Music Theory For Diploma

Front 1

transposing instruments

Back 1

instruments whose music is written at a different pitch than the sound they produce. examples: Eb saxaphone sounds a major 6th lower. written in C

Hint 1

Eb saxaphone

Front 2

through composed

Back 2

no repeating sections within a song

Front 3

sequence

Back 3

exact replication of a melody at a different level

Front 4

idee fixe

Back 4

recurrent theme. related to cyclic form and forerunner of leit motif(recurrent theme/Wagner)

Hint 4

berloiz. fixed idea/obsession.

Front 5

opera

Back 5

staged drama with accompanied singing as an essential feature

Front 6

polyphony

Back 6

many sounds. musical texture in 2 or more(usually 3 at least) independent parts. applies to 16C sacred vocal music specifically.

Hint 6

16C vocal music

Front 7

pointillism

Back 7

compositional technique named after George Seurat's method of painting with tiny dots of colour.

Hint 7

style of painting

Front 8

ritornello

Back 8

1st and last movements of a baroque concerto. characterized by contrasts in solo & tutti sections.

Hint 8

baroque concerto

Front 9

fugue

Back 9

composition with 8 or more voices entering(echoing) one after another. baroque.
subject, counter subject, answer, free counterpoint

Hint 9

in around

Front 10

programme music

Back 10

expressing extra-musical ideas. mood, literary, pictoral images. popular with russian nationalist composers and romantic era. berloiz, listz, tchaikovsky, strauss.

Hint 10

in opposition to absolute music

Front 11

recitative

Back 11

form of speech like solo singing free in rhythm & lacking structured melodies. invented in Italy(1600) for music to be subservient to text.

Hint 11

continuo

Front 12

col legno

Back 12

with wood. instruction to tap strings with the wood of the bow rather than the hair.

Front 13

musical form

Back 13

the way elements(pitch, rhythm, dynamics, timbre) are organized to make a work coherent.

Hint 13

shape/structure

Front 14

oratorio

Back 14

work presenting Jesus's life & significance to Christian doctrine. orchestra/choir/soloists. NO props/costumes.

Hint 14

Handel's Messiah.

Front 15

aria

Back 15

song for solo voice.

Front 16

gavotte

Back 16

French folk dance from Breton. In keyboard, mid 18C, it appears as an optional movement to the suite where it follows sarabande as an independent part.

Hint 16

suite

Front 17

divisi

Back 17

instruction to players with the same part to divide into groups to play the part marked.

Hint 17

split

Front 18

impressionism

Back 18

19C painting and music(landscapes/natural phenomena, water/light imagry) of a generation later.

Hint 18

Debussy

Front 19

ground bass

Back 19

short melody repeated continually with changing upper parts.

Hint 19

renaissance & baroque

Front 20

mano sinistra

Back 20

play with left hand

Front 21

una corda

Back 21

the soft pedal

Front 22

fantasia

Back 22

music with no fixed form. used in opera to display a variety of themes.

Hint 22

imagination

Front 23

basso continuo

Back 23

a bass instrument(bass, cello, viol) plays single bass line melody while keyboard or plucked instrument fills in harmony.

Hint 23

continuous bass

Front 24

sonata

Back 24

instrumental composition.

Front 25

sul ponticello

Back 25

direction to string instruments to perform directly over the bridge

Hint 25

string players

Front 26

augmentation

Back 26

when note values are lengthened.

Front 27

absolute music

Back 27

music that exists to be appreciated simply as such.

Front 28

motet

Back 28

most important form of polyphonic vocal music in the middle ages & renaissance.

Hint 28

latin sacred texts sung during catholic services.

Front 29

stretto

Back 29

when subject entries follow closely in succession, each subject overlapping the next.

Hint 29

in fugue

Front 30

tonal answer

Back 30

in fugue, the second voice provides the tonal answer to the subject.
Tonal answer is the voice responding to the subject

Hint 30

fugue

Front 31

counter subject

Back 31

in fugue, the first voice follows the subject with the counter subject.

Hint 31

fugue

Front 32

exposition

Back 32

opening portion of fugue or sonata where the principle theme is introduced.

Front 33

tone row

Back 33

basic musical idea.

Front 34

retrograde

Back 34

backward-read version of a melody

Front 35

tutti

Back 35

1. remove the una corda pedal.
2. music for all voices/instruments.

Front 36

sarabande

Back 36

principle movement of the baroque suite. dance.

Hint 36

suite

Front 37

figured bass

Back 37

a bass instrument(bass, cello, biol) plays single bass melody line while keyboard or plucked instrument fills in harmony.

Hint 37

basso continuo. throughbass.

Front 38

suite

Back 38

group of dances constructed in single key binary form.
allenmande, courante, gigue, minuet, sarabande

Front 39

turn

Back 39

ornament. 4 notes encircling the main. note above, main note, note below, main note.

Front 40

pause

Back 40

note(or chord) marked to be prolonged at the performers discression.

