MUSI 10100

unison / in unison

"Unison" means two instruments or voices performing the exact same pitch. The phrase "in unison" refers to monophony, but not to homophony.

glissando

A "glissando" is a technique in which instruments (or voices) slide from one pitch to another instead of playing discrete pitches. Quick glissandi are often used to create a comic effect, whereas long, slow glissandi can create a dreamy or floating atmosphere.

theme

A "theme" is a section of melody/rhythm that recurs again and again. It is similar to a motive, but a motive is usually a much shorter, more fragmentary bit of melody/rhythm that can be changed and recombined. The "theme" is a more complete chunk of melody, perhaps one or even two phrases long.

chord

A chord is a collection of three or more pitches that are grouped together. In the Common Practice Era (the period from roughly Bach to the early 20th century), chords were usually "triadic" -- meaning they are built from stacking intervals of a third atop one another. (Note: a "third" is a skip, like from A to C, which skips B in the middle.) If you stack two thirds, such as A-C-E, you get a triadic chord, the common basis of all harmonies that sound familiar to you. Harmonies that are not triadic (built from intervals other than thirds) sound strange and often crunchy.

dynamics

A composer's or performer's manipulation of volume (loud, soft). In classical music terminology, forte means loud and piano means soft.

messa di voce

A feature of phrasing in vocal music in which the singer swells in volume and then diminishes on a single note (crescendo + diminuendo). In instrumental music, this is often called a "hairpin" due to its visual resemblance in written notation.

arpeggio

A group of three or more notes is a chord. When a chord is played with all notes simultaneously, that's a block chord -- but when the notes are broken up and played in sequence rather than all together, that's an arpeggio.

half steps/whole steps

A half step goes from one note on the piano to the very next note. A whole step is two half steps. Most half steps on the piano go between a white and a black key -- but there are also a couple half steps that go from white key to white key (B-C and E-F).

phrasing

A musical phrase is like a musical sentence (or often a pair of sentences, a question followed by an answer). Phrasing is the way in which a performer accentuates the rising and falling contours of that sentence, similar to the prosody (or up-and-down melody) of human speech. Performers often accentuate a phrase using dynamics, but can sometimes also use a subtle stretching or condensing of time, e.g. drawing out the final note a hair longer to signal that the phrase has ended.

ostinato

A pattern of pitches that repeats over and over. For example, listen to the ostinato in the viola of this movement of Debussy's string quartet. In Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," different ostinati are layered on top of each other to create a primal, repetitive, rhythmic sound.

exposition / development / recapitulation

A piece in "sonata form," a standard way to structure music in the 18th and early 19th centuries, has three sections: the exposition, development, and recapitulation. This form is complex, but the basic essence is: the exposition introduces main themes, the development plays with fragments of those themes in various combinations (often including imitation and sequencing) and the recapitulation brings back material from the exposition.

trill

A rapid oscillation between two (typically adjacent) notes.

dotted rhythm

A rhythm often associated with aristocratic or courtly music, especially French music from the court of Louis XIV. The second note of a two-note pairing is delayed. For example: Not a dotted rhythm: 1 and 2 and 1 and 2 and 1 and 2 and Dotted rhythm: 1 and 2 and 1 and 2 and 1 and 2 and

mode (major/minor)

A scale can have a certain "mode," which is sort of like a flavor. The two most common modes are major and minor. Major often sounds more bright and upbeat, whereas minor can sound gloomy and downtrodden. (But beware! This is oversimplified. Pieces in major can sound "sad," and pieces in minor can sound "happy.") More specific info: different modes have different arrangements of half steps (H = from one note to the very next on the piano) and whole steps (W = two half steps). For example, a major scale has the pattern W-W-H-W-W-W-H. A minor scale has a different pattern: W-H-W-W-H-W-W.

