Glossary of Key Words Flashcards
AABA song form
A form consisting of four eight-bar phrases that are built on two melodic ideas (‘A’ and ‘B’). Sometimes known as 32-bar song form.
Add chord
An abbreviation for ‘added note chord’, where an extra note is added to a basic chord. The most common add chord is the added sixth where a sixth is added to a major triad.
Alap
In North Indian classical music a slow introductory section which helps to set the mood. It has a free rhythm with no regular pulse and is unaccompanied apart from the drone. It usually moves from the lower notes to the higher notes.
Appoggiatura
A dissonant note approached by a leap that usually resolves by step onto a harmony note. Appoggiaturas may be written as ornamental grace notes in small notes or as full-sized notes.
Archlute
A type of lute often used as a continuo instrument from the end of the 16th century to the early 18th century. It has an extended neck with long bass strings running beside the normal strings.
Aria
A solo song with accompaniment usually found on an opera or oratorio.
Arpeggiation
Where the notes of a chord are spread out, each one being played in turn, usually from the bottom note upwards.
Augmentation
An increase in the note lengths of a melody, usually proportionate.
Ballad
Originally a form of verse, often a narrative, set to music. From the late 19th century used to describe a slow popular love song and now commonly used to describe a slow and usually romantic song with a wide, expressive melody and vocal delivery.
Bansuri
An indian bamboo flute with no keys and six or seven finger holes.
Baroque period
Music in the Western Classical tradition from about 1600 to about 1750.
Bebop
A virtuosic style of jazz which developed in the 1940s in the US. Characterised by fast tempos, intricate melodies, and the use of complex chords and chord progressions.
Bend
Where the pitch of a note is changed slightly.
Block chords
Chords built in rhythmic unison with the melody (homorhythmic) i.e. all parts move together in the same rhythm.
Bolero (Cuban)
A slow, sentimental Cuban song in duple time, often with chromatic harmonies.
Bollywood
The name given to the Hindi film industry based in Mumbai (once known as Bombay), combining the words Bombay and Hollywood. The music integrates Indian and Western instruments and musical styles.
Bongos
A pair of small Afro-Cuban single-headed drums with conical or cylindrical hardwood shells, often fixed together by a bar of metal. Bongos are usually played with the bare hands and have a loud, penetrating sound.
Bridge
In popular music, see middle eight (A contrasting section [not necessarily eight bars long] in a popular song, often with a different arrangement of instruments, and/or different chords. Sometimes the middle eight is referred to as the bridge).
Bridge passage
In classical music, a transition section leading from one theme to another.
Cadence
The chords that conclude a musical phrase (e.g. a perfect cadence uses chords V-I and an imperfect cadence uses I or other non-dominant chord and V). Cadences are used to punctuate music, either bringing a melody to a point of repose before going on, or bringing it to a close.
Cadenza
An extended unaccompanied solo passage based on a cadence and featuring brilliant passage work.
Call and response
A solo that is heard and then immediately responded to by another (usually larger) group with an answering phrase.
Calypso
A type of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago fusing European and West African influences. It is characterised by improvised lyrics on topical or broadly humorous subjects.
Canon
The adjective is canonic. In a canon, two or more parts engage in imitation for some time, perhaps even throughout a complete section or piece.
Cantata
Literally means ‘sung’. An extended piece of music for voices and accompaniment, particularly associated with the Baroque period.
Celesta
A small keyboard instrument with an ethereal, bell-like sound.
Cembalo
Harpsichord
Chance music
See indeterminacy (Music that cannot be predicted before performances. This includes music which was composed through chance procedures and/or where a decision by the performer replaces a decision by the composer. Sometimes known as aleatoric music of chance music).
Chorale
A type of hymn traditionally sung in Lutheran churches in Germany. Chorales sometimes form part of a larger work often for voices or organ.
Chromatic
Chromatic notes are those outside a particular major or minor key (e.g. G sharp in G major). Notes belonging to the scale of the key are ‘diatonic’. Chromatic harmony uses notes from outside the key to colour the chords.
