Music

Front 1

Sound

Back 1

Vibrations in the air, perceived by the ear

Front 2

Music

Back 2

Sound organized in time

Front 3

Tone

Back 3

Sound with consistent rate of vibration

Front 4

Noise

Back 4

Sound without consistent rate of vibration

Front 5

Pitch

Back 5

Highness or lowness of a tone. Lower pitches have slower vibrations and vice versa

Front 6

Duration

Back 6

Discussed in terms of beats and fractions of beats

Front 7

Notation

Back 7

A complex set of symbols for indicating the pitch and duration of musical sounds

Front 8

Melody

Back 8

The linear aspect of music. A series of pitches that is memorable

Front 9

Range

Back 9

Distance between lowest and highest pitch in a melody

Front 10

Conjunct

Back 10

Melody that moves up and down scale step by step

Front 11

Disjunct

Back 11

Melody that moves up and down scale by leaping around

Front 12

Phrase

Back 12

The basic unit of meaning/construction in a melody

Front 13

Cadence

Back 13

A formula that marks the end of a phrase

Front 14

Counter Melody

Back 14

a second melody layered on top of an initial, primary melody

Front 15

Scale

Back 15

Arranges pitches in a piece from lowest to highest. Syllables or numbers are assigned to tones of a scale

Front 16

Interval

Back 16

Distance between two pitches

Front 17

Octave

Back 17

Interval of an eighth ("Do" to "Do")

Front 18

Rhythm

Back 18

Anything that has to do with time in music

Front 19

Beat/Pulse

Back 19

The basic unit of rhythm. Divides time into equal segments

Front 20

Accent

Back 20

Emphasis on a beat

Front 21

Meter

Back 21

A regularly recurring pattern of accented and unaccented beats

Front 22

Measure/Bar

Back 22

A full pattern of accented and unaccented beats

Front 23

Downbeat

Back 23

The first beat of a measure

Front 24

Metrical Patterns

Back 24

Duple: 2 beats per measure
Triple: 3 beats per measure
Common: 4 beats per measure

Front 25

Non-Metric

Back 25

A meter in which there's no regularly repeating pattern of accents

Front 26

Syncopation

Back 26

A rhythmic pattern with accents off of the beat

Front 27

Additive Meter

Back 27

A regularly recurring, irregular metrical pattern

Front 28

Polyrhythm

Back 28

Two or more rhythmic patterns layered on top of each other

Front 29

Harmony

Back 29

Musical space, depth, or dimension. Describes simultaneous events in music

Front 30

Chord

Back 30

Two or more tones sounded at the same time

Front 31

Triad

Back 31

Three tone chord. The most common chord type in Western music

Front 32

Progression

Back 32

Movement from chord to chord

Front 33

Function

Back 33

Every tone on the scale and every chord on the scale has a relationship to the home tone

Front 34

Tonic/Keynote

Back 34

First note of a scale. The home tone

Front 35

Tonality

Back 35

The whole system of tones, chords built on them, and their relationship to the home tone

Front 36

Diatonic Scale

Back 36

Built on whole steps and half steps

Front 37

Major Scale

Back 37

The most common scale. Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. All white notes on a keyboard from C to C

Front 38

Minor Scale

Back 38

All white notes on a keyboard from A to A. Sounds sad

Front 39

Chromatic Scale

Back 39

All half steps

Front 40

Chromatic Harmony

Back 40

Any harmony that uses altered notes (sharps and flats)

Front 41

Modulation

Back 41

Moving from one tonality to another in the course of a composition

Front 42

Dissonant

Back 42

A type of harmony that is harsh and unstable

Front 43

Consonant

Back 43

A type of harmony that is pleasant and stable

Front 44

Resolution

Back 44

Moving from dissonant harmony to consonant harmony

Front 45

Texture

Back 45

Element of music about layers in a composition and their relationship

Front 46

Monophony

Back 46

A single layer of melody alone

Front 47

Polyphony

Back 47

Two or more melodic layers that are equally important and independent

Front 48

Imitation

Back 48

Polyphony where melodies imitate each other

Front 49

Counterpoint

Back 49

Polyphony where melodies are different each other

Front 50

Homophony

Back 50

Two or more melodic layers where one is more important than the others

Front 51

Rigid Imitation

Back 51

Canon and round are two examples

Front 52

Fugue

Back 52

The most excellent and important type of imitation polyphony

Front 53

Musical Form

Back 53

Structure and design in music

Front 54

Repetition

Back 54

Self explanatory. A section of music repeats later in the piece

Front 55

Contrast

Back 55

A new, non-repeating section in a piece

Front 56

Variation

Back 56

A repeated part with some altered aspects, but is still recognizable to the original

Front 57

Theme/Subject (for fugue)

Back 57

A melody that serves as the basic building material for a theme

Front 58

Motive/Motif

Back 58

A very short theme or fraction of a larger theme

Front 59

Sequence

Back 59

A motif repeated several times at higher and higher pitches (or vice versa)

Front 60

Thematic Development

Back 60

To exploit and explore all possibilities of a theme

Front 61

Movement

Back 61

A piece that is complete in itself, but it's designed to be part of a larger composition

Front 62

Binary

Back 62

Two part form (A-B)

Front 63

Ternary

Back 63

Three part form (A-B-A)

Front 64

Genre

Back 64

To categorize by style, function, or performing forces

Front 65

Tempo

Back 65

The speed of the beat

Front 66

Tempo Markings

Back 66

(Italian) Set the tempo at beginnings
Allegro - fast
Adagio - slow

Front 67

Changing Tempo

Back 67

(Italian)
Accelerando - get gradually faster
Ritardando - get gradually slower

Front 68

Dynamics

Back 68

Loudness and softness of sound

Front 69

Dynamic Markings

Back 69

(Italian)
Forte - loud
Mezzo - medium/middle
Piano - soft

Front 70

Changing Dynamics

Back 70

(Italian)
Crescendo - start soft, get louder
Decrescendo/Diminuendo - start loud, get softer

Front 71

Artist/Conductor

Back 71

Always controls tempo and dynamics

Front 72

Interpretation

Back 72

Shaping the expressive content of music