Music Glossary Words
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- Created by: CharlotteW113
- Created on: 15-12-17 16:57
Acoustic guitar
Does not require amplification, unlike an electric one.
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Added notes
Notes that are added to a basic triad, such as a seventh or a ninth.
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Added sixth chord
a common chord in Jazz and Popular music, a triad with the sirth added above the tonic.
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Affection
The prevealing mood in a Baroque movement.
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Alberti bass
A figuration commony used in the Classical period, made up of broken chords used as an accompnaiment. Named after the now forgotten composer Domenico Alberti.
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Altered notes
Notes in a chord that have been flattened by a semitone, such as a flattened fifth.
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Answer
In a fugue, the subect repeated in response to its initial appearence, usually a fourth or fifth lower or higher than the preceeding subject. If it is an exact transpotision of the subject it is a real answer; if not it is a tonal answer.
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Anthemic/anthem
A song with a strong, memorable melody which has rousing or uplifting characteristics.
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Antiphonal
Music performed alternatley by two groups which are often physically seperated.
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Appoggiatura
An ornament often reffered to as a 'leaning note'. The appoggiatura leans on the main note, commonly taking half its value and starting a semitone or tone higher.
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Arpeggiated
The chord is spread, normally from the botton note to the top.
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Articulation
The manner in which a note or sequence of notes is played, for example, staccato, legato, accented, ect.
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Atonal
The music does not have any sort of key.
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Attack
How the note sounds when it comes in - a slow attach will sound like the note is fading in and a fast note will sound quite percussive.
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Augmented chord
A traid built on two major thirds, here Ab-C and C-E.
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Augmented
Doubling (or more) of the original notes' durations.
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Background music/underscore/underscoring
Non-diegetic music adding to the mood of the scene, reinforcing dramatic developments and aspects of character.
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Bar lines
Vertical lines ruled down through the stave, indicating bars.
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Bare fifth
Chords lacking the third and therefore ambigous in terms of major/minot tonality.
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Bars
The manageble chunks into which music is divided.
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Basso continuo
Continous bass parts are provided for harpsichord and stringed instruments such as bass viol and lute. The players add chords and melody.
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Binary form
A structure of two sections, A and B. Each section is repeted. In the A section the music modulates from the tonic to the dominant key. In section B, the music starts in the dominant and explores other keys before returning to the tonic at the end.
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Bitonal
Refers to music in two keys at the same time.
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Block triads
Major or minor triads in root position, built up in thirds.
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Breakdown
When many of the parts drop out of the musical texture for a short period of time.
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Bridge passage
A linking passage often used to change the key of the music (to modulate) in preparation for the second subject.
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Broken chord
When the notes of a chord are played one at a time rather than being sounded simultaneoualy.
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Build
In context of the text this refers to the gradual introduction of more instruments.
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Cadential
This refers to a progression of chords forming a cadence. For example, Ic-V7-I is known as a cadential 6/4. The 6/4 refers to the first chord being in second inversion - that is - a fourth and a sixth above the bass.
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Canon
Parts copy each other in exact intervals, often at the fifth or octave, but at different beats pf the bar.
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Cantata
The word derives from the Italian "cantare" and means 'sung'. A cantata is an extended piece in several movements, comprising chorus, recitative, chorale and aira with an orchestral accompaniment.
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Capo
A clamp fastened across all the strings on the neck of a stringed instrument to raise their pitch.
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Chopin, Frederic (1810-49)
Polish composer of piano music in the Romantic Style.
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Chord voicing
How the notes in a chord have been spaced out, and the order in which they occur.
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Chromatic
1. (harmony) from the Greek for 'colour'. The term is used to describe notes that are not diatonic (part of the key of the music). 2 (melody) ascending or descending in semitones.
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Circle of fifths
A series of chords in which the root note of each chrd is a fifth lower of a fourth higher than that of the previous one.
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Classical era
The period of music extending from c. 1750 to c.1820.
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Clave
The rhytum closley associated with the Latin percussion instrument known as 'claves' (short squat sticks that are struck together).
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Coda
A section sometimes added at the end of a peice or movement.
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Codetta
A short coda concluding a single section within a movement.
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Colla voce
Literally, 'with the voice'. This is an instruction to the band and the musical director to follow the vocalist's tempo.
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Compound interval
One extending over more than one octave. A compound third could be a tenth or a seventeenth and so on up.
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Compound metre
A metre in which the beat is dotted and subdivudes into groups of three.
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Compound time signature
When the bar feels like it needs to be split into groups of three (having a group of three 'mini' beats in a 'big' beat).
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Concertino
The smaller group of soloists in a concerto grosso.
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Concerto grosso
A concerto for more than one soloist. The phrase literally means a large concerto. It is usually written in three movements in the order fast-slow-fast.
