Seachanges Flashcards
Inversion
When’s chord motif or melody is played upside down
Retrograde
A line of Music places in reverse so that it is the same forwards as backwards
Arco
An instruction to play with a bow
Barton pizzicato
‘Snap pizzicato’ The string is pulled up and allowed to snap back to the fingerboard
Col legno battuto
An instruction to a string player to strike the string with the wood of the bow
Harmonic
An overtone, can be natural/artificial. Indicated by a circle/diamond above the stopped note.
Glissando
To slide
L.V. Laisser vibrer
Sound is allowed to vibrate until it dies away.
Sul ponticello
An instruction to a string instrument to play near the bridge so as to produce a metallic quality sound. ( pont-pond-bridge)
Sul tasto
Play on the fingerboard
Pizz
+
Left hand pizzicato
Across the bridge
Play above the bridge
Martellato
Hammered
Serialism
A structured ‘series’ of notes which governs the development of a composition.
Atonal
Not in any key
Polytonality
A number of keys played together
Timbre
Thé tonal quality or colour
Dies irae
An ancient Gregorian chant (day of judgement)
Danse macabre
Medieval dance of death
Totentanz
The rhythm
Crotales
Pitched percussion (tiny, antique cymbals)
Marimba
Pitched percussion (a keyboard-like instrument with wooden bars and mellow sound)
Guiro
Wooden instrument played by scraping a stick over notches on the surface
Rainstick
A hollow stick with beads inside that you shake
Flageolet (flag.)
Play harmonic
3 note cell
(GAC)- at beginning at a high pitch, it’s notes intercepted with bars of silence, on piano,crotales,string,wind trémolo cello later.
Compositional technique
Eg subtraction, inversion, retrograde, diminution
