Music Key Terms

Revision cards to help with learning key terms for the music exam

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fortissimo (ff)
very loud
1 of 114
forte (f)
loud
2 of 114
mezzo forte (mf)
moderately loud
3 of 114
mezzo piano (mp)
moderately soft
4 of 114
piano (p)
soft
5 of 114
pianissimo (pp)
very soft
6 of 114
crescendo (cresc.)
gradually louder
7 of 114
dimnuendo (dim.)
gradually softer
8 of 114
sforzando (sf)
suddenly loud
9 of 114
unison/monophonic
all parts identical (single melody line)
10 of 114
octaves
parts are an octave apart, but with the same tune
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homophonic
parts move in harmony together (or melody with accompaniment)
12 of 114
contrapuntal/polyphonic
parts interweave (different melodies together)
13 of 114
imitation (imitative)
where one instrument or voice copies another within the texture
14 of 114
canon (canonic)
where one instrument or voice copies another exactly shortly after, and overlaps (like a round)
15 of 114
antiphony (antiphonal)
where there is a spatial echo effect (e.g. trumpets over there echo horns over here)
16 of 114
major
bright and happy sounding
17 of 114
minor
sad sounding
18 of 114
atonal
no key at all ('weird' sounding)
19 of 114
modal
not major, nor minor - scales of ancient music, some world folk music
20 of 114
modulation
change of key during a piece
21 of 114
dominant
the key a fifth up (C to G)
22 of 114
subdominant
the key a fifth down (C to F)
23 of 114
relative minor/relative major
C to Am/Am to C
24 of 114
conjunct
melody moves up and down mainly by step (neighbouring notes)
25 of 114
disjunct
melody contains many leaps
26 of 114
scalic
melody based on a scale (series of notes going up or down)
27 of 114
chromatic scale
using ALL the notes
28 of 114
major scale
bright and happy sounding
29 of 114
minor scale
sad sounding
30 of 114
whole-tone scale
sounds 'dreamy' - C D E F# G# A#
31 of 114
pentatonic scale
set of 5 notes like the keyboard black notes
32 of 114
arpeggio
chord notes played one after another (broken chord)
33 of 114
triadic
using the 3 notes of a common chord (e.g. a melody that starts with C E G)
34 of 114
diatonic
melody which sticks to the notes of the key
35 of 114
chromatic
melody which uses several notes not in the key ('accidentals' - extra sharps or flats)
36 of 114
appoggiatura
a note which 'leans' on to a main note of the melody
37 of 114
acciacatura
a 'crushed' note - extremely quick
38 of 114
trill
rapid alternation of note and note above
39 of 114
turn
note, note above, note, note below, note
40 of 114
mordent
quick 'shake' - note, note above, note
41 of 114
ostinato
continuous repetition of a short pattern
42 of 114
ground bass
constantly repeating bass line in early music (17th century)
43 of 114
riff
short, repetitive pattern in jazz or pop styles
44 of 114
sequence
pattern in the melody repeated at a different pitch going up or down
45 of 114
inversion
melodic pattern played upside down from original
46 of 114
augmentation
melodic pattern with note-values lengthened from original
47 of 114
diminution
melodic pattern with note-values shortened from orginal
48 of 114
descant
part sung over the top of a melody
49 of 114
legato
notes smoothly joined
50 of 114
staccato
notes short and detached
51 of 114
dotted rhythm
an uneven jerky feel (when notes are dotted crotchet, quaver, dotted crotchet, quaver)
52 of 114
triplets
three beats in the time of two
53 of 114
syncopation
a rhythm which stresses the 'off-beat'
54 of 114
hemiola
when two bars of three beats feel like three bars of two beats because of where the patterns place the accent
55 of 114
bi-rhythm
when two completely different rhythm patterns are simultaneous
56 of 114
poly-rhythm
when many different rhythm patterns/metres are simultaneous
57 of 114
metre
time signature
58 of 114
simple metre
each beat can be divided into 2 even notes (e.g. 2/4 3/4 4/4)
59 of 114
compound metre
each beat can be divided into 3 (e.g. 6/8 9/8 12/8)
60 of 114
irregular/asymmetric metre
unusual time signatures (e.g. 5/8 7/8)
61 of 114
largo
slow
62 of 114
adagio
slow (but not as slow as largo)
63 of 114
andante
walking pace
64 of 114
moderato
moderate speed
65 of 114
allegro
fast
66 of 114
vivace
lively
67 of 114
presto
faster than allegro
68 of 114
rallentando (rall.)
getting slower
69 of 114
ritardando (rit.)
getting slower
70 of 114
accelerando (accel.)
getting faster
71 of 114
a tempo
return to original speed
72 of 114
rubato
tempo is flexible
73 of 114
dissonant
piece uses discords
74 of 114
consonant
piece uses pleasant combinations of notes
75 of 114
diatonic
melody or harmony uses only notes from the key of the piece
76 of 114
chromatic
uses other notes in between, extra flats or sharps
77 of 114
pedal
continuous note (usually in the bass) - may be for a section of the piece or the whole piece
78 of 114
drone
a particular type of pedal used in folk music (e.g. bagpipes)
79 of 114
cadences
the two chords that punctuate the end of a phrase of music
80 of 114
perfect cadence
chord V to chord I (sounds finished)
81 of 114
imperfect cadence
ending on chord V (sounds unfinished)
82 of 114
plagal cadence
chord IV to chord I (sounds rested - amen)
83 of 114
interrupted
chord V to chord VI (unexpected)
84 of 114
tierce de picardie
when a minor piece ends with the tonic major chord
85 of 114
arco
strings played with a bow
86 of 114
pizzicato
strings plucked
87 of 114
distortion/overdrive
sounds 'dirty' or 'fuzzy'
88 of 114
reverb
an effect whereby the sound produced by an amplifier or an amplified musical instrument is made to reverberate slightly
89 of 114
tremolo
rapid re-playing of one note
90 of 114
glissando
slide
91 of 114
double-stopping
when a bowed string instrument plays two strings at onve
92 of 114
vibrato
a subtle 'wobbling'
93 of 114
falsetto
a man singing in a false soprano-ish voice
94 of 114
brass band
only brass and percussion
95 of 114
wind band/military band/concert band
brass, woodwind and percussion
96 of 114
string trio
violin, viola, cello
97 of 114
string quartet
most common chamber music ensemble of 2 violins, viola and cello
98 of 114
piano quintet
piano and string quartet
99 of 114
string orchestra
orchestra of violins, violas, cellos and double basses
100 of 114
full (symphony) orchestra
brass, woodwind, percussion, strings
101 of 114
binary form
AABB
102 of 114
ternary form
ABA
103 of 114
rondo
ABACADA (one idea keeps coming back, with episodes between)
104 of 114
variation form
a themed, followed by variations based on it
105 of 114
sonata form
a classical form with exposition, development and recapitulation
106 of 114
minuet and trio
Baroque and Classical dance form where minuet is binary, trio is binary and then minuet is re-played without repeats
107 of 114
call and response
simple way of building up a piece (leader and reply)
108 of 114
verse-chorus form
a form for songs (usually rondo)
109 of 114
strophic
where songs have a series of verses and no chorus
110 of 114
through-composed
no repeating sections
111 of 114
da capo aria
an operatic song in ternary from: A, then be, then 'da capo' (back to the beginning), A again
112 of 114
continuo
Baroque bass line where a bass instrument and chord instrument (usually harpsichord) accompany the music
113 of 114
cadenza
a free section for a soloist to show off
114 of 114

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

loud

Back

forte (f)

Card 3

Front

moderately loud

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

moderately soft

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

soft

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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