National 5 Flashcards
Aria
Solo sung in an operatic style
May contain passages of melisma
Bothy ballad
Unaccompanied folk song with many verses
Sung by a solo male
From the North-East of Scotland
Tells a story of rural or farming life
Celtic rock
Mixes Celtic folk music and rock
Uses both traditional and popular instruments
Chorus
A group of singers or the music written for these singers
Classical
From approximately 1750-1810
Famous composers include Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn
Features larger orchestras than in the Baroque period
Gaelic psalm
Slow, unaccompanied Gaelic church tunes
Gospel
Development of the spirituals sung by slaves
Songs written with religious lyrics in a popular style
Performed by choirs/congregations
Accompanied by electric organ/piano and other popular instruments
Indian
Music from India
Uses instruments such as sitar and tabla
Minimalist
20th century style
Simple rhythmic and melodic figures are constantly repeated with slight changes
Pibroch
The classical music of the bagpipes
Usually a slow theme and variations
Symphony
Large work for orchestra
Usually in four movements
Waulking song
Gaelic work song
Sung when beating tweed
Sung in call and response
Atonal
No feeling of key
Chromatic
Notes that move by the interval of a semitone
Cluster
Chord made of consecutive notes which clash
Contrary motion
Two parts moving in opposite directions
Countermelody
A melody played against the main melody
Descant
A melody sung above the main melody
Glissando
Sliding from one note to another
Grace note
Ornament played as a quick, crushed note
Played before the main note of a melody
Imperfect cadence
When a phrase end on chord V
Sounds unfinished and tense
Inverted pedal
A note held or repeated in an upper part
Melismatic
Vocal music where several notes are sung to each syllable
Modulation
A change of key
Perfect cadence
Chords V to I at the end of a phrase
Sounds finished
Pitch bend
Changing the pitch of a note
E.g. by pushing a guitar string upwards
Syllabic
Vocal music where each note is given one syllable
Trill
Moving quickly and repeatedly between adjacent notes
Whole tone scale
Scale where every interval is a tone
Sounds vague
Cross rhythms
Contrasting rhythms played at the same time
Moderato
A medium speed
Ritardando
The tempo slows down
Rubato
Literally means ‘robbed time’
Tempo slightly speeds up and slows down to allow for expression
Alberti bass
Broken chord accompaniment in the bass
Often played on a keyboard instrument
Pattern is bottom, top, middle, top
Common in the classical period
Binary
The music is made up of two different sections labelled A and B
It can also be called AB form
Coda
A passage at the end of a piece which finished it off
Episode
A passage that links two important ideas
Ground bass
A theme in the bass that is repeated many times while the upper parts are varied
Homophonic
Melody with accompaniment or
All the parts move together rhythmically
Polyphonic / Contrapuntal
Two or more melody lines, possibly of equal importance, weaving independently of each other
Rondo
A form where the first section keeps returning in between different sections
Can also be called ABACA form
Strophic
Music in verse or verse/chorus form
Common in hymns and more popular styles
Walking bass
Moving bass line with notes usually of the same value
Often found in jazz styles
A cappella
Singing without accompaniment
Arco
Using the bow on a string instrument
Baritone
Male singer between a tenor and a bass
Con sordino
With a mute (specifically on a brass instrument)
Brass and string instruments can use mutes
Flutter tonguing
A technique used on brass or woodwind instruments where the player rolls an ‘r’
Mezzo soprano
Female singer between a soprano and an alto
Pizzicato
Plucking a string instrument
Reverb
An electronic effect
Can give the impression of different hall acoustics
Rolls
Very fast repetition of a note on a percussion instrument
