typically sung without accompaniment.
Motet
A theatrical presentation with drama set to music.
Opera
Also called opera seria (serious opera) grand in scale and tragic in tone. Highly stylized treatment of heroic subjects such as gods and heroes.
Grand opera
Comic opera that usually does not have a spoken dialogue and typically uses satire to treat a serious topic with humor.
Opera buffa
A semi-dramatic work, without acting, scenery or costumes, often on a religious theme, for orchestra, choir and soloists.
Oratorio
An independent composition for orchestra, in one movement, typically in sonata form and from the romantic period.
Concert overture
An extended composition for orchestra and one or more soloist, typically in three movements, fast-slow-fast.
Concerto
Music written for one musician, with or without accompaniment
Solo
Music written for two musicians, with or without accompaniment
Duet
Music written for three musicians, with or without accompaniment
Trio
Music written for four musicians, with or without accompaniment
Quartet
Music written for five musicians, with or without accompaniment
Quintet
Music written for six musicians, with or without accompaniment
Sextet
Music written for seven musicians, with or without accompaniment.
Septet
Music written for eight musicians, with or without accompaniment
Octet
Any arrangement of musicians usually more than four
Ensemble
A large instrumental ensemble divided into sections such as strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. In theater, the section of seats on the ground floor of the auditorium directly in front of the stage.
Orchestra
An instrumental piece, usually in three or four movements and usually for one or two players.
Sonata
An instrumental composition, typically in two parts arising from the baroque period and comprising a set of dance- inspired movements written in the same key but differing in tempo, meter, and character.
Suite
An extended musical composition for orchestra usually consisting of three or four movements.
Symphony
A polyphonic composition in which a theme or themes are stated successively in all voices.
Fugue
The dominant idea of a work of art, music, film, dance, and literature. In music, a principal melodic phrase in a composition.
Theme
Vibrations that travel through the atmosphere and cause the eardrum to vibrate.
Sound
The highness or lowness of the sound. Short wavelengths create a higher pitch, whereas, long wavelengths create lower ones.
Pitch
The loudness of the sound.
Dynamics
The timbre of a voice or instrument.
Tone color
The quality of a tone that distinguishes it from other tones of the same pitch
Timbre
How many beats the pitch or note is being held.
Duration
Equal parts into which the measure is divided.
Beat
On written music, a measure is the distance between two bar lines.
Measure
On written music, a vertical line that lies perpendicular to the staff or grand staff.
Bar line
Five horizontal, parallel lines
Staff
Two sets of five horizontal, parallel lines, connect by a grand bar line, with the upper staff usually being treble clef and the bottom staff being bass clef.
Grand staff
The regular succession of rhythmical impulses or beats
Meter
The relationship, either of time or space, between recurring elements of a composition. The regular or ordered repetition of dominant and subordinate elements.
Rhythm
The slowness or fastness of the rhythm
Tempo
The succession of recognizable tones that create a whole
Melody
The melodic and harmonic characteristics of a composition
Texture
The scientific study of music, including aspects of physics of sound, chord, progression, and note development
Theory
The study of the overall development of a piece of music: identifying which phrases repeat, and which phrases are new and all combinations within the piece of music.
Form and analysis
A diverse artistic style taking place from the late 16th century to the early 18th century marked typically by complexity, elaborate form, and appeal to the emotions.
Baroque
Adhering to traditional standards. In music, classical refers to a style of the 18th century that adhered to classical standards but had no known classical antecedents
Classical
A philosophy as well as a style in all the arts and literature, dating to the late 18th through 19th centuries. Sought to reflect great diversity.
Romantic
Music that reflects the style of the day
Contemporary
Music that has a definite 2- beat feel and was first written for military purposes.
March
A Caribbean island feel that reflects the laid- back lifestyles of those residents
Reggae
A strong heaven drum beat that establishes the rhythmic feel with heavy and piano providing the melody and harmony
Rock
Written to fully express the restrained emotions of the slaves and former slaves developing in the Mississippi delta
Rhythm and blues
A highly vocalized, automatic, rhythmic beat that expresses the artists emotions usually of hatred and violence
Rap
A sacred style of music that developed by African- Americans and was a spin - off rhythm and blue.
Gospel
Similar to an opera but includes folk- music or music specifically written to carry the story
Musical
The primary female singer in an opera
Prima Donna
A classical or formal tradition resting heavily on a set of prescribed movements, actions, and positions
Ballet
The primary female dancer in a ballet
Prima ballerina
A form of concert dance relying on emotional us of the body, as opposed to formalized or conventional movement such as ballet, and stressing human emotion and the human condition
Modern dance
A group of dances that perform some religious, moral, or ethical purpose in a society
Ritual dance
A body or group of dances performed to traditional music that is stylistically identifiable with a specific culture, for which it serves as a necessary or informative part
Folk dance
A form arising partly from African dance customs, and with a strong improvisational nature, that developed int American social and entertainment dances.
Jazz dance
A serious of dances that have a prescribed style and set of steps that must be followed closely to express the customs of a particularly country.
Ballroom dance
When dancers stand in a straight line and perform high kicks and alternate moves to follow a domino pattern
Line
When a serious of motions are repeated to reiterate or capture a particular expression or mood
Form
Reiteration of elements in a work so as to create a sene of unity
Repetition
The arrangement and progression of chords
Harmony
In theater, a type of greek and Roman farce: or a performance using only body movement and gestures, without the use of words. In dance or theatre, actions that initiate human or animal movements
Mime
In dance, it is the transmission of emotions and meaning through gesture
Pantomime
The complete visual environment of the production, including, scenery, lighting, properties, customs, and physical structure of the theatre
Miss-en-scene
Using the hands and body to communicate, express, and translate thought and emotions
Sign language
How the audience responds to what they have heard and/or seen
Reaction
