canon
a core repertoire of classical music performed at concerts continually since the eighteenth century
rubato
a tempo mark that indicates that the performer may move faster or slower so as to effect an intensely personal performance
virtuoso
an instrumentalists or singer with a highly developed talent
art song
a genre of song for solo voice and piano accompaniment by high artistic aspirations (schubert)
song cycle
a collection of several songs united by a common textual theme or literary idea to tell a story
through composed
musical composition featuring ever changing melodic and harmonic material (erlkonig: schubert)
program music
recreates with sounds the events and emotions in some extra-musical source: a story, legend, a play, novel, historical events…
absolute music
symphonies, sonatas, quartets, and other instrumental music with no extramusical or programmatic references
symphonic/tone poem
musical expression to the emotions or events of a story
col legno
instructions to strings to strike the strings with the wood of the bow instead of the sting
ballet
a dramatic dance in which the characters using various stylized steps and pantomime tell a story
recital
concert of chamber music usually a solo performer
etude
short one movement composition designed to improve one aspect of a performers technique
bel canto
type of italian opera that features the beautiful tone and brilliant technique of the human voice
primma donna
leading female singer in an opera
music drama
terms for the mature operas of richard wagner included: poetry, music, acting, mime, dance, scenic design functioning harmoniously
gestamtkunstwerk
“total are work” (wagner) generated more realistic drama
leitmotif
brief, distinct unit of music. represents a character, an object, or an idea (starwars: wagner) which returns repeatedly to show how the drama unfolds
realistic(verismo) opera
19th-20th century deals with everyday gritty subjects auch as poverty, physical abuse, industrial exploitation, and crime
musical nationalism
emphasizes indigenous qualities in their music. incorporates national anthems, native dances, protest songs, victory symphonies
double stops
when you press down two strings of a string instrument and play them at the same time
impressionism
rejected realism in paintings. tried to recreate the impression that an object has on the senses in a single fleeting movement (debussey)
whole-tone scale
each pitch is a whole tone away from the next
exoticism
use of sounds drawn from outside the traditional western europe music experience (tambourine/gong)
tone cluster
simultaneous sounding of a number of pitches only a whole step or half step apart; dissonant (ives)
neo-classism
20th century music tried to bring back the baroque and classical periods with smaller ensebles and classical forms (stravinsky)
poly meter
2 or more meters sounding simultaneously
poly rhythm
2 or more rhythms sounding simultaneously
second viennese school
group of progressive modernist composers centered around schoenberg in vienna (20th century)
atonal music
music without tonality, music without a key center, associated with avant-garde style of schoenberg
expressionism
aim was not to depict objects as they are seen but to express the strong emotion that the object generates to the artist
sprechstimme
singer speaks the text rather than singing it
twelve-tone composition
the twelve notes in the chromatic scale sound in a fixed regularly recurring order
formalism
modern music soviet authorities deemed “anti-democratic”
music concrete
composer works with sounds not of instruments but of those naturally in the everyday world
sampling
reusing portions of a previously recorded sound and repeating it over and over then using it as a backdrop to the rap
prepared piano
piano’s given screws, bolts, washers, erasers, and bits of felt and plastic to go from melodic to percussive
chance music
music involves and element of chance, performers play on a whim, nothings planned
minimalism
small amount of musical material that is repeated to form composition
blues
form of black folk song that originated in the south vents feelings of pain and anger
jazz
lively, energetic, pulsating rhythms with bright syncopation
ragtime
early jazz, steady bass with a syncopated jazzy bass
rhythm section
section in jazz that established harmony and rhythm (tuba string piano banjo and guitar)
big band
plays swing music. 1930s. large band
swing
mellow bouncy style of jazz 1930s
bebop
hard-driving jazz that was played by a small combo with no written music, improvisation
standard
tune so influential that it causes other musicians to record many other interpretations of it
cover
a new version of a standard
fusion
new style of jazz in the 1960s it incorporated many elements of rock
tin pan alley
section of NYC near Broadway where music stores were plentiful and the noise was so loud that is sounded like a crowd was banging on tin pans