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184 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Classical Music
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the traditional music of any culture, usually involving a specialized technical vocabulary and requiring long years of training; it is “high art” or “learned” music that is enjoyed generation after generation
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Popular Music
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a broad category of music designed to please a large section of the general public; something used in contradistinction to more “serious” or more “learned” classical music
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Acoustic instruments
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instruments that produce sounds naturally when strings are bowed or plucked, a tube has air passed through it, or percussion instruments are struck
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encore
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audience demands piece to be repeated immediately
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symphony
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a genre of instrumental music for orchestra consisting of several movements; also, the orchestral ensemble that plays this genre
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movements
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a large, independent section of a major instrumental work, such as a sonata, dance suite, symphony, quartet, or concerto
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orchestra
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the large instrumental ensemble that plays symphonies, overtures, concertos, and the like
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symphony orchestra
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- the large instrumental ensemble that plays symphonies, overtures, concertos, and the like
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motive
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a short, distinctive melodic figure that stands by itself
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crescendo
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a gradual increase in the volume of sound
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diminuendo
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a gradual decrease in the volume of sound
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concerto
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an instrumental genre in which one or more soloists play with and against a larger orchestra
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chord
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two or more simultaneously sounding pitches
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melody
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a series of notes arranged in order to form a distinctive, recognizable musical unit, most often placed in the treble
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pizzicato
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the process whereby a performer plucks the strings of an instrument rather than bowing them
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tone poem (symphonic poem)-
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a one-movement work for orchestra of the Romantic era that gives musical expression to the emotions and events associated with a story, play, political occurrence, personal experience, or encounter with nature
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music
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the rational organization of sounds and silences as they pass through time
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rhythm
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the organization of time in music, dividing up long spans of time into smaller, more easily comprehended units
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beat
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an even pulse in music that divides the passing of time into equal segments
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measure (bar)
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a group of beats, or musical pulses, usually the number of beats is fixed and constant so that the measure serves as a continual unit of measurement in music
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meter
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the gathering of beats into regular groups
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meter signature (time signature)
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two numbers, one on top of the other, usually placed at the beginning of the music to tell the performer what note value is carrying the beat and how the beats are to be grouped
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score
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a volume of musical notation involving more than one staff
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downbeat
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the first beat of each measure; indicated by a downward motion of the conductor’s hand and usually stressed
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upbeat
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the beat that occurs with the upward motion of the conductor’s hand and immediately before the downbeat
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pickup
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a note or two coming before the first downbeat of a piece, intending to give a little extra push into the downbeat
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accent
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emphasis or stress placed on a musical tone or a chord
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Syncopation
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a rhythmic device in which the natural accent falling on a strong beat is displaced to a weak beat or between the beats
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tempo
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the speed at which the beats occur in music
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ritard
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a gradual slowing down of the tempo
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melody
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a series of notes arranged in order to form a distinctive, recognizable musical unit; most often placed in the treble
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pitch
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the relative position, high or low, of a musical sound
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octave
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the interval comprising the first and eighth tones of the major and minor diatonic scalel the sounds are quite similar because the frequency of vibration of the higher pitch is exactly twice that of the lower
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staff
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a horizontal grid onto which are put the symbols of musical notation: notes, rests, accidentals, dynamic marks, etc
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clef
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a sign used to indicate the register, or range of pitches, in which an instrument is to play or a singer is to sing
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treble clef
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the sign placed on a staff to indicate the notes above middle C
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bass clef
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a sign placed on a staff to indicate the notes below middle C
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great staff
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a large musical staff that combines both the treble and the bass clefs
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sharp
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a musical symbol that raises a pitch by a half step
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flat
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- in musical notation, a symbol that lowers a pitch by a half step
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natural
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in musical notation, a symbol that cancels a preexisting sharp or flat
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tonic
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the central pitch around which the melody and harmony gravitate
