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.
Cadence
A pair of chords signifying the end of a phrase in tonal music. Cadences are of several types, of which perfect and imperfect are by far the most common, See also Imperfect cadence, interrupted candence, Perfect cadence, Plagal cadence and Phrygian cadence.
Cadential 6/4.
Chord 1c, precedomg chord V or V7 in a perfect or imperfect cadence.
canon
A Strict form of imitation, in which each successive part repeats exactly the music of the first part.
Chordal
A form of Homophony in which all teh parts move together in the same of very simular rhythm, The term homorhythmic ( literally ‘same rhythm’) is sometimes used instead.
Circle of 5ths
A Harmonic progression in which the roots of the chords move bydecending 5ths ( and/or ascending 4ths) e.g. B-E-A-D-G-C etc.
Coda
A concluding section of a movement.
Comping.
a term associated with Jazz and popular music referring to the playing or a chordal accompaniment.
Compound time
A metre in which the main beat is subdivided into three equal portions, as apposed to two equal portions in simple time.
Concerto
Most commonly a concerto is a work for one or more soloists ( notably a pianist or violinist) with orchestra. In more recent times, it has been applied more generally to orchestral works, implying elements of contrast and brilliance.
Conjunct.
Melodic movement by stem rather than by leap. Opposite of disjunct.
Continuo.
Short for ‘basso continuo’, the continuo instruments form the accompaniment in Baroque music. It may include instruments such as harpsichird (capable of playing full harmony) and a cellor or bassoon reinforcing the bass line.
Contrapuntal
Anjective to describe music that used counterpoint
Counterpoint
Counterpoint involves two or more melodic lines ( usually rhythmically contrasted), eachsignificant in itself, which are played or sung together at the same time. theterm polyphonic is often used as a synonym for contrapuntal
Diatonic.
Using notes that belong to the current key. A diatonic note is one that belongs to teh scale of the key currently in use. for example, in D major the notes D, E and F# are diatonic.
Diminished 5th
and interval a semitone lower than a perfect 5th
Diminished 7th chord
a four-note chord made up of superimposed minor 3rds.
Diminuation
The shortening of the rhythmic values of a previously-heard melody (e.g Minum crotchet crotchet, has become crotchet quaver quaver).
Disjunct
Melodic movement by leap rather than step. Opposite of Conjunct.
Dissonance
Strictly speaking, any note not belonging to a tria in root position or first inversion (even the 4th above the bass in a second inversion counts as dissonant). Some dissonances, particularly suspensions and appoggiatureas, add tension, which in early music had to be ‘resolved’, others, notably passing and auxiliary notes, provide rhythmic and melodic decoration.
Dominant 7th Chord
A foour-note chord built on the dominant (fifth) note of the scale. It includes the dominant triad plus a minor 7th above the root.
Drone
A sustained note (or notes frequesntly forming an interval of a fifth) held in one part while other parts play or sing melodies against it.
False relation
The occurrence of the ordinary and chromaitcally altered versions of the same note (such as F natural and F#) in two different parts at the same time, or in close proximity.
Fortspinning
The spinning out of a melody line typically by repetition, sequence, variation of intervals, inversion etc. The term is frequently applied in analysis of Baroque music.
Fugue
A type of piece in which a main theme called a ‘subject’ is treated in imitation by all the parts. ‘Episodes’ are the contrasting sections which depart from this pattern.
Functional harmony
A type of harmony that gravitates to the tonic through use of a hierarchy of chords, the dominant being second only to the tonic and cadences.
Gigue
A quick, lively Baroque dance commonly in compound time, it was one of the key componenets of a Baroque (dance) suite.
Glissando
A slide from on epitch to another