Music Terms

Question 1

Atonality

Answer 1

Atonality – a characteristic of much avant-garde music composed without regard for key

Question 2

Avant-garde

Answer 2

Avant-garde – art forms that defy traditional guidelines; avant-garde music employs much dissonance and atonality

Question 3

Baroque

Answer 3

Baroque – term applied to the artistic style of the mid-17th to mid-18th centuries; marked by elaborate ornamentation and complexity; original meaning; irregular pearl

Question 4

Chamber music

Answer 4

Chamber music – composition for small ensembles, such as four violins

Question 5

Chromatic scale

Answer 5

Chromatic scale – considers of twelve tones; if played on a piano, a consecutive run using both black and white keys

Question 6

Counterpoint

Answer 6

Counterpoint - two melodic lines played against each other; characteristic of Bach’s work

Question 7

Diatonic scale

Answer 7

Diatonic scale – consists of seven tones; white piano keys only; the fundamental but not he only scale in Western music

Question 8

Dissonance

Answer 8

Dissonance – in music, two or more uncongenial notes sounded or sung at the same time, producing an unfamiliar and, for some, unpleasant effect

Question 9

Fugue

Answer 9

Fugue – lengthy musical composition or section within a larger composition in which two melodic lines are played against each other

Question 10

Half-tone

Answer 10

Halt-tone – half of one interval between two notes in the diatonic scale; on a piano, half-tones are produced by the black keys

Question 11

**Harmony

Answer 11

Harmony – two or more tones, congenial or otherwise, sounded or sung at the same time

Question 12

Hip-hop

Answer 12

Hip-hop – contemporary style of music that includes rap; a lifestyle marked by baggy clothes, idiomatic speech, graffiti, and break-dancing

Question 13

Improvisation

Answer 13

Improvisation – spontaneous set of variations on a stated musical theme; once performed, it may be written down and repeated by other performers.

Question 14

Key

Answer 14

Key – a particular scale that dominates a musical composition, identified by the first note of that scale and whether the scale is major or minor; e.g. C major, B-flat minor

Question 15

**Melody

Answer 15

Melody – any arrangement of tones in a definite sequence that constitutes a unity

Question 16

Pentatonic scale

Answer 16

Pentatonic scale – five-tone musical scale that preceded the familiar seven-tone scale dominant in the West; remains the basic scale of much non-Western music

Question 17

Ragtime

Answer 17

Ragtime – musical genre, forerunner of jazz, invented in the later 1890s by African American composers, notably Scott Joplin; strongly influenced by slow and stately European dances.

Question 18

Rap

Answer 18

Rap – major subgenre of hip-hop in which rhyming lyrics are half-sung, half-spoken rapidly

Question 19

**Rhythm

Answer 19

Rhythm – alternation of stress and unstress in music, usually created by a percussion instrument

Question 20

Rock

Answer 20

Rock – generic name covering a variety of styles that have a loud and insistent beat

Question 21

Rock n’ Roll

Answer 21

Rock ‘n’ roll – style of music introduced in the 1950s and popularized by Elvis Presley; grew out of a fusion of rhythm and blues, gospel;, and country and western styles.

Question 22

**Scale

Answer 22

Scale – the orderly progression of sound-wave frequencies, from low to high

Question 23

Symphony

Answer 23

Symphony – a major orchestral form from the late eighteenth century to the present, usually consisting of four separate sections or movements, with contrasting tempos, sometimes constituting a unity, often not.

Question 24

Syncopation

Answer 24

Syncopation – a form in which the melodic line of a piece is played against, not with, the accented beats of the rhythmic accompaniment, as in Gershwin’s “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” and the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.”

Question 25

Toccata

Answer 25

Toccata – musical form perfect by Bach making liberal use of improvisation and allowing for an overpowering display of musical virtuosity by the performer.

Question 26

**Tone

Answer 26

Tone – a single sound produced by a musical voice or instrument; also called a note.

Question 27

Vienna

Answer 27

Vienna – musical capital of Europe during the classical period