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tonality
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the organization of music around a central tone (the tonic) and the scale built on that tone
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key
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a tonal center built on a tonic note and making use of a scale
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scale
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an arrangement of pitches that ascends and descends in a fixed and unvarying pattern
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major scale
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a seven note scale that ascends in the following order of whole and half steps: 1 – 1 – ½ - 1 – 1 – 1 – ½
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minor scale
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a seven note scale that ascends in the following order of whole and half step: 1 – ½ - 1 – 1 – ½ - 1 - 1
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key signature
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- a musical notation, a preplaced set of sharps or flats used to indicate the scale and key
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modulation
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the process in music whereby the tonal center changes from one key to another - from G major to C major, for example
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mode
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a pattern of pitches forming a scale; the two primary modes in Western music are major and minor
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chromatic scale
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uses notes not part of the diatonic major or minor pattern
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step
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the interval between adjacent pitches in the diatonic or chromatic scale; either a whole step or a half step
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leap
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melodic movement not by an interval of just a step, but usually by a jump of at least a fourth
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phrase
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a self-contained portion of a melody, theme, or tune
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antecedent
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the opening, incomplete-sounding phrase of a melody; often followed by a consequent phrase that brings the melody to closure
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Consequent phrases
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the second phrase of a two-part melodic unit that brings a melody to a point of repose and closure
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cadence
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the concluding part of a musical phrase
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Hindustani-style music
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the traditional, or classical, music of northern India
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Karnatak-style music
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the traditional, or classical, music of southern India
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sitar
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a larger, lute-like instrument with as many as twenty strings, prominently used in the traditional music of northern India
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tabla
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a double drum used in the traditional music of northern India
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raga
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and Indian scale and melodic pattern with a distinctive expressive mood
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erhu
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an ancient two-strong Chinese fiddle
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pipa
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an ancient, four-string Chinese lute
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tremolo
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a musical tremor produced on a string instrument by repeating the same pitch with quick up-and-down strokes of the bow
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pentatonic scale
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a five-note scale found often in folk music and non-Western music
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Klezmer music
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a traditional folk music of the Jews of Eastern Europe that has recently adopted and adapted elements of Western popular music – specifically, rock, funk, and jazz
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harmony
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the sounds that provide the support and enrichment – the accompaniment – for melody
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chord
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two or more simultaneously sounding pitches
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triad
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a chord consisting of three pitches and two intervals of a third
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interval
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the distance between any two pitches on a musical scale
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dominant
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the chord built on the fifth degree of the scale
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subdominant
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the chord built on the fourth or subdominant, degree of the major or minor scale
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chord progression
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two or more simultaneously sounding pitches
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arpeggio
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the notes of a triad or seventh chord played in direct line up or down
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dissonance
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a discordant mingling of sounds
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consonance
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pitches sounding agreeable and stable
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blues
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an expressive, soulful style of singing that emerged from the African-American spiritual and work song at the end of the nineteenth century; its texts are strophic, its harmonies simple and repetitive
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twelve-bar blues
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a standard formal plan for the blues involving a repeating twelve-measure harmonic support in which the chords can progress I-IV-I-V-I
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dynamics
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the various levels of volume, loud and soft, at which sounds are produced in a musical composition
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sforzando
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a sudden, loud attack on one note of chord
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color (timbre)
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the character or quality of a musical tone as determined by its harmonics and its attack and decay
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soprano
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the highest female vocal part
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alto
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the lower of the two female voice parts, the soprano being higher
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tenor
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the highest male vocal range
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bass
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the lowest male voice range
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chorus
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a group of singers, usually including sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses, with at least two and often many more singers on each vocal part; in Tin Pan Alley songs and Broadway tunes, the main melody of the song; jazz musicians often improvised around it.
