music vocab keywords - rhythm and notation

Question 1

What is a stave?

Answer 1

The five lines which tell you the pitches of the notes- this one has a treble clef on it.

Question 2

What is a score?

Answer 2

Written down music.

Question 3

What is a treble clef?

Answer 3

The clef used for right hand piano and higher pitch instruments.

Question 4

What is a bass clef?

Answer 4

The clef used for left hand piano and lower pitch instruments. Sometimes called F clef - the line is between the two dots.

Question 5

What is a bar line?

Answer 5

Line that separates the stave into beats according to the time signature.

Question 6

What is a double bar line?

Answer 6

A double bar line- shows the end of a section or end of a piece.

Question 7

What are repeat marks?

Answer 7

Tell you to repeat what you just played.

Question 8

What is a key signature?

Answer 8

Shows you which key you are in. You should know these up to 4 flats and 4 sharps at GCSE level.

Question 9

What is a time signature?

Answer 9

Shows you how many beats per bar (top number) and what note value gets a beat (bottom number)- a 4 means a crotchet counts as a beat, an 8 means a quaver counts as a beat.

Question 10

What does simple time mean?

Answer 10

Simple time means the beats divide into 2.

Question 11

What does compound time mean?

Answer 11

Compound time means the beat divides into 3.

Question 12

What is duple time?

Answer 12

6/8 (2 beats per bar).

Question 13

What is triple time?

Answer 13

9/8 (3 beats per bar).

Question 14

What is quadruple time?

Answer 14

12/8 (4 beats per bar).

Question 15

What does a sharp do?

Answer 15

Raises the note by a semitone - (not a hash tag!).

Question 16

What does a flat do?

Answer 16

Lowers the note by a semitone.

Question 17

What does natural mean?

Answer 17

Means play the note unflattened or unsharpened.

Question 18

What is a phrase mark?

Answer 18

A line that goes over the notes to show a ‘musical sentence’.

Question 19

What is a tie?

Answer 19

A line that joins two notes of the same pitch- they are tied together so you only play the first and hold it for the length of both notes combined.

Question 20

What is an ornament in music?

Answer 20

A musical decoration.

Question 21

What is a trill?

Answer 21

Play two neighbour notes one after the other quickly lots of times.

Question 22

What is a turn?

Answer 22

A musical turn is a curled symbol written above a note on the staff. The turn creates a musical flourish that expands the initial single note into a series of four notes.

Question 23

What is a mordent?

Answer 23

Like a trill but only play the neighbour note once.

Question 24

What is an acciaccatura?

Answer 24

A crushed note, play it very quickly as though it is crushed into the other note.

Question 25

What is an appoggiatura/grace note?

Answer 25

A note to play before the main note, not as quick as a crushed note.

Question 26

What is an anacrusis?

Answer 26

One or more unstressed notes before the first bar line of a piece or passage.

Question 27

What is an off beat?

Answer 27

Note is played off the beat.

Question 28

What is syncopation?

Answer 28

Placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur eg off beat.

Question 29

What is metre?

Answer 29

The time signature.

Question 30

What is irregular metre?

Answer 30

Often used in world music (Greek/Israeli) and jazz. Irregular meters establish a regular metric pattern from an asymmetrical sequence of two or more time signatures.

Question 31

What is a rest?

Answer 31

Don’t play. They come in a variety of note durations.

Question 32

What is cross rhythm?

Answer 32

When two rhythms clash. For instance, triplet rhythms at the same time as quaver rhythms.

Question 33

What is polyrhythm?

Answer 33

2 or more complex rhythms played together- often heard in Samba/African and other world music.

Question 34

What is swung rhythm?

Answer 34

Used in jazz styles most often. Instead of quavers being played straight with equal note lengths, the first quaver lasts longer than the second giving a ‘swing feel’ to the music.

Question 35

What is tala?

Answer 35

The rhythmic cycle used in Classical Indian Music.

Question 36

What is son clave?

Answer 36

The rhythm used in latin music including samba / calypso.

Question 37

What is a bridge in music?

Answer 37

A middle section.

Question 38

What is a coda?

Answer 38

Italian for tail. The end section.

Question 39

What is a cadenza?

Answer 39

An improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a 'free' rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display.

Question 40

What is an instrumental break?

Answer 40

In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section during a song derived from or related to stop-time.

Question 41

What is a middle 8?

Answer 41

A middle 8 is so called because it is a section in a song that tends to happen towards the middle of the song, and tends to be eight bars in length.