Cosa Music Definitions Test

Front 1

Accent

Back 1

emphasis placed on a particular note

Front 2

Arpeggio

Back 2

describing notes in a chord played individually (one after another) as opposed to simultaneously

Front 3

Beat

Back 3

the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music

Front 4

Cadence

Back 4

a kind of harmonic punctuation mark (resting place in a musical phrase) that brings a piece or section of a piece of music to a satisfactory close

Front 5

Chord Progression

Back 5

a succession of two or more chords

Front 6

Consonance

Back 6

the simultaneous sounding of two or more tones which produce an effect of stability or harmoniousness

Front 7

Dissonance

Back 7

the simultaneous sounding of two or more tones which produce an effect of harshness or instability, and demand "resolution" to a consonance

Front 8

Downbeat

Back 8

the "main" pulse as it relates to the rest of the measure. If you have 8 eighth notes in a bar of 4/4 time, beats 1,2,3 and 4 would be the downbeats

Front 9

Duple meter

Back 9

a meter where the basic unit of pulse of the music recurs in groups of 2 (cut time or 2/2, 2/4, 4/4)

Front 10

Quadruple meter

Back 10

Four-beat measure: strong-weak-less strong-weak

Front 11

Quintuple meter

Back 11

five beat meter. usually a combination of a two beat pattern and a three beat pattern.

Front 12

Rhythm

Back 12

a musical pattern of regularly recurring sounds or beats

Front 13

Rubato

Back 13

from the Italian "robbed". Used to indicate a modification of the strict rhythmical flow. flexible time

Front 14

Septuple meter

Back 14

contains seven beats per measure often arranged into three uneven beat groups (1234567 or 1234567)

Front 15

Sequence

Back 15

a given melodic or harmonic passage is successively repeated at different pitches (transposed). Sequences are either chromatic if exact or diatonic if the follow the scale being used, and may also be described as ascending or descending

Front 16

Sextuple meter

Back 16

compound metrical pattern that consists of six beats to every measure (123456 or 123456)

Front 17

Staccato

Back 17

detached sounds, indicated by a dot over or under a note. the opposite of legato.

Front 18

Staff

Back 18

a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, on which note symbols are placed to indicate their pitch.

Front 19

Syncopation

Back 19

the rhythmic result produced when a regularly accented beat is displaced onto an unaccented beat

Front 20

Tempo

Back 20

Italian for "time". the speed or a pace of a given piece

Front 21

Theme

Back 21

the main musical idea

Front 22

Timbre

Back 22

the term used to denote the tone color of a specified instrument or piece of music (ex.: rough or bell-like)

Front 23

Tonic

Back 23

the key center, or foundation of, a scale or melody. First note of a scale. Also known as the "root".

Front 24

Triad

Back 24

a three-note chord

Front 25

Triple meter

Back 25

meter where the basic unit of pulse of the music recurs in groups of 3 (3/2, 3/4, 3/8) Usually associated with Waltzes and Airs.

Front 26

Unison

Back 26

singing or playing the same notes by all singers or players, either at exactly the same pitch or in a different octave

Front 27

Upbeat

Back 27

the last beat of the bar as indicated by the downward stroke of the conductor's arm. refers to whichever beats follow a downbeat in a bor of music (2 & 4 in 4/4 time, or the "&" counts between the beats as in 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &).

Front 28

Interval

Back 28

distance between 2 notes

Front 29

Pitch

Back 29

the property of sound that varies with frequency of vibrations

Front 30

Pitch range

Back 30

playable notes on an instrument voice

Front 31

Phrase

Back 31

secion of music that is self contained or coherent

Front 32

Octave

Back 32

8 scale degrees that it takes to go from one pitch to another pitch. Interval from one pitch to another pitch

Front 33

Binary form

Back 33

two-part form

Front 34

Canon

Back 34

imitative polyphony, in which all of the voices play the exact same melody all the way through with no variation, also called a round.

Front 35

Chromatic scale

Back 35

a scale that includes all notes (both black and white keys played in order on the piano)

Front 36

Counterpoint

Back 36

the technique of combining several melodic lines into a meaningful whole

Front 37

Form

Back 37

The organization of musical ideas (which are usually melodies but can be some other combination of sounds) in time

Front 38

Homophony

Back 38

a single melodic line predominates, while the other voices or instruments provide an accompanying harmony.

Front 39

Imitation

Back 39

we hear one melodic idea is presented by one singing voice or instrument and then we hear it restated immediately by another voice or instrument.

Front 40

Key

Back 40

Refers to the central note, scale, and chord. also known as tonality.

Front 41

Key signature

Back 41

when it is indicated at the beginning of each line of music that certain notes are going to be flatted or sharped all the way through

Front 42

Modulation

Back 42

the shift from one key to another within the same composition

Front 43

Monophony

Back 43

"one sound", one melodic line with no accompaniment

Front 44

Polyphony

Back 44

When two or more melodies of equal interest are performed at the same time

Front 45

Repetition

Back 45

provides an overall sense of unity by engraving an important melody or other musical idea, such as a very distinctive rhythm pattern, in the mind of the listener

Front 46

Round

Back 46

imitative polyphony, in which all of the voices play the exact same melody all the way through with no variation, also called a canon

Front 47

Ternary form

Back 47

a three part form, includes a beginning section, a contrasting middle section, and then a repeat of the beginning.