scale

A scale is a set of pitches that ascend and descend stepwise (by small intervals, not large leaps). Note: an interval is the distance between two pitches. A to B is a step, but A to C is a skip. One possible scale could be A-B-C-D-E-F-G (ascending stepwise). If you skipped notes instead, like A-C-E-G, it's NOT a scale.

motive / motif

A short and memorable fragment of a melody + rhythm that resurfaces throughout a piece, often under various guises. For example, the duh-duh-duh-DUUUUH of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is a famous motive that returns throughout the symphony.

patter bass / buffo patter

A singing technique that is the hallmark of comic bass characters in 18th century opera. The "patter" involves syllabic, staccato singing (one syllable per word) at a very fast tempo, often with repetitive leaps up and down.

tremolo

A strings technique in which the player moves the bow back and forth rapidly on the same note, creating a shivering sound. **** Tremolo demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E8rMLHIpag

col legno

A strings technique in which the wood side of the bow (instead of the hair side) is lightly tapped against the strings, creating a pattering, clacking sound.

symphony

A symphony is a large, multi-movement piece played by an orchestra (a large group of instruments -- see orchestral layout at the top of the glossary). The standard movements for a symphony are: I. Allegro (in sonata form; rather fast) II. Slow, lyrical movement, such as an adagio, largo, andante III. Minuet and Trio / Scherzo and Trio IV. Finale (could be any number of different forms, but usually fast, exciting) *** Note about Minuet and Trio: this is an ABA form: Minuet (elegant dance) - Trio (sparser instruments in contrasting section) - Return of the Minuet Note about Scherzo: this means "joke" in Italian and it often has a more whimsical, lighthearted feel than a Minuet. A composer might also write a "dark" Scherzo, which can sound sinister or mocking, like the third movement of Beethoven's 5th symphony.

miniature

A term often used for short "character pieces" of the nineteenth century, especially piano miniatures. Term can be used broadly to mean all short pieces, both experimental salon music AND sentimental pieces for the parlor. Another possible meaning of the term is something small, simple, and perhaps "cute," a definition linked with the emergence of musical kitsch in the 19th century.

accent

An accent in music is a sharp accentuation of a certain note or chord. "WHAT did you say???" has an accent on the first word. (Not to be confused with "that singer has a French accent.")

voice (musical definition)

Apart from its vernacular definition, a "voice" in music can refer to two things: 1) A single line in a contrapuntal texture. One might say a contrapuntal piece is for "four voices," meaning four distinct lines of melody (see definition of counterpoint/polyphony), even if it's a piece written for instruments and no singers. 2) Narrative voices in a story. For example, the song "Erlkönig" has four distinct "voices" that are all portrayed by the same singer: narrator, father, son, and elf king.

rhythm

Broad umbrella-term for the duration of pitches in time. This term is not a specific descriptor: you can say "the rhythm here is irregular," but you can't say "this piece has lots of rhyt

ground bass / basso ostinato

Ground bass, also called "basso ostinato," is a repeating pattern of bass notes that underlies a piece of music, often used in the 17th century. The most common ground bass is the "lament bass" (or descending tetrachord = four notes descending stepwise). *** Example: Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas"

modulation

In a piece of music, one key area (such as A minor) may transition into a different key (such as C major) -- and this move from one key to another is called "modulation." Many pieces of music start out in a stable key, modulate to a different key to create dramatic instability, and then return to the "home" key.

inner voices

In a standard four-part SATB texture -- Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass -- the inner voices (A, T) are often harmonic filler that support the more important outer voices (S, B). Composers may play with bringing out inner voices for added melodic interest.

introduzione

In an opera, the first scene of continuous music (just after the instrumental overture) that cultminates in a dramatic event and sets the stage for the rest of the opera to unfold.

overture

In an opera, the overture is the instrumental preface before the curtain rises and the action begins. The overture often introduces themes and characters musically, a form of dramatic foreshadowing in the orchestra.

