Music technical terms Flashcards
Acciaccatura
A crushed note, played as quickly as possible. Notated as a small quaver with a diagonal line running through it.
Lip Trills
Using the lips to produce a trill effect on a brass instrument rather than using the valves
Mordent
An ornament involving moving quickly from one note to another and back again.
Portamento
Sliding from one pitch to another
Tremolo
A rapidly repeated note or alteration between two different notes
Marcato
marked, accented
Legato
played smoothly
Staccato
played crisply, detached
Monophonic
A single melody line
Homophonic
All parts moving similarly to create a chordal effect
Polyphonic
Two or more parts moving independently of each other
Contrapuntal
Two or more independent melodies played at the same time
Antiphonal
Where a bar or phrase is alternated between two instruments or groups of instruments or singers
Diminished seventh
A chord built up of minor thirds
Dominant seventh
The dominant chord plus an extra note a minor seventh above the root of the chord.
Imperfect cadence
I - V
Inverted pedal
Where the pedal note is played at a higher pitch than the other parts
Perfect cadence
V - I
Tierce de Picardie
A major chord used to end a piece in a minor key
Anacrusis
An upbeat to the first bar
Augmentation
Extension of a musical idea (usually doubling the length of each note)
Bi-rhythm
Two independent rhythms played simultaneously
Cross rhythm
When two different rhythms are heard together with different accented beats
Hemiola
a rhythmic device where two groups of three beats are performed as three groups of two beats
Ostinato
A repeated musical idea
Polyrhythm
Two different rhythms played together simultaneously
Conjunct
A melody where each note is a step (a tone?) away from each other
Disjunct
A melody where there are many leaps between notes
Interval
Distance between pitches
Inversion
When a melody is turned upside down, the intervals are the same but move in the opposite direction
