Music Ch. 1
Define Note
A symbol used to notate a pitch and its duration or to identify a pitch/tone
True or False: The black notes are arranged in alternating groups of twos and threes
True
True or Flase: The white notes of a keyboard don't all have an identical shape
True
True or false: Both the unison and the octave are intervals in which the two notes have the same letter name
True
Define Vivace
a fast and vivacious tempo
Define forte (f)
a loud dynamic level
Define Decrescendo/Diminuendo
gradual change in dynamic levels where the music gets softer, giving the effect of calming tension
Define Unison
a single pitch, but repeated or doubled
Define Piano (p)
a soft dynamic level
What does adding the suffix "issimo" mean?
an extreme of the dynamic levels
Define Crescendo
indication that the music is getting louder, expressing exuberence
Define Irregular Meters
meters in which beats are counted in groups of 5, 7, or those that avoid patterns of regular accents completely
Define Allegro
faster than allegretto; literally, cheerful
Define Interval
the distance between two pitches
Define Downbeat
the first, and often stressed, beat of a metric pattern of beats
Define Rhythm
the ordered flow of music through time, including the ways music flows between beats
Define Meter
the organization of beats into regular groups
Define Beat
the regular, recurrent pulsation in most music
Define Sound
the result of vibrations in the air set in motion by the activation of a sounding body
Define Pitch Range
the span from low to high pitches that an instrument or a voice can produce
Define Tempo
the speed at which a piece of music moves
Define Measures
the units used to organize meter
Define Tone
vibrations caused by musical sounds that are definite and steady
Define Syncopation
A deliberate disturbance of the normal metrical pulse, produced by shifting the accent from a normally strong beat to a weak beat
Define Staff
A graphlike structure consisting of five lines and four spaces. Each line and each space represents a different pitch
Define Accent
A stress on a particular beat, note, or chord
Define Octave
Covers the span of eight total consecutive pitches although only the first seven letters of the alphabet are used to designate pitches
What is the range of a C major scale if limited to eight consecutive notes?
One octave
Define Timbre
The characteristic tone quality of a musical sound as produced by a specific instrument or voice, or by a combination of instruments or voices
Define Quadruple Meter
a meter in which each measure has four beats
Define Triple Meter
a meter in which each measure has three beats
Define Duple Meter
a meter with two beats
Define Alegretto
a moderately fast tempo
Define Major Scale
a scale having a pattern of whole and half steps, with the half steps falling between the third and fourth and between the seventh and eighth notes of the scale
Define Presto
a very fast tempo
Define Prestissimo
as fast a tempo as possible
Define Mezzo
medium
Define Upbeat (aka Pickup)
one or more unaccented beats that precede the accented downbeat
Define Dynamics
relative degrees of loudness or softness
Define Compound Meters
subdivide the basic beats into sets of three
Define Pitch
the highness or lowness of a note