set number

In opera, a set number is a sequence of alternating recitatives and arias (or duos, trios, quartets) that cohere as a single dramatic event or sequence of events. For example, if a character sings a recitative that furthers the plot, then breaks into an aria that reflects on the emotions of the moment, then another character interrupts with recitative, then the two sing a duet, that entire chunk of drama would be a set number.

formal repetition

In the large-scale "form" of the piece (the structure of the piece as a whole), certain sections or musical ideas may repeat or resurface throughout a piece. For example, the piece "Chopin" in Schumann's Carnaval is comprised of an exact repetition; the same music repeats from the beginning exactly.

concerto grosso

Instrumental music genre from the 17th and 18th centuries, often performed as a courtly entertainment. The concerto grosso involves two contrasting forces -- the concertino (a group of one or more soloists) and the ripieno (the rest of the orchestra). The concertino may play along with the ripieno, but the ripieno does not play with the featured soloists of the concertino.

movement

Large works -- like symphonies or sonatas -- often have multiple "movements." This means a shorter section of the larger work that almost seems like a piece of its own. For example, Sonatas (a genre of instrumental music) typically have three movements (fast-slow-fast) and symphonies usually have four movements (fast-slow-playful/dance-very fast).

beat

Most music has an underlying steady pulse, like a heartbeat -- and accordingly, these are called "beats." When you tap your foot as you listen, you're tapping the beats.

chamber music

Music for a small number of musicians. Often used in reference to instrumental music, but may include vocal music as well. Term comes from the 17th century, when secular music for aristocratic entertainment in rooms/chambers (da camera) was contrasted with music for the church (da chiesa).

texture

On the broadest scale, texture refers to terms like homophony, polyphony, "melody and accompaniment," etc. A more nuanced assessment of music's texture would take into account whether the music is thick or thin, broken into arpeggiated patterns or block chords, bottom-heavy, top-heavy, etc. (You can think of music like a "textured" fabric with multiple parts woven together.)

opera buffa / opera seria

Opera buffa is a genre of comic opera, typically with a mixture of social classes, deception, identity crises, and "imbroglio" (total mix-ups and confusion in the plot). Opera seria is a genre of grand, aristocratic opera, featuring mythical or noble characters who sing in an intense and regal style. *** Don Giovanni mixes both styles for characters of different social standing.

meter

Organization of time through the patterning of beats. Beats are grouped in chunks of equal length, and each chunk begins with a strong beat, or "downbeat." This is similar to poetic meter (such as Shakespeare's iambic pentameter), which also has patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. Triple meter: ONE two three ONE two three ONE two three Duple meter: ONE two ONE two ONE two or ONE two three four ONE two three four

polyphonic - homophonic - monophonic - imitative polyphony

Polyphonic music, or polyphony, consists of two or more independent melodic lines intertwining together. By "independent," we mean the separate lines (often called "voices") would sound melodious even if played by themselves. Here's an example with a graph that can help you visualize polyphony. *** Homophony consists of block-like chords: many voices with the same rhythm form chunks that create a harmonic progression. Example: The choral part (ignore the instruments) of Handel's Hallelujah chorus from his Messiah. *** Monophony consists of one voice, or many voices, combining in unison with the same pitch and rhythm. Gregorian chant is an example of this. Another example: when everyone gathers round to sing Happy Birthday. *** Imitative polyphony is a specific kind of polyphony in which the same melody is staggered between the voices, whereas "polyphony" could describe any melody or set of melodies intertwining. An absurd example.

pizzicato

Refers to a technique for string instruments: plucking instead of bowing the strings. In orchestral music, when the strings sections play pizzicato, it lends a bouncy, staccato feel.

rhetoric / oratory

Rhetoric (also known as oratory) is the art of delivering a speech in the most persuasive manner possible. It stems from writers of classical antiquity (thus often called "classical rhetoric") and was revived during the humanistic intellectual movement of the Renaissance. Composers such as Josquin des Prez applied the concept of rhetoric to music composition, tailoring the music to suit the words (declamation, syntax, and semantics) and making compositions sound like artfully heightened speech. Note that later composers such as Monteverdi were also interested in rhetorical delivery (esp. in early opera), but his music sounds even more like heightened speech than Josquin's.

