Vocabulary

Question 0

Define tonal harmony

Answer 0

music with a tonal center, based on major and/or minor scales, and using tertian chords that are related to one another and to the tonal center in various ways

Question 1

Define harmony

Answer 1

the sound that results when two or more pitches are performed simultaneously. It is the vertical aspect of music, produced by the combination of the components of the horizontal aspect.

Question 2

tonal center

Answer 2

a pitch class that provides a center of gravity

Question 3

tertian

Answer 3

built of thirds, like C-E-G

Question 4

functional harmony

Answer 4

the standard roles of a chord within a key in tonal harmony

Question 5

define pitch

Answer 5

the highness or lowness of a sound, or the higher the frequency the higher the pitch, the lower the frequency the lower the pitch

Question 6

define octave

Answer 6

from one pitch to the next within its pitch class, ex: C3 to C4

Question 7

define octave register

Answer 7

all the pitches within an octave

Question 8

define staff

Answer 8

A graph used to indicate what pitch(es) is desired and in what order; consists of five lines, four spaces, and a clef

Question 9

define ledger lines

Answer 9

extra lines added to the staff to allow a wider range of pitches

Question 10

define clef

Answer 10

appears at the beginning of a staff in order to indicate which pitches are to be associated with which lines and spaces

Question 11

What are the four clefs?

Answer 11

treble: centered around G4 or the second line from the bottom on the staff; bass: centered around F3 or the second line from the top of the staff; alto: centered around C4 or the middle line of the staff; tenor: centered around C4 or the second line from the bottom of the staff

Question 12

define grand staff

Answer 12

A combination to two staves joined by a brace, with the top and bottom staves using treble and bass clefs respectively

Question 13

define major scale

Answer 13

a combination of whole steps and half steps encompassing an octave; the half steps occur between scale degrees 3 & 4 and 7 & 1

Question 14

define half step

Answer 14

the distance from a key on the piano to the very next key, regardless of color

Question 15

define whole step

Answer 15

on the piano, the distance between three keys, regardless of color

Question 16

define tetrachord

Answer 16

stepwise four-note pattern

Question 17

define accidental

Answer 17

a symbol that raises or lowers a pitch by a half or whole step depending on which symbol is used

Question 18

key

Answer 18

identified by the first degree of a scale; ex: in the key of A the first degree is A

Question 19

define key signature

Answer 19

a pattern of sharps or flats that appears at the beginning of a staff and indicates that certain notes are to be consistently raised or lowered

Question 20

define enharmonic

Answer 20

describes notes that are spelled differently but sound the same

Question 21

define transpose

Answer 21

to write or play music in some key other than the original

Question 22

define circle of fifths

Answer 22

a diagram of all the keys that looks somewhat like the face of a clock that when read clockwise each new key begins on the dominant of the previous key

Question 23

define natural minor scale

Answer 23

like a major scale except the third, sixth, and seventh scale degrees are lowered a half step

Question 24

define natural harmonic scale

Answer 24

like the major scale except the third and sixth degrees are lowered by a half step

Question 25

define melodic minor scale

Answer 25

like the major scale except the third scale degree is lowered by a half step when ascending, and when defending it is like the natural minor scale

Question 26

define the minor pentachord

Answer 26

the pattern of w-h-w-w-w found in all three types of minor scales

Question 27

define relatives

Answer 27

major and minor keys that share the same key signature, ex: C minor and Eb major

Question 28

define parallels

Answer 28

major and minor keys that share the same tonic, ex: C major and C minor