Terms in RED are those which will recur most often. Links marked [SG] are to Music Hum's Sonic Glossary.
ACCOMPANIMENT: subordinate voices providing background to a soloist
ADDED-NOTE CHORDS: Chords consisting of a triad plus extra notes (such as a 6th, 7th, or 9th above the root of the triad), common in jazz
ALTO: the next-to-highest voice part, usually sung by women, occasionally by men
APOSTROPHE: a direct address to another person
ARIA: an operatic song, usually more formal, self-contained, and metrically regular than recitative
ARPEGGIO: a chord made into a melodic line by playing each of its notes in turn
ATONAL music: music lacking a tonic, that is, a key or tonal center (noun: ATONALITY)
AUGMENTATION: the playing of a theme in the same rhythm, but twice as slow (or three times, or four...)
BAR: the basic rhythmic unit from the Baroque onwards, subdivided into beats
BASS: the lowest voice part, sung by men
BEBOP: a style of jazz from the 1940's characterized by small
bands, improvisatory solos based on chords rather than
melodies, broken melismas, edgy rhythms carried by bass and
cymbals rather than piano and drums, and an artistic mindset
BIG BAND: a style of jazz from the 1930's, with pieces arranged
in advance for large bands including many horns playing in close harmony
BREAK: in jazz, a brief passage for one unaccompanied player,
in strict rhythm (thus unlike a cadenza)
CADENCE: the last few (say two) notes, or chords, of a musical phrase
[SG]
CADENZA: a showy passage in a concerto for the solo instrument
unaccompanied, often in a loose rhythm, sometimes improvised
CANON or strict imitation: imitation where the repetition is exact
[SG]
CANTUS FIRMUS: slow chant on which counterpoint is based in organum
[SG]
CHAMBER MUSIC: music intended for a small room, like a string quartet
CHARACTER PIECE: a short instrumental piece aiming to evoke a particular mood, person, place, thing, or event
CHITARRONE: a gigantic lute-like instrument, used for continuo accompaniment
CHORD: several notes sounded at once
[SG]
CHORUS: in jazz, a passage based on the original tune (or its harmony),
similar to a variation in a classical theme and variations
CHROMATIC: of a harmony using many of the notes from
the chromatic scale, not just the
diatonic scale
CHROMATIC SCALE:
scale with 12 equal intervals, hence 13 notes, in
each octave (white and black notes on a piano)
CODA: a brief concluding passage, like an afterthought
CONCERTO: a piece for orchestra highlighting one or more solo instruments
CONJUNCT motion, or motion BY STEP: motion to a note
of nearby pitch
CONSONANCE: a pleasant-sounding chord such as a major or minor triad
[SG]
CONTINUO: light accompaniment for a singer by a bass instrument
and perhaps a harpsichord, organ, or chitarrone
[SG]
COOL JAZZ: a response to bebop featuring more languid
harmonies, tempos, and rhythms
COUNTERPOINT: polyphony
written in accordance with various sets of rules (adj: CONTRAPUNTAL)
[SG]
COUNTERSUBJECT: the secondary theme of a fugue, played by the
first voice when the second one enters
CRESCENDO: a gradual increase in volume
CYCLE: a set of pieces equally suited for performance as a
group or individually
DEFINITE pitch: a vibration of the air that repeats at regular intervals
DEVELOPMENT: the middle section of a sonata-allegro movement,
in which the themes from the exposition are creatively transformed
DIATONIC SCALE: scale with 8 notes
in each octave, composed of interlocking hexachords, such
as major scale
and minor scale
DIMINUENDO: a gradual decrease in volume
DISCANT: more florid organum with faster melismatic cantus,
regular rhythm than pure organum
DISJUNCT motion, or motion BY SKIP: motion to a note
of much higher or lower pitch
DISSONANCE: a chord with a jarring sound; opposite of consonance
[SG]
DIXIELAND or HOT JAZZ: the earliest style of jazz, which
emerged in New Orleans around 1920; closely
related to dance music and the blues, often with a clear chorus
structure interrupted by occasional breaks
DODECAPHONIC or TWELVE-TONE composition: Schoenberg's method
for writing atonal music based on a specific ordering of the 12
notes in the chromatic scale
DOTTED rhythm: a long-short-long rhythm (the long notes being thrice as long)
DRUM SET: in jazz and rock, an assembly of drums and cymbals,
some worked by pedals
