Melody
The Tune
PItch
how high or low the note is.
Interval
the gap in pitch between two notes.
Scale
a group of notes played in ascending or descending order
Arpeggio
playing the notes of a chord one by one.
Conjunct
melodies move mainly by step (next door notes like C-D) and sound smooth.
Disjunct
melodies use a lot of leaps (bigger intervals) rather than step movement. They will sound spiky and are much harder to sing!
Scalic
melodies are melodies that follow the order of a particular scale. Similar to conjunct melodies except that a scalic melody can only move up or down to the next note of the scale, whereas a conjunct melody can have a few little jumps.
Pentatonic
a five note scale. Often used in Chinese, African & Celtic Folk melodies.
Whole-Tone Scale
a scale made up of only whole tones. (Sounds quite mysterious)
Chromatic scale­
scale made up of semitones (smallest interval e.g. C-C#).
Augmentation
doubling the note values/lengths of the original tune
Diminution
halving the note values/lengths of the original tune
Sequence
when a tune is repeated a step higher (ascending sequence) or a step lower (descending sequence).
Glissando/Portamento
a slide between 2 notes. (instruments like piano or harp would play all the notes in between the 2 notes really fast by sliding the fingers over the notes really quickly.)
Ornamentation
decorating the melody with ornaments such as trills (2 adjacent notes played rapidly).
Ostinato / Riff
a repeated rhythm or tune. (Both words mean the same, but riff tends to be used in a pop context.)
Phrase
a musical sentence (where you’d naturally take a breath). Often 2, 4 or 8 bars long. Indicated by a curved line above the stave.
Staccato
short, detached notes.
Legato
smooth. Indicated by a slur
Accent
notes played with more force.
Improvisation
when a player makes the music up on the spot. In jazz/blues/pop players will often improvise a solo – commonly on a guitar/sax/trumpet/keyboard.
Texture
(how the different parts of the piece are woven together)
Monophonic
one single melody line. No harmonies, but it may be played/sung by more than one instrument/voice.
Unison
When everyone sings/plays one part together
Homophonic
a texture where all parts (melody and accompaniment) move in the same (more or less) rhythm creating a chordal effect. The accompaniment is supporting a clear melody.
Polyphonic
A texture where 2 or more equally important melodies interweave (weave in and out of each other).
Imitation
a phrase is repeated (imitated – so not necessarily exactly the same!). Could be one instrument/voice imitating itself, or 2 or more imitating each other.
Canon
is a particular type of imitation. It’s like a round (‘London’s Burning’), where the imitating part repeats the entire melody and not just a few notes of it.
Antiphonal
stereo effect as a musical phrase is passed from one group of performers to another. E.g. like two choirs singing alternate phrases standing in different places in a church. A lot of early religious vocal music was antiphonal.