Music Theory

Front 1

accelerando-tempo gradually gets faster

Back 1

Accidental - symbols such as sharps or flats and naturals that raise or lower a pitch.

Front 2

Adagio - slow speed (not too slow)

Back 2

Allegro - fast tempo / speed

Front 3

Andante - play the music at a moderately slow speed.

Back 3

Bar Line - a vertical line on the staff to separate measures in a composition.

Front 4

Beam - a straight line connecting two or more notes such as eighth and sixteenth notes.

Back 4

Beat - a musical pulse or unit of time / the steady pulse of music

Front 5

Chord - a combination of three or more notes sounding at the same time / multiple notes sounding simultaneously (Ex. A C Major chord may consist of the notes C-E-G.)

Back 5

Clef - a symbol placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate names of lines and spaces.

Front 6

Conductor - the director of a group of musicians

Back 6

Crescendo - gradually get louder

Front 7

Decrescendo - gradually get softer

Back 7

Dot - a small symbol placed to the right of a note that increases the duration of the note by one half.

Front 8

Dynamics - symbols that indicate a change in volume of a song. (The students played the music louder and softer, as indicated by the dynamics written on the music.)

Back 8

Enharmonic - Two notes that sound the same but are spelled differently.

Front 9

Fermata - a pause in the music, indicated by this sign.

Back 9

Flat - a symbol written to the left of a note that lowers the pitch by a half step.

Front 10

Forte - loud. (The percussion section saw the forte mark on their music and played the music with a booming sound.)

Back 10

Half Step - the distance between one key and the next adjacent white or black key on a keyboard.

Front 11

Interval - the difference in pitch between two notes.

Back 11

Largo - slow and stately

Front 12

Ledger Line - a small line written above or below the staff to extend the range of notation.

Back 12

Legato - playing notes in a smooth, connected manner.

Front 13

Measure - the space between one bar line and the next.

Back 13

Moderato - medium tempo / speed

Front 14

Octave - the interval between two adjacent notes of the same name.

Back 14

Orchestra - a large group of instrumentalists consisting of woodwind, brass, string and percussion sections.

Front 15

Pentatonic - a scale having five tones to the octave, usually avoiding half steps. (The students played a song on the xylophone using the notes C,D,E,G, and A from the pentatonic scale.)

Back 15

Phrase - a complete musical thought.

Front 16

Piano - soft

Back 16

Pizzicato - pluck strings instead of bowing

Front 17

Presto - very fast tempo or speed

Back 17

Recorder - an end-blown flute-like instrument that has a whistle mouthpiece, available in soprano, alto, tenor and bass. (The teacher told the students to play the recorder by blowing more softly.)

Front 18

Refrain - the melody of a song that is repeated after each verse. (After singing the second verse of the song, the chorus sang the refrain.)

Back 18

Repeat Sign - a sign that indicates a section of music to be played again. (The clarinet players had to go back and play measures 5-13 again when they got to the repeat sign.)

Front 19

Rest - a symbol used to indicate silence in music.

Back 19

Sharp - a symbol written to the left of a note that raises the pitch by a half step

Front 20

Slur - a curved line connecting two or more different notes, indicating to play the music smoothly.

Back 20

Staccato - a dot over or under notes that indicate playing the music short and detached. (The students were told to play the notes with a more staccato sound because they were making each note sound too long.)

Front 21

Staff - horizontal lines on which notes are written. The musical staff has five lines and four spaces.

Back 21

Syncopation - a rhythm accented on notes that are not usually stressed.

Front 22

Tempo - the speed of a composition. (The director told the students to play the song at a faster tempo.)

Back 22

Tie - a curved line connecting two notes indicated to play them as a single note.

Front 23

Vivace - lively and quick tempo

Back 23

Whole Step - A whole step is equal to two half steps. (Examples - C to D is a whole step. E to F Sharp is a whole step.)