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mezzo-soprano
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a female vocal range between alto and soprano
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baritone
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a male voice part of a middle range, between the higher tenor and the lower bass
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violin
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a string instrument; the soprano member of the violin family
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viola
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a string instrument; the alto member of the violin family
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cello
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an instrument of the violin family but more than twice the violin’s size; it is played between the legs and produces a rich, lyrical tone
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double bass
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- the largest and lowest-pitches instrument in the string family
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vibrato
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a slight and continual wobbling of the pitch produced on a string instrument or by the human voice
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pizzicato
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the process whereby performer plucks the strings of an instrument rather than bowing them
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tremolo
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a musical tremor produced on a string instrument by repeating the same pitch with quick up-and-down strokes of the bow
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trill
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a rapid alternation of two neighboring pitches
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mute
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any device that muffles the sound of a musical instrument; on the trumpet, for example, it is a cup that is placed inside the bell of the instrument
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harp
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an ancient, plucked-string instrument with a triangular shape
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glissando
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a device of sliding up or down the scale very rapidly
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flute
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a high-sounding member of the woodwind family; initially made of wood, but more recently, beginning in the nineteenth century, of silver or even platinum
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piccolo
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a small flute; the smallest and highest-pitches woodwind instrument
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clarinet
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a single-reed instrument of the woodwind family with a large range and a wide variety of timbres within it
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bass clarinet
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lower clarinet
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oboe
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an instrument of the woodwind family; the highest-pitched of the double-reed instruments
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English horn
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an alto oboe, pitched at the interval a fifth below the oboe, much favored by composes of the Romantic era
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bassoon
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a low, double-reed instrument of the woodwind family
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contrabassoon
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a larger, lower-sounding version of the bassoon
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mouthpiece
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a detachable portion of a brass instrument into which the player blows
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trumpet
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a brass instrument of the soprano range
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trombone
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a brass instrument of medium to low range that is supplied with a slide, allowing a variety of pitches to sound
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French horn
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a brass instrument that plays in the middle range of the brass family; developed from the medieval hunting horn
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Tuba
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a brass instrument of the bass range
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timpani
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a percussion instrument consisting usually of two, but sometimes four; large drums that can produce a specific pitch when struck with mallets
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snare drum
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a small drum consisting of a metal cylinder covered with a skin or sheet of plastic that, when played with sticks, produces the “rat-ta-tat” sound familiar from marching bands
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bass drum
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a large, low-sounding drum struck with a soft-head stick
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cymbals
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a percussion instrument of two metal discs; they made to crash together to create emphasis and articulation in music
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xylophone
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a percussion instrument consisting of tuned wooden bars, with resonators below, that are struck with mallets
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glockenspiel
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a percussion instrument made of tuned metal bars that are struck by mallets
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celesta
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a small percussive keyboard instrument using hammers to strike metal bars, thereby producing a bright, bell-like sound
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orchestral score
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a composite of musical lines of all of the instruments of the orchestra and from which a conductor conducts
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stop (on keyboard instrument)
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a knob (or key) on a pipe organ that, when pulled (or pushed), allows a particular group of pipes to sound, thereby creative
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harpsichord
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a keyboard instrument, especially popular during the Baroque era, that produces sound by depressing a key that drives a lever upward and forces a pick to pluck a string
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piano
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a large keyboard instrument that creates sound at various dynamic levels when hammers are struck against strings
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texture
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the density and disposition of the musical lines that make up a musical composition; monophonic, homophonic, and polyphonic are the primary musical textures
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monophony
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a musical texture involving only a single line of music with no accompaniment (just one shit)
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unison
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two or more voices or instrumental parts singing or playing the same pitch
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polyphony
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a musical texture involving two or more simultaneously sounding lines; the lines are often independent and create counterpoint (2 different shits goin on)
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counter-point
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the harmonious opposition of two or more independent musical lines
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canon (round)
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a contrapuntal form in which the individual voices enter and each in turn duplicates exactly the melody that the first voice played of sand
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homophony
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a texture in which all the voices, or lines, move to new pitches at roughly the same time; often referred to in contradistinction to polyphony. (2 of the same shit goin on)
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form
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the purposeful organization of the artist’s materials; in music, the general shape of a composition as perceived by the listener
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strophic form
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a musical form often used in setting a strophic, or stanzaic, text, such as a hymn or carol; the music is repeated anew for each successive strophe
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theme and variations
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a musical form in which a theme continually returns but is varied by changing the notes of the melody, the harmony, the rhythm, or some other feature of the music
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binary form
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a musical form consisting of two units (A and B) constructed to balance and complement each other (just playin AB)
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ternary form
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a three-part musical form in which the third section is a repeat of the first; hence ABA (jus playin ABA or ABABA)
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rondo form
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an ancient musical form (surviving into the twentieth century) in which a refrain alternates with contrasting material
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style
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the general surface sound produced by the interaction of the elements of music: melody, rhythm, harmony, color, texture, and form
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Gregorian chant (plainsong)
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a large body of unaccompanied monophonic vocal music, set to Latin texts, composed for the Western Church over the course of fifteen centrueies, from the time of the earliest fathers to the Council of Trent (1545-1563)
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syllabic singing
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a style of singing in which each syllable of tet has one, and only one, note; the opposite of melismatic singing
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melismatic singing
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one vowel luxuriously spread out over many notes
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organum
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the name given to early polyphony of the Western Church form the ninth through the thirteenth centuries
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mass
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the central religious service of the Roman Catholic Church, one that incorporates singing for spiritual reflection or as accompaniment to sacred acts
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Proper of the Mass
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the sections of the Mass that are sung to texts that vary with each feast day
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Ordinary of the Mass
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the five sung portions of the Mass for which the texts are unvariable
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Troubadours
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a type of secular poet-musician that flourished in southern France during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
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Trouveres
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a type of secular poet-musician that flourished in northern France during the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries
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Minnesingers
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a type of secular poet-musician that flourished in Germany during the twelfth through fourteenth centuries
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Chanson
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a French term used broadly to indicate a lyrical song form the Middle Ages into the twentieth century.
