These dull notes we sing
Discords need for helps to grace
them...
-- Thomas Campion
Terms in RED are those which will recur most often. Links marked [SG] are to Music Hum's Sonic Glossary.
DEFINITE pitch: a vibration of the air that repeats at regular intervals
INDEFINITE pitch: a vibration of the air that does not repeat regularly
NOTE or TONE: a regular vibration of the air (i.e. one with definite pitch)
MELODY: a consecutive sequence of notes, no two sounding at once
FREQUENCY: number of cycles per second of a note [SG]
PITCH: musical description of frequency (e.g. middle C = 262 cycles per second)
INTERVAL: musical description of the ratio of two frequencies [SG]
HARMONIC [SG] or OVERTONE: note at interval of 1/1, 2/1, 3/1, etc. above a FUNDAMENTAL
TIMBRE: tone quality created by mixture of fundamental with overtones
A pure "sine wave" with no overtones:
PYTHAGOREAN interval: a small whole-number ratio of frequencies, such as
OCTAVE
2/1, PERFECT FIFTH
3/2, PERFECT FOURTH 4/3,
MAJOR THIRD
5/4, MINOR THIRD
6/5, UNISON 1/1, etc. [SG
for octave,
fifth,
fourth,
third]
CHORD: several notes sounded at once [SG]
MAJOR TRIAD: chord consisting of 1/1, 5/4 (major third), 3/2 (fifth)
MINOR TRIAD: chord consisting of 1/1, 6/5 (minor third), 3/2 (fifth)
CONSONANCE: a pleasant-sounding chord such as a major or minor triad [SG]
DISSONANCE: a chord with a jarring sound; opposite of consonance [SG]
HARMONY: a consecutive sequence of chords
SCALE: series of adjacent notes from which melodies are drawn [SG]
TONIC: pitch which is the resting place, or endpoint, of a scale
KEY: tonic of the scale from which a piece of music is drawn
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 |
DIATONIC SCALE: scale with 8 notes in each octave, composed of interlocking hexachords; examples: MAJOR SCALE [SG], MINOR SCALE [SG], (white notes on a piano)
CHROMATIC SCALE: scale with 12 equal intervals, hence 13 notes, in each octave (white and black notes on a piano)