Music Terminology/Musical Forms/Standard Characteristics

Question 1

Pitch:

Answer 1

The fundamental unit of musical sound. Also called a single “note.”

Question 2

Timbre:

Answer 2

(Tamber)

Tone colour. The acoustic properties that give each instrument/voice it’s unique sound.

the “grain” of a voice. Every sound (and combination of sounds) has a particular timbre—not just singers.

The “grain” of the timbre is also what we identify as different voices (Johnny Cash vs. Adele for example).

> “nasal timbre” (like Willy Nelson or most older Country singers)
“mellow timbre” (like Justin Beiber in comparison to those Country singers).
Other terms like rough, harsh, growling, brassy, rounded, breathy, warm or resonant can describe timbre.

Question 3

Rhythm:

Answer 3

The timing of attacks (notes) in a composition. The measurement of musical events in time.

Question 4

Beat or Pulse:

Answer 4

The fundamental unit of time in a composition. It consists of a point of attack (downbeat) and a point of release (upbeat).

Question 5

Tempo:


Answer 5

The rate of beats per minute (bpm).

Question 6

Accent:

Answer 6

Emphasis placed on a specific note or pulse; e.g., a backbeat has accents on 2 and 4.

Question 7

Groove:

Answer 7

The interplay between two or more rhythms.

Question 8

Metre:

Answer 8

The pattern of recurring cycles of beats/pulses (a) Duple: multiples of 2 (march-feel); (b) Triple: multiples of 3 (waltz-feel). Metre is the grouping of beats into multiples of 2s or 3s. Those groups are called bars or measures.

Question 9

Melody:

Answer 9

Single pitches sounded in succession.

Question 10

Phrase:

Answer 10

A melodic/lyrical line that represents a complete thought. In popular music, the length of a phrase is generally two- to four-bars in length: about the average time an untrained singer is able to deliver a melody without having to take a breath.

Question 11

Contour:

Answer 11

The shape of a motive or phrase:

(1) Ascending; starting at a low then going to high note
(2) Descending; Starting at a high then going to low note
(3) Pendular; Start from low then go to high and back down…or the opposite
(4) Iterative. the same note repeated

Question 12

Ornamentation:

Answer 12

Decorative devices used to add flourishes to a melody or harmony.

Question 13

Singing Styles are:

Answer 13

(a) Melismatic: two or more notes sung to one syllable; example of whitney houston, I will always love you
(b) Syllabic: one note/syllable. example of “love me do” Beatles

Question 14

Harmony:

Answer 14

The result produced when two or more pitches are heard simultaneously.

Question 15

Chord:

Answer 15

A harmony where three or more notes are sounded simultaneously

Question 16

Chord Progression or Harmonic Progression:

Answer 16

A succession of two or more chords.

Question 17

Texture:

Answer 17

The “fabric” of a composition or section of music.

Question 18

Call and Response:

Answer 18

An antecedent and consequent relationship between distinct phrases and/or rhythms.

Question 19

Riff:

Answer 19

a repeated pattern designed to generate rhythmic momentum

Question 20

Hook:

Answer 20

a memorable musical phrase or riff

Question 21

Layering:

Answer 21

Multiple different parts performed simultaneously. Often systematic and additive

Question 22

Form:

Answer 22

The succession of repeated and/or varied musical patterns.

Question 23

Strophic Form:

Answer 23

Strophic: A/A . Sequence of verses with same melody. The same (or very similar) verse (a melody or combination of melody and harmony) that is repeated with different lyrics in each verse.

> example of a strophic form is a 12-bar blues. The idea is that we have the same (or very similar) verse (a melody or combination of melody and harmony) that is repeated with different lyrics in each verse.

Question 24

De Capo Form:

Answer 24

Da Capo: AABA Sequence of verses (A sections) with one contrasting section (B section).In this form, we usually focus on the verse. Or, in other words, the verse is usually most memorable. Another way of knowing that the form is AABA (rather than an AB form) is that there is a return of the A section at the end

AABA forms were very typical in jazz (dance music in the 1920s and 1930s). The metre was almost always in 4/4 (four beats in a bar).

Question 25

Verse Chorus Form:

Answer 25

Verse/Chorus: AB Sequence of verses (A sections) with repeated contrasting section called a chorus (B section).

In a verse/chorus (A/B) piece, we usually focus is the chorus. That is what is more memorable

Remember that an AABA form has a return of the A section at the end. You’ll see here that there isn’t a return to the A, which is one way of identifying this as a verse/chorus (A/B) piece.

