Glossary Terms Flashcards
What are added notes?
Notes that are added to a basic triad such as a 7th or a 9th
What is an added sixth chord?
A common chord in jazz and popular music, a triad with a 6th added above the tonic
What is the tonic?
The tonic is the first note of any scale. If the key is C major, then C is the tonic.
What is alberti bass and what period is it commonly used in ?
It is made up of broken chords and used as an accompaniment. It is commonly used in the classical period.
What is an altered note?
Notes in the chord that have been sharpened or flattened by a semi tone?
What is a semitone?
When a note goes up half a step,example: C to C#
What is an answer?
The subject repeated usually a 4th or 5th higher
What does anthemic mean?
A song with a strong,memorable melody that has uplifting characteristics
What does antiphonal mean?
Music performed alternately by 2 groups that are often physically separated
What is an appoggiatura?
An appoggiatura leans on the main note taking part of its value.
What does arpeggiated mean?
Instead of strumming the chords, you’ll play each note of the chord one at a time.
What is articulation?
How a note is played example: stacatto,legato,accented
What does atonal mean?
Music that doesn’t have a key
What does the attack of the note describe?
How the note sounds when it comes into a piece- Example: A slow attack will sound like the note is fading in and a fast attack will sound powerful
What is an augmented chord?
A triad built on two major 3rds. Example: Ab-C and C-E
What is augmented?
Doubling (or more) of the original notes durations
What is a bare fifth?
Chords lacking the third and therefore ambigious in terms of major/minor tonality
What is basso continuo?
Continuous bass parts are provided for harpsichord and string instruments such as bass voil and lute.
What is binary form?
A A B B
What does bitonal mean?
Music that is in two keys at the same time
What are block triads?
Major or minor triads in root position built up in thirds
What does breakdown mean?
When many of the parts drop out of the musical texture for a short period of time
What is a bridge passage?
A linking passage used to change the key of the piece in preparation for the second subject
What is a broken chord?
When the notes of a chord are played one at a time rather than being played together
What does build mean?
The gradual introduction of more instruments
What does cadential mean?
A progression of chords forming a cadence
What does canon mean?
Parts copy each other in exact intervals,usually the fifth or the octave, but at different beats of the bar
What does cantare mean?
Sung
What is a capo?
A clamp fastened across all strings on the neck of a stringed instrument to raise their pitch
Who is Chopin?
A polish composer of piano music in the Romantic style
What does chord voicing mean?
How the notes in a chord have been spaced out and the order that they occur
What is chromatic harmony?
Notes that are not diatonic (part of the key of the music)
What is chromatic melody?
A melody ascending or descending in semitones
What is the circle of fifths?
A series of chords in which the root note of each chord is a fifth lower or a fourth higher than the previous one.
What dates are the classical period?
1750-1820
What is a codetta?
A short coda including a single section within a movement
What does colla voice mean?
It is an instruction to the band and musical director to follow the vocalists tempo
What is a compound interval?
An interval extending over more than one octave
What is compound metre?
A metre where the beat is dotted and subdivides into groups of three
What is compound time signature?
When the bar feels like it needs to be split into groups of three. (Having a group of three mini beats in a big beat)
Example: 6/8
What is a concertino?
The smaller groups of soloists in a concerto grosso
What is a concerto grosso?
A concerto for more than one soloist
What does conjunct mean?
Movement by step
What is consonant?
Intervals or chords that sound pleasant
Example: triads and intervals of a third and sixth
What does contrapuntal mean?
When two melodies are played ‘against’ each other and interweave.
What does counterpoint mean?
The simultaneous combination of two or more melodies with independent rhythms
What does countersubject mean?
When the melody is played after the subject or answer has been sounded.
The melody is literally counter(against) the subject
What is a cover?
A new version of an existing song
What is a crescendo?
Getting gradually louder
What are cross rhythms?
Rhythms that cross the usual pattern of accented and unaccented beats,creating irregular accents and syncopated effects
What is a cue?
