National 5 concepts Flashcards
A’cappella
Unaccompanied singing.
AB
Two-part form - music in two sections; A then B. Binary form. These sections may be repeated.
Accidental
A sign added to a note to change the pitch.
Alberti bass
Broken chords played by the left hand while the right hand plays the melody.
Arco
When the bow is used on a string instrument.
Aria
A solo song in a musical or opera.
Atonal
No feeling of the key. It is very dissonant and lacks a ‘nice’ melody and accompaniment, sounds gadz!
Baritone
A male voice not as high as a tenor but not as low as a bass.
Bassoon
The lowest woodwind instrument.
Binary
Two part form - music in two sections: A then B. These sections may be repeated.
Bodhran
An Irish untuned percussion instrument, held in one hand and played with a double-ended wooden beater.
Bongo drums
Fairly high-pitched untuned percussion instrument, joined in pairs and usually played with fingers and palms.
Bothy ballad
A Scottish song sung by a man about farm life.
Cadence
The end of a musical phrase. Perfect cadence sounds finished, imperfect cadence sounds unfinished.
Castanets
An untuned percussion instrument popular in spanish music.
Celtic rock
A style of music that mixes Celtic folk music and rock together.
Chord progressions
Moving from one chord to another.
Chorus
A group of singers, the music written for them or the refrain between verses of a song.
Chromatic
Notes which move by the interval of a semitone.
Clarsach
A small Scottish harp, used in folk music.
Classical
Music from the 1700’s Mozart and Beethoven.
Cluster
A group of notes, which clash, played together- sounds gadz.
Coda
An ending.
Compound time groupings
Sausages, jiggity.
Con sordino
Muted, doesn’t sound as clear.
Contrapuntal
Many sounds weaving together to give harmony.
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 rhythm
Different rhythms played at the same time.
Descant (voice)
A counter melody sung above the main melody.
Dotted crotchet
A note that lasts for 1 1/2 beats.
Dotted quaver
A note that lasts for 3/4 beats.
Episode
A passage of music linking two musical themes.
Flutter tonguing
Rolling your ‘r’s while playing a brass or woodwind instrument.
Fortissimo
Music is very loud.
French horn
Brass instrument which is high and low.
Gaelic psalms
Psalms (hymns) which were sung in Gaelic, unaccompanied. Minister starts off and congregation joins in.
Glissando
Sliding from one note to another, taking in all the notes in between.
Gospel
Music written with religious words. Happy, clappy.
Grace note
A type of ornament played as a quick, crushed note before the main note of a melody.
Ground bass
A repeated melody in the bass line.
Hi hat cymbals
Used as part of a drum kit.
Homophonic
The same sound but in harmony.
Imperfect cadence
A cadence consists of two chords at the end of a phrase and sounds finished.
Indian music
Music from India which uses instruments such as the sitar and tabla.
Inverted pedal
Long held note up high.
Melismatic
Many notes sung to one syllable.
Mezzo soprano
A female singer whose voice is not as high as a soprano but not as low as an alto.
Minimalist
Used in modern music using a small number of notes. Repetition.
Moderato
A medium tempo.
Modulation
A change of key.
Oboe
This woodwind instrument uses a double reed.
Perfect cadence
A cadence consists of two chords at the end of a phrase. A perfect cadence uses chords V/5 to I/1 and sounds finished.
Pianissimo
Music is very quite.
Pibroch
Music for solo bagpipe.
Piccolo
A baby flute.
Pitch bend
Changing the pitch of a note, for example by pushing a guitar string upwards.
Pizzicato
Put your bow down and pluck the strings.
Polyphonic
Many sounds weaving together to give harmony.
Reverb
An echo effect used on an electric instrument.
Ritardando
The music slows down.
Roll
A very fast repetition of a note on a percussion instrument.
Rondo
A form where the first section (A) keeps returning, in between different sections - B,C. A:B:A:C:A:D etc.
Rubato
Translates as ‘robbed time’ which means the music’s speed is pulled about.
Semitone
Half a tone, e.g. G to Ab on a keyboard.
Sforzando
A note played with a forced sudden accent.
Sitar
An Indian guitar.
Strophic
A song which has music repeated for verse and chorus. AB - Binary form.
Syllabic
Vocal music where each syllable is given one note only.
Symphony
A large work for orchestra, usually in four movements.
Tabla
Indian drums often used to accompany the sitar.
Tone
The distance between two note = two semitones.
Trill
Two notes played repeatedly, a type of ornament.
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest brass instrument in the brass family.
Viola
A slightly bigger violin so sounds a bit lower.
Walking bass
A bass line in jazz music which moves by step.
Waulking song
A Scottish song in Gaelic sung by women. A strong beat is heard as they hang the cloth.
Whole-tone scale
A scale containing no semitones but built entirely on whole tones - sounds dreamy.