Front 48

Texture

Back 48

describes the way the vertical and horizontal strands of melody are interwoven

Front 49

Theme and variations

Back 49

some pieces of music are based on a theme and a series of varied versions of that them

Front 50

Tonality

Back 50

this type of music is characterized by the presence of the "tonic", the central note around which a specific musical composition is organized, and of a chord built on that note, called the "tonic chord"

Front 51

Guitar

Back 51

an instrument that has a figure-8-shaped hollow body and a fingerboard

Front 52

Harp

Back 52

strings stretched across a triangular frame with a hollow side to resonate the sound.

Front 53

Violin

Back 53

the neck is held with the left hand, and the tail rests beneath the player's chin

Front 54

Viola

Back 54

held in the same way as the violin, but it is larger and produces a lower and somewhat more somber tone quality

Front 55

Cello

Back 55

much larger and deeper sounding the the violin or viola, played upright with the body held between the player's knees

Front 56

Double bass

Back 56

also called a string bass, the largest and lowest member of the family. because of its size the player sits on a stool or stands

Front 57

Legato

Back 57

smooth and connected up-and-down strokes of the bow

Front 58

Staccato

Back 58

short and detached strokes of the bow

Front 59

Tremelo

Back 59

fast, repeated notes played by very rapid strokes of the bow

Front 60

Piccolo

Back 60

a small, high-pitched flute

Front 61

Flute

Back 61

side blown and made out of metal, although it used to be made of wood

Front 62

Oboe

Back 62

played with a double reed of two pieces of tjom came that vibrate against the player's lips

Front 63

Clarinet

Back 63

end blown with a single reed on the mouthpiece

Front 64

English horn

Back 64

a lower-pitched version of the oboe

Front 65

Bassoon

Back 65

a double-reed instrument, bigger and lower pitched than the oboe or English horn

Front 66

Bass clarinet

Back 66

a larger and lower-pitched clarinet

Front 67

Contrabassoon

Back 67

a larger and lower-pitched bassoon

Front 68

Saxophone

Back 68

invented by Adolphe Sax. Although it is made of metal and does not look like a woodwind instrument, a single-reed mouthpiece places it in the woodwind family

Front 69

Trumpet

Back 69

this modern instrument uses valves to move from note to note

Front 70

French horn

Back 70

This modern horn uses valves to change notes

Front 71

Trombone

Back 71

a slide is used to change notes by adjusting the length of tubing

Front 72

Tuba

Back 72

a very large and low-pitched instrument that uses valves to change notes

Front 73

Timpani

Back 73

also known as kettledrums. usually found in sets from two to five drums of varying sizes

Front 74

Glockenspiel

Back 74

two rows of steel bars, each producing a definite pitch. a crisp bell-like sound is produced by striking the bars with mallets (sticks with padded tips)

Front 75

Celesta

Back 75

a glockenspiel with a keyboard that makes it look something like a small upright piano

Front 76

Xylophone

Back 76

made of tuned wooden bars that produce a hollow sound when struck by mallets

Front 77

Marimba

Back 77

a xylophone with resonators under each bar of the instrument

Front 78

Chimes

Back 78

a set of tuned metal tubes suspended vertically in a frame. They are played with one or two mallets, and their sound resembles that of church bells

Front 79

Bass drum

Back 79

a large, deep-sounding drum with two heads

Front 80

Side (or snare) drum

Back 80

a drum that has two drum heads. The top head is hit with sticks, the bottom head is rigged with metal wires that vibrate against it when the top head is struck

Front 81

Tambourine

Back 81

a circular wooden frame, usually with a single head, and metal discs that jingle when the instrument is shaken or struck

Front 82

Triangle

Back 82

made of a bent metal rod, struck with a metal beater

Front 83

Cymbals

Back 83

metal disks that ring when they are hit against one another

Front 84

Gong

Back 84

also called a tam-tam, usually a large suspended metal disk that is struck with a padded mallet

Front 85

Tom-toms

Back 85

cylindrical drums with two heads but no snares. Made in many sizes and are played with sticks, mallets, and brushes for different effects

Front 86

Bongos

Back 86

a pair of attached small drums, each with one head, played with the hands

Front 87

Congas

Back 87

a tall drum with a single head played with the hands

Front 88

Piano

Back 88

a keyboard instrument developed during the mid-eighteenth century. Hammers hit the strings when the keyboard is played

Front 89

Organ

Back 89

originally wind instruments played with a keyboard, though today they often produce their sound electronically

Front 90

Synthesizer

Back 90

can imitate natural acoustic sounds, or it can design new sounds

Front 91

Chordophones

Back 91

all stringed instruments, including those that are plucked, struck or bowed

Front 92

Aerophones

Back 92

wind instruments of all kinds

Front 93

Idiophones

Back 93

solid instruments that are hit, struck together, shaken, scraped, rubbed, or have a hard extension (such as a piece of metal attached to the instrument) that is plucked to produce their sounds

Front 94

Membranophones

Back 94

drums that produce their sounds by the vibration of a membrane that is stretched across all or part of the instrument

Front 95

Chamber music

Back 95

a general term for small groups of instruments in which each player plays his or her own part

Front 96

Orchestra

Back 96

a group of instruments from different families

Front 97

Wind ensembles

Back 97

also called concert bands or symphonic bands, are made up primarily of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments