Music

Front 1

score

Back 1

The musical notation of a composition, showing all vocal and instrumental parts.

Front 2

quartet

Back 2

Any four-part composition written for four performers; also the performers.

Front 3

coda

Back 3

A short closing section added at the end of a composition.

Front 4

form

Back 4

The structure of a composition; the way its musical materials are organized.

Front 5

motive

Back 5

A short musical fragment.

Front 6

sequence

Back 6

The repetition of a melody pattern at a higher or lower pitch leve.

Front 7

orchestra

Back 7

A balanced group of instruments. The Western symphony orchestra usually consists of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.

Front 8

pentascale

Back 8

A five-tone in which the notes occur in consecutive letter-name order.

Front 9

ostinato

Back 9

A musical idea that repeats throughout a piece or a section of a piece.

Front 10

scale

Back 10

An arrangement of pitches from lower to higher according to a specific pattern of intervals. Major, minor, pentatonic, whole-tone, and chromatic are five kinds of scales. Each one has its own arrangement of pitches.

Front 11

plainsong

Back 11

Monophonic chant sung usually with even rhythm on Latin text. Plainsong is one of the earliest examples of notated music.

Front 12

riff

Back 12

A term used in jazz for a repeated, short, strongly rhythmic phrase.

Front 13

meausre

Back 13

A grouping of beats set off by bar lines.

Front 14

symphony

Back 14

A large orchestral composition, generally in three or four contrasting movements.

Front 15

pentatonic

Back 15

Music based on a five-tone scale. A common pentatonic scale corresponds to tones 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the major scale.

Front 16

transpose

Back 16

To write or perform music at a pitch other than the original one.

Front 17

vibrato

Back 17

A slight, rapid variation of pitch, used to heighten the expressiveness of a tone.

Front 18

unison

Back 18

An interval that consists of three whole steps.

Front 19

triad

Back 19

A chord of three tones, usually built in thirds-an interval of a third on top of another interval of a third.

Front 20

downbeat

Back 20

The first, usually accented, beat of the measure.

Front 21

polyrhythm

Back 21

Several different rhythm patterns sounding at the same time, often resulting in conflicts of meter.

Front 22

trio

Back 22

Any three-part composition written for three performers; also the performers.

Front 23

chorus

Back 23

A large gourp of singers.

Front 24

finale

Back 24

The last movement of a composition, such as a symphony or concerto.

Front 25

Interval

Back 25

The distance from one tone to another.

Front 26

program music

Back 26

Music that is inspired by an extramusical idea, such as a person, place, or story.

Front 27

monophony

Back 27

A single unaccompanied melody line.

Front 28

solo

Back 28

Music for a single performer, often, with an accompaniment.

Front 29

duet

Back 29

Any two-part composition written for two performers; also the performers.

Front 30

retrograde

Back 30

A melody, or motive, read backwards.

Front 31

minor

Back 31

Tonally, a key that is based on a minor scale-a scale that contains this stpe pattern: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole.

Front 32

phrase

Back 32

A melodic idea that acts as a complete thought, something like a sentence.

Front 33

minimalism

Back 33

A twentieth-century sytle of composition that emphasizes extended repetition of a motive or group of motives.

Front 34

suite

Back 34

Any instrumental work of several short movements, often programmatic or descriptive.

Front 35

modulation

Back 35

A change of the tonal center, or key, within a composition.

Front 36

homophony

Back 36

A melodic line supported by a harmonic accompaniment.

Front 37

staff

Back 37

A set of five equally slpaced horizontal lines on which musical notes are written.

Front 38

meter

Back 38

The way beats of music are grouped, often in sets of two (duple meter)or in sets of three (triple meter).

Front 39

chromatic

Back 39

A musical passage in which notes have been altered by use of accidentals.

Front 40

accent

Back 40

A single tone or chord louder than those around it (>)

Front 41

chord

Back 41

Three or more different tones played or sung together.

Front 42

accidental

Back 42

A sign in music notation used to designate a chromatically altered note. The most common accidentals are sharp, flat, and natural

Front 43

aria

Back 43

An extended song for solo voice in an opera, an oratorio, or a cantata; often a showpiece for the singer's vocal ability.

Front 44

Romantic period

Back 44

That period in the nineteenth century, following the Classic period, when the style of composition was generally marked by lyricism, fantasy, and emotional expression.

Front 45

bar line

Back 45

The vertical line on the staff, used to mark off groupings of beats.

Front 46

cross-rhythm

Back 46

A rhythm in which the regular pattern of accents is altered to form a new pattern.

Front 47

Classic period

Back 47

The period encompassing the latter half of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century, when the style of composition was generally marked by simpliciy, balance, and restraint.

Front 48

concerto

Back 48

A piece for a solo instrument with orchestra, usually in three movements.

Front 49

compound meter

Back 49

A grouping of beats in which three beats are felt as one (such as 6/8, 9/8)

Front 50

harmony

Back 50

The sounding of two or more different notes at the same time.

Front 51

multimeter

Back 51

Changing from one meter to another in successive measures.

Front 52

a cappella

Back 52

A term used to indicate unaccompanied choral singing; "in chapel style."

Front 53

dynamics

Back 53

Degrees of loudness and softness.

Front 54

ballad

Back 54

A popular song that usually tells a story.

Front 55

graphic notation

Back 55

Notation that uses pictures to represent sounds (rather than traditional notation for exact pitches.)

Front 56

folk song

Back 56

A song of unknown suthorship that has for generations been current among the people of a nation or region.

Front 57

ensemble

Back 57

A gourp of players or singers.

Front 58

fugue

Back 58

A musical form based on imitation, in which tha main melody (subject) and related melodies (countersubjects) are varied in different ways. The texture is polyphonic.

Front 59

countermelody

Back 59

A melody that is played or sung at the same time as the main melody.

Front 60

grand staff

Back 60

A two-staff system with the soprano and alto parts shown in the treble clef and the tenor and baritone parts shown in the bass clef.

Front 61

round

Back 61

A form in which a melody begins in one part and then is continually and exactly repeated by other parts in an overlapping fasion.

Front 62

dissonance

Back 62

An interval or a chord that sounds unstable and pulls toward a consonance.

Front 63

octave

Back 63

The distance of eight steps from one tone to another that has the same letter name.

Front 64

improvisation

Back 64

The art of making up the music as the performer goes along.

Front 65

key

Back 65

The particular scale on which a piece of music or a section of it is based, named for its tonic or key-tone or "home-base" tone.

Front 66

rhythm

Back 66

The combination of sounds and silences in the same or differing lengths.

Front 67

oratorio

Back 67

A musical drama for voices and orchestra, often based on a religious narrative; usually performed without scenery or action.

Front 68

jazz

Back 68

A style that grew out of the music of african Americans, then took many different substyles, such as ragtime, blues, cool jazz, swing, bebop, rock.

Front 69

beat

Back 69

A repeating pulse that can be felt in some music.

Front 70

tempo

Back 70

The speed of the beat.

Front 71

pitch

Back 71

the highness or lowness of a tone.

Front 72

opera

Back 72

A theatrical production combining drama, vocal and orchestral music, costumes, scenery, and sometimes dance.

Front 73

melody

Back 73

A succession of single tones with rhythm, forming a recognizable musical ideas.

Front 74

major

Back 74

Tonally, a key that is based on a major scale-a scale that contains this step pattern; whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.

Front 75

key signature

Back 75

An indication of key consisting of sharps or flats placed on the staff at the beginning of a composition.

Front 76

theme

Back 76

An important melody that occurs several times in a piece of music.