Music Final

Front 1

Elements of Music

Back 1

1. Rhythm
2. Melody
3. Harmony
4. Tone Color
5. Form

Front 2

Elements of Dance

Back 2

1. Time
2. Space
3. Movement of the Body
4. Movement Quality
5. Form

Front 3

Rhythm

Back 3

- Long notes, short notes, and silence (rests) played above a steady pulse/beat

Front 4

Melody

Back 4

- A series of pitches that rise and fall, played with a specific rhythm
- The tune that you sing

Front 5

Harmony

Back 5

- The logical progression of chords
- Accompanies the melody

Front 6

Tone Color

Back 6

- The combination of sounds and instruments that makes up music's timbre

Front 7

Form

Back 7

The structural organization of:
- rhythm, melody, harmony, and tone color (for music)
- time, space, movement of the body, and movement quality (for dance)

Front 8

Beat

Back 8

- the underlying pulse in music

Front 9

Meter (Time Signature)

Back 9

- a group of beats
- grouping defined by the time signature
-terms meter and time sig. = almost interchangeable
- time signature tells us how many beats there are in a group and defines the nature of a single beat

Front 10

Measure (Bar)

Back 10

One unit of the meter (or time signature)

Front 11

Arrhythmic

Back 11

- music that has no perceivable beat
- musicians could be counting underneath to hold piece together, but listener can't hear a pulse or beat

Front 12

Tempo

Back 12

- the speed at which the piece is played

Front 13

Tempo Marking

Back 13

- found in the upper left corner of the first page of a piece of music
- defined by a metronome marking which is usually in beats per minute written as: ( = 120)

Front 14

Tempo Marking Paces

Back 14

1. Allegro = fast
2. Adagio = very slow
3. Presto = very fast
4. Andante = slow walking tempo
5. Moderato = moderate tempo

Front 15

Syncopation

Back 15

- when accents occur in unexpected places in rhythmic music

Front 16

Normal/Expected places for accents

Back 16

- measure of 4 beats = on the 1st and 3rd beats
- measure of 3 beats = on the 1st beat
- inside a beat: beat divided into 4 parts = the 1st and 3rd sixteenth notes, beat divided into 3 parts = the 1st eighth note

Front 17

Rubato

Back 17

- music where the tempo is flexible
- performer moves the beat slightly slower or faster for expressive purposes

Front 18

Ritardando (Ritard, or Rit.)

Back 18

- slow down the tempo, usually at the end of a phrase

Front 19

Accelerando (Accel.)

Back 19

- get faster, usually in a phrase or short section of music

Front 20

Compound Time

Back 20

- time signatures in which the beat is divided into 3 or 6 parts

6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 15/8, etc.

Front 21

Figuring Out Compound Time

Back 21

- the top number is divisible by three (only exception is if the top number is 3, then its simple)
- divide top number by 3 to figure out how many beats there are - ex: 6/8 time, 6 divided by 3 is 2, so there are 2 beats
- bottom number reflects the type of note: 1 = whole note, 2 = half note, 4 = quarter note, 8 = eighth note, etc.
- one beat equals three of these notes - ex: in 6/8 time, there are 2 beats made of 3 eighth notes

Front 22

Simple Time

Back 22

- time signatures in which the beat is divided into 2 or 4 parts

2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, etc.

Front 23

Figuring Out Simple Time

Back 23

- top number is not divisible by 3 (exception is 3)
- top number tells how many beats per measure - ex: in 4/4 time, there are 4 beats per measure
- bottom number tells what kind of note gets the beat: 1 = whole note, 2 = half note, 4 = quarter note, etc.
- ex: in 4/4 time, a quarter note gets one beat

Front 24

Mixed Meter

Back 24

- when the time signature frequently changes in a piece of music
- principally, when there are changes of meter inside a phrase (not if it changes once or twice in the whole piece)

Front 25

Polyrhythm

Back 25

- when 2 time signatures are being played at the same time
- share a common pulse, but cross accents from 2 time signatures create interesting syncopations between them

Front 26

Key Signature

Back 26

- sharps or flats at the beginning of a line of music, right after the clef sign, indicates what key the piece is in
- two choices from this key signature: major key or its related minor key (ex: C uses no sharps or flats, and its related minor is A minor)
- you have to look at the piece of music to see whether its in the major or minor key

Front 27

Tonal Music

Back 27

- music that has a tonal center, which means it is played in a specific key and based on a scale
- in western music, we use mostly major and minor scales
- tonal music will always return to its tonal center (the bottom note of the scale)

Front 28

Atonal Music

Back 28

- music with no tonal center
- don't go back to the key center
- chords are called atonal harmonies, they don't abide by the typical rules of chord progression in tonal music

Front 29

Scale (Mode)

Back 29

- organization of pitches in half and whole steps that progress from a note to the same note an octave higher
- many scales across the world, can have any number of notes
- we use mostly major and minor scales that are 7 notes

Front 30

Phrase

Back 30

- melody that can be sung in one breath
- has a beginning, climax, and resolution

Front 31

Theme

Back 31

- most important phrase in a piece of music
- central musical idea of the piece

Front 32

Motif

Back 32

- three or four most important notes in a theme
- you will hear it throughout the piece, gets stuck in your head and defines the piece musically

Front 33

Harmony

Back 33

- progression of chords that accompanies the melody

Front 34

Chord

Back 34

- any three or more notes played simultaneously

Front 35

Triad

Back 35

- a three note chord where each note is separated by one unplayed note

Front 36

Major vs. Minor

Back 36

- these are the 2 types of scales in western music
- these scales form major and minor chords
- major: generally more optimistic in tone
- minor: darker in tone

Front 37

Accompaniment

Back 37

- all the parts of the music other than the melody
- encompasses the chords, any patterns these chords are played in, the bass line, and counter melodies

Front 38

Bass Line

Back 38

- the bottom note in any music
- usually there's one instrument that plays it
- grounds the music, very important for this reason

Front 39

Dynamics

Back 39

- the volume of the music indicated by a certain symbol

Front 40

Symbols for Dynamics

Back 40

1. pp = pianissimo, very soft
2. p = piano, softly
3. mp = mezzo piano, medium soft
4. mf = mezzo forte, medium loud
5. f = forte, loud
6. ff = fortissimo, very loud

Front 41

Clef

Back 41

- sign at the beginning of every line of music
- tells the relative range of the music (Treble, Bass, Alto)

Front 42

Staff

Back 42

- the five lines that the notes are placed on

Front 43

System

Back 43

- the group of staves that are connected together

Front 44

Flat

Back 44

- (b) symbol that indicates to play a half step lower than the written note
- often the black key right below the note

Front 45

Sharp

Back 45

- (#) symbol that indicates to play a half step higher than the written note
- often the black key right above the note