Timbre Flashcards
Accordion
An instrument with a keyboard played with the right hand and chord buttons played with the left. The instrument is worn over the shoulders, and the sound is produced by squeezing air from concertina bellows through metal reeds. The bellows are operated by the arms.
Acoustic Guitar
A guitar which does not require amplification to produce its sounds.
i.e. the instrument is hollow
Alto (voice)
Female voice, lower in pitch than a soprano.
Arco
To play a stringed instrument with the bow.
Bagpipes
Scottish instrument, usually in B flat, with a drone. Different pitches are produced by fingering a chanter, like a recorder.
Backing Vocals
Singers (usually in a pop group) who support the lead vocalist by accompanying usually in harmony. Often without using proper words i.e. scat singing.
Baritone
A male singing voice which is between a tenor and a bass in pitch range.
Bass (voice)
The lowest sounding male voice, below a tenor and a baritone.
Bass Drum
The largest drum in a drum kit, played with a foot pedal.
or
An orchestral bass drum, a large drum played with a heavy beater or mallet.
Bass Guitar
A low-pitched electric guitar, usually with four strings and frets.
Basson
A woodwind instrument made of wood, at bass pitch, which produces its sounds through a double reed.
Blowing
When air is produced from the mouth to create sound by vibrating a reed or in a column of air.
Bodhran
A small, shallow hand held drum about the size of a dinner plate. It is used in folk usic and usually played with a double ended wooden drum stick.
Bongo Drums
A pair of drums, tuned to different pitches, usually joined together played with the hands. \they are often tuned ro quite a high pitch.
Bowing
The action of drawing a bow across strings in order to vibrate them and create a sound.
Brass
Family of instruments made of metal who produce their sound via a mouthpiece; trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, french horn, trombone, tuba, tenor horn, euphonium, sousaphone.
Brass Band
Ensemble consisting of instruments from the brass family with percussion.
Castenets
Percussion instrument of Spanish origin consisting of two wooden circles which are tapped together.
Cello
A four-stringed instrument, like a violin, but bigger in size and lower in pitch. Played between the legs, with a bow, or plucked.
Choral / Choir
Music for voices - usually in 4 parts SATB - Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, or double choir SSAATTBB
Clarinet
Treble pitched woodwind instrument made of wood (or plastic) with a single reed. Used in both classical music and jazz.
Clarsach
A type of harp. It is often used in folk music and is smaller than a concert harp and is not fully chromatic. It does not have pedals.
Con Sordino
A string or brass player to play with a mute.
Cymbals
Two sheets of circular metal, clashed together to provide a loud percussive sound.
or
A single sheets of metal suspended on a stand and played with beaters - as in a drum kit.
Diminuendo
When the music gradually gets quieter.
Distortion
An electronic effect used especially in rock / heavy metal music. This is when the output from the amplifier is too greatfor the dpeakers and the music distorts.
Double Bass
A four-stringed instrument, like a violin, but bigger in size and lower pitch. Played with a bow, or a pizzicato when used in jazz music.
Drumkit
A collection of common percussion instruments fixed together in a standard way. A basic kit consists of Bass Drum / Snare Drum / 3 or 4 toms / Hi-hat / Crash Cymbal / Ride Cymbal
Fiddle
The name for a violin when it is playing (Scottish) folk music. There is no practical difference between an orchestral violin and a fiddle.
flute
A treble instrument made of wood or metal (silver) played transversely. The flute does not have a reed but produces its sound with a lip-plate.
Flutter Tonguing
A method of tonguing in which the player rolls the letter “r” just behind the lips to create a tremolo effect. Used on wind and brass instruments.
Folk Group
An ensemble which plays folk style music using traditional instruments such as fiddle / clarsach/ accordion / penny-whistle / pipes etc.
French Horn
Mellow sounding brass instrument of alto - soprano pitch, which is circular in shape. Changes in pitch by depressing and releasing 4 valves.
Glockenspiel
A percussion instrument of the metallophone family. Produces its sound through beatera striking tuned metal bars arranged like a keyboard.
Glissando
To slide from one note to another, or across a range of notes without leaving any gaps in the pitch spectrum . A true glissando is called a portamento and is not possible on all instruments.
Guiro
A wooden percussion instrument, hand-held, which produces its sound by scraping a beater across ribs / grooves.
Harp
A stringed instrument with a wooden frame, strung with strings tuned to make a scale. pedals allow the strings to be tightened or slackened in order to make semitone intervals.
Harpsichord
A keyboard instrument, often with two manuals, where the sound is produced by the plucking of strings when keys are depressed.
Jazz Group
A group which plays jazz music. Typical instruments would include piano, drum kit, clarinets, saxophones, double bass, trumpets, trombones.
Mezzo-Soprano
A female voice which has a higher pitch range than an alto but a little lower than a soprano.
Mute / Muted
To change the sound of an instrument, and make it softer, by adding a mute. Stringed instruments and brass instruments can be muted. The correct direction for this is Con Sordini - with mute. Senza Sordini - without mute.
Oboe
A treble woodwind instrument of treble pitch which produces its sound using a double reed.
Orchestra
An ensemble containing instruments from the four families of woodwind, strings, brass and persussion.
Organ
A musical instrument with one or more keyboards and a pedalboard usually found in churches and concert halls where sound is produced by pressurised air passing through metal and/or wooden pipes. Usually organs have 2, 3 or 4 keyboards and a pedalboard is a giant keyboard played with the feet.
Pan Pipes
Pipes which are arranged in size from small to big and bound together. The sound is made from blowing across the top - like blowing across the top of a bottle.
Percussion
INstruments which make their sound by being struck, scraped or shaken. Percussion instruments fall into two categories: tuned or pitched and untuned or unpitched.