DUPLUM, TRIPLUM, QUADRUPLUM: names of the additional voices in
organum
DURCHKOMPONIERT or THROUGH-COMPOSED: of an opera, set as a
single musical number, without dialogue, recitative, or pauses
between pieces or scenes
DYNAMICS: written instructions to perform softly or loudly
(e.g. "pianissimo," "piano," "forte," "fortissimo")
EPISODE: in the Baroque and Classical eras, a passage between
ritornellos, for a soloist with light
accompaniment; also, in a
fugue, a passage between complete
statements of the fugue subject
EXPOSITION: the opening section of a sonata-allegro movement,
in which several themes are stated
EXPRESSIONISM: Early-20th-century German artistic movement
characterized by heightened, subjective, and strident
expression of emotional states
FANFARE: a brief, festive instrumental piece involving brass instruments
FIFTH: the Pythagorean interval of 3/2
[SG]
FLORID counterpoint: elaborate, with many voices or intricate rhythms
FORM: the large-scale structure of a work or movement:
e.g. "sonata-allegro" or "rondo"
FOURTH: the Pythagorean interval of 4/3
[SG]
FRAGMENTATION: breaking up of a theme or motive into smaller parts
FRENCH STYLE: characterized by dotted rhythms, rich chords, a
stately tempo, and perhaps trumpets and drums
FREQUENCY: number of cycles per second of a note
[SG]
FUGUE: a contrapuntal movement in
which a subject first enters in one voice after another,
then is constantly repeated and developed
[SG]
FUNDAMENTAL: the lower note of a Pythagorean interval such as
1/1, 2/1, 3/1, etc.
GENRE: a category of artistic composition characterized by
similiarities in form, style, or material:
e.g. "madrigal" or "concerto"
GESAMTKUNSTWERK: Wagner's name for the "complete work of art,"
an opera comprising multiple art forms (poetry, music, dance,
the visual arts, etc.)
GLISSANDO: sliding from one note to another
GREGORIAN CHANT or PLAINCHANT: sacred unaccompanied monophony sung in Latin
HARMONIC
[SG]
or OVERTONE: note at interval of 1/1, 2/1, 3/1,
etc. above a fundamental
HARMONY: a consecutive sequence of chords
HEAD: the opening chorus of a jazz number
HEMIOLA: in triple meter, the momentary grouping of six beats
as three groups of two
HEXACHORD: the medieval scale,
| 1 | 9/8 | 5/4 | 4/3 | 3/2 | 5/3 |
| C | D | E | F | G | A |
| do | re | mi | fa | so | la |
HOMOPHONY: music with all voices having the same rhythm (as opposed to polyphony) [SG]
HOT JAZZ or DIXIELAND: the earliest style of jazz, which emerged in New Orleans around 1920; closely related to dance music and the blues, often with a clear chorus structure interrupted by occasional breaks
IMITATION: polyphony in which voices enter, one by one, with roughly the same melody [SG]
INDEFINITE pitch: a vibration of the air that does not repeat regularly
INTERVAL: musical description of the ratio of two frequencies [SG]
INVERSION: turning a melody upside down, replacing low notes by high ones and vice versa
ISORHYTHMIC: of a piece which (imperceptibly) repeats an intricate rhythm several times [SG]
KETTLEDRUMS or TIMPANI: big bowl-shaped drums with definite pitch
KEY: tonic of the scale from which a piece of music is drawn
KLANGFARBENMELODIE: literally "tone-color-melody," Schoenberg's name for a melody jumping rapidly from one instrument (and tone color) to another
LEITMOTIF: in Wagner's operas, a recurrent orchestral theme symbolizing a person, place, or thing
LIBRETTO: the text of an opera
LIED: German for song (plural: lieder)
LITURGY: the set text for a religious service (adj: LITURGICAL)
MADRIGAL: a short, lighthearted piece on a secular theme for several unaccompanied voices [SG]
MAJOR SCALE : scale with 8 notes per octave, including a major triad based at the tonic (white notes C to C on the piano) [SG]
MAJOR THIRD: the Pythagorean interval of 5/4 [SG]
MAJOR TRIAD: chord consisting of 1/1, 5/4 (major third), 3/2 (fifth)
MANNHEIM ROCKET: in the Classical era, a melody that leaps upward, then bursts like a firework
MELISMA: the setting of one syllable to many notes (adj: MELISMATIC) [SG]
MELODY: a consecutive sequence of notes, no two sounding at once
METER: the grouping of beats into larger units known as bars [SG], e.g. duple meter (groups of two) [SG], triple meter (groups of three) [SG]
MINOR SCALE : scale with 8 notes per octave, including a minor triad based at the tonic (white notes A to A on the piano) [SG]