Romantic / Romanticism

Specifically 19th century aspects (not present-day "love" definition): -Cult of individual feeling -Emphasis on other realms of existence, the supernatural -Transcendence of everday mundane life -The beauty and irregularity of natural landscape -The "sublime" (=something transcendent, like music or nature, that is met with combination of awe, fear, and ecstasy)

tempo

Speed of a piece or section (fast, slow). Usually dictated by Italian terminology. Examples: presto is very fast, allegro is somewhat fast, andante is medium, adagio is slow and largo is very slow.

continuo / basso continuo

The "continuo" is a form of underlying harmonic support that was standard in 17th and much 18th century music. The continuo is comprised of two instruments, one which makes chords (often a harpsichord) and one low, single-note instrument (such as a string bass). The keyboardist improvises harmonies over a bassline (with the help of a number-based notational system) and the bass instrument doubles the bassline itself. (Bassline = the lowest voice in polyphony or homophony.)

melody

The "singable" part of the piece. A melody is usually made of smaller intervals and has a smooth, flowing line, not large choppy leaps. When you remember a certain tune, e.g. "Old MacDonald," the notes that pop immediately into your head form the melody. The accompaniment is all the background music that supports and enlivens the melody.

range, ambitus

The distance from the lowest to highest possible pitch for a voice or instrument. Ex: "I'm a bad singer, I have a tiny range -- I can barely reach a C!"

cadence

The formulaic ending of a given line, stanza, or phrase. Lots of elements come together to make the formula -- certain progressions of harmonies, trills, melodic trajectories (usually downwards), and rhythms combine to form standardized endings for musical phrases. Listen to the cadence that begins just after 2:55 in this Bach Fugue:

declamation

The manner in which the rhythm, melodic contours, tempo, etc. of a piece of texted music match up with the words of the text. For example, if the piece makes use of "syllabic declamation," this means every syllable corresponds with a note. The music may either match up with the natural spoken stresses (stressed and unstressed syllables) and cadences of the text, or the music might be offset from, or mismatch, the text. Composers can manipulate declamation in this way for expressive effect.

through-composed

The opposite of "strophic." Instead of a single verse of text/music repeating over and over, a through-composed aria/song sets each part of the text to new music. (There may be some melodic repetition, or recycling of musical themes for cohesion, but it's not the exact same music.) *** If this term sounds strange, that's because it comes from the German durchkomponiert.

aria

The song-like numbers in an opera, in which all the action stops, time freezes, and characters express their feelings or react to a situation.

form

The structure of a musical piece on the largest scale. For example, a piece with the form ABA has a section with a single character, then a contrasting B section, and then the A section comes back (on the scale of the entire piece).

harmony

The term "harmony" is related to "chord." A harmony (with an article, like "a" or "the") is almost synonymous with a chord -- you can say "the first chord of the piece" or "the first harmony of the piece." They're not exactly the same, though: the word "chord" is often used to describe major/minor quality whereas the word "harmony" is often paired with more colorful adjectives. For example: "the piece begins with a major chord" or "the piece begins with a bright, sparkling harmony." Without an article, harmony is a broad term for the topic of chords and chord progressions more generally. For example: "The composer makes frequent use chromatic harmony." You may also see the phrase "singing/playing in harmony." That just means voices/instruments "harmonizing" (or performing chords/harmonies) together, as opposed to everyone singing/playing the exact same note. If people are playing "harmoniously," that's just a fancy way of saying the music sounds pleasant.