Chromatic scale
A scale made up of all the 12 notes in an octave and formed entirely of semitones.
Classical period
Music in the Western Classical tradition from about 1750 to 1820.
Clave (Rhythm)
A repeated interlocking rhythmic pattern used in Cuban music. It is made up of several one- of two-bar patterns, each played by a different instrument.
Claves
A Latin-American instrument made up of two cylindrical hard wood sticks. One stick rests on the fingertips of one hand and the other stick is used to strike it. The cupped palm acts as a resonator, producing a penetrating, short and dry sound.
Coda
A concluding section.
Coloratura
Very showy and elaborate vocal writing, especially in opera. A coloratura soprano is one with a high, light, agile voice who sings in this style.
Concept album
A studio album where the different tracks are linked together through the lyrics and/or musical ideas contributing to a single unified theme or story.
Concert pitch
Sounding pitch, as opposed to the written pitch for transposing instruments.
Concertino
The group of soloists in a concerto grosso.
Concerto grosso
A work in several movements written for a group of soloists (the ‘concertino’) and orchestra (the ‘ripieno’). Generally associated with Baroque music.
Congas
Afro-Cuban drums with a tall, narrow, barrel-shaped body, played with the fingers and palms. The pitch can be raised by applying pressure to the drumhead with the heel of the hand. They are usually played in pairs.
Consonant
Consonant chords and intervals sound stable.
Continuo
A term meaning either the group of instruments (or single instrument) used to provide the bass, or the notated bass line from which those instruments play (the basso continuo). The continuo part was usually played by a keyboard instrument such as harpsichord or organ (which provided appropriate harmony) plus a bassline often played by a cello, viol or bassoon.
Contrapuntal
In counterpoint (a texture where two or more melodic lines are combined).
Coro-pregón
A structure found in many Cuban genres based on call and response between the lead singer and the ‘coro’ (chorus). Melody and lyrics, called ‘guía’ or ‘pregón’ are improvised by a soloist. The ‘coro’ is sung by a group and has a fixed melody and lyrics, usually repeated unchanged.
Counter melody
A melodic line played in counterpoint with a more prominent lead melody.
Counterpoint
A texture where two or more melodic lines are combined.
Cross rhythm
The effect produced when two conflicting rhythms are heard together.
Cuatro
A small plucked instruments similar to the guitar and popular in South America. There are several different sizes and tunings. The Cuban cuatro is a small eight-string guitar where the strings are tuned in pairs in octaves.
Cue
Each piece of music in a film score.
Descarga
In Cuban music, a jam session featuring improvisation, sometimes used to create songs.
Development
- The central section of a movement in sonata form where material from the exposition is transformed. The music usually includes several modulations.
- The process of modifying musical materials, generally melodic themes, which are changed, transposed or extended, motivically, harmonically or contapunctually.
Diatonic
Notes belonging to the scale of a key are ‘diatonic’.
Diminution
A shortening of the note lengths of a melody, usually proportionate.
Dissonant
Dissonant chords and intervals feel somewhat unstable, as though one of the notes needs to move up or down to resolve into a consonance. Perceptions of what constitutes consonance and dissonance have changed over time.
Dorian mode
The mode following the pattern of intervals formed by D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D. Note the semitones between the second and third, and sixth and seventh degrees.
Drone
Especially in non-classical genres, the extended sustaining or repetition of a note or harmonic interval.
Enharmonically
Enharmonic notes sound the same but are written (or ‘spelt’) differently e.g. G# or Ab.
Ensemble
A group of singers and/or players, usually used when referring to groups smaller than a chorus of an orchestra.
Exposition
The first section in sonata form where the musical material is ‘exposed’ i.e. presented for the first time. The first subject is in the main (or tonic) key. The second subject is in a different key and has a different character. In another context, this term of also used to refer to the opening section of a fugue.
