musical terms Flashcards
what is melody?
an organized series of pitches
what is pitch?
how high or low a sound is
what are scales? name western scales
different ways of subdividing the octave.
Diatonic 8 notes
Chromatic 12 notes
what are 4 features of melodies?
contour, phrases, climaxes, cadences
what is a cadence?
points of resolution
what is disjunct?
a way to describe melody if it features leaps, larger intervals, between pitches.
what is conjunct contour?
a melody with successive notes that are close together in pitch. whole or half step apart
what is harmony?
simultaneous sounding of different pitches
what is a chord?
the combination of two or more pitches.
what is dissonance?
unstable, clashing, tension –> harmony
what is consonant harmony?
stable, pleasant, at rest, resolution
how can you describe harmony?
adds color and vibrancy to music. Fluid, changing from moment to moment. Consonant or dissonant. Means of creating musical tension.
describe texture.
how the different layers in a piece of music interact. a way to think about the complexity of a piece.
what are the different types of texture?
monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic.
what is monophony?
a single melody
one sound.
what is homophony?
same sound, more than one pitch but the different pitches move in tandem.
there are 2 types– block movement and melody with accompaniment.
what is polyphony?
many sounds, multiple independent melodies.
what is rhythm?
the placement of sounds in musical time. a measure of duration (long and short sounds)
what does rhythm occur over?
a beat
what is a beat?
the steady, unchanging string pulses that underpins the musical flow.
what is meter?
grouping of beats into regular, repeating units of strong and weak beats.
units of 2 or 3 –> duple or triple meter.
what is timbre?
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
what is tempo?
the speed or pace of music, measures in beats per minute.
what are dynamics? how do we describe them?
a term for describing volume, or how loud/quiet music is.
crescendos or decrescendos.
baroque era
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)
Classical era
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.
