Beat |
The regular repeated pulsation in music.
|
Binary |
Designates a form or structure in music that has two distinct sections: part A and part B (AB form).
|
Body percussion |
Sounds made by clapping hands, slapping legs and chest, or stomping feet.
|
Chest voice |
The chest voice is the lower part of the voice and is used when singing lower notes.
|
Consonance |
The property of sounding harmonious.
|
Descant |
A melodic voice part pitched higher than and concurrent with the melody.
|
Dissonance |
Sound that is a disagreeable auditory experience.
|
Duration |
The length of a tone.
|
Dynamics |
The degree of loudness of softness at which music is performed.
|
Form |
Refers to the organizational structure of the music.
|
Half step |
The smallest distance between pitches commonly used in western music. The distance between F and F # is one example, and the distance between B and B b is another example.
|
Head voice |
The head voice of the young singer is that light clear voice that is free of tension and used for higher notes.
|
Interval |
The distance between two pitches.
|
Intonation |
The production of musical tones by voice or instrument (e.g., rise and fall of pitch).
|
Librettist |
The author of words to be set to music in an opera or operetta.
|
Major scale |
A succession of eight notes within an octave, moving in whole steps except for two half-steps between steps three and four, and seven and eight.
|
Minor scale |
A succession of eight notes within an octave, moving in a specified pattern of whole steps and half-steps.
|
Metre |
Recurring patterns of accented and unaccented beats that produce a rhythmic grouping.
|
Motif |
A small melodic fragment repeated within a melody.
|
Notation, traditional |
Common system of writing that is used to convey music ideas.
|
Notation, invented |
Original pictures or symbols created to convey sound or music ideas.
|
Non-pitched sounds |
Sounds that have no discernible pitch, such as the sound of tapping on a desk with a pencil.
|
Octave |
The distance between notes of the same name and eight letter notes higher or lower; for example, A B C D E F G A.
|
Ostinato |
A short melodic or rhythmic pattern that is repeated over and over to form an accompaniment.
|
Patschen |
Patting the knees or thighs.
|
Pentatonic scale |
A scale consisting of five notes resembling the black keys of the piano.
|
Phrase |
A natural division in the melodic line, similar to a sentence or part of sentence.
|
Pitch |
A term used to designate sounds as high or low. Pitch is determined by the number of variations per second of a sound.
|
Range |
Distance from the lowest to the highest notes in a piece of music.
|
Register |
General pitch level of the melody. For example, the sounds in a melody may be mostly high or the sounds in a melody may be mostly low.
|
Rondo |
A form having a repeated section (A) alternating with contrasting material (B and C). A B A C A is an example of rondo form.
|
Sequence |
A pattern within a melody that is repeated at a higher or lower pitch.
|
Solfa or sofege |
A series of names or syllables that can be used to designate the tones of a scale pattern. For example, doh re mi sol lah indicates a pentatonic scale. Doh re mi fah sol lah ti doh indicates a major scale.
|
Sound bank |
A selection of sounds compiled by the student or group to be used for sound compositions, imitation, discussion, or reflection.
|
Soundscape |
A “picture” of music created by environmental, instrumental, or vocal sounds. The term “soundpiece” is also used.
|
Style |
Refers to the way ingredients of music are put together to create a distinctive sound, for example, classical music versus jazz.
|
Tempo |
The speed or pace of the music.
|
Ternary |
Designates a form or structure in music that has three sections, with the first section repeated after the second section ( ABA form).
|
Texture |
The weave of the music: dense or transparent, heavy or light, thin or thick.
|
Timbre |
The tone colour of sound, or the characteristics of a sound that help us distinguish that sound from another.
|
Whole step |
The equivalent of two half-steps; for example, the distance between G and A is a whole step with G to G # and G # to A being the two half-steps. |