Elements of Music

Sforzando (sf)

"forcing": accent on a single note or chord; also shown by an accent >.

Renaissance

(1450-1600)

Baroque

(1600-1750)

Classical

(1750-1825)

Romantic

(1820-1900)

Middle Ages

(400-1450)

Phrase

A complete musical idea that ends somewhere.

Poco

A little.

Biphony

A subcategory of homophony with a drone underneath an overlying melody.

Andante

A walking pace.

Binary Form (A-B) and Ternary Form (A-B-A)

Basic structures in music.

Cadence

Basically the resolution to a musical phrase. The end: harmonic or not.

Countermelody

Basically the secondary melody in a piece of music that sometimes goes aganist the melody.

Rhythm

Basically what makes music move forward in time and can sometimes define music as much as the pitch can.

Largo

Broad (very slow)

Elements

Building blocks of music (examples include timbre, pitch, tone, dynamics, rhythm...)

Tempo and Dynamics

Composers indicate that these in music act as a means of expression.

Non-Metric

Doesn't have a meter at all.

Allegro

Fast (cheerful)

Accelerando

Getting faster.

Pythagorean

He discovered octaves by doubling vibrations and figuring out that notes could have different pitches, but still be the same notes.

Ritardando

Holding back, getting slower.

Range

How high or low a pitch goes and it can be described as being narrow or wide.

A tempo

In time, or returning to the original pace.

Sequence

It is basically when a motive is repeated at a different pitch later in the piece (Beethoven).

Interval

It is the distance between two pitches.

Meno

Less

Melody

Line or tune in music that moves horizontally pitchwise and notewise, and has its own contour (ascending, descending, wave, and static).

Vivace

Lively

Moderato

Moderate.

Major and Minor Scales

Most Western music is based on these which melody and harmony are derived.

Secular music

Music for nonreligious functions.

Sacred music

Music for religious functions

Functions

Music provides different _________________ for religion, work, entertainment in all societies of the world.

Non troppo

Not too much.

Counterpoint

One line set against each other.

Read definition.

Percussion instruments include idiophones (xylophone, cymbals, triangle) and membranophones (timpani, bass drum); some insturments are pitched (chimes) while others are unpitched (tambourine).

Properties of Sound

Pitch, duration, volume, and timbre, or tone color.

Adagio

Quite slow.

A cappella Singing

Singing with no accompaniment. Choral groups often feature this.

Grave

Solemn (very, very slow)

Bowing and plucking

String instruments (chordophones) are sounded by bowing and plucking.

Tonality

The principle of organization of the tonic is called this... It gives a so-called gravity to a piece or the need to have a resolution to a piece.

Beat

The pulse of the music, but occassionally, some music doesn't have a it.

Tempo

The rate of speed, or pace, of the music.

Chord

The simultaneous sounding of three or more pitches. They are built from a particular scale or a ceratin sequence of pitches.

Medium

The specific group (orchestra or chorus) that performs a piece.

Trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba

These are brass instruments (aerophones).

Genres

These are categories of music.

Piano, organ

These are keyboard instruments that do NOT fit neatly into the Western classification system.

Harp, guitar

These are plcuked string instruments.

Violin, viola, cello, double bass

These are the bowed string instruments.

Movements

These are the division of large-scale symphonies and sonatas, AKA sections.

Strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion

These are the four families of Western instruments.

Motives

These are usually a few notes to a measure that are small, component fragments that make up themes.

Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone

These are woodwind instruments (aerophones).

Dynamics

These describe the volume, or how loud or soft the music is played.

Conjunct Melodies

These don't skip letters or note names in music. The best example is a chromatic scale. They go line, space, line, space.

Standard Chamber Ensembles

These include string quartets, woodwind quintets, and brass quintets.

Membranophones

These instruments are drum-type instruments that are sounded from tightly stretched membranes. They can be struck, plucked, rubbed, or even sung into, thus setting the skin in vibration.