libretto / librettist

The text of an opera is the libretto, and the librettist is the author of that text. Many aspects of the opera's drama, as well as the melodic and rhythmic qualities of the music, hinge on the quality of the libretto. *** Mozart collaborated closely with his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte for Don Giovanni (among other operas).

sequence (melodic sequence)

The word "sequence" has a definition in medieval liturgy, but this is a different and more broad definition of a melodic sequence.When a melody repeats the same rhythmic pattern, each time ascending or descending (usually stepwise), this is a melodic sequence. *** See attached image for an example. You don't need to be able to read music to see a repeating pattern ascending teach time by a step.

consonance / dissonance

These terms can refer to either intervals or chords. A consonant chord/interval can sound clean, clear, and open. A dissonant chord/interval can sound crunchy, harsh, and grating. (This depends in part on musical context -- dissonance is not always grating, especially when used in 20th and 21st-century music.) *** Note that dissonance tends to want to move, or "resolve," to a nearby consonance. This pattern of tension and resolution is the most common harmonic progression in music of the Common Practice Era. *** Dissonance can also be used for expressive friction or tension between a melody and the underlying (consonant) harmony.

minuet / contredanse / deutscher

Three of many dances common in 18th century life and music. The minuet is one of the most common, a stately aristocratic dance in triple meter. The contredanse is in duple meter, and the deutscher is a rough country dance in 3/8 meter (a kind of duple that has a triplet flow at a lower level of metric hierarchy). *** Ex: All three dances are played simultaneously by three different orchestral groups in the ballroom scene in Don Giovanni.

timbre

Tone quality. Best defined by example: if a clarinet, a bassoon, and a human voice all play/sing the exact same pitch, you can tell them apart because they have different timbres -- the quality of the sound is different. More about timbre (especially starting at 2:30): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvtD_rzQwNY

mezzo-soprano

Voice range that is lower than a soprano; a medium to low voice range, usually used to describe a female voice YouTube video demonstration: soprano vs. mezzo soprano http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x4k3HISXDk

periodic (phrases)

When a piece is "periodic," or has "periodic phrases," this means that the lengths of the phrases are equal and balanced. A piece that's periodic sounds regular and your ear can predict when the phrase will end. A piece that's not periodic sounds irregular, floating, and unpredictable.

key

When a piece is in a certain key -- let's say C major -- the majority of the notes in the piece come from the C major scale. A key is like a palette: if you're painting the ocean, you use mostly blues and grays, and you'll only use red sparingly for a sparkle of color. Similarly, a piece in the key of C major will mostly use notes from the C major scale, but occasionally other notes are thrown in for color and interest.

syncopation

When a rhythm doesn't line up with the underlying beat. With syncopation you can still hear the underlying pulse, but the rhythm sounds "off," falling in-between the beats (or on beats that are NOT the downbeat, called "offbeats").

cross-rhythm

When two incompatible meters or rhythms clash, this is called a "cross-rhythm." For example, playing 3 notes against 4 notes, 5 against 3, or 7 against 2, are all examples of cross-rhythms. The effect is notes or voices that are mismatched and mis-aligned.

chromaticism

When you go from one note to the very next on a piano, that's a half step. If you string a number of half steps together, you get chromaticism -- that is, music/scales/harmonies that move by half step. Chromaticism can often have a dark, brooding, or plaintive sound.

mode (medieval music)

While the word "mode" is today used to describe the quality of a scale (major/minor), the term has a more specific definition with regard to medieval music. (Note that the term wasn't used until the 16th century, though, so it's a retrospective label.) A medieval "mode" is a type of scale, and each mode has a different pattern of half steps and whole steps [see glossary entries "scale" and "mode -- major/minor"]. These modes have names derived from Ancient Greek music treatises, such as "dorian," "phrygian" and "aeolian." The medieval modes don't always match up with our present-day major and minor scales (which are two of the seven modes), so that's why medieval music can often sound strange or floating to the modern ear. *** One of the modes you learned in class: dorian mode. D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D