Music Glossary

Absolute music

Instrumental music based upon abstract principles of music theory and form.

Accent

A strong sound. Accents may be achieved by stress, duration or position of a tone.

Acoustics

Pertains to the properties or qualities of sound transmission in a space -- the way something "sounds" in a particular room or hall.

Aleatoric music (chance music)

Music where some aspects are created in a chance manner, such as by throwing dice.

Avante-garde

New and unconventional.

Beat

The regular, repeated pulsation in music.

Binary form

A form or structure in music that has two distinct sections: part A and part B (AB form). "Greensleeves" is an example.

Blue notes

Slightly inflected or lowered pitches most commonly found in blues and some jazz.

Blues

A style that grew out of southern black folk music, elements of which are used in pure blues singing, jazz, rhythm and blues, and other types of popular music. Often has 3 lines and 12 bars in each verse.

Boogie-woogie

An energetic piano style derived from the formal and harmonic structure of the blues, but bright in mood and fast in tempo. Plays on a pattern of eight eighth notes to the 4/4 bar (called eight to the bar style).

Bop (bebop)

A complex, highly improvised style of jazz. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were important performers of this style.

Canon

A polyphonic composition in which all of the voices perform the same melody, beginning at different times.

Chant

Vocal form used by various cultures. Melodic and rhythmic phrase or phrases are repeated using words, syllables or vocal utterances.

Chest voice

The chest voice produces a heavier sound than the head voice by using the chest as the resonating cavity.

Classical style

The emotionally restrained, formally balanced style of music from about 1750 - 1825. Typified in the works of Haydn and Mozart, as well as earlier works of Beethoven.

Consonance

When there is a feeling of restfulness in the texture of a piece of music.

Contour

Shape or outline of a melody formed by its notes.

Crescendo

A gradual increase in the volume.

Decrescendo

A gradual decrease in the volume.

Descant

An ornamental part where the pitch lies above the main melody.

Dissonance

When there is a feeling of instability or tension in the texture of a piece of music.

Duration

The length of a sound or silence.

Dynamics

The degree of loudness or softness at which music is performed.

Folk music

Usually, music of unknown origin, transmitted orally and enjoyed by the general population. Today the term is applied to some popular music that has the style or flavour of a folk art.

Form

Refers to the organizational structure of music.

Fugue

A form in which a theme or subject played by one instrument or voice is followed and imitated by one or more other instruments or voices.

Fusion

The combination of jazz and rock.

Gamelan

An Indonesian percussion ensemble.

Half step

The smallest distance between pitches commonly used in western music. The distance between F and F# is an example.

Harmony

A texture created when two or more sounds are combined.

Head voice

The head voice is that light clear voice which is free of tension. The facial cavity is the resonator, rather than the chest.

Homophonic texture

(homophony)

A melodic line accompanied by chordal harmony.

Improvisation

The process of simultaneously composing and performing music.

Interval

The distance between two pitches.

Jazz

A popular music with roots in Africa, which developed in early twentieth-century America.

Melody

A series of pitches and durations that combine to make a self-contained musical thought.

Metre

Recurring patterns of accented and unaccented beats that produce a rhythmic grouping.

Monophonic texture
(monophony)

One unaccompanied melodic line.

Motif

A small melodic fragment repeated within a melody.

Non-pitched sounds

Sounds that have no discernable pitch, such as the sound of tapping on a desk with a pencil.

Notation, traditional

Notation commonly in use to convey music ideas.

Notation, invented

Original pictures or symbols created to convey sound messages.

Notation, stick

The use of vertical lines or "sticks" to represent rhythms.

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.

Percussion

All instruments which may be played by shaking, rubbing, or striking the instrument itself.

Phrase

A natural division in the melodic line, similar to a sentence or part of a sentence.

Pitch

A term used to designate sounds as high or low. Pitch is determined by the number of vibrations per second of a sound.

Polyphonic texture

(polyphony)

The simultaneous combination of two or more melodic lines.

Prepared piano

A piano whose timbre and pitches have been altered by the application of foreign materials on or between the strings.

Program music

A musical work that has been inspired by or has an association with some non-musical theme, such as nature, other art forms or history.

Push-up

A term used to describe the one chorus and verse when speaking about traditional Indian music. "A lead singer `leads-off' (begins) with the first line of the song's chorus. Another singers `seconds' him by repeating that line with slight variations in pitch and tone before the first line is completed. The rest of the group joins in singing all of the first chorus. Three accented drum beats indicate the break between chorus and verse." (Roberts, C. Powwow Country. American and World Geographic Publishing, 1992. p. 86.)

Raga

A melodic pattern with many connotations including those of time, mood and colour, which provides a basis for improvisation in the music of India.

Ragtime

A popular piano style in which a syncopated melody is accompanied by a regular duple pattern in the bass. Scott Joplin is an example of a musician playing in this style.

Range

Distance from the lowest to the highest notes in a piece of music.

Rhythm

The arrangement of time or duration in music.

Rock `n' roll

A popular style emerging in the early 1950s from the combination of blues, country-western, and rhythm and blues characteristics.

Roman tic style

The emotional, subjective style of art prevalent in the 19th century. Chopin, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky are examples of composers of this style.

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.

Round

A circular canon, which may be repeated any number of times.

Scale

An ascending or descending pattern of half and/or whole steps.

Scale

(major)

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.

Scale

(minor)

A succession of eight notes within an octave, moving in a specified pattern of whole steps and half steps. The half steps normally occur between the second and third degree and between the sixth and seventh degree.

Scale (pentatonic)

A scale consisting of five notes resembling the black keys of the piano; for example, doh re mi sol lah.

Score

A written copy of a music composition.

Sequence

A pattern within a melody that is repeated on a higher or lower scale step.

Sitar

A string instrument prominent in much of the music of India.

Sol-fa

A series of names or syllables that can be used to designate the tones of scale pattern. For example; pentatonic: doh re mi sol lah; major: doh re mi fah sol lah ti doh.

Soundscape

A "picture" of music created by environmental, instrumental or vocal sounds.

Style

Refers to the way the ingredients are put together to create a distinctive sound; for example, classical music versus jazz.

Swing

A type of rhythmic performance in jazz.

Symphonic poem (tone poem)

A one-movement orchestral piece where the form is based upon programmatic rather than abstract principles.

Syncopation

An occurrence in which the accent is given to some beat other than the downbeat of a measure.

Synthesizer

An electronic sound generator capable of producing and altering an infinite variety of sounds.

Tempo

The rate of speed or the pace of the music.

Ternary

Designates a form or structure in music that has three sections with the first section being repeated after the second section (ABA form).

Texture

The weave of the music: dense or transparent, heavy or light, thin or thick.

Theme

A melodic or rhythmic idea that a piece or section of music is built around.

Time signature

A symbol that denotes a metric rhythm; for example, 3/4 or 4/4.

Timbre

The tone color or the characteristics of a sound that help us distinguish that sound from another.

Tonality

A function of texture. The sense that the music is gravitating towards certain pitches in a key. Different scales can be said to have different tonality (major tonality, minor tonality, etc.)

Whole step

The equivalent of two half steps; for example, the distance between G and A is a whole step.