Extended chords
Further notes added to seventh chords, e.g. 9th, 11th and 13th chords where further thirds are added.
Extended techniques
Unconventional or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds of timbres.
Figured bass
Used in the Baroque period as a way of denoting chords and their inversions where numbers, or figures, indicate the required harmonies.
Free jazz
A term applied to avant-garde jazz of the 1950s and 1960s and experimental jazz performance in general. Free-jazz musicians explore new sonic possibilities and innovative approaches to composition and improvisation.
Fugal
Adjective from fugue, usually referring to contrapuntal textures which share the characteristics of a fugue but are not continued to make a complete fugue.
Fugue
A contrapuntal piece for two or more instrumental or vocal parts, based on a theme (or ‘subject’) which is imitated at different pitches and in different key(s).
Functional harmony
Harmony that establishes a clear tonality.
Gamelan
Term applied to Indonesian orchestras (largely consisting of gongs and metallophones) and to the music composed for them.
Glissando
A slide from one pitch to another.
Guía
See coro-pregòn (A structure found in many Cuban genres based on call and response between the lead singer and the ‘coro’ (chorus). Melody and lyrics, called ‘guía’ or ‘pregón’ are improvised by a soloist. The ‘coro’ is sung by a group and has a fixed melody and lyrics, usually repeated unchanged).
Guiro
A South American percussion instrument usually made from a gourd with a series of grooves cut in one side which ae scraped with a wooden or wire rod.
Habanera
A Cuban dance, popular in Spain. It is in a slow tempo and duple metre with a lilting rhythmic ostinato and features stately steps accompanied by sensual movements of the arms, hip, head and eyes.
Hammering (for sitar)
A playing technique on the sitar similar to the guitar technique of hammer on/pull offs. On the sitar this is often combined with sliding a left-hand finger across one or more frets.
Happening
An artistic event that combines elements of theatre, performance art, music, and the visual arts, often within a loose structure and without a plot. Happenings often take place in unconventional performance spaces.
Harmonic rhythm
The rate at which chords change. Sometimes referred to as harmonic movement.
Harmonic series
In mathematics the series 1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, and so on is known as the harmonic series. It is musically represented in the divisions of the length of a string or, in wind instruments, of an air column. Whenever an instrument is played, several modes of vibration are set up simultaneously. The oscillation of the whole string produces a fundamental note whilst at the same time each half, third, quarter etc. generates a series of overtones having two, three, and four (etc.) times the frequency of the fundamental.
Harmonics
Any musical note is accompanied by overtones at fixed intervals above it. These can be produced separately on string instruments by touching the string lightly at various points along its length. The fundamental tone will not vibrate; specific overtones, however, will, resulting in a chime-like tone.
Harmonizer
An electronic device which alters the frequency of an incoming audio signal, shifting the pitch by a pre-determined value, and recombining it with the original signal to produce a sound that is a combination of the pitches.
Hip-hop
US black urban culture originating in the Bronx area of New York in the 1970s. Hip-hop music focuses on rhythm rather than melody and harmony. It is characterised by Dj-ing, rapping, graffiti art, use of samples and programmed beats.
Homophonic
Literally meaning ‘sounding together’. Homophonic music is played in block chords with one part having the melodic interest.
Horn section
The wind and brass section in popular music and jazz, most often saxophones and trumpets, also sometimes trombones.
Idée fixe
A recurring motif which appears in different guises and acts as a unifying thread.
Imitation
Where two or more parts share the same melodic idea (not necessarily in full, exactly or at the same pitch). Each new part enters separately, the preceding one continuing with shared or nw material.
Impressionism
In music, a late 19th- / early 20th-century movement of French origin. It is sometimes compared with the Impressionist movement in painting where works suggested the atmosphere of a subject, rather than attempting to be fully descriptive. Composers aimed to break with the Germanic tradition of Romanticism, and more emphasis was placed on timbre, and texture, relying on allusion rather than a direct expression of emotion.
Improvisation
A piece composed as it is performed, although frequently based on a pre-concieved stimulus such as a melody or chord scheme.
