Fundamentals

Question 1

Tempo

Answer 1

The speed of music. The rate at which the basic, regular beats of the meter follow one another.
adagio - slow
andante - slower, but not too slow
moderato - moderate
allegretto - on the fast side, but not too fast
allegro - fast
presto - very fast

Question 2

Meter

Answer 2

Any recurring pattern of strong and weak beats.
Duple meter: ONE two ONE two
Triple meter: ONE two three ONE two three

Simple meter: beats divided into twos
Compound meter: beats divided into threes (two or three main beats with 6 or 9 quicker ones)

Question 3

Rhythm

Answer 3

Main driving force in music.
“a rhythm” - the actual arrangement of durations - long and short notes - in a particular melody or other musical passage.

Question 4

Beat

Answer 4

The basic unit of measurement for time in music.

Question 5

Accent

Answer 5

Giving some beats more strength than the rest. (ONE two ONE two or ONE two three ONE two three)

Question 6

Syncopation

Answer 6

Moving accents in a foreground rhythm away from their normal position on the beats of the background meter (one TWO one TWO) - indicated with little arc.

Question 7

Pitch

Answer 7

The rate of sound vibration. (scientific term would be frequency).
Low pitch - long vibrating elements (e.g. trombone)
High pitch - short vibrating elements (e.g. flute)

Sopranos
Altos
Tenors
Basses

Question 8

Dynamics

Answer 8

The level of strength of sound vibration. (scientific term: amplitude).

pp - pianissimo
p - piano
mp - mezzo piano
mf - mezzo forte
f - forte
ff - fortissimo 

Changes in dynamics can be sudden (subito) or gradual (crescendo / decrescendo or diminuendo)

Question 9

Tone color ( timbre )

Answer 9

The general quality of musical sounds. E.g. different instruments make different sounds. Voices all have different qualities.

Overtones - fractional vibrations (eg. half length, quarter length).
The amount and exact mixture of overtones are what give sound its characteristic tone color. (e.g. flutes have few overtones, trumpets have many).

Question 10

Interval

Answer 10

The certain distance between two pitches.

Question 11

Octave

Answer 11

An interval, the 8th, the “duplicate” sounds, e.g. C –> C.

Question 12

Diatonic scale

Answer 12

Skale originally used in Western music. A set of seven pitches within the octave. (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do).

Question 13

The chromatic scale

Answer 13

Scale with 12 half steps. Added an additional 5 pitches to the diatonic scale, so that each distance would be a semitone (the black keys on a keyboard). flat and sharp.

Question 14

Half step

Answer 14

or semitone. Distance between any two successive notes on the chromatic scale. (e.g. A –> A# or E –> F)

Question 15

Whole step

Answer 15

or whole tone. There are 5 whole steps and 2 half steps on the diatonic scale. Mixing half steps and whole steps is a defining feature of the diatonic scale.

Question 16

Melody

Answer 16

An organized series of pitches.

Question 17

Tune

Answer 17

Is a special kind og melody. Relatively short. Symphonies include tunes, but National anthems or popular songs are tunes.

Question 18

Musical idea

Answer 18

Fragment: smallest recognizable musical idea.
Motive: Shorter, self-contained musical idea, usually at the phrase level (Classical music) - Beethoven’s Da Da Da DAAA, Da Da Da DAAA.
Theme: Long, complex music idea, usually romantic era.

Question 19

Harmony

Answer 19

The sounding at the same time of different pitches.

Chords - groupings of simultaneous pitches that work well together.

Question 20

Consonance & Dissonance

Answer 20

Consonance - sounds at rest - 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th
Dissonance - sounds tense - 2nd and 7th - half steps sound the most dissonant.

Resolution - dissonance is said to be resolved into consonance.

Question 21

Texture

Answer 21

the way the various sounds and melodic lines occurring together in music blend and interact with one another.

Question 22

Monophony / monophonic

Answer 22

Simplest texture - unaccompanied melody.

Question 23

Homophonic / homophony

Answer 23

Only one melody of real interest combined with other, less prominent sounds. E.g. “Yesterday” sung and played on chords on an acoustic guitar.

Question 24

Polyphony / polyphonic

Answer 24

Two or more melodies that are played or sung together. Melodies felt to be independent and of equal interest.

Contrapuntal (contrapoint) - the technique of writing two or more melodies that fit together.

Imitative vs non-imitative polyphony - same melodies repeated on top of each other shortly after each other, vs melodies different from each other (eg. a New Orleans jazz band).