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Conjunct
Movement by step.
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Consonant
Intervals or chords that sound pleasant; the triads and intervals of a third and sixth are examples of this.
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Contrapuntal
When two melodies are played 'against' each other and interweve - almost the same as 'polyphonic'; written in counterpoint.
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Counterpoint
Literally means 'tune against tune'. It is the simultaneous combination of two or more melodies with independant rhythms.
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Countersubject
The melody played after the subject or answer has been sounded. The melody is literally counter (against) the subject.
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Cover
A new version of an existing song.
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Crescendo
Getting gradually louder.
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Cross rhythm
Rhythms that cross the usual pattern of accented and unaccenteed beats, creating irregular accents and syncopated effects.
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Cue
A section of music in a film. Here it refers to the whole track.
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Da capo aria
ABA or ternary form. Often the repeated A section would be ornamented by the singer. Da capo means 'again from the beginning'.
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Dance cuite
In Baroque music the suite comprised a series of dance movements. By the time of Purcell, suites were composed of four main movements called the allemande, courante, sarabande and quige. These movements are based on dance forms from different places.
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Decay
How the note dies away after being sounded.
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Dialoging
Instruments literally 'in dialoge', playing one after the other, swapping ideas.
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Diatonic
Notes that belong to the key of the piece (literally 'of the key').
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Diegetic music
This is music contained within the action of the film and is included in the story - for example, music played in a bar. If a character in the story can hear the music it is diegetic. Most film music music is non-diagetic
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Diminished Seventh
A four-note chord made up solely of minor-third intervals.
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Diminuendo
Getting gradually quieter.
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Disjunct
Movement by leap.
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Dissonant intervals
The intervals that are dissonant (clashing) are the minor and major second, the minor and major seventh and the tritone (augmented fourth and diminished fifth).
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Distortion
An effect that increases the volume and sustain on an electric guitar as well as making the timbre more gritty or smooth depending on settings.
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Dominant preparation
A passage focused on the dominant chord to create expectation for a return to the tonic.
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Dominant seventh
Chord V with added minor seventh.
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Dominant
The fifth note of the scale or key - the strongest note after the tonic.
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Drone
A continously held or repeted note, usually low in pitch.
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Drum loops
A pre-recorded drum pattern repeated on a loop, over which other music can be laid.
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Dynamics
Marks in the score indicating to the performer how loud or soft their part should be played.
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Effects
Electronic devices designed to enhance or alter the basic sound quality (for example, delay, reverb).
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Enharmonic
Two identically sounding pitches with different names. For example Eb and D#.
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Extended chord
A chord with at least one added note, such as the ninth.
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Fanfare
A celebratory peice for the brass instruments (and sometimes persuddion) often making the opening of an important event or ceremony. The music is short and loud and often features arpeggios and broken chords.
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Figured bass
A form of musical shorthand that the keyboard player reads from the score to play the intended harmony.
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First subject
The first theme or melody.
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Flanger/flanging
An effect creating a swirling or swooshing sound.
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Fortissimo
Very loud.
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Forte
Loud.
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Fugal exposition
The initial statements of the subject and answer.
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Fugue
A musical form comprising an exposition, middle section and final section. The music is contrapuntal.
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Fusion
The blending of two or more musical styles, usually from different cultures.
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Gavotte
A medium-paced French dance in 4/4 time beginning on the third beat of the bar. It was popular in the 18th centuary.
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Glam
A genre of rock known for over-the-top, glamorous dress sence including platform shoes, glitter amd flamboyant hairstyles.
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Gospel music
A musical style with roots in the black oral tradition in which vocal harmonies play a prominent role.
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Groove
In the context of the text this is a drum loop. It can also mean 'rhythmic feel'.
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Harmonic rhythm
The rate at which the chords change.
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Harmonic sequence
When a chord sequence is immediatley repeated at a higher or lower pitch.
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Heterophonic
Two or more instruments playing the same melody at the same time, with each embellishing it in a slightly different way.
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Hi-hat
A pair of cymbals mounted on a special stand so that they can be sounded by pressing a pedal that clamps them together as well as by striking.
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Homophonic
A texture comprising a melody part and an accompnaiment.
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Imperfect cadence
A cadence ending on chord V and sounding incomplete. Usually preceeded bychord I, II or IV.
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Independent parts
The instruments or voices are each doing different things. Note that a part that is simply harmonising another throghout the peice is not considered independent.
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Interrupted cadence
Most commonly comprises chord V followed by chord VI. So called because it interrupts an expected perfect cadence.
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Interval
The distance between two notes.
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Inversions
Major or minor triads with either the third (first inversion) or the fifth (second inverison) in the bass.
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Jukebox musical
When the score for a musical is made up of existing songs, usually all by the same artist orwith a strong thematic link.
