Glossary Flashcards
A cappella
A capella singing is for voices alon, unaccompanied by instruments.
Acciaccatura
A very short ornamental note played before a principal melodic note, written or printed with note with diagonal line through.
Additive rhythm
Where a bar has beats of unequal length, or where unequal short thythmic sets are grouped together to forma a longer rhythmic pattern.
Aeolian mode
A scale that uses the following pattern of tones T-s-T-T-s-T-T. When starting on A, it consists of all the qhite notes within one octave on a keyboard.
Alberti Bass
A particular type of broken-chord pattern often found in classical keyboard music with three pitches heard in the order low-high-middle-hig, e.g C-G-E-G
Anacrusis
Note or notes preceeding the first beat of a piece or phrase.
Angular
When applied to melody, the presence of wide leaps
Anticipation
A melody note (frequently the tonic of the key in the highest part sounded slightly before the chord to which it belongs, thereby creating a dissonance with the previous chord.
Appogiatura
A non-chord note that sounds on the beat as a dissonance and then resolves by step (up or down) to the main chord note. The dissonant note is not ‘prepared’ as a suspension is. Although appoggiaturas are normally approached by leap, accented passing notes that are particularly long and/or prominant are ofen described as appoggiaturas, even though they are approached by step. Sometimes an appoggiaturea, especially in the classical period, is indicated by a note in small type, followed by its resolution printed at normal size.
Aria
A song, usually in an opera, oratorio or cantata, for solo voice, with orchestral accompaniment or even more reduced forces, especially in Barowque times when just continuo instruments may be used. An aria often follows a recitative, and affords an opportunity for reflection.
Articulation
The manner in which a series of notes are played with regards to their separation or connection - for example, staccato, or legato
Atonal
Atonal music avoids keys or modes; that is, no pitch stands out consistently in the way that the tonic does in tonal music.
Augmentation
The lengthening of the rhythmic values of a previously-heard melody (eg where crotchet follwed by two quavers becomes minim followed by two crotchets.)
Augmented triad
A 3 note chord in which the interval beween successive notes is a major 3rd; for example the chord D-F#=A#
Augmented 6th chord
A choromatic chord which in root position spans the interval of an augmented 6th, eg Ab-F#. The chord also includes the major 3rd above the root (and sometimes also the perfect 5th or aumented 4th, known as German and French aumented 6ths, respectively)
Avant-Garde
(French for ‘vanguard’) A label applied to composers or compositions considered to depart radically from previously accepted styles of composition.
Backbeat
In pop and rock music, syncopated accents on the 2nd and 4th beats of a 4//4 bar.
Ballett
A lighter type of madrigal (a form of secular vocal music sultivated in Italy and England in the 16th and early 17th centuries), with fl-la-la refrains and a generally syllabic setting.
Binary Form
A structure consisiting of two sections, the first of which closes in a related key and the second in the onic. This structure was frequently used by Baroque composers, eg in dance movements
Bitonal
Music that uses two different keys simultaneously
Blue note
Typically in jazz or popular music, a note (usually the 3rd, 5th, or 7th degree of a major scale) performed at a slightly lower pitch than normal for expressive effect.
Bridge
In jazz and pop music, a short, contrasting passage that connects two longer sections.
Britpop
A genre of rock music that developed in Britiain during the 1990s. Strongly influenced by British guitar pop music from the 1960s and 1970s,, important Britpop bands include Oasis and Blur.
Broken chord
The performing of the notes of a chord one after another instead of simultaneously.