Harmony and Tonality Flashcards
Key Signature
The group of sharps or flats written at the start of a piece of music, which tells you the Key of the music.
Tonal Music
Music which is based on major or minor keys.
This will include the majority of classical music (from the Baroque period onwards) and virtually all popular music.
Modal Music
Music which is based on ancient scales called modes.
It sounds weird (neither major nor minor).
Audio Example is from Ockeghem’s Requiem, composed some time between 1461-1483.
Atonal Music
Music which seems to have no sense of key, or tonal centre. Sounds clashy/dissonant and ‘random’.
Virtually all atonal music is from the 20th Century, and it is classed as being 20th Century Classical Music.
Audio Example is from Webern’s ‘Variations for Piano’ composed in 1936.
Major Key
Music in a major key mainly sounds happy and positive.
Minor Key
Music in a minor key mainly sounds sad, negative and serious.
Sharp
A sharp raises a note by a semitone.
Flat
A flat lowers a note by a semitone.
Treble Clef
A sign used for high-pitched instruments and singers, that tells you the pitch of each note
For the five lines: Every Good Boy Deserves Football
For the four spaces: FACE
Bass Clef
A sign used for low-pitched instruments and singers, that tells you the pitch of each note.
For the five lines: Grizzly Bears Dig For Apples
For the four spaces: All Cows Eat Grass
Diatonic
Music where the notes used belong to the main (major or minor) key.
Chromatic
The use of notes which don’t belong to the main key. Lots of accidentals (sharps and flats).
Accidentals
Where notes are sharpened or flattened (e.g. G becomes G#).
Modulation
When a piece of music changes key in the middle.
The most common modulations are a key change to the dominant, subdominant, or relative minor/major keys).
Some pop music contains a tasteless unprepared modulation for the final chorus, as in this audio example.
Relative Major / Relative Minor
For each key signature, there is one major key and one minor key, which are relatives.
(e.g. if there is one sharp in the key signature, the key is either G major or E minor. Thus E minor is the relative minor of G major).
Drone
Long held note(s) in the bass, used throughout a piece of music. Often used in Indian classical music, as well as folk music (think bagpipes).
Cadence
Two chords that act as musical punctuation, usually at the end of a musical phrase, section or piece.
Perfect Cadence
A cadence that goes from the Dominant (V) to the Tonic (I). It sounds finished/complete, like a full stop.
Imperfect Cadence
A cadence that goes from the Tonic (I) to the Dominant (V). It sounds musically incomplete, and it feels like more music should follow to complete the phrase.
Plagal Cadence
A cadence that goes from the Subdominant (IV) to the Tonic (I). It sounds like a gentler full stop at the end of a phrase, used a lot in hymns (Often used on the word ‘A-men…’)
Interrupted Cadence
A cadence that goes from the Dominant (V) to the Submediant (VI). It sounds interrupting and surprising, and again feels musically incomplete.
Tonic
The main chord of a piece of music (chord I) (e.g. if a piece of music is in C major, the tonic is C major).
Dominant
The second-most important chord in a piece of music, which is a fifth higher than the tonic (V). (e.g. if a piece of music is in C major, the dominant is G major).
Subdominant
The third-most important chord in a piece of music, which is a fourth higher than the tonic (IV). (e.g. if a piece of music is in C major, the subdominant is F major).
Chord
Two or more notes played a the same time.
Octave
The distance between two notes with the same name (e.g. from G to G on a piano - a distance of twelve semitones). Although they have the same name, they are at different pitches.
Triad
A three-note chord where the lowest note is the root note, the middle note is a third above the root, and the highest note is a fifth above it. (e.g. the triad of F major is F-A-C)
Consonant
Chords/Intervals that sound nice and not clashy.
Dissonant
Chords/Intervals that sound clashy, tense, not easy to listen to.
Dominant 7th Chords
The dominant (V) chord of a scale, with the 7th note of the chord added on top, often used in a perfect cadence (V-I). (e.g. in C major, the dominant 7th chord is G7, featuring the notes G-B-D-F).
Tierce de Picardie
When music that has been in a minor key ends on a major chord. Used by a lot of Renaissance and Baroque composers.
Pedal
Long or repeated low notes beneath the rest of the music.
Harmony
Meaning 1: The use of notes in combination to create a sense of chords and keys, so that music sounds fuller and more interesting and pleasing that lone melodies or rhythms.
Meaning 2: A line that follows the same shape as the melody, but using different notes. Think backing vocalists.
Tonality
The key of the music.
If you are asked ‘What is the tonality of the music?’ it means ‘Is the piece in a major or minor key, or is it modal, or is it atonal (no tonality)?’
Pentatonic
A type of scale that only uses five notes. Often used in folk melodies, as well as Chinese and African music.
