musical terms

Question 1

what is melody?

Answer 1

an organized series of pitches

Question 2

what is pitch?

Answer 2

how high or low a sound is

Question 3

what are scales? name western scales

Answer 3

different ways of subdividing the octave.
Diatonic 8 notes
Chromatic 12 notes

Question 4

what are 4 features of melodies?

Answer 4

contour, phrases, climaxes, cadences

Question 5

what is a cadence?

Answer 5

points of resolution

Question 6

what is disjunct?

Answer 6

a way to describe melody if it features leaps, larger intervals, between pitches.

Question 7

what is conjunct contour?

Answer 7

a melody with successive notes that are close together in pitch. whole or half step apart

Question 8

what is harmony?

Answer 8

simultaneous sounding of different pitches

Question 9

what is a chord?

Answer 9

the combination of two or more pitches.

Question 10

what is dissonance?

Answer 10

unstable, clashing, tension –> harmony

Question 11

what is consonant harmony?

Answer 11

stable, pleasant, at rest, resolution

Question 12

how can you describe harmony?

Answer 12

adds color and vibrancy to music. Fluid, changing from moment to moment. Consonant or dissonant. Means of creating musical tension.

Question 13

describe texture.

Answer 13

how the different layers in a piece of music interact. a way to think about the complexity of a piece.

Question 14

what are the different types of texture?

Answer 14

monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic.

Question 15

what is monophony?

Answer 15

a single melody
one sound.

Question 16

what is homophony?

Answer 16

same sound, more than one pitch but the different pitches move in tandem.
there are 2 types– block movement and melody with accompaniment.

Question 17

what is polyphony?

Answer 17

many sounds, multiple independent melodies.

Question 18

what is rhythm?

Answer 18

the placement of sounds in musical time. a measure of duration (long and short sounds)

Question 19

what does rhythm occur over?

Answer 19

a beat

Question 20

what is a beat?

Answer 20

the steady, unchanging string pulses that underpins the musical flow.

Question 21

what is meter?

Answer 21

grouping of beats into regular, repeating units of strong and weak beats.
units of 2 or 3 –> duple or triple meter.

Question 22

what is timbre?

Answer 22

sound quality. question of instrumentation, or what voices/instruments are singing/playing.
what makes one musical sound different from another of the exact same pitch and loudness

Question 23

what is tempo?

Answer 23

the speed or pace of music, measures in beats per minute.

Question 24

what are dynamics? how do we describe them?

Answer 24

a term for describing volume, or how loud/quiet music is.
crescendos or decrescendos.

Question 25

baroque era

Answer 25

rhythm– definition, regularity, and intensity
meter– more present/defines
texture– base line preeminent
harmony– recognizable rules emerge, chord appear in predictable progressions.
expression and communication!!!
opera takes center stage (new genre)

Question 26

Classical era

Answer 26

enlightenment– rational approach to understanding
growth of major urban centers –> public concert culture.
french rev
emphases on natural and pleasant things.
symmetry, balance, proportion.
Classical music– western art music 1750-1815.
rhythm: flexible, contrasting.
timbre: expansion of orchestra, more strings and winds
melody: balanced phrases, singable.
texture: homophonic, clear
dynamics; contrasting, sudden changes
contrast and variety.