Hint 40

little birds eye

Front 41

auxiliary note

Back 41

variety of passing notes which instead of proceeding to another note, returns to the one it just left

Hint 41

shakes, mordents, turns

Front 42

accent

Back 42

sudden increase or decrease in volume, slight silence, lengthening or any combination of these

Hint 42

>, fz, -, sf, sfz, fp

Front 43

suspension

Back 43

form of discord arising from holding over a note from one chord into the one that follows.

Front 44

menuetto

Back 44

instrumental form within suite/symphony/sonata. regular phrase structure with simple harmonies.

Hint 44

dance

Front 45

programme symphony

Back 45

work that matches a narrative or descriptive programme to symphonic form

Front 46

passion

Back 46

settings to music of the account of Christ's passion as recorded in the 4 gospels. 16th Century. Bach.

Front 47

round

Back 47

short circular canon at the unison or octave for 3 or more unaccompanied voices

Front 48

bitonal

Back 48

combination of 2 keys simultaneously.

Hint 48

Ives Millhaud

Front 49

bel canto

Back 49

beautiful singing. perfect evenness throughout the voice. light and high focusing on technique.

Hint 49

Bellini, Rossini

Front 50

madrigal

Back 50

16th & 17th Century secular vocal music unaccompanied by instruments

Front 51

concerto grosso

Back 51

music passed between soloists and an orchestra

Hint 51

big concert

Front 52

overture

Back 52

the musical opening to a large dramatic work

Front 53

harmonic

Back 53

components of sound. frequencies. acoustics.

Front 54

double stopping

Back 54

plucking and fretting 2 strings at the same time

Front 55

contrapuntal

Back 55

note against note. the relationship between 2 or more voices with independent harmony.

Hint 55

counter point

Front 56

scherzo

Back 56

quick light movement often in triple time. replaced minuet in late 18C as traditional 3rd movement of large forms(symphony)

Hint 56

playful, joke. Beethoven

Front 57

aleatory

Back 57

elements of composition left to the performer

Hint 57

chance

Front 58

melodic contour

Back 58

the quality of movement in a melody.
arch/ramp/ascending/descending

Hint 58

shape

Front 59

libretto

Back 59

text used in musical work. contains all the words and stage directions. opera , oratorio, cantata.

Front 60

cadence

Back 60

series of intervals or chords that end a phrase of music. perfect, imperfect, plagel

Front 61

plagel cadence

Back 61

amen.

Front 62

opera comique

Back 62

farcical. stories of politics, drinking, love, class.

Hint 62

Bizet- Carmen;

Front 63

opera seria

Back 63

serious opera. stories from greek/roman mythology.

Hint 63

Scarlatti- Griselda; Rossini- Otello

Front 64

grand opera

Back 64

serious opera without spoken dialogue. epic 5 acts with chorus & ballet.

Hint 64

Verdi- Don Carlos

Front 65

tonal sequence

Back 65

repetition made without leaving original key

Front 66

real sequence

Back 66

if in repetition the key is changed to preserve exact intervals

Front 67

mixed sequences

Back 67

real in some repetitions and tonal in others

Front 68

melodic sequence

Back 68

if repetition is only in melody

Front 69

harmonic sequence

Back 69

if repetition is in harmony

Front 70

rosalia

Back 70

an exact repetition in another key. ie; a harmonic real sequence

Front 71

tonic

Back 71

naming note of the key or scale. DOH

Front 72

supertonic

Back 72

second note, just above tonic. RAY

Front 73

mediant

Back 73

third note above tonic. ME

Front 74

subdominant

Back 74

fourth note above tonic. FA

Front 75

dominant

Back 75

fifth note above tonic. SO

Front 76

submediant

Back 76

sixth note above tonic. LA

Front 77

leading note

Back 77

seventh note above tonic, or 1 below. TI

Front 78

perfect cadence

Back 78

sounds most final

Front 79

imperfect cadence

Back 79

less final- melody ending on a pitch other than tonic,

Front 80

cyclic form

Back 80

thematic material occurs more than once per movement as a unifying device. Brahms Symphony 3. Berloiz Symphonie Fantastique.

Front 81

minor fifth

Back 81

diminished

Front 82

major fifth

Back 82

perfect

Front 83

minor fourth

Back 83

augmented

Front 84

major fourth

Back 84

perfect

Front 85

minor seventh interval

Back 85

dominant seventh

Hint 85

aka

Front 86

tenor stave

Back 86

4th line from the bottom is middle C

Front 87

alto clef

Back 87

3rd line from the bottom is middle C

Front 88

dominant pedal

Back 88

repeated bass notes are pedal notes. dominant on the 5th of the key(tonic) of the piece

Front 89

compound interval

Back 89

an interval larger than an octave

Front 90

pp

Back 90

pianissimo, very quiet

Front 91

mp

Back 91

mezzo piano, moderately quiet

Front 92

p

Back 92

piano, quiet

Front 93

f

Back 93

forte, loud

Front 94

sfz

Back 94

sforzando, suddenly loud

Front 95

mf

Back 95

mezzo forte, moderately loud

Front 96

ff

Back 96

fortissimo, very loud

Front 97

cres

Back 97

crescendo, getting louder

Front 98

dim

Back 98

diminuendo, getting softer

Front 99

fp or sfp

Back 99

sforzando followed immediately by piano