Piano Music Terms

Strophic

1 : relating to, containing, or consisting of strophes. 2 of a song : using the same music for successive stanzas — compare through-composed.

Minor Interval(all)

A minor interval has one less half step than a major interval.

Natural Minor Scale

A natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode) is a diatonic scale that is built by starting on the sixth degree of its relative major scale.

Chord Symbols

A symbolic representation of the chord quality, such as major, minor, or diminished.

Augmented Chord

Augmented chords are major triads with a sharp fifth.

Beethoven, Ludwig

Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music

Quarter Note

A Quarter note is played and held for 1 count, and is the most common note length in music.

Liszt, Franz

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, and organist of the Romantic era.

Chopin, Frederic

Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period

Gershwin, Geroge

George Gershwin (/ˈɡɜːrʃ.wɪn/; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 - July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist

Crescendo/Decrescendo

Crescendo murmurs progressively increase in intensity. Decrescendo murmurs progressively decrease in intensity

Bach, Johann

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 - 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period

Major Keys(all)

Number of pitch classes: 7 Modes: I, ‎II‎, ‎III‎, ‎IV‎, ‎V‎, ‎VI‎, ‎VII

Primary chords

Primary chords are chords of the first, fourth and fifth degrees.Irrespective of the tonality you're in (whether major or minor), primary chords are chords of the first, fourth, and fifth degrees.

Joplin, Scott

Scott Joplin ( c. 1868 - April 1, 1917) was an African-American composer and pianist.

Diminuendo

an indication to gradually decrease the volume of the music

Sforzando

an indication to make a strong, sudden accent on a note or chord

Octave

an interval whose higher note has a sound-wave frequency of vibration twice that of its lower note.

Half note

TWO beats

Major scale

The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales.

Homophonic

characterized by the movement of accompanying parts in the same rhythm as the melody.

Trill

Trills are a type of ornament that consists of a rapid alternation of a note with one a semitone or tone above.

6/8 Time Signature

count 6 eighth notes to each bar.

Sonata

most strongly associated with the first movement of various Western instrumental genres, notably, sonatas, symphonies, and string quartets.

Eighth Note

equal to 1/8 of the whole note

Dotted Quarter Note

equals 1½ beats

Dotted Half Note

equivalent to writing the basic note tied to a note of half the value

Mezzo Piano(mp)

half soft

Subito

immediately, suddenly —used as a direction in music.

Ostinato

in music, short melodic phrase repeated throughout a composition, sometimes slightly varied or transposed to a different pitch.

Harmonic Minor Scale

it is a common foundation for harmonies (chords) in minor keys

Forte(f)

loud

Mozart, Amadeus

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer, widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

Pianissimo(pp)

very soft

Una Corda

with soft pedal depressed —used as a direction in piano music.

Triplet

rhythm playing three notes in the space of two

Counterpoint

the art or technique of setting, writing, or playing a melody or melodies in conjunction with another, according to fixed rules.

Minor Keys(all)

the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic

Slur

the notes it embraces are to be played without separation (that is, with legato articulation).

Polyphonic

the simultaneous combination of two or more tones or melodic lines (the term derives from the Greek word for "many sounds")

bitonality

the simultaneous occurrence of two or more different tonalities or keys

Dynamics

the variation in loudness between notes or phrases.

2/4 Time Signature

there are 2 quarter beats in each measure

4/4 Time Signature (common time)

there are 4 quarter beats in each measure

3/4 Time signature

three quarter notes (or any combination of notes that equals three quarter notes) in every measure.

Legato

A curved line above or below a group of notes tells you those notes should be played legato - smoothly, with no gaps between the notes.

Staccato

A dot above or below a note tells you to play it short and detached.

Half Rest

A half rest receives two beats of silence.

Half Step

A half step, or semitone, is the smallest interval between notes in Western music.

Harmonic Intervals

A harmonic interval occurs when two notes are played at the same time.

Melodic Intervals

A melodic interval occurs when two notes are played in sequence, one after the other.

Tied Notes

A tie is a curved line between the two notes of the same pitch

Arpeggiated Chord

An arpeggiated chord may be written with a wavy vertical line in front of the chord. It spreads from the lowest to highest note. Occasionally, composers specify that the musicians play them from top to bottom by adding an arrow pointing down.