Indeterminacy
Music that cannot be predicted before performances. This includes music which was composed through chance procedures and/or where a decision by the performer replaces a decision by the composer. Sometimes known as aleatoric music of chance music.
Intro
An abbreviation of ‘introduction’, often used to describe the opening section of a popular song.
Letimotiv/ Leitmotif
A recurring musical idea which is associated with a particular theme, character or place.
Leslie cabinet
A large wooden box containing an amplifier and two sets of revolving speakers - one with high frequencies and one with low frequencies.
Libretto
The text of an opera or other extended vocal work.
Lieder
Art songs with German text, chiefly from the Romantic period. Singular ‘Lied’.
Mandolin
A small plucked wire-strung instrument usually played with a plectrum.
Manjira
North Indian finger cymbals.
Melisma
A group of notes sung to one syllable. The adjective is ‘melismatic’.
Metallophone
A percussion instrument consisting of a series of tuned metal bars, arranged in a single or double row, that are played by striking with mallets.
Metre
The organisation of regular pulses into patterns of strong and weak beats.
Metric modulation
A technique for changing the metre from one section to another; the time signature changes and a note value from the first time signature is made equivalent to a note value in the second.
Microintervals
Intervals smaller than a semitone.
Middle eight
A contrasting section (not necessarily eight bars long) in a popular song, often with a different arrangement of instruments, and/or different chords. Sometimes the middle eight is referred to as the bridge.
Mixolydian mode
The mode following the pattern of intervals formed by G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G. Note the semitones between the third and fourth, and sixth and seventh degrees.
Modal
Music based on a mode rather than a key. Of several types, each mode has a different series of tones and semitones.
Mode
Modes are scales, each with a unique pattern of intervals. They were in use before diatonic major and minor scales and are still used in some popular music, folk music, world music and other styles.
Modulation
Change of key.
Motifs or motives
Short distinctive melodic or rhythmic ideas which are usually transformed and developed.
Motivic development
Where motives are manipulated to help create longer passages of music.
Multiphonic
An extended technique which produces chords on a musical instrument which usually produces only one note at a time; e.g. clarinet.
Musique concrète
A term coined by the composer Pierre Schaeffer to describe a collage technique where sounds are recorded on tape and then processed in different ways: at different speeds, backwards; spliced; looped; and superimposed.
Oboe d’amore
A type of alto oboe in A which was popular in the Baroque period. The sound is gentler than that of the ordinary oboe.
Opera
A large-scale dramatic form for solo voices, chorus and orchestra performed on the stage with costumes and sets.
Oratorio
A multi-movement work for solo voices, choir and orchestra, usually on a religious text.
Orchestration
A term often used to mean the craft of writing idiomatically for instruments. It is also used to mean the scoring of instruments used in an arrangement.
Ornamentation
The process of elaborating or decorating a musical material (particularly a melody). It sometimes involves conventional ornaments, such as trills and turns, which are shown by small notes or special symbols.
Ostinato
A short musical pattern repeated throughout a section or complete piece.
Outro
The closing section of a popular song.
Overtone singing
Where a singer produces more than one clearly audible note at a time by manipulating the vocal resonances to emphasise upper harmonics or overtones.
Parallel movement
Parallel movement (or motion) occurs when two or more parts in the same direction, keeping the same numerical interval between them. There are parallel thirds for example, where C and E both move up a second to D and F.
Pastiche
A work deliberately written partly in the style of another period or genre.
Pedal note (or pedal point)
A note (usually in the bass, and generally either the tonic of dominant of the key) which is sustained or repeated while chords change, often resulting in dissonance.
Pentatonic scale
A five-note scale commonly found in folk music from around the world.
Pitch shifting
The original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered electronically.
Pizzicato
A technique where the strings of an instrument are plucked with the fingers.
Polyrhythm
Simultaneous use of two different metres (or two very different rhythms).
Polytonal
The use of several keys at once.
