Music Glossary Flashcards
Aggregate
the set containing the twelve different pitches used in Western music, analogous to all the pitches of the chromatic scale.
Blue Note
a pitch that is deliberately sung “out of tune”; it is a device commonly used by jazz and blues musicians, especially on steps 3 and 7 of the scale.
Cakewalk
plantation-era entertainment that was mimicked in minstrel shows; originally it was a :challenge-dance” in which slave couples-competing for a cake-tried to do the best parody of their owner’s high society manners.
Canon
a technique in which a single melody is performed by multiple musicians, but at staggered, overlapping intervals, thus producing imitative polyphony; a synonym is “round” and an example is the customary performance technique in singing “Row Row Row Your Boat”
Chorus
In Jazz, this describes one complete statement of the main melody or strain (or of the chords that support that melody)
Combo
a small jazz or blues ensemble
Commedia dell’arte
an Italian entertainment of the sixteenth century featuring stock characters (Harlequin, Colombine, etc) who would act in improvised comic skits
Cue Sheet
a list given to musicians by a vaudeville performer; it indicates the types of music needed at particular moments in the performer’s act( now applied to movies)
Humanism
a system of thought or worldview which attaches primary importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters
Impresario
a synonym for producer
Interpolation
a song added after opening night
Klangfarbenmelodie
Technique which puts emphasis on series of tone colors instead of melody
Melismatic
method of setting poetic text in which a single syllable is flexed per a series of different pitches
Miniature
similar to Character Piece, focused on expressing central image or idea of title
Modal
refer to one of the older scales used in Medivial times (Major: Ionian, Minor: Aeolian)
