Pitch

 

Hire a custom writer who has experience.
It's time for you to submit amazing papers!


order now

The highness or lowness of sound.

Melody
A horizontal succession of pitches.
Definite
Is a tuned and distinct sound, such as the singing voice.
Indefinite
Is an untuned sound, such as the speaking voice.  
Step
A series of notes moving up or down to the next note in the key without skipping a note in between. (An interval of a 2nd a tone or semitone) 
Leap
Notes moving a large interval in the music. (An interval of a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th,8th, 9th, 10th etc). 
Contour
Is the shape of the melody in a piece of music. It can be ascending or descending in pitch. If you look at a musical score and draw a line through the centre of each note in a melody, you can see a shape. 
Ascending
A series of notes moving upward: an ascending minor scale. 
Descending
A series of notes moving downward: a descending minor scale. 
Intervals
Is the distance between any two notes. 
Octave
The eighth tone above a given pitch
Tonic
The first note of a key. Also, the first name of a chord built on the first degree of the scale, indicated by I in a major key or i in a minor key. 
Sub-dominant
The fourth degree of the major or minor scale. Also, the name of the triad built on the fourth degree of the scale, indicated by IV in a major key and by iv in a minor key.
Dominant
The fifth degree of the major or minor scale. Also, the term for the triad built on the fifth degree, labelled V in harmonic analysis.
Countermelody
Is a harmonic feature of a melody heard at the same time as the main melody. 
Register
Is the ‘height’ of the sound, as in high, middle or low register. 
Range
Refers to the extent of the notes used in a melody. If a piece of music uses only a few notes a limited distance apart, the range is analysed as narrow. A wide range uses a wide span of notes, such as a melody consisting of notes more than an octave apart. 
Ornamentation
Is the decoration of a melody with special features to add interest, such as a trill, mordent or glissando. 
Trill
A musical ornament performed by the rapid alternation of a given note with a major or minor second above.
Mordent
An ornament consisting of an alteration (once or twice) of the written note by playing the one immediately below it (lower mordent), or above it (upper, or inverted, mordent) and then playing the note again.
Turn
Four notes which turn round the main note with the note above, the main note, the note below, and the main note again.  An inverted turn starts with the note below reversing the process. 
Appoggiatura
A ‘leaning’ note; a note that leans into the following note, changing the note value. 
Acciaccatura
A ‘crushed’ note; a note played at the same time as, and crushed into, the following note, where the value does not change. 
Glissando
A slide from one note to another. 
Melodic ostinato
Is a repeated melodic pattern. 
Riff
Is a repeated melodic or chordal pattern heard throughout the melody, most commonly in jazz or rock music.  
Motif
Is a melodic fragment heard throughout a piece of music that helps to unify the piece. 
Fragment 
Is a section of a melody that is shorter than a phrase. It does not have significant musical value on its own. It can be a slur over it too, as in this example. “fragment” is a useful word to remember so you can use it when talking about a small “bit” of a phrase. 
Sequence
Is the immediate repetition of a melodic fragment at a different pitch. 
Repetition
The main melody is likely to be repeated more than once in a composition so that it creates a memorable impact. The main melody can be repeated, as can individual notes, or sections of the melody. 
Melisma
Refers to the singing of several notes to one syllable of text. 
Imitation
A pattern that is restated by the same or a different instrument as a unifying feature. 
Phrase
A musical ‘sentence’ within a piece of music containing part or of a melody. 
Question and Answer Phrasing
Similar in form to a simple ‘conversation’, a phrase is played or sung and a response by an instrument or vocalist follows. 
Canon
The strictest form of imitation, in which two or more parts have the same melody but start at different points. 
Harmony
Harmony is two or more pitches sounding together. 
Accompaniment
Supports the melody line.
Consonance
Consonant sound is harmonious sound that is easy on the western ear. 
Dissonance
Dissonant sound is created by a clash of discordant notes and is less pleasing to the western ear. 
Chromatic
Is a scale that consists of all 12 semitones. 
Diatonic
Refers to the major and minor scales used in western music. 
Tonality
Is the main key quality of the music. Tonality is the pitch arrangement chosen by the composer, usually based on a scale or mode. 
Major Tonality
Has a maj 3rd and a maj 6th
Minor Tonality
Has a min 3rd and a min 6th
Modes
Scales on which modal tonality, the earliest documented scale system. 
Whole Tone Scale
A scale in which notes a separated by whole steps of equal intervals.  
Blues Scale
Is often heard in the genre of jazz music; the most common formula in the scale degree numbers is I, 3flat, 4, 5flat, 5natural, 7flat, and 8.
Atonal
A device employed by composers that aims at a total alienation from any set scale or key centre. The result aurally is one of distortion and disorientation. 
Modulation
Is the change of key in music. 
Perfect Cadence
A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The perfect cadence moves from chord V to chord I, like a full stop (finished).
Plagal Cadence
A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The plagal cadence moves from chord IV to chord I, like a full stop (finished).
Imperfect Cadence
A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The imperfect cadence moves from chord I or ii or IV or vi to chord V, like a comma (unfinished).
Interrupted Cadence
A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The interrupted cadence moves from chord V to chord VI, like a comma (unfinished).
Arpeggio
A term used to describe the pitches of a chord as they are sung or played one after the other, rather than simultaneously.
Parallel Harmony
Harmonising the melodic line. 
Alberti bass harmony 
An oscillating pattern based on notes of a chord. 
Walking bass
A bass line that moves steadily in a rhythm contrasting to that of the upper parts; in jazz, a walking bass usually moves by steps played on bass or piano, with each note usually having the duration of a quarter notes. 
Chord
A combination of three or more tones sounded simultaneously.
Triad
Is a chord with a simple structure of three notes.  
Tone cluster
The simultaneous sounding of two or more adjacent tones. 
Drone
One or more notes held throughout a piece or section of music. 
Pedal Point
A held or repeated note, usually in the bass. 
Inverted Pedal Point
A pedal point which sounds in an upper part instead of in the bass.
Suspension
A note in one chord is held on into the next chord, to which it does not belong. 
Chord Progression
A series of related chords built on the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of a major or minor scale. Listen to a song using chords I (1), IV (4) and V (5). 
Rate of harmonic change
In some pieces, the chord changes quickly on every crotchet beat (for example, a Bach chorale) so we can say it has a fast rate of harmonic change. In other pieces, the same chord is used for a whole page of music, so we can say it has a slow rate of harmonic change.