Overture
Concert piece for Orchestra/opening of opera or musical
Pagoda
Buddhist temple with several levels
Perspective
Depicting spatial relationships on a flat surface
Piano forte
Literally “soft/loud” on modern piano
Plot
Storyline or plan
Polyphony
Composition with many equal parts
Polyrhythm
Multiple rhythms occurring simultaneously
Post-modern
Eclectic style using older forms in a contemporary context
Prelude
Composition for keyboard or opening for musical theatre
Primitive
Artists who are self taught
Producer
Person responsible for financing productions
Program music
Textual reference to a piece of music
Protagonist
Leading character in a theatrical production
Ragtime
Jazz style/regular rhythms/syncopation
Raked stage
Stage floor w/ back higher then front
Recitative & Aria
Words recited on pitch w/ melodic extended air
Relief
Sculpture projecting from backstage beam
Reliquary
Receptacle for religious relic
Renaissance
Historical era between 1400-1699
Retalbo
Religious altar panel in a church
Rhythm
Movement of a uniform or patterned recurrence
Ride-rhythm
Repeated rhythm played by a drum or a cymbal to keep time
Riff
Melodic fragment repeated by a group (usually jazz)
Rising action
Major focus of a plot development
Romantic
Style emphasizing emotion free imagination
Rondo
Musical form with three different sections
Scale
An arrangement of seven tones systematically from A to G
Scene designer
Creator of physical environment for a play
Sfumato
A three dimensional style used by Leonardo
Simple meter
Meter divisible by 2 i.e. 2/4, 2/2, 2/8 etc
Sonato allegro
Musical form based on contrasting themes and tonalities
Stage manager
Monitor of a play/opera in production
Stele
Commemorative stone marker
Stupa
Shrine in shape of a dome or mountain
Style
Particular type, mode, or expression
Sub-dominant
Closely related to key center, 4th scale step
Swing
Big band jazz marked by smooth flowing beat
Symphony
Orchestra itself or music written for one
Syncopation
Deliberate disturbance of the normal pulse in music
Tap
Dance style emphasizing rhythm and time
Tempo
Speed of music
Theme
Central idea of a play or music composition
Timbre
Unique acoustic quality
Tin pan alley
Slang for anything connected with popular song composition
Tonic
Key center, first scale step name or chord based on first scale name
Tragedy
A disastrous event carried to an unhappy conclusion
Triplet
Three notes performed in the space of two
Vaudeville
Late 19th century musical theatre
Vault
Ceiling design on the arch principal of construction
Ziggurat
Ancient Mesopotamian structure with terraces and sloping sides