MINOR THIRD: the Pythagorean interval of 6/5 [SG]
MINOR TRIAD: chord consisting of 1/1, 6/5 (minor third), 3/2 (fifth)
MINUET: a courtly dance in triple meter, which in sonata form is followed by a contrasting trio, after which the minuet is repeated [SG]
MODE: the choice of a diatonic scale, usually major or minor, but with other possibilities in folk music
MODERNISM: the early-20th-century artistic movement which discarded traditional style in favor of radically new techniques
MODIFIED STROPHIC: roughly strophic, but with some alterations, e.g. the third verse might be set to different music from the first two
MONOPHONY: music with a single melody or voice at a time [SG]
MORDENT: an three-note ornament which moves quickly to an adjacent note, then quickly returns
MOTET: religious (but not liturgical) piece for several unaccompanied voices
MOTIVE: a short melodic segment whose patterns of rhythm and pitch constantly recur
MOTTO THEME: a unifying theme that recurs in several movements of a large work like a symphony
MOVEMENT: a self-contained part of a long musical work
NEUMES: earliest form of notation for plainchant
NOTE or TONE: a regular vibration of the air (i.e. one with definite pitch)
OBBLIGATO: in Baroque and Classical music, an elaborate instrumental line accompanying a singer
OCTAVE: the Pythagorean interval of 2/1 [SG]
OPERA: a drama where the text is sung, accompanied by an orchestra
ORATORIO: a long work like an opera, but on a religious theme and not staged
ORCHESTRA: a large ensemble of musical instruments
ORCHESTRATION: the choice of which instruments play which musical lines in a piece
ORGANUM: medieval polyphony where one voice is plainchant
ORNAMENT: a decorative elaboration of a melody such as a mordent or trill, often improvised
OSTINATO: a simple figure, often in the bass or the accompaniment, that repeats over and over [Italian for obstinate]
OUT CHORUS: the concluding chorus of a jazz number
OVERTONE or HARMONIC [SG]: note at interval of 1/1, 2/1, 3/1, etc. above a fundamental
PAIRED IMITATION: imitation by pairs of voices (i.e. duets)
PARALLEL organum: simplest organum, where interval is fixed (usually a fifth)
PARODY: in the Renaissance, an elaborate work based on a pre-existing melody
PASSACAGLIA: a Baroque form in which a short theme in the bass line repeats over and over
PASSING NOTE: a brief dissonance caused by a voice moving by step between consonant notes
PEDAL POINT: a very long bass note, often establishing a key or heralding the end of a piece
PERFECT FIFTH: see fifth
PERFECT FOURTH: see fourth
PERPETUAL MOTION: description of a melody with a new note on every single beat
PITCH: musical description of frequency (e.g. middle C = 262 cycles per second)
PIZZICATO: plucking the strings of an instrument that is normally bowed, like a violin
PLAINCHANT or GREGORIAN CHANT: sacred unaccompanied monophony sung in Latin
POINT OF IMITATION: a motive with which several imitating voices enter
POLYCHORD: a dissonant chord created by superimposing consonant chords
POLYPHONY: music with several independent melodies or voices at once [SG]
POLYRHYTHM: music with several independent rhythms at the same time
POLYTONALITY: music in several independent keys at the same time (or almost the same time)
PRELUDE: a short opening movement
PRIMITIVISM: the adoption by elite art of the values or styles of primitive art
PROGRAM MUSIC: instrumental music depicting a written story
PURE (or SUSTAINED-NOTE) organum: 2-part organum with slow cantus
PYTHAGOREAN interval: a small whole-number ratio of frequencies, such as an octave, perfect fifth, perfect fourth, major third, or minor third
RAGTIME: a forerunner of jazz, in march time for piano
RECAPITULATION: the closing section of a sonata-allegro movement, in which the themes return to their original guises
RECITATIVE: narrative singing, in the irregular rhythm of speech, with light accompaniment [SG]
RETROGRADE: the reversal of a melody, played last note first
RHYTHMIC MODES: discant rhythms possible in early medieval notation
RITORNELLO: in the Baroque and Classical eras, a passage (often repeated) played by all instruments [SG]
RONDEAU: Renaissance secular form with a repeated refrain
RONDO: a movement in which the opening theme recurs over and
over unchanged, alternating with contrasting episodes: ABACADA...
