Year 7 Advanced Vocabulary Flashcards
Timbre
The quality or colour of sound that makes one voice or instrument different from another.
Keyboard
A musical instrument such as a piano, organ or synthesiser.
Djembe
A drum of West African origin.
Duration
How long or short notes are.
Pulse
The beat / heartbeat of the music.
Rhythm
Musical patterns made up of notes of different durations / lengths.
Can be played on a pitched or unpitched instrument.
Ostinato
A musical pattern that repeats (can be pitched or unpitched).
Pitch
How high or low a musical sound is.
Melody
Another word for tune, created by playing notes one after another.
Staff/ Stave
The five lines that music is written down on.
Sharp
A symbol (#) which raises a note by a half step (or semitone) when put in front of it.
Flat
A symbol (b) which lowers a note by a half step (or semitone) when put in front of it.
Dynamics
How loudly or quietly to play a piece of music.
Forte
Italian word for “loud” (shortened to f).
Piano
Italian word for “quiet” (shortened to p).
Tempo
The speed of a piece of music.
Adagio
Italian word for “slowly”.
Allegro
Italian word for “fast”.
Structure
The way a piece of music is built by combining different sections
(eg. intro-verse-chorus in a pop song).
Call and Response
A question and answer phrase.
e.g. “Have you got a Djembe? Yes I have”.
Texture
Thick or thin. How many layers of music there are.
Thick and Thin Textures
Music can be described as having a thin texture (only one or two musical layers) or a thick texture (many musical layers).
Tonality
The tonality of a piece of music is often either major or minor.
Musical Mood
Different pieces of music can be described as having a different mood, often depending on whether the tonality is major or minor.
Music Technology
The use of computers or other hardware/software to create and edit musical sounds.
Audio
Sound that has been recorded.
Eg, “I have recorded my vocal part as an audio track”.
Orchestra
Name given to a musical group / ensemble made up four families: strings, woodwind, brass and percussion.
Quaver
A note that lasts half a beat. They are often found in pairs to make up a whole beat.
Crotchet
A note that lasts for one beat.
Minim
A note that lasts for two beats.
Semibreve
A note which lasts for four beats.
Scale
A group of notes in a particular order.
e.g. C Major Scale:
C D E F G A B C
Treble Clef
A clef used in sheet music for notes higher in pitch than middle C.
Bass Clef
A clef used in sheet music for notes lower in pitch than middle C.
Crescendo
Italian word for “getting louder”.
Diminuendo
Italian word for “getting quieter”.
Accelerando
Italian word for “getting faster”.
Ritenuto
Italian word for “slowing down”.
Binary Form
A piece of music with two contrasting sections, often called A and B.
Major Keys
Music is usually either major or minor. Music in a major key is based around major scales and tends to sound happier.
Primary Triads
The three most commonly used chords in any given key.
In C Major these are C, F and G. They are also known as chords I, IV and V (or 1, 4 and 5).
Mash-up
A piece of music created electronically (using software such as Audacity) where different pieces are cut and pasted together.
Remix
An arrangement or new version of an existing song or piece of music, created using technology.