Postlude
A movement or section of a movement concluding a composition, the equivalent of a coda or epilogue and the opposite of a prelude.
Pregón
See coro-pregón (A structure found in many Cuban genres based on call and response between the lead singer and the ‘coro’ [chorus]. Melody and lyrics, called ‘guía’ or ‘pregón’ are improvised by a soloist. The ‘coro’ is sung by a group and has a fixed melody and lyrics, usually repeated unchanged).
Prepared piano
A piano which has been prepared by altering the pitches, timbres and dynamic responses of individual notes by means of bolts, screws, mutes, and/or other objects inserted at particular points between or next to the strings.
Programme music
A type of art music characteristic principally of the Romantic Period, and generally for orchestra, in which the composer depicts a pre-concieved series of extra-musical events or ideas. The opposite of absolute music, which is non-representational.
R&B
An abbreviation of Rhythm and Blues that was originally used in the 1940s to describe a style of black American music combining jazz and blues. From the late 1980s it became associated with American artists such as Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston. This style is influenced by soul and includes wide-ranging vocal lines that are often semi-improvised, melismatic and virtuosic.
Raga (or rag/raag)
A melodic mode used in Indian classical music.
Recapitulation
The section in sonata form that follows the development. The musical material from the exposition returns but usually all now in the tonic key.
Recitative
A form of declamatory somewhat speech-like singing used mainly in opera or oratiorio. It is used as a means of advancing the plot through dialogue or narrative, whereas the subsequent aria is usually more reflective.
Reggae
A style of music which originated in Jamaica in the 1960s. It is characterised by emphasis on the backbeats (beats 2 and 4).
Reverb
In music the word reverb refers to either a sound processing device that stimulates natural acoustic reverbration or to the effect itself.
Rhythmic cell
A small rhythmic unit. It may be entirely percussive or applied to different melodic segments. Unlike a motif, it is not divisible into more than one cell.
Riff
Similar to ostinato, but applied to popular styles of music.
Ripieno
The orchestra in a concerto grosso.
Romantic period
Music in the Western Classical tradition from about 1820 to about 1910.
Sackbut
An early brass instrument operated using a telescopic slide in the way same way as a trombone.
Sample
A digitally recorded fragment of sound, newly recorded or from a pre-existing source.
Sarangi
An indian fretless bowed instrument which is held in the lap and has three thick strings and as many as 36 sympathetic strings.
Sequence
The more-or-less exact repetition of a melody (or harmonic progression) at a different pitch, either higher or lower.
Seventh chords
Seventh chords are made by adding a seventh above the root of a triad.
Singspiel
A form of opera in the German language which includes arias, ensembles, and spoken dialogue.
Sitar
A long-necked plucked string instrument with movable frets and a gourd resonator. It is played by plucking the strings with a metal plectrum. The instrument has six or seven main strings and twelve or more sympathetic strings.
Ska
A style of music which first became popular in Jamaica in the 1960s. Ska uses electric guitars and a jazzy horn section. The music is fast with characteristic off-beat jumpy rhythms and jerky off-beat quavers.
Slash chords
In popular music, when a chord inversion is used, the chord symbol indicates this by stating the bass note after the chord name e.g. C/E (C major in first inversion).
Son
A style of music originating in Cuba with Afro-Cuban rhythms, repeated chorus, clave patterns and Latin American percussion.
Sonata form
A large-scale form which evolved in the Classical period. Sonata form has three main sections: exposition, development and recapitulation. Most of the musical ideas come from two contrasting themes heard in the exposition.
Song cycle
A group of songs designed to be performed together as one unit.
Sotto voce
In an undertone, literally under the voice.
Soundscape
An atmosphere mosaic of sounds.
Spectralism
A style of music based on the computer analysis of the sound-spectrum. It focuses on the manipulation of the spectral features of sound and the harmonic potential of the overtone series.
Spiccato
A bowing technique in which the bow appears to bounce lightly upon the string. The term comes from the Italian verb ‘spiccare’ meaning to ‘separate’.
Stab
A single accented chord.
Strophic
A strophic song has the same (or very similar) music for each stanza of the poem being set. A song in which some or all stanzas are set differently is ‘through-composed’.
Subject
A phrase or melody which forms an important element in the structure of a piece of music. In sonata form there are usually two subjects. These are typically contrasted in key and character. In a fugue the subject is usually introduced by one part at the beginning and is then successively taken up by the other parts and developed with much use of counterpoint and imitation.
Sus chords
In suspended chords (or sus chords) the third of a chord is replaced by another note. In the sus 4 chord, the third from the root is missed out and is replaced by a fourth above the root. The sound is neither major nor minor.
Suspension
A form of discord created when one note of a chord is held over as a momentary part of the chord which follows. It then resolves by falling to a note which forms a real part of the second chord.
Sympathetic strings
In string instruments, strings that sound ‘in sympathy’ with the same note (or one of its partials) emanting from another sounding string and creating a silvery resonance.
Symphonic poem
A long single movement programmatic piece for orchestra. Symphonic poems often use a large orchestra and are quite free in their structure.
Syncopation
A strong or stressed note occurs on a part of a bar or beat that would normally be ‘weak’ or unstressed. The effect created when off-beat notes are accented.
Synth pad
A sustained chord or tone generated by a synthesiser, often used to provide atmospheric background harmony.
Tabla
A pair of small Indian drums placed on the floor in front of the player. The main drum is called a tabla or dayan. Its shell is made out of wood, and it produces a distinct pitch when struck. The larger, low pitched drum, the bayan, has a metal shell. Its membrane is looser, enabling the player to manipulate the pitch.
Tack piano
Tacks or nails are placed on the felt-padded hammers of the piano giving the instrument a tinny, more percussive sound.
Taille
A tenor oboe in F used in the late 17th century and early 18th century.
Tambura/tanpura
A stringed Indian instrument similar to the sitar but with fewer strings (usually four) and no frets. It is used to play a drone accompaniment.
Tape looping
Where a short section or sample is repeated over and over again.
Tessiatura
The prevailing range of a vocal or instrumental part where most of the notes lie.
Texture
The number of parts in a piece of music and how they relate to one another. The texture of a piece refers to the overall picture of the sound.
Through-composed
Where the music does not fall into repeated sections but changes throughout.
Timbre
Tone colour. The characteristic quality of a musical sound.
Tonality
The relationship of notes within a scale or mode to a principal note (the tonic or final). A wider term than key but often used synonymously with it.
Tone colour
Timbre. The characteristic quality of a musical sound.
Tremolo
Very fast continuous repetitions of individual or alternating notes.
Triad
A type of chord which, in its basic form, has a root note (e.g. C), a third above the root, and a fifth above the root (e.g. E and G if the root is C).
Triplet
Three notes played in the time of two.
Tritone
The interval of an augmented fourth or diminished fifth made up of three tones.
Underscoring
In film music, background music is often referred to as underscoring. It emphasises the mood of the scene and enhances the atmosphere.
Verse and chorus
A common form where the verse and chorus are the most important sections of a song and usually alternate. The verses have the same or similar music but different text. The choruses usually repeat the same words and music.
Vibrato
The regular, rapid fluctuation of pitch that can be used to add warmth to a note.
Viol
The viol is a bowed string instrument which was popular during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. All viols are played held downwards, the larger sizes between the legs, and the smaller sizes resting on the knees.
Violone
Historically, the term has had a variety of meanings. During the Baroque period it usually referred to a low-pitched viol with a similar range to the double bass.
Whole tone scale
A scale made up of six consecutive whole tones.
Word-painting
A word or phrase from the text of a song that is reflected in the music (e.g. where a rising melodic line matches the word ‘ascending’).
9th, 11th and 13th chords
Extended chords add further notes to 7th chords. 9th, 11th and 13th chords can be made by adding more thirds above the 7th chord.
