Music
Rational organization of sounds and silences passing through time.
Popular Music
The music of all the people.
Classical Music
Music that has endured the test of time.
Acousitc Instruments
Instruments whose sounds are not electronically altered.
Encore
Playing the piece again.
Symphony
genre, or type of music for orchestra, divided into several independent pieces called movements
Movements
Independent piece in a symphony.
Orchestra
A large ensemble of acoustic instruments such as violins, trumpets and flutes.
Symphony orchestra
Orchestra is given this name because it has typically played more symphonies than anything else.
motive
a short distinctive musical figure hat can stand by itself.
tone poem (symphonic poem)
A one movement work for orchestra that tries to capture in the music the emotions and events associated with a story.
Rhythm
Organization of time in music, it divides time into long and short spans.
Beat
even pulse that divide the passing of time into equal units
quarter note
basic duration in time
Measure (bar)
group of beats
meter
The gathering of beats into regular grouops.
duple meter
two beats per measure. ONE two, ONE two,…
Meter signature (time signature)
How meter in music is indicated. Two numbers one on top of the other.
downbeat
first beat
upbeat
comes right before the downbeat
pickup
only a note or two that gives a little momentum into the first downbeat.
accent
musical emphasis, that falls on the beat.
Syncopation
places accent either on a weak beat or between the beats.
Tempo
The speed at which the beats progress.
ritard
a slowing down of the music
Pitch
relative position, high or low of a musical sound.
Melody
The tune of music
Staff
gridwork of lines and spaces
clef sign
indicates range of pitch
treble clef
upper range
bass clef
lower range
Great(grand) clef
combination of both bass and treble clefs.
Sharp
raises a half step or one key
flat
lowers a half step or one key
natural
cancels either sharp or flat
scale
a fixed patter of tones within the octave that ascends and descends.
interval
distance between two pitches in music
major scale
follows a seven note pattern moving 1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2
minor scale
seven note patter moving 1-1/2-1-1-1/2-1-1.
Key signature
Sharps and flats placed immediately before each note of the scale.
tonic
first of the 7 notes on a scale.
tonality (key)
organization of music around a central pitch
Modulation
change from one key to another. Called a change of mode.
Chromatic scale
uses all 12 pitches, equally divided.
phrase
important part of a larger whole. They open and close melodies.
chord
group of 3 or more pitches that sound at the same time
triad
3 pitches in a chord
dominant triad
built on the fifth note of a scale
subdominant triad
built on the fourth notse of the scale, pitch is just below the dominant.
chord porgression
movement of chords in purposeful fashion.
arpeggio
broken or staggered chord
dissonance
pitches sounding momentarily disagreeable and unstable
consonance
pitches sounding agreeable and stable.
cadence
portion of a musical phrase that leads to its last chord
ostinato
any element of music that continually repeats.
blues
expressive soulful style of singing that unfolds above repreating chord changes.
dynamics
various levels of volume, loud and soft.
sforzando
a sudden loud attack on one note or chord.
Crescendo
gradual increase in the intensity or sound.
decrescendo
gradual decrease in the intensity or sound.
color
tone quality of any sound produced by a voice or instrument
Timbre
anotherterm for the tone quality of musical sound.
Chorus
many voices together, soprano, alto, tenor, bass
overtones
very faint sounds.
violin
chief among string instruments. Also the smallest and shortest strings
viola
Six inches longer thant the violin and produces a lower sound. Darker, richer and more somber tone.
cello
pitch is below the viola and the player sits with it between his legs.
Double Bass
Named because it doubled the notes of the cello an octave below. It is the lowest sounding of the string instruments.
vibrato
wobble in the pitch
pizzicato
plucking of the strings
tremolo
musical tremor created by rapid repreating the same pitch with quick up and down strokes of the bow.
trill
performer rapidly alternates between two distinctly separate but neighboring pitches.
mute
a metal rubber clamp placed on teh strings on the instrument.
glissando
rapid run up and down the strings.
Flute piccolo clarinet oboe english horn, bassoon
woodwinds
mouthpiece
what brass players blow through
trumpet, trombone, French horn, tuba
Brass instruments
Stops
organ knobs
Orchestral score
composite notation of all the instrumental parts for a particular piece.
texture
density and arrangement of artistic elements
monophony
single line of music with no harmony.
homophony
“same sounding” the voices or lines all move together to new pitches at roughly the same time.
polyphony (Counterpoint)
“many sounding” two or more lines in the musical fabric. Each of the lines will be autonoumos and indepenent.
Cannon
the followers copy exactly note for note what the leader plays.
Form
arrangment of musical events.
Statement
presentation of an important musical idea.
Repetition
validates a statement by repeating it.
Contrast
takes us away from the familiar and into the unknown.
Variation
lies between repition and contrast. The original melody returns but is altered in some way.
strophic form
composer set the words of the first poetic stanza and then uses the same entire melody for all subsequent stanzas.
Chorus
textual refrain that repeats.
Theme and variations
the music of the first strophe or stanza is alter in some way each time it returns.
Binary form
two contrasting units, that balance and complement each other
ternary form
three sectsions ABA it is rounded and complete.
Rondo form
a refrain alternates with contrasting music. There are usually two contrasting sections.