absolute music
symphonies, sonatas, quartets, and other instrumental music without extramusical or programmatic references.
art song
piece for solo voice and piano accompaniment with high artistic aspirations
character piece
a brief instrumental work seeking to capture a single mood
concert overture
indipendent one-movement work of programmatic content originally intended for the concert hall
cross stringing
stings of the lowest keys ride up over those of the middle register, thereby producting a richer, more homogenous sound.
incidental music
Music to be inserted between the acts or during important scenes of a play to add an extra dimension to the drama
nationalism
flood of national anthems, native dances, military marches, protest songs, and victory symphonies gave musical voice to the rising tide of nationalism
overture
one movement work, usually in sonata-allegro form, which foretells in music the essential dramatic events that will follow in an opera or play.
pentatonic scale
a five note scale found often in folk music and non-Western music
piano transcription
transformation and reduction of an orchestral score, and a piece of orchestral music, onto the great staff for playing at the piano.
program music
instrumental music, usually for a symphony orchestra, that seeks to recreate in sound the events and emotions portrayed in some extramusical source: a story, play, historical event, or a painting.
program symphony
symphony with the usual three, four, or five movements, but now the individual movements together tell or depict a succession of specific events or scenes drawn from some extramusical work or story.
rubato
in musical notation, a tempo mark indicating that the performer may take, steal, great liberties with the tempo.
soft pedal
allowed the instrument to play a softer dynamic by shifting the position of the keyboard.
sustaining pedal
enables the strings to continue to sound while others were being struck
symphonic poem; tone poem
one-movement work for orchestra that gives musical expression to the emotions and events associated with a story, play, political occurance etc.