SACRED music: music for a religious purpose
SCALE: series of adjacent notes from
which melodies are drawn
[SG]
SCHERZO: a faster, more humorous
version of the minuet
SECULAR music: music for a non-religious purpose
SEQUENCE: a brief passage repeated
at higher and higher (or lower and lower) pitches
[SG]
Motion BY SKIP or DISJUNCT motion:
motion to a note of much higher or lower pitch
SONATA: a work for piano and perhaps one other instrument,
usually in sonata form, of course
SONATA FORM: a four-movement composition whose substantial first
movement is usually in sonata-allegro form and whose two middle
movements usually include a slow movement and a minuet or scherzo
SONATA-ALLEGRO form: the Classical model for a large-scale
instrumental movement, consisting of an exposition, a
development, and a recapitulation
SONG: a short piece on a secular text for a solo voice
SOPRANO: the highest voice part, usually sung by women or boys
SPRECHSTIMME: Schoenberg's invention, a singsong vocal
technique between singing and speaking
STAFF: set of horizontal lines allowing precise notation for pitch
Motion BY STEP or CONJUNCT motion:
motion to a note of nearby pitch
STRAIN: in ragtime, a self-contained group of four phrases
STRETTO: tightly overlapping imitation, with entrances on each others' heels
STRICT imitation or CANON: imitation where the repetition is exact
STRIDE: in ragtime and jazz, a piano style where the left hand
jumps from a bass note on the beat to a chord on the offbeat
STRING QUARTET: two violins, one viola, and one cello; or a
work written for this ensemble, usually in sonata form
STROPHIC: of a song where different verses are sung to the same music
[SG]
STYLE: a manner or mode of composition: e.g. "imitative
polyphony" or "melody and accompaniment"
SUBJECT: the opening and main theme of a fugue
SUSPENSION: holding over of one note to create a dissonance
[SG]
SWING: a fast style of jazz from the 1930's, eminently danceable
SWUNG rhythm: any of a number of metrically irregular rhythmic techniques used
in jazz
SYLLABIC: opposite of melismatic, setting of one note per syllable
SYMPHONY: a work for orchestra in sonata form
SYNCOPATION: the placing of rhythmic
stress at an irregular or unexpected instant
TEMPO: the general speed of a
movement, often described with an Italian name such as
"allegro" or "andante"
[SG]
TENOR: in early music, the voice singing the cantus firmus;
later, a high male voice
TERNARY: in a three-part form ABA, where the last section is like the first
TEXT PAINTING or WORD PAINTING: vivid, literal depiction of text by music
[SG]
THEME AND VARIATIONS: a movement in
which the opening theme is repeated with one elegant decoration
after another: AA'A''A'''...
THROUGH-COMPOSED: (a) of a song,
not strophic at all, with each verse
set to its own music; (b) of an opera, set as a single musical
number, without dialogue, recitative, or pauses between pieces
or scenes
TIMBRE: tone quality created by mixture of fundamental with overtones
TIMPANI or KETTLEDRUMS: big bowl-shaped drums with definite pitch
TONAL: having a home key or tonic, that is, a single note which
is the focal point or resting place (noun: TONALITY)
TONIC: pitch which is the resting place, or endpoint, of a scale
TRILL: the rapid alternation of two adjacent notes
[SG]
TRIO: the middle, contrasting section of the minuet movement in
a sonata form; also, any work for three performers
TWELVE-TONE or DODECAPHONIC composition: Schoenberg's method
for writing atonal music based on a specific ordering of the 12
notes in the chromatic scale
TWELVE-TONE ROW: in Schoenberg's method, a choice of an ordering
of the 12 notes in the chromatic scale
UP tempo: a fast tempo in jazz
VIOLA DA GAMBA: a large viol held between the legs
VIOLS: bowed stringed instruments, forerunners of violins and cellos
VIRTUOSO: showcasing the technical prowess of an outstanding performer
WALTZ: the most popular ballroom dance
of the 19th century; in triple time
WORD PAINTING or TEXT PAINTING: vivid, literal depiction of text by music
[SG]