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Key signature
A series of flat or sharp signs placed next to the clef sign on every state, which tells us the key of the music in the following bars.
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Kick drum
Also known as 'bass drum' - the buggest drum in a drum kit, set sideways-on to the audience and drummer. It is plated by pressing a pedal which moves a beater to strike the drum skin.
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Lament
A song with a sorrowful mood. Often slow and in a minor key.
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Ledger lines
Mini lines used to extend the pitch upwards above the stave or downwards below it.
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Legato
Played in a smooth fashion (the opposite of staccato).
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Leitmotif
A recurrong musical idea which is associated with a particular theme, character or place.
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Level descriptors
The parts of a mark scheme that describe what you need to do to achieve it.
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Loop
A short repeated passage often involving electronic drums.
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Lyrical
Songlike, flowing
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Melismatic
Refers to vocal melody with several or even many notes per syllable.
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Metre
Refers to the number of beats in a bar and how they are subdivided.
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Metrical shifting
The downbeat is shifted to a different part of the bar.
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Mezzo
The Italian name for half but in the context of dymanics, this means 'moderatley'. For example, mezzo forte means moderatley loud.
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Middle 8
Connects two sections of a pop or rock song but is not necessarily eight bars long.
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Middle C
The note used as a reference point for all instruments and clefs.
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Mix
The relative volume of the different parts in a recording and their place in the sterio field.
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Monophonic
Refers to a musial texture comprising a single line which can be sung or played by several people.
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Mordent
There are two types of mordent: 'upper' and 'lower'. The upper mordent is made up of the main note, the note above the note and the main note again, all played as quickly as possible. The lower mordent goes from main note to the note below and back.
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Motif
A short melodic phrase of just a few notes.
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Mulit-track
A recording of a performance (or performances) on separate tracks in which each track can be edited individually to change levels, add effects, ect.
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Murky bass
The fast octave repetitions in the bass.
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Neapolitan chord
A chord built on the flattened supertonic note.
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Obbligato
An essential melody part that must be played.
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Octave
A series of eight notes occupying the interval between (and including) two notes for example, between one C and the nearest C above or below it.
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Onomatopoeic
The music setting sounds like the word, for example, drop.
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Ornament
Notes that decorate the melody. These are shown by small notes (grace notes) immediatley before the main note or symbols above it. Examples include the mordent, trill and the turn.
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Ostinato
A persistent phrase or motif repeated over several bars or more.
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Ottava alta
A symbol (a little dotted line with 8va at the beginning) indicating that notes should be played an octave higher than written.
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Ottava bassa
A symbol (a little dotted line with 8vb at the beninning) indicating that notes should be olayed an octave nigher than written.
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Outro
A concluding section, sometimes like a coda in Classical music.
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Overdubbing
Recording an instrumental or vocal part over previously recorded music.
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Pad
A synthesia sound designed to be used in chords as opposed to lead lines.
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Panning
Giving sounds different levels in the left and right speakers so that it sounds as if they are coming from a new direction.
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Passagework
A constantly moving passage, often in patterns of quick notes such as semiquavers. It often includes sequences.
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Passing modilations
modulations where the new key only lasts for a few bars (or less) before modulating to another key
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Patronage
A system whereby composers earned money from a wealthy individual for writing music. The person who commissioned the music was known as a patron
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Pedal
a sustained or repeated note in the bass. It may clash with harmonic changes above it. Pedals are usually on the tonic or dominant notes, so would be called either a tonic or dominant pedal
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Pentatonic
a five note scale or a melody that uses only five different notes
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Perfect cadence
a cadence comprising 2 chords. A perfect cadence is chord V followed by chord 1.
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Piano
Quiet
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Pianissimo
very quiet
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polyphonic
many sounds, more than one melody sounding at the same time or entering at slightly differnet times to that the melodic lines overlap.