Question 26

lyrics

Answer 26

for the words of a song

Question 27

dialect

Answer 27

(referring to certain vocabulary that speaks to the identity of a given culture or subculture).

Question 28

Coda.

Answer 28

extension at the end of a song

Question 29

hegemony:

Answer 29

exerting existing power to maintain that power over others. Hegemony is everywhere. Patriarchy is hegemony—men exerting power to maintain power. Racism is hegemony—in the United States, the white middle- and upper class exerted power over slaves (and those who were “freed” in the late 1800s) to maintain power.

Question 30

Publisher

Answer 30

publisher: it is those who print the music and own the copyright. (Today, publishers are record companies (like Universal, Sony, or subsidiaries like Columbia) who hold the copyright.

Question 31

Producer

Answer 31

someone who might have a band play the music for a performance). Today, a producer is someone who records a band and “fixes it up” for radio, or to sell as a CD or mp3 online. Producers aren’t publishers, and producers don’t have copyright.

Question 32

What are the standard characteristics of music?

Answer 32

> one-octave range
2 to 4-bar phrases
simple harmony (I, IV and V chords)
simple accompaniment
repetitive forms: 8-bar sections. AABA, AB,
Dance music, current metric/rhythmic patterns.

Question 33

What are the standard characteristics of lyrics?

Answer 33

> Romance themes
> Alliteration
> Repetitive rhyme scheme: quatrain, couplet
> symmetric rhythms
> Personal pronouns
> 1-2-3 syllable words

Question 34

syncopation

Answer 34

syncopation (Backbeat). Syncopation is placing rhythmic accents on beats (or between beats) that you wouldn’t expect. In ragtime piano, the pianist plays a bass line with the left hand, alternating a bass note, then chords.

Syncopation is used in all musical traditions; however, African music is centred on syncopation. African American musics (whether ragtime, and later jazz, blues, R&B, Rock and Roll, Soul, Funk, Hip Hop) all have a significant amount of syncopation, and that is definitely from an African American tradition rather than a classical music or folk music tradition.

Question 35

polyphonic texture.

Answer 35

One musician would play the melody, or solo. The other musicians would fill in the melody with improvised passages (called improvised “lines”). These lines, on their own, sound almost like a melody on their own, rather than a harmony or chords to accompany the melody. They are sometimes called countermelodies. The melody (or solo) and other lines combine like puzzle pieces, each one complimenting each other. The result is a polyphonic texture: multiple lines of similar melodic interest.

Question 36

What is a Refrain?

Answer 36

Refrain = Chorus

1) “refrain” is borrowed from poetry. Some poetry has repeated stanzas at the end of verses, but many times they are short.
2) A Chorus is a more musical term and we think of it as longer than a refrain.
3) A Chorus is more specific in that it refers to chord progressions (a basic structure of the form).
4) As we will see, jazz musicians later played Tin Pan Alley pieces without the verses—we refer to their music as repeated choruses (not refrains).

Question 37

Acculturation:

Answer 37

adoption of cultural customs to dominant social surroundings. Or in other words, cultural practices held by a dominant culture that are absorbed and practiced by a minority culture.

Question 38

Assimilation:

Answer 38

an extreme version of acculturation where a minority culture attempts to, or is forced to adopt cultural practices held by a dominant culture. In other words, replacing a minority cultural custom with a dominant one.

Question 39

Transculturation:

Answer 39

acculturation, except that the minority group keeps it previous cultural underpinnings (e.g., rhythm, singing, dance) yet expressed in a new, independent style.

1) musical elements from a minority culture are lost or deformed; 2) this is an exchange of significant musical practices (ways of thinking); 3) it takes generations to create a new unity between the two cultures; 4) the new unity is a new musical identity different than the original—i.e., African American music is a new style, independent of African music (yet contains “survivals”), and that style (say, from the 1600s), undergoes new processes (1-4 above) over and over again (until today).

Question 40

What are survivals

Answer 40

cultural phenomena that outlive the set of conditions under which they developed.

Question 41

What is a griot?

Answer 41

Griots are musicians, historians, sources for spreading news, and holders of various moral stories. In Africa, a griot usually plays a stringed instrument, accompanied by singing, telling stories, or a rhythmic declamatory style of speech-singing. It is similar to rap: poetry set to music and usually with a moral story.

Question 42

What is dropping a beat?

Answer 42

Musicians would sometimes “drop a beat” (play 3 beats instead of 4) or add an extra beat (playing 5 beats instead of 4)

Question 43

What is nasal timbre?

Answer 43

a common feature of hillbilly music to produce clear diction.