Musical Concepts - National 5 Flashcards
Alberti bass
A broken chord pattern played in the left hand.
Classical composers have used this technique in their piano music.
A Capella
Unaccompanied chordal singing.
Arco
Instruction given to string players to use a bow.
This term might be given to players after a passage using Pizzicato.
Aria
A song in opera, oratorio or cantata with orchestral accompaniment.
Atonal
No feeling of key, major or minor. Very dissonant.
A feature of some 20th century music.
Baritone
A male voice whose range lies between that of Bass and Tenor.
Binary
A B. A form in which music is made up of two different sections labelled A and B.
Each section may be repeated.
Bodhran
A hand held, goatskin drum.
Bothy ballad
A folk song, usually with many verses from North-East Scotland. It tells a story of rural or farming life.
Usually sang by men.
Brass
A family of instruments made from metal with a mouthpiece.
i.e. Trumpet, French Horn
Celtic Rock
Music which incorporates instruments and themes from Celtic music into rock music.
Chorus
- A group of singers with several people to each part.
- Music written for these singers.
- The refrain between the verses of a song.
Chromatic scale
A stepwise series of notes built up entirely of semitones.
e.g. C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B
Clarsach
Scottish harp.
Classical
1750 -1819 approximately. The era of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Cluster
A group of notes played on a keyboard instrument with the palm of the hand, even the forearm.
Used in some 20th century music.
Coda
A passage at the end of a piece of music which rounds it off.
Con Sordino
The Italian term for “with a mute”.
Compound time groupings
The beat divides into threes. e.g. 6/8 (Nellie the elephant)
Contrapunctual
Texture in which each of two or more parts have independent melodic interest; similar in meaning to Polyphonic.
Contrary motion
Two parts which move in opposite directions, e.g. As one part ascends, the other part descends.
Counter-melody
A melody played against the main melody.
Cross rhythms
Term used to describe the effect of two notes being played against three.
(In piano music it might be groups of two quavers in the right hand and groups of triplets in the left hand.)
Descant
Another melody above the main tune, mainly in vocal music.
Episode
A section of music linking two themes.
Flutter tonguing
A method of tonguing in which the player rolls the letter ‘r’. It is used by wind players and is particularly effective for flute and brass.
Gaelic psalm.
Slow, unaccompanied Gaelic church tune, heard mostly in the Western Isles of Scotland.
Glissando
Sliding from one note to another, taking in all the notes in between where possible.
Gospel music
Music that expresses a Christian belief.
Grace note
A type of ornament played as a quick note before the main note of a melody.
Ground bass
A theme in the bass which is repeated many times while the upper parts are varied.
Homophony/Homophonic
Texture where all the parts move together rhythmically.
Imperfect cadence
A cadence consists of two chords at the end of a phrase. In an imperfect cadence, the piece has an unfinished effect.
Indian
Music from India which uses instruments such as the sitar and tabla.
Inverted pedal
A pedal point which sounds in an upper part instead of in the bass.
Melismatic word setting
Vocal music in which several notes are sung to one syllable.
Mezzo soprano
A female singer whose voice range lies between that of a soprano and an alto.
Minimalist
A development in the second half of the 20th century based on simple rhythmic and melodic figures. These are constantly repeated with very slight changes each time.
Moderato
Played at a moderate or waking pace.
Modulation
A change of key.
Perfect cadence
A cadence that makes a piece sound finished.
Pibroch
The classical music of the highland bagpipe.
Pitch bending
Changing the pitch of a note e.g. By pushing a guitar string upwards.
Pizzicato
An instruction given to string players to pluck the strings instead of using the bow.
Polyphony/Polyphonic
Texture which consists of two or more melodic lines, possibly of equal importance and which weave independently of each other.
Reverb
An electronic effect which can give the impression of different hall acoustics
e.g. As a performance in a cathedral.
Ritardando
A gradual slow down in tempo.
Rolls
A very fast repetition of a note on a percussion instrument.
Rondo
A B A C A. A form where the first section (A) comes back between contrasting sections.
Rubato
The music will speed up and slow down in order to allow for expression, therefore there will not be a strict tempo maintained.
Semitones
Half a tone. e.g. C to C# or the distance from one fret to another on a guitar.
Sitar
A plucked, stringed instrument from India.
Strophic
A song which has music repeated for verses/chorus, therefore the music will be heard repeating throughout the song.
Syllabic word setting
Vocal music where each syllable is given one note only.
Symphony
A large work for orchestra, usually in four movements.
Tabla
Two Indian drums tuned to different pitches and often used to accompany the sitar.
Tone
Two semitones, i.e. C to D or the distance between two frets on a guitar.
Trill
Rapid and repeated movement between two adjacent notes.
Walking bass
A moving bass line with notes usually of the same value. It often moves by step.
