Music Terminology

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Conjunct
a step movement
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Disjunct
a leap movement
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Sequence
the restatement of a motif or longer melodic (or harmonic) passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice
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Repetition
sounds or sequences are often repeated.
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Imitation
repetition of a melody in a polyphonic texture shortly after its first appearance in a different voice.
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Contrast
the difference between parts or different instrument sounds. The three types of contrast are rhythmic contrast, melodic contrast, and harmonic contrast. Procedures of contrast include stratification, juxtaposition, and interpolation.
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Chordal
relating to the strings of an instrument/Relating to or consisting of a harmonic chord/Giving prominence to harmonic rather than contrapuntal structure: chordal music.
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Intervals
the difference between two pitches
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Fragmented
use of fragments or the division of a musical idea (gesture, motive, theme, etc.) into segments. It is used in tonal and atonal music, and is a common method of localized development and closure.
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Portamento
is a pitch sliding from one note to another.
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Ornamentation
embellishments are musical flourishes, typically added notes, that are not essential to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony), but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line (or harmony), provide added interest and variety
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Phrasing
a unit of musical meter that has a complete music sense of its own.
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Passing Notes
a note that is foreign to a harmony and is introduced between two successive chord tones in order to produce a melodic transition.
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Auxiliary Notes
a melodic ornamental tone following a principal tone by a step above or below and returning to the principal tone; embellishment
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Augmentation
is the lengthening of a note or interval
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Diminution
form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values
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Episodic Work
element found in music that is a digression from the main structure of the composition
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Leitmotif/Idee Fixe/Motto Theme
recurring musical theme appearing usually in operas but also in symphonic poems
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Thematic Transformation
a musical technique in which a leitmotif, or theme, is developed by changing the theme by using permutation
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Diatonic
involving only notes proper to the prevailing key
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Chromatic
relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage is written.
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Arpeggios
a type of broken chord using the tonic, mediant and dominant of the scale
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Scalic
related to a musical scale
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Chromatic Movement
Moving via semitone
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Pentatonic
a scale of five notes
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Blues/Blue Notes
played at a slightly different pitch than standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone
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Guide Tones
a note (usually a non-chord tone) that is used to connect certain chord tones in a phrase typically in a constant motion.
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Whole Tone
scalar arrangement of pitches, each separated from the next by a whole-tone step
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Modal
uses diatonic scales that are not necessarily major or minor and does not use functional harmony as we understand it within tonality.
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12 Tone
also known as dodecaphony. uses a tone row formed by the twelve semitones of the chromatic scale.
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Klangfarbenmelodie
a musical line or melody between several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument
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Octatonic
any eight-note musical scale. The scale most often meant by this term is one in which the notes ascend in alternating intervals of a whole step and a half step
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Range
the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch it can play
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Syllabic
one pitch in the melody goes with one syllable in the words
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Melismatic
the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession
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Riffs
a short rhythm phrase used in music, that is often played when a soloist is performing or when chords and harmonies are changing
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Licks
a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short series of notes that is used in solos and melodic lines and accompaniment.
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Primary Chords
chords built from major or minor thirds, most important in tonal and diatonic music. Chords 1, 4 and 5 are the primary chords
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Secondary Chords
a dominant function chord that is not the dominant chord in the key of the piece, but is the dominant of one of the other major or minor triads in that key.
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Dominant 7th
a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh
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Major 7th
a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect 5th and a major seventh
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Minor 7th
a chord composed of a root, a minor third, a perfect fifth and a minor seventh
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Diminished Chords
a chord composed of a root, a minor third, a diminished fifth and a diminished seventh
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Neapolitan 6th
an expressive alternative to the ii6 chord, and most often found in the minor keyTake the progression iiº6 - V7 - i in a minor key, and use the lowered second degree of the scale for the supertonic triad.
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Augmented 6th
formed on the second degree. It is a seventh chord. Most commonly, it stands in its second inversion. Its third is raised in order to build an augmented sixth interval with the bass
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Ninth Chords
a dominant chord (and minor seventh) with a ninth
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Secondary Sevenths
a secondary chord but rather than being a dominant it is a leading-tone seventh chord or triad, which are similar in function to dominant chords.
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Sus4 Chords
replaces the 1+3+5 pattern with 1+4+5, meaning the third note is replaced by the fourth
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Added 6th
any triad with an added sixth above the root as a chord factor
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Power Chords
consists of the root note and the fifth
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Inversions
rearrangement of the top-to-bottom elements in an interval, a chord, a melody, or a group of contrapuntal lines of music
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Appoggiaturas
the duration of an appoggiatura is usually half of the main note; in other words, the main note is shortened in proportion
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Tierce de Picardie
a major chord at the end of a piece of music in a minor key
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Added Note Chords
a non-tertian chord composed of a tertian triad and an extra "added" note. typically a non-tertian note, which cannot be defined by a sequence of thirds from the root, such as the added sixth
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Modulations
the act or process of changing from one key
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Perfect Cadence
Chord V-I
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

a leap movement

Back

Disjunct

Card 3

Front

the restatement of a motif or longer melodic (or harmonic) passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

sounds or sequences are often repeated.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

repetition of a melody in a polyphonic texture shortly after its first appearance in a different voice.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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