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Rondeau
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an ancient musical form (surviving into the twentieth century) in which a refrain alternates with contrasting material
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sackbut
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a brass instrument of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance; the precursor of the trombone
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shawm
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a double-reed woodwind instrument of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance; the precursor of the oboe
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cornetto
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a woodwind instrument, developed during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, that sounds like a hybrid of a clarinet and trumpet
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Mosque
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a temple in which Muslims come to pray
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Minaret
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a slender tower attached to a Moslem mosque form which a muezzin (cantor) chants the Islamic call to prayer five times each day
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Muezzin
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the principal singer who calls the faithful to prayer daily in the Islamic musical tradition
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Motet
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a composition for choir or larger chorus setting a religious, devotional, or solemn text; often sung a cappella
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A cappella
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a term applied to unaccompanied vocal music; originated in the expression a cappella Sistina, “in the Sistine Chapel” of the pope, where instruments were forbidden to accompany the singers
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imitation
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- the process by which one or more musical voices, or parts, etner and duplicate exactly for a period of time the music presented by the previous voice
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Point of Imitation
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a distinctive motive that is sung or played in turn by each voice or instrumental line
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falsetto
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a high, soprano-like voice produced by adult male singers when they sing in head voice and not in full chest voice
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castratos
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a male adult singer who had been castrated as a boy to keep his voice from changing so that it would remain in the soprano or alto register
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Madrigal
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a popular genre of secular vocal music that originated in Italy during the Renaissance in which usually four or five voices sing love poems
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Word-painting
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the process of depicting the text in music, be it subtly, overtly, or even jokingly, by means of expressive musical device
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madrigalisms
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a device, originating in the madrigal, by which key words in a text spark a particularly expressive musical setting
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monody
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a general term connoting solo singing accompanied by a basso continuo in the early Baroque period
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basso continuo
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a small ensemble of at least two instrumentalists who provide a foundation for the melody or melodies above; heard almost exclusively in Baroque music
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figured bass
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in musical notation, a numerical shorthand that tells the player which unwritten notes to fill in above the written bass note
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Terraced dynamics
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a term used to describe the sharp, abrupt dynamic contrasts found in the music of the Baroque era
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Opera
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a dramatic work in which the actors sing some or all of their parts; it usually makes use of elaborate stage sets and costumes
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Libretto
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the text of an opera
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monody
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a general term connoting solo singing accompanied by a basso continuo in the early Baroque period
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recitative
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musically heightened speech, often used in an opera, oratorio, or cantata to report dramatic action and advance the plot
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simple recitative
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recitative accompanied only by a basso continuo or a harpsichord, and not the full orchestra
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aria
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an elaborate lyrical song for solo voice
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arioso
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a style of singing and a type of song midway between an aria and a
recitative |
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toccato
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a one-movement composition, free in form, originally for solo
keyboard but later for instrumental ensemble as well |
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chamber music
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music, usually instrumental music, performed in a small
concert hall or private residence with just one performer on each part |
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cantata
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a term originally meaning “something sung”; in its mature state,
it consists of several movements, including one or more arias, ariosos, and recitatives; cantatas can be on secular subjects and intended for private performance or on religious subjects such as those of J.S. Bach for the German Lutheran church |
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chamber cantata
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a cantata performed before a select audience in a private
residence; intimate vocal chamber music, principally of the Baroque era |
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ostinato
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a musical figure, motive, melody, harmony, or rhythm that is
repeated again and again |
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basso ostinato
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a motive or phrase in the bass that is repeated again and
again |
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ground bass
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English turn for basso ostinato
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duple meter written
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2/4
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