A section of music in a film
What is another name for Da capo aria?
ABA
Ternary Form
What is decay?
How the note dies away after being sounded
What is dialoguing?
Instruments playing one after the other,swapping ideas
What does diatonic mean?
Notes that belong to the key of the piece
What is diegetic music?
Music contained within the action of the film and is included in the story.
If a character in the story can hear the music,it is diabetic.
Most film music is non diegetic.
What is a diminished seventh?
A four note chord made up of minor third intervals
What is diminuendo?
Getting gradually quieter
What does disjunct mean?
Movement by leap
What does dissonant mean?
Clashing
What is distortion?
An effect that increases the volume and sustain on an electric guitar as well as making the timbre more gritty or smooth depending on the settings
What is a dominant preparation?
A passage focused on the dominant chord to create expectation for a return to the tonic
What is a dominant seventh?
Chord 5 with added minor seventh
What does the dominant mean?
The 5th note of the scale or key -the strongest note after the tonic
What is a drone?
A continuously held or repeated note,usually low in pitch
What is a drum loop?
A pre recorded drum pattern repeated on a loop
What are dynamics?
Marks in the score indicating to the performer how loud or soft their part should be played
What is enharmonic?
Two identically sounding pitches with different names.
Example: Eb and D#
What is an extended chord?
A chord with at least one added note such as the ninth
What is a fanfare?
A celebratory piece for brass instruments often marking the opening of an important event or ceremony.
What is a figured bass?
A form of musical shorthand that the keyboard player reads from the score to play the intended harmony.
What does the first subject mean?
The first theme of melody
What is flanging?
An effect creating a swirling or swooshing sound
What does fortissimo mean?
Very loud
What does forte mean?
Loud
What is a fugal exposition?
The initial statements of the subject and answer
What is a fugue?
A musical form made up of an exposition,middle section and final section.
The music is contrapuntal
What is a fusion?
The blending of two or more musical styles,usually from different cultures
What is a gavotte?
A medium paced French dance in 4/4 time beginning on the third beat of the bar. Popular in the 18th century.
What is glam music?
A genre of rock known for glamorous dress sense such as platform shoes and glitter
What is gospel music?
A musical style with roots in the black oral tradition where vocal harmonies play a prominent role
What is harmonic rhythm?
The rate at which the chords change
What is a harmonic sequence?
When a chord sequence is immediately repeated at a higher or lower pitch
What is heterophonic?
Two or more instruments playing the same melody at the same time,but each embellishing it in a slightly different way
What does homophonic mean?
A texture made up of a melody part and an accompaniment
What is an imperfect cadence?
A cadence usually ending on chord 5 and sounding incomplete
What are independent parts?
The instruments or voices doing different things
What is an interrupted cadence?
Chord 5 followed by chord 6
What does the interval mean?
The distance between two notes
What do inversions mean?
Major or minor triads with either the third (first inversion) or the fifth (second inversion) in the bass
What does jukebox musical mean?
When the score for a musical is made up of existing songs,usually all by the same artist of with a strong thematic link
What does the key signature show?
It tells us the key of the music
What is a lament?
A song with a surrowful mood. Often slow and in a minor key
What are ledger lines?
Mini lines used to extend the pitch upwards above the stave or downwards below it
What does legato mean?
Played in a smooth fashion ( the opposite of staccato)
What is a leitmotif?
A recurring musical idea which is associated with a particular theme,character or place
What is a loop?
A short repeated passage often involving electronic drums
What is melismatic?
A vocal melody with several notes per syllable
What is metre?
Refers to the number of beats in a bar and how they are subdivided
What is metrical shifting?
The downbeat is shifted to a different part of the bar
What does mezzo forte mean in dynamics?
Moderately loud
What is the middle 8?
It connects two sections of a pop or rock song but is not necessarily 8 bars long
What is the mix?