Chordophones

These instruments produce sound from a vibrating string stretched between two points, which is set into motion by bowing, plucking, or striking. Common instruments are the violin, harp, guitar, Japanese koto, yangqin, and Indian sitar.

Idiophones

These instruments produce sound from the substance of the instrument itself. They may be struck, shaken, scraped, or rubbed. Examples are bells, rattles, xylophones, and cymbals, or most percussion instruments NOT including drums.

Aerophones

These produce sounds by using air. Common instruments include flutes, horns, whistles, accordians, bagpipes, basically almost every wind instrument.

Disjunct Melodies

These skip at least one line or space in music and skip letter and note names in music.

Compound Meter

This can be divisible into 3 parts.

Harmony

This describes the simultaneous events in music that complement the melody. It moves vertically up and down pitch-wise. It is the combination of notes and the ensuing relationships of intervals and chords.

Orchestra

This features 80 to 100 players.

Instrument

This generates vibrations and transmits them into the air.

Simple Meter

This has 2 parts to it.

Metronome

This is a device that indicates the tempo, or beats per minute, by sounding a pulse.

Polyphony

This is a many-voiced texture based on counterpoint where one line is set against each other in the music. It can sometimes be two melodies at the same time. (parts are independent of each other)

Homorhythmic Texture

This is a subcategory of homophony in which all the voices move in the same rhythm, but not necessarily with the same notes. Example - in the chorus there is alto, tenor, soprano, and bass with the same rhythm, but different notes to sing.

Dissonance

This is created by an unstable, or discordant, harmony.

Music

This is defined by rhythms and pitches.

Meter

This is determined by the reocurring pattern of accents or strong downbeats that are usually the emphasis on the first beat of each measure.

Chamber Music

This is ensemble music for small groups with one player per part.

Drone

This is in the music of some cultures and is a single, sustained note that constitutes the harmony.

Style

This is made up of the distinctive features of any artwork/piece of music. It is created through individual treatment of the elements (melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, form, dynamics, and tempo).

Heterophony

This is multiple voices elaborating the same melody at the same time and is usually seen during improvisation with some variations in the music. Same phrase, but different rhythms.

Call-and-Response

This is music that is a repetitive style involving and between a soloist and a group. (AKA responsorial)

Tonic

This is the central tone around which a melody and its harmonies are bult.

Triad

This is the most common chord in Western music and has three notes built on alternate pitches of a scale. (line, line, line, or space, space, space)

Form

This is the organizing principle in music; the basic elements are repetition(A to A), contrast (A to B), and variation(A to A') (repetition + contrast).

Ostinato

This is the repetition of a short musical melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic pattern. Sometimes mistaken for the melody.

Monophony

This is the simplest texture and is single-voiced music without accompaniment AKA a solo or unison within an orchestral arrangement. Meaning is "one sound".

Crossover

This is the term for borrowing elements of one style for use in another. AKA fusion or hybrid.

Atonality

This is the term that describes a piece that ends with dissonance or no resolution. It basically started in the 20th century with Wagner as one of the starting experimenters.

Theme

This is usually a melodic idea that is 2 to 8 measures used as a building block in a large-scale work and can be broken into small component fragments know as motives.

Imitation

This is when a melodic idea is presented in one voice, then restated in another. This is a common unifying technique in polyphony. Canons and rounds are two types of strictly imitative works.

Improvisation

This is where music is created spontaneously or on the spot in performance with a certain boundary like in blues there's a 12 bar form that has to be followed.

Oral Transmission

This music is not written down.

Homophony

This occurs when one melodic voice is prominent over the accompanying lines or voices. Example- person singing and playing guitar or most often a piano accompaniment.

Consanance

This occurs with the resolution of dissonance, producing a concordant sound.

Musical Texture

This refers to the interweaving of the melodic lines with harmony in music.

Chromatic Scales

This scale has twelve notes, and is the best indicator of a conjunct melody.

Timbre

Tone color.

Molto

Very

Strophic Form

Very common in popular songs, where it features repeated music for each stanza or text, or in other words, the words or lyrics change, but the melody/music stays the same.

Presto

Very fast.