Sound
Begins with vibration of an object.
Four things you need to identify:
Pitch, Dynamics, Texture, and Meter.
Pitch
Highness or lowness.
Hz.
Tone
A sound that has a definite pitch.
Interval
The distance between pitch of two notes.
Pitch Range
Distance between lowest and highest notes
Dynamics
Degrees of loudness or softness in music.
Accent
Emphasis on specific notes.
Piano
Soft
Forte
Loud
Mezzo
Moderately, used in the middle between soft and loud.
Ex: Mezzo piano – Moderately soft, louder than piano but softer than mezzo forte, which is also softer that forte.
Issimo
Used to denotate the ends of the dynamic spectrum, the softest is pianissimo, the loudest is fortissimo
Decresendo
Gradually softer
Cresendo
Gradually louder
Tone Color
How a specific instrument sounds.
Why a flute playing A# sounds different from a cello playing A#
Soprano
Highest pitch
Alto
Second highest pitch
Tenor
Second lowest pitch
Bass
Lowest pitch
Improvisation
Music created on the spot.
Register
Part of the total range
Pizzicato
Plucking the string of a generally bowed instrument
Double Stop
Playing two strings at once.
Vibrato
Vibrating the strings to provide emotion and character in playing.
Tremolo
Creating a background noise by bowing the strings incredibly quickly back and forth.
Rhythm
Flow of music over time
Beat
Regular, recurrent pulsation that divides music into equal units of time.
Meter
Grouping beats into one constant unchanging pattern
Tempo
The speed of the beat
Adagio
Slow Beat
Andante
Moderately slow beat
Allegro
Fast beat
Vivace
Lively beat
Accelerando
Increasing tempo
Ritardando
Retarded tempo
(decreasing tempo)
Melody
Series of single tones that add up to a recognizable whole.
Steps
Small intervals of which melodies move.
Climax
Emotional focal point of a music piece.
Legato
A melody sung, or played in a smooth, connected style.
Staccato
A melody performed in a short, choppy, and detached sounding manner.
Phases
Shorter parts that make up melodies. Short units with similar pitch and rhythm patterns that help unify the melody.
Sequence
A repetition of a melody at a higher or lower pitch.
Cadence
End of a phase.
Musical texture
How many layers of sound we hear at once.
Monophonic
Hearing only one melody, without harmony or any kind of sound to keep rhythm
Polyphonic
“Many sounds”, Several melodies compete in line for attention.