pitch
Highness or lowness of a sound.
dynamic level
Level of volume.
frequency
Rate of a sound wave’s vibration.
tone
Sound with specific pitch, produced by a constant rate of vibration of the sound-producing medium.
sharp
Sign (#)indicating that a tone is to be performed one-half step higher than notated.
flat
Sign (b) indicating that a tone is to be performed one-half step lower than indicated.
staff
Five lines and four spaces on which music is notated.
interval
Distance between two pitches.
octave
Interval of an eighth, as from C to C.
forte
loud
piano
soft
crescendo
Becoming louder.
decrescendo or diminuendo
Becoming softer.
melody
Meaningful succession of pitches.
phrase
Section of a melody, comparable to a section or phrase of a sentence.
cadence
Stopping point.
sequence
Melodic phrase repeated at different levels of pitch.
tune
Melody that is easy to recognize, memorize, and sing.
theme
Melody that recurs throughout a section, a movement, or an entire composition.
motive, motive melody
Short melodic phrase that may be effectively developed.
lyrical melody
Relatively long, songlike melody.
scale
Ascending or descending pattern of half steps, whole steps, or both.
major scale

Ascending pattern of steps as follows:

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;

whole, whole, half, whole whole, whole, half.

minor scale

Ascending pattern of stpes as follows:

;

whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole.

tonic
First and most important note of the major or minor scale, to which all other notes in the scale are subordinate.
key
The major or minor scale on which a compostion is based.
chromatic scale
Twelve consecutive half steps within the range of an octave.
whole-tone scale
Six consecutive whole steps within a range of an octave.
pentatonic scale
Five-note scale.
harmony
Simultatneous sounding of two or more different tones.
chord
Meaningful (as opposed to random) combination of three or more tones.
triad
Chord with three tones, consisting of two superimposed thirds.
tonality, tonal system
System of harmony, based on the major and minor scales, that has dominated Western music since the seventeenth century.
dominant (V)
Fifth note of the major or minor scale
subdominant (IV)
Fourth note of the major or minor scale
dissonance
Active, unsettled sound.
consonance
Passive sound that seems to be at rest
texture
Manner in which melodic lines are used in music.
polyphonic;texture (polyphony)
Combination of two or more simultaneous melodic lines.
round
Melody that may be performed by two or more voices entering at different times, producing meaningful harmony.
homophonic texture (homophony)
Melodic line accompanied by chordal harmony
monophonic texture (monophony)
One unaccompanied melodic line.
rhythm
Arrangement of time in music.
elements of music
Basic materials of which music is composed: rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre.
tempo
rate of speed at which a musical piece is performed
rest
Sign that indicated silence, or the cessation of musical sound.
beat
Basic underlying pulse of music.
accent
Strong sound. Accents may be achieved by stress, duration, or position of a tone.
metered music
Music in which rhythm is organized into patterns of strong and weak beats.
measure (bar)
Unit containing a number of beats
duple meter
Two beats per measure
triple meter
Three beats per measure
quadruple meter
Four beats per measure
downbeat
First beat of a measure
upbeat
Last beat of a measure.