Piano
A keyboard which produces its sound by hammers striking strings. Full name is the pianoforte because it was the first keyboard instrument to be invented on which different dynamics levels were possible simply by firmness of touch.
Piccolo
Very high pitched woodwind instrument made of wood or metal (silver). Like the flute it doesn’t have a reed but produces its sound with a lip plate.
Pipes
Abbreviation for bagpipes.
Pitch bend
Changing the pitch of the note by a small amount for effect. This is often used in jazz and swing / big band music. Commonly done on the guitar, saxophones, trumpets, trombones and clarinets. Sometimes called “smearing”.
Pizzicato
italian word meaning to pluck strings of a stringed instrument. Instruction given to string players on their music.
Plucking
To vibrate a string on a stringed instrument such as a violin, cello or guitar by twanging it with a finger or thumb, as opposed to using a bow or strumming with a plectrum.
Pop Group
A group which plays popular music. Typical music include electric guitars, bass guitars, keyboards, drum kit, backing vocals and lead vocals.
Recorder
A Renaissance wind instrument without a reed. A full consort of recorders consisted of a sopranino / descant / treble / tenor / bass recorders - a sopranino being the highest in pitch and bass being the lowest.
Reverb
An electronic effect which can add the impression of different acoustics to music, making performance sound as if it were in a cathedral, or a concert hall, or a very large room.
Rolls
Fast repetition of a single note on a percussion instrument - notably a drum - especially a snare drum.
Saxophone
Woodwind instrument made of brass with a single reed. Commonly used in jazz music. Comes in several sizes (soprano / alto / tenor / baritone)
Scottish Dance Band
Also known as a ceilidh band. A group of instrumentalists who play Scottish dance music such as Jigs, Reel, Strathspeys, Waltzes etc. Typically consists of fiddles, accordions, double bass, drum kit, keyboard.
Sforzando
Very heavy accent - notated with sfz above or below a note.
Sitar
An instrument like a big guitar with strings which are plucked. Used in Indian classical music as the only polyphonic instrument. Sitars also have drones and sympathy strings.
Slide Guitar
A method of playing guitar where the player has a short piece of tube on their finger which they use in a sliding motion on the fingerboard. Produces a glissando effect. This style of guitar is particularly common in Country and Western music.
Snare Drum / Side Drum
The most important drum in a drum kit. Has a coiled metal snare connected to the lower skin which vibrates. used prominently in pipe and military bands.
Solo
Where one player / singer performs alone. In the context of a choir / orchestra / ensemble this is called obbligato.
Soprano
A high female voice / vocal range.
Staccato
To shorten a note to last as short an amount of time as possible. Notated by placing a dot over or under a note head.
Steel Band
An ensemble from the West Indies with instruments made out of steel oil drums, which are tuned to produce different pitches, according to where they are struck.
Striking
The action used to produce sound from an instrument by hitting it, as in a drum or a triangle.
Stringed Instruments
Instruments which produce their sound by a vibrating string(s) either by plucking, strumming ot bowing.
Strings
The orchestral family of instruments which comprises of first and second violins, violas, cellos and double basses.
Strumming
To play a guitar or other stringed instruments by drawing the fingers or a plectrum across all of the strings in quick succession.
Tabla
A set of two drums tuned to different pitches and played with the hands. Used in Indian classical music to accompany the sitar.
Tambourine
Circular percussion instrument with a skin and jangles around the side.
Tenor
The name for a male voice / vocal range which is higher in pitch than a bass and a baritone, but lower than a counter tenor.
Timpani
Large copper drums used in a symphony orchestra. The pitch is adjustable by the movement of a pedal.
Triangle
An unpitched percussion instrument, made of metal, shaped like an open triangle but not joined up in one corner. Suspended on a thin chord and struck with a metal beater.
Trombone
A brass instrument of tenor / bass pitch which changes its pitch by the movement of a telescopic slide.
Trumpet
Brass instrument of treble pitch which changes its pitch by the depressing and releasing valves.
Tuba
Brass instrument of deep brass pitch. Changes its pitch by the depressing and releasing valves.
Viola
A four-stringed instrument of tenor pitch slightly bigger than a violin, played under the chin with a bow or plucked.
Violin
A four-stringed instrument, played under the chin with a bow or plucked.
Vibrato
A slight and deliberate wavering in pitch to bring warmth and add expression to the sound.
Vocal
Music which is sung by a single voice, or a single voice per part.
Wind Band
An ensemble made up of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. Sometimes called a Concert Band.
Woodwind
Instruments which produce their sound by vibrating air caused by either a reed or a flute. Common examples are piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, basson, cor Anglais, saxophone.
Xylophone
A percussion instrument. Produces its sound through beaters striking tuned wooden bars arranged like a keyboard.
Chamber Music
Music conceived to be performed in smaller venues and more intimate circumstances, and to be played ONE player per part only.
Coloratura
Very high and usually fast and florid soprano singing. Coloratura singing is very difficult to do properly.
Concertino
The name for the group of solo instruments in a Concerto Grosso
Harmonics
To produce notes from the harmonic series by overblowing on a wind instrument, or by touching the string lightly on a stringed instrument.
Ripieno
The name for the remainder of the orchestra in a Concerto Grosso,
as distinct from the Concertino.
String Quartet
Ensemble consisting of violin 1, violin 2, viola and cello (one to a
part).
Tremolando
The rapid repetition of a note for effect. Trembling / quivering.
Tremolandos are notated with a sign not as a rhythmic pattern.
Tremolo
The raid alternation of notes more than a third apart on an
instrument, or the rapid movement of the bow on a stringed
instrument to create a shivering / quivering effect on one note. See
also Trill.
