Music Terms and symmbols

Question 1

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Answer 1

pianissimo - very quiet

Question 2

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Answer 2

accent - momentary emphasis on a note

Question 3

decresc.

Answer 3

decrescendo - gradually get softer

Question 4

pizz.

Answer 4

pizzicato- plucking strings

Question 5

cresc

Answer 5

crescendo - gradually getting louder

Question 6

p

Answer 6

piano - soft

Question 7

mf

Answer 7

mezzo forte - moderately loud

Question 8

f

Answer 8

forte - loud

Question 9

ff

Answer 9

fortissimo - very loud

Question 10

arco

Answer 10

bowed

Question 11

dim.

Answer 11

dimineundo - decrease in loudness

Question 12

cresc. molto

Answer 12

crescendo molto - quickly get louder

Question 13

poco

Answer 13

a little

Question 14

Allegro

Answer 14

brisk, lively tempo

Question 15

tr.

Answer 15

trill

Question 16

diminution

Answer 16

the shortening of the time values of notes in a melodic part.

Question 17

alberti bass

Answer 17

a repeated accompaniment figure that usually consists of the notes of a triad played in steady eighth or sixteenth notes in the order lowest-highest-middle-highest.

Question 18

cadance

Answer 18

the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of resolution.

Question 19

antiphony

Answer 19

call and response

Question 20

circle of 5ths

Answer 20

a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths

Question 21

modulation

Answer 21

the change from one tonality (tonic, or tonal center) to another

Question 22

appogiatura

Answer 22

an ornamental note of long or short duration that temporarily displaces, and subsequently resolves into, a main note, usually by stepwise motion. - A GRACE NOTE

Question 23

sequence

Answer 23

a melodic or chordal figure repeated at a new pitch level (that is, transposed), thus unifying and developing musical material.

Question 24

tonic

Answer 24

tonic, also called keynote, in music, the first note (degree) of any diatonic (e.g., major or minor) scale.

Question 25

monophonic

Answer 25

having a single unaccompanied melodic line- one layer of sound

Question 26

homophonic

Answer 26

melody and accompaniment

Question 27

polyphonic

Answer 27

multiple lines of equal importance

Question 28

Density effects what?

Answer 28

volume

Question 29

fragmentation

Answer 29

division of a musical idea (gesture, motive, theme, etc.) into segments”

Question 30

tierce de picardie

Answer 30

major chord of the tonic at the end of a musical section that is either modal or in a minor key