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Polytonal
chords that arae built from 2 or more keys simultaneously
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Pull-offs
when a note is sounded on the guitar by plucking the string with the fretting hand
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Range
How many octaves an instrument can play, eg guitar has a range of 3 to 4 octaves
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Register
How high or low in pitch a piece of music or a musical part sounds
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Relative Minor
the minor key based on teh 6th note of the major scale
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Reverb
an effect whi h creates the impression of being in a physica space
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Ride
a type of cymbal sometimes used to offer a counter-rhythm to the main beat
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Riff
a short passage of music that is repeated
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Ripieno
The larger group in a concerto grosso
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Ritardando/Rit
slowing down
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Romantic era
the musical period extending from c1810 to c1900
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Romanticism
an artistic and intellectual movement that began in Europe in the early 1800s and lasted for 100yrs. characterised by individuials expression of emotions d freedom of imagination and love of natural world and rebellion against
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sample
pre-recorded segment of sound, often manipulated in some way
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Scalic
music that is based on scales ascending and or descending in pitch
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second subject
the second theme or melody
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semitones
12 equally spaced intervals into which an octave is divided
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sequence
the repetition of a musicla phrase at a higher or lower pitch that the original
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sforzando
an accent showing that a note or chord should be played with greater force than the other notes surrounding. Often shown as sf or sfz
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side sticks
hitting the edge of the snare drum with the sticks held sideways
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simple time signature
when the beat naturally divides into 2 equal halves
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simultaneously sounding
has to be significant proportion of the music where more than 1 part is perfomed at the same time. cannot just sing 1 verse & have someone else sing the next because the parts arent sounding at the same time
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snare roll
a rapid succession of hits on the snare drum
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snare
a drum with a series of loosely strung metal wires in contact with the lower skin which create a distince buzzing or rattling noise when the drum it struck
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solo concerto
a concerto for a single instrument accompanied by an orchestra
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solo
an extended, improvised melodic line played by a single instrument over a given chord sequence, usually as an interlude in the middle of a song
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sonata form
a large-scale form invented in the Classical era comprising 3 sections, exposition, development & recapitulation. Not restricted to sonatas
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spelling
deciding between enharmonic equivalents
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staccato
played in a detached fashion
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static harmony
when the harmony remains on a sinle chord for a prolonged period of time
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stereo field
how the sounds have been positioned in the left and right speakers
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stile italiano
Purcell was influenced by the Italian style which was characaterised by the concertato style, the trio sonata, double-dotted notes, dramatic recitatives and da capo arias,
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stretto
entries of the subject occur closer together than before, heightening the tension of the music
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subject
the short main theme of the fugue
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suspension
prolonging a note to create a dissonance with the next chord
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swung rhythm
often used in jazz, the first of the pair of quavers is given slightly longer duration and the second a slightly shorter duration, creating a skipping feel
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swung
music which has a triplet feel, even more notated with straight quavers
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syllabic word-setting
1 note per syllable of a word
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syllabic
when 1 note is sung per syllable
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syncopated
When a weak bar or a note inbetween beats is purposely accentuated
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syncopation
emphasising beats of the bar that are normally unaccented
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synthesiser
an electronic musical instrument that creates sounds by manipulating combinations of waveforms or by modifying existing sounds.
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techno
a style of electronic music
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tempo rubato
robbed time - technique where the preformer can pull back (or speed up) the temp for expressive effect
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ternary (or ABA)
a simple musical form in three sections with an ABA structure
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texture
the character of a piece of music created by the interaction fo its various parts
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Tierce de Picardie
refers to a sharpened third in the tonic chord in music in a minor key
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Ties
small arcs drawn from 1 note head to the next, indicating that yo ushould add up the tied note values and hold the note on instead of sounding it a second time
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Timbre
the particular tone colour of an instrument or voice
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Time signature
included at the start of a piece of music, it shows what noes are used to count the pulse and how many beats there are in a bar
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Tone
an interval of 2 semitones
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Transition
a section used to take themusic from 1 key to another by modulation. Sometimes also called a bridge section
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Tremolando/tremolo
rapid playing on the same note to produce a wavering, tremulous sound.
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Triads
3 note chords
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trio sonata
a piece for Baroque ensemble comprising 2 violins, cello and harpsichord (or organ)
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Triplets
a horizontal square brackete that lets the performer know that the 3 noets should be played in the time it normally takes to play 2
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Turnaround
a set of (usually 4( faster-moving chords to get the music back to a repeated section
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Tutti
all parts playing at the same time
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Undoubled
the part you are performing is not being performed in anotaher insturment or voice at the same time. It is fine if someone is harmonising, but they cant be playing the same notes as you.
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Unison
more than one part playing the same melody at the same pitch
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Vamp
a short repeated accompanying phrase
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Variant
a phrase whose shape resembles the original
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Vaudeville
a form of comic musical theatre from teh 1880s
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Vibrato
a technique used to cause rapid variations in pitch, The term is Italian and is the past participle of the verb 'vibrare' which means to vibrate
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Vocalisation
wordless singing using a vowel syllable such as 'ah'
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Wah-wah
a folter errect in which the peak of teh filter is swept up and down the frequency range in response to the players foot movement on a rocker pedal
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Word painting
depicting a word in music to imitate its meaning
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Notes that are added to a basic triad, such as a seventh or a ninth.
Back
Added notes
Card 3
Front
a common chord in Jazz and Popular music, a triad with the sirth added above the tonic.
Back
Card 4
Front
The prevealing mood in a Baroque movement.
Back
Card 5
Front
A figuration commony used in the Classical period, made up of broken chords used as an accompnaiment. Named after the now forgotten composer Domenico Alberti.
Back
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