MUS 121 Midterm terms

blues

Tones that are lowered to give the melody a relaxed mood.

duple meter

march-like

meter

one unit of measure, slang term is "bar"

sound

produced by vibrations

rhythm

Ordered recurrent pulses, which can be regular or irregular, caused by melodic and harmonic beats, speed, duration, patterns

crescendo

Term used to indicate that notes should get louder to express happiness, excitement, or some other intense feeling, for example

decrescendo

Term used to indicate that notes should get softer; this might produce the effect of moving from tension to calmness, for example

homophony, homophonic

a musical texture in which one melody exists, most of what you hear is this

piano, pianissimo

a note played softly, the extreme of which is indicated by pianissimo. Mezzo piano is medium soft

Beethoven

fifth symphony

quadruple meter

groove, "in four"

the move from swing to bebop meant that:

improvised solos generally became flashier and more technical

Scott Joplin

known as the King of Ragtime and was trained in classical music. His father was a slave, but he went on to compose a ballet, two operas, and many piano ragtime compositions

downbeat

an accented beat, usually the first of the bar

definite pitch

instruments that play discernable tones, such as the timpani; as distinguished from indefinite pitched instruments, such as snare drums that play complex sounds with no discernable tones

Bach

...

Eric Whitacre

"Sleep" SATB choir sings this piece, homophonic, the polyphonic, then ending homophonic

lyrics

what you sing

Dave Brubeck

...

indefinite pitch

...

swing, big band

A form of jazz that uses a strong rhythm section and medium to fast tempos. these bands had 15-17 players, frontline and rhythm sections

rhythm

A musical composition cannot exist without some type of

forte, fortissimo

A note played loudly, the extreme of which is indicated by fortissimo. Mezzo forte is medium loud.

bebop

According to the information in today's lecture, if a piece of jazz music has swung eighth notes and a very fast tempo, it is likely:

definite pitch

In order to play a melody, a percussion instrument must possess:

cadence

Like the punctuation in a sentence, like a period or exclamation point, a definitive ending of a melody that indicates a resting point.

improvisation

Ragtime music is distinct from jazz music because ragtime is played without:

ragtime

Rhythms that are unexpected or cut short instead of regularly spaced beats; stressed beats that are usually not stressed. technically not a form of jazz

Charlie Parker

Saxophonist, the most notable of the bebop musicians. He had the most influence on musicians following him, who brought together all the bebop elements: rhythmic creativeness, technical virtuosity, and harmonic complexity. Cool Jazz

front line

The instruments of jazz combos that are responsible for performing the melodies.

rhythm section

The instruments of jazz combos that are responsible for the accompaniment and the beat.

tempo

The pace of a composition. A primary element that affects the difficulty and feeling of a piece of music, the speed of the beat

meter, measure

The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed beats in music is referred to as . One unit of this pattern (ex. STRESS-2-3-4) is known as a

4

The stereotypical pop song chord progression contains how many chords?

How long each sound should last

Which of the following terms relates most closely to stringed instruments?

pizzicato

Which of the following terms relates most closely to stringed instruments?

homophony

Which of the following words describes a musical texture in which a single melody predominates, along with accompaniment from other voices?

motive

a short musical fragment. is shorter, can be based on a rhythm rather than a sequence of pitches

pizzicato

a technique that musicians sometimes use by plucking the strings of an instrument with their finger

monophony, monophonic

a texture containing a single melody without any accompaniment

polyphony, polopphonic

a texture containing more than one melodic voice

fusion

attempt to combine jazz and rock, more jazz though, electric guitar, 8th notes are not swung,

why does your text refer to harmony as the "vertical" aspect of music?

because the notes in a chord are printed vertically (respective to one another) on the page of printed music

Miles Davis

blue and green

improvisation

component of jazz in which musicians spontaneously change notes or the rhythms of a melody but never change the basic structure of the melody

accompaniment

everything that is not the melody. this includes drum fills, background music, guitar riffs in the background, anything else you can hear at the same time

dynamics

refers to the softness or loudness or a sound

dixieland jazz, new orleans

started in the red light district, bands consisted of a front line that played a melody and a rhythm section that kept time and established harmony, music migrated to Chicago

triple meter

sway, "in three"

diminuendo

term used to indicate that music will get softer

melody

the horizontal collection of notes that gives music movement in time; it is often memorable and enticing to hum, a musical sequence of pitches or notes with varied duration that is oftentimes memorable

texture

the manner in which melody and harmony are intertwined within music

beat, tempo

the pulse of a piece of music is referred to as the _____. The speed of this pulse is called the ________.

beat

the pulse of the music

meter

the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed beats in the music

pitch

the relative lowness or highness of a sound, determined by vibration frequency, which is measured in cycles per second

harmony

vertical notes occurring simultaneously, the way in which the pitched elements of a melody and accomplishment interact with one another

cool jazz, west coast jazz

was a reaction against bebop, emphasis shifts to ensemble sound and more use of middle register, opposed to individual solos, less high/wailing solos

Bessie Smith

was known as the Empress of the Blues and appeared in the film St. Louis Blues. Smith improvised "Lost Your Head Blues" while filming because the director needed one more song to fill extra time.

notes that divide a single beat into two equal parts

what are straight eighth notes?