The relative volume of the different parts in a recording and their place in the stereo field
What does monophonic mean?
A musical texture made up of a single line
What is a motif?
A short melodic phrase of just a few notes
What is multitrack?
A recording of a performance on separate tracks where each track can be individually edited to change levels and add effects
What is murky bass?
The fast octave repetitions in the bass
What is a neopolitan chord?
A chord built on the flattened supertonic note
What is an obbligato?
An essential melody part that must be played
What does onomatopoeic mean?
The music setting sounds like the word
Example: drop
What is an ostinato?
A persistent phrase or motif repeated over several bars or more
What does ottava Alta (8va) mean?
A symbol indicating that notes should be played an octave higher than written
What does ottava bassa (8vb) mean?
A symbol indicating that notes should be played an octave lower than written
What is overdubbing?
Recording an instrumental or vocal part over previously recorded music
What is a pad?
A synthesiser sound designed to be used in chords as as opposed to lead lines
What is panning?
Giving sounds different levels in the left and right speaker so that it sounds as if they’re coming from a new direction
What is passagework?
A constantly moving passage,often in patterns of quick notes such as semi quavers and it often includes sequences
What are passing modulations?
Modulations where the new key only lasts for a few bars before modulating to another key
What is a pedal?
A sustained or repeated note in the bass
What is pentatonic?
A 5 note scale or melody that uses only 5 different notes
What is a perfect cadence?
A cadence made up of chord 5 and chord 1
What does piano mean in dynamics?
Quiet
What does pianissimo mean in dynamics?
very quiet
What does polyphonic mean?
Many sounds
More than one melody sounding at the same time or entering at slightly different times so that melodic lines overlap
What is polytonal?
Chords that are built from 2 or more keys simultaneously
What are pull offs?
When a note is sounded on the guitar by plucking the string with the fretting hand
What is a range?
How many octaves an instrument can play
What is a register?
Refers to how high or low in pitch a piece of music or a musical part sounds
What is a relative minor?
The minor key based on the 6th note of the major scale
What is reverb?
An effect which creates the impression of being in a physical space
What is a riff?
A short passage of music that is repeated
What is a ripieno?
The larger group in a concerto grosso
What does ritardando mean?
Slowing down
What dates are the romantic era?
1810-1900
What does Scalic mean?
Music that is based on scales ascending or descending in pitch
What does the second subject mean?
The second theme or melody
What is a sequence?
The repetition of a musical phrase at a higher or lower pitch
What is sforzando?
An accent showing that a note or chord should be played with greater force than other notes.
What does simple time signature mean?
When the beat naturally divides into two equal halves
What is a solo concerto?
A concerto for a single instrument accompanied by an orchestra
What 3 sections are in a sonata form?
Exposition,development,recapitulation
What is static harmony?
When the harmony remains on a single chord for a prolonged period of time
What does syllabic mean?
When one note is sung per harmony
What is syncopation?
Emphasising beats of the bar that are normally unaccented
What is a synthesiser?
An electronic musical instrument that creates sounds by manipulating combinations of waveforms
What is ternary form?
ABA structure in three sections
What does timbre mean?
The particular tone colour of an instrument or voice
What is a tone?
An interval of 2 semitones
What does the transition section mean?
A section used to take the music from one key to another by modulation
What does tremolando mean?
Rapid playing on the same note to produce a wavering,tremulous sound
What is a triad?
A 3 note chord
What is a trio sonato?
A piece for baroque ensemble comprising 2 violins,cello and harpsichord
What is a turnaround?
A set of (usually four) faster moving chords to get the music back to a related section
What does tutti mean?
All parts playing at the same time
What does unison mean?
More than one part playing the same melody at the same pitch
What is a vamp?
A short repeated accompanying phrase
What is vaudeville?
A form of comic musical theatre from the 1880s
What is vocalisation?
Wordless singing using a vowel syllable such as ‘ah’
What is a word painting?
Depicting a word in music to imitate its meaning