Rondo

An instrumental form with a refrain that keeps coming back.

Invention

An invention is a short musical composition based around two-part counterpoint.

Ariculation

Articulation is a fundamental musical parameter that determines how a single note or other discrete event is sounded.

Atonality

Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key

Binary

Binary form is a musical form in 2 related sections, both of which are usually repeated. In music this is usually performed as A-A-B-B. Binary form was popular during the Baroque period, often used to structure movements of keyboard sonatas.

Chord(block)

Block chords are a method of harmonising a melody line by moving all the notes of the chord in parallel, following the same rhythm as the melody. Harmonising melodies with block chords is also known as 'locked-hands'

Debussy, Claude

Claude Debussy (French: [aʃil klod dəbysi]; 22 August 1862 - 25 March 1918) was a French composer

Dimished Chord

Diminished chords are triads that include a root, a minor third, and a flat fifth (also called a diminished fifth).

Terraced Dynamics

Expressive style typical of some early music in which volume levels shift abruptly from soft to loud and back without gradual crescendos and decrescendos.

Mordent

In music, a mordent is an ornament indicating that the note is to be played with a single rapid alternation with the note above or below.

Major Interval(all)

Major intervals are those which are part of the major scale.

Marcato

Marcato is a musical instruction indicating a note, chord, or passage is to be played louder or more forcefully than the surrounding music.

Mixed Meter

Mixed meter, on the other hand, allows for different bars to have different numbers of beats

Clementi, Muzio

Muzio Filippo Vincenzo Francesco Saverio Clementi (23 January 1752 - 10 March 1832) was an Italian-born English composer, virtuoso pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer, who was mostly active in England.

Hammer

The HammerThe knuckle has an outer layer made of leather (1), and an inner felt core (2). The hammer shank (3) rotates on the hammer flange (4), which is secured to the hammer flange rail (5).

Circle of 5ths

The circle of 5ths is an arrangement of the 12 notes of the musical alphabet in a circle

Relative Minor Key

The relative minor of a particular major key, or the relative major of a minor key, is the key which has the same key signature but a different tonic.

Triad

Triad, in music, a chord made up of three tones, called chord factors, of the diatonic scale: root, third, and fifth.

Anacrusis

one or more unstressed notes before the first bar line of a piece or passage.

Fortissimo(ff)

Very loud

Vivaldi, Antonio

Vivaldi is regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers

bouree

a 17th century French dance usually in quick duple time also : a musical composition with the rhythm of this dance.

Fuge

a compositional procedure characterized by the systematic imitation of a principal theme (called the subject) in simultaneously sounding melodic lines (counterpoint)

Syncopated

a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm

Tenuto

a horizontal bar adjacent a note, is a direction for the performer to hold or sustain a note for its full length

Motive

a leading phrase or figure that is reproduced and varied through the course of a composition or movement

Accent Sign

a louder dynamic and a stronger attack to apply to a single note or an articulation mark.

Major Chord

a major chord is a chord that has a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord has these three particular notes, it is called a major triad.

Melodic Minor Scale

a minor scale with raised sixth and seventh scale degrees, but only when ascending

Concerto

a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.

Character Piece

a musical composition which is expressive of a specific mood or non-musical idea.

Whole Rest

a musical pause that is the length of a whole note.

Quarter Rest

a musical rest having one-fourth the time value of a whole rest.

Damper pedal

a pedal that lifts the dampers from a piano's strings to allow a note to ring after its key is released.

Fermata

a prolongation at the discretion of the performer of a musical note, chord, or rest beyond its given time value

Chromatic

a scale made up entirely of half-steps

Minor Scale

a seven-note musical scale that features a minor third scale degree (also known as a flat third).

Etude

a short musical composition, typically for one instrument, designed as an exercise to improve the technique or demonstrate the skill of the player.

Sonatina

a shorter and often lighter form of the sonata, usually in three short movements

Theme and Varitions

a standard form of musical composition consisting of a simple usually harmonized melody presented first in its original unadorned form then repeated several or many times with varied treatment

5/8 Time Signature

bar only lasts for two and a half beats (five eighth notes)

Mezzo forte(mf)

helf loud

Texture

how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition,

Piano

soft

Ornamentation

the embellishment of a melody, either by adding notes or by modifying rhythms

Cadence

the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of resolution.