Soundscape
The distinctive settings, sounds, and significances of music.
Frequency
The number of vibrations per second of a vibrating string or column of air, usually measured either in cycles per second (cps) or in Hertz (Hz) and kilohertz (kHz). Perception of frequency determines pitch.
Overtone
The harmonics above the fundamental.
Harmonic
The series of simple vibration that combine to create a complex pitched sound, also called the harmonic series. Harmonics are present in the sounding of any string or air column.
Acoustics
The science that deals with sound.
Fundamental tone
The lowest tone in a harmonic series, also referred to as the “first harmonic” or “first partial,” which determines the perceived pitch of the sound.
Ethnomusicology
A field of study that joins the concerns and methods of anthropology with the study of music.
Musical Ethnography
The process of identifying a musical scene and studying the soundscape of which it is a part.
fieldwork
Research, including observations and participation, of living traditions, also called musical ethnography.
fieldnotes
notes about observations during fieldwork
Khoomii singing
Biphonic Tuvan throat singing, originally from rural Inner Asia and now heard in concert halls worldwide. Types of khoomii include sygyt, kargyraa, and ezengileer
Igil
Chordophone, string instrument, Tuvan lute.
Tuva
is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). It lies in the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia.
pitch
The highness or lowness of a sound.
Vibrato
A regular fluctuation of a sound, produced by varying the pitch of the sound.
Straight tone
A sound that lacks any vibrato.
nasal singing
a buzzing vocal quality produced by using the sinuses and mask of the face as sound resonates.
timbre
The distinctiveness of a particular voice or instrument, arising from acoustical properties of the harmonic series. Also called quality.
Falsetto
The process of singing by men in a high register above the normal male singing range.
Idiophones
Instruments that produce sound by being vibrated. They are further classified by the way they are caused to vibrate: concussion, struck, stamped, shaken, scraped, plucked, or rubbed.
Membranophone
Instruments whose sound are produced by a membrane stretched over an opening. They are distinguished by their material, shape, number or skins (or heads), how the skins are fastened, playing position, and manner of playing.
Chordophones
Instruments with strings that can be plucked or bowed, they are subdivided into into zithers, lutes, lyres, and harps.
Aerophones
Instruments that sound by means of vibrating air, they are subdivided into trumpets and horns, pipe (flutes and reeds), and free aerophones.
Electrophones
Instruments that provide sound using electricity, they are subdivided into electromechanical instruments, radioelectric instruments, and digital electronic instruments.
Sach-Hornbostel System
A classification of musical instruments, named after the scholars who developed the system.
organology
The study of musical instruments.
Intensity
The perceived loudness or softness of a sound.
Range (wide range vs narrow range)
The distance between the highest and lowest pitches that can be sung or played by a voice or instrument.
Scale
A series of pitches set forth in ascending or descending order.
Raga
The Indian system for organizing melodies according to their distinct pitch content, ornaments, and range of associations.
Pentatonic Scale
A scale that contains five pitches, or the music that is based on such scales.
Trills
is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill.
Melody
A sequence of pitches, also called a “tune,” heard in the foreground of music.
Conjunct melody
Stepwise melodic movement using small intervals, as opposed to disjunct melody.
Disjunct melody
Melodic motion by leaps of large intervals, as opposed to conjunct melody.
Duduk
an Armenian wind instrument that symbolizes its native country.
Drone
A steady single tone or a pipe on a bagpipe that produces one.
Monophony
Literally a “single sound,” the simplest musical texture.
Biphony
A singing technique of Inner Asian origin in which two tones, the fundamental and an overtone, are made audible simultaneously by a single singer; also known as harmonic singing
Homophony
A musical texture, as in the western hymn, where the parts perform different pitches but move in the same rhythm.
Heterophony
A musical texture in which two or more parts sound almost the same melody at almost the same time; often with the parts ornamented differently.
Polyphony
A musical texture in which the parts move in contrasting directions, as opposed to homophony.
Duration
The way music organizes time; can be described in rhythm, pulse and meter.
Harmony
The collective sound of a series of chords, serving as a support to melody. The term also refers to a set of rules that govern the progress of sound in Western classical music.
Beat
An individual pulse.
Meter
A term describing the regular pulse of much of Western classical music and its divisions into regular groupings of two, three four or six beats.
Irregular Meter
Asymmetrical groupings with different numbers of beats per measure.
Syncopation
A rhythmic effect that provides an unexpected accent, often by temporarily unsettling the meter through a change in the established pattern of stressed and unstressed beats.
Strophic
A form in which all verses of text are set to the same melody. Strophic form can include a refrain that is sung between verses.
Refrain
A fixed stanza of text and music that recurs between verses of a strophic song.
Composition
The process of creating music.
Improvisation
The process of composing music as it is performed, drawing on conventions of preexisting patters and styles. Examples include cadenzas, jazz riffs, and layali.
Mbuti
Musical bow
Homowo
A festival that the Ga people celebrate that marks the community’s triumph over famine with a successful harvest.
Fontomfrom
The Asante king’s orchestra.
Agbadza
An Ewe dance performed at social gatherings and funerals.
Atumpan
Large drums, the central instruments in ensembles used is Asante ceremonies and state occasions.
Polyrhythm
Contrasting rhythms that are performed at the same time
Tala
An Indian rhythmic framework consisting of time cycles that contain a fixed number of counts.
Sitar
South Asian Chordophone
Ballad
A song genre commemoration important important important events and individuals, usually in strophic form.