Glossary of Musical Terms

A cappella:

Singing without instrumental accompaniment.

Accidentals:

The flats (@), sharps (#), or naturals (&) used to change pitch.

Aleatory:

music that employs chance operations in its composition or performance.

Alto:

The lowest female voice or an instrument that plays in that range; or a type of C clef.

Antecedent:

The first phrase of a period and is followed by the consequent.

Arpeggio:

The notes of a chord played in succession, not simultaneously.

Articulation:

The way two consecutive tones are connected (legato) or detached (staccato).

Bass:

The lowest male voice; or the F clef that is used to notate the tones below middle C.

Beat:

The regular pulse underlying all metrical music; often confused with rhythm.

Binary:

A musical form that is in two parts often separated by a full cadence.

Cadence:

The rhythmic, melodic, and/or harmonic way a phrase ends.

Cadenza:

Improvised embellishment of penultimate cadence in sonata form.

Canon:

An imitative polyphonic piece that uses only one melody.

Chord:

Any three or more notes used as a harmonic unit; may contain 3 to 12 notes.

Chorale:

a Lutheran hymn tune often harmonized in four parts.

Chromatic:

Music that frequently uses most or all twelve semitones within an octave.

Clef:

A sign used to indicate the placement of notes on the staff. The ones in common practice are the G clef (treble), the F clef (bass), and the C clef (alto or tenor).

Coda:

A small section added at the end of the recapitulation.

Composer:

An obsessive-compulsive individual who spends much of their life creating music in a desperate attempt to let others know how they feel. They often die young.

Concerto:

a sonata for orchestra and soloist.

Concerto

grosso: a concerto with more than one soloist.

Conjunct:

Music that moves mainly by step and is usually easier to perform than disjunct music. Conjunct music often feels smooth and controlled.

Consequent:

The second phrase of a period that answers the antecedent.

Consonant:

Pleasant sounding harmony; music without tension.

Counterpoint:

The art or craft of writing polyphony; or a line that accompanies the melody. It is short for point-counter-point (note against note).

Density:

The quantity of different notes or parts played simultaneously. It may range from a solo to an immense orchestra and/or chorus.

Disjunct:

Music that moves mainly by skip. The bigger the skips the more difficult it is to perform or to follow as a listener. It may occasionally feel wild and crazy.

Dissonance:

Harmonic tension. It is often followed by a resolution to consonance.

Dominant:

The fifth note of a major or minor scale, or the chord built on that note.

Downbeat:

The first beat in every measure.

Duet:

Music for two individual performers who are, hopefully, playing in tune with each other.

Duple:

Refers to meter that has two beats per measure. Example: 2/4 time.

Duration:

The length of a single tone or an piece of music. It may range from seconds to hours.

Dynamics:

The range of loudness as indicated by terms such as piano and forte.

Ensemble:

A group of musicians performing the same piece at the same time.

Exposition:

The first section of sonata form. It contains two groups of ideas.

Folk music:

Music performed by ordinary people who are often vary talented but may be musically illiterate or lack conservatory training. In America much of it is played on stringed instruments such as the fiddle, guitar, or banjo by people with bad teeth.

Fool:

Someone who struggles to begin learning music past the age of 21.

Harmony:

The practice of combining different notes simultaneously; the use of chords.

Hemiola:

In six-beat groupings a shift from duple to triple meter or vice versa.

Heterophonic:

a musical texture in which everyone plays the same melody with slight variations or differing embellishments.

Homophonic:

Music that has one melody accompanied by chords.

Improvisation:

the act of spontaneous composition or embellishment.

Interval:

The distance between two notes as measured in scale steps.

Inverted:

A chord in which the root is not the lowest note.

Key signature:

The flats or sharps at the beginning of a piece that indicate the key.

Key:

Music that employs the notes of a major or minor scale is said to be in a key.

Keyboards:

Instruments that have an array of black and white keys such as the piano, organ, harpsichord, or celesta. The piano has 88; usually more than you need.

Legato:

Smoothly connect notes that are the opposite of staccato.

Major:

Scales that use the following sequence of whole and half steps: W W H W W W H. Perceived as happier than minor. Should be practiced every day.

Measure:

The distance between the strongest regularly accented beats. In music notation it is separated by two bar-lines.

Medium:

The type of instrument or voice that is producing the music, either acoustic or electronic. The medium is often a significant part of the message.

Melody:

A succession of tones that seem to have a formal coherence; a tune.

Meter:

The grouping of beats into regular patterns of accented and unaccented. It may be duple, triple, compound, or mixed. Clapping the beats helps you find the meter.

Metronome:

An instrument used to measure beats per second. Does not do rubato!

Minor:

Scales that employ a lowered third degree. Perceived as sadder than major.

Minuet:

The most popular triple meter dance of the 18th century.

Modulate:

To change keys or scales.

Monophonic:

Music that contains only one line.

Motive:

a brief succession of pitches that is used to build larger musical structures.

Music theory:

An attempt to explain why music sounds the way it does. A masterpiece is greater than the sum of the theories that try to explain it.

Natural:

A note that is neither flat (@) nor sharp (#). Example: E&

Noise:

A sound consisting of numerous random pitches; the opposite of tone.

Opus:

Latin for work. A publisher’s numbering system. The plural is opera.

Pentatonic:

A scale having five notes, two less than the seven of major and minor.

Performer:

Often a highly skilled musician who thinks they know better than the composer how a particular piece should be played. They are usually overpaid (popular) or underpaid (classical and jazz), and often have egos that outstrip their talent.

Phrase:

The musical equivalent of a sentence. It ends with a cadence and a breath.

Pitch:

The sound of a note as measured in vibrations per second. A& is 440Hz (cps).

Pizzicato:

A technique of plucking a stringed instrument.

Polyphonic:

Music that contains two or more lines. It is often hard to write properly.

Popular music:

Music designed to reach the widest possible audience. It is often associated with huge sums of money, illicit drugs, and hysterical teenagers.

Range:

The distance between the lowest and highest notes that are sung or played.

Recapitulation:

A modified restatement of the exposition.

Register:

The range in which a collection of pitches are found. It may be high, middle, or low; also the place where paltry profits are stored in jazz clubs and the like.

Rhythm:

The relative duration of notes and the silence between them.

Root:

The note on which a chord or triad is built.

Scale:

A succession of step-wise tones that span an octave. It often goes up and down.

Scherzo:

a fast minuet.

Semitone:

The smallest scalar interval; a half step. Example: C to C# or E to E@.

Soprano:

The highest female voice or the uppermost part in a harmony.

Staccato:

Play notes separately with spaces in between. Opposite of legato.

Staff or Stave: The five lines that are used in music notation. It contains four spaces.

Subdominant:

The fourth step of the major or minor scale, or the chord built on that note.

Symphony:

A sonata for orchestra; usually in four movements.

Tempo:

The speed of a piece as indicated by a word (usually Italian) or metronome marking. It usually ranges from largo to presto with andante and allegro in between.

Tenor:

The highest male voice, or a type of C clef. In opera he is usually the hero.

Ternary:

A musical form that is in three distinct parts. It is often A-B-A.

Texture:

The fabric of the music; the relationship of the parts. The way musical lines are woven together. It may be monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic, or heterophonic.

Theme:

a memorable melody that is the focus of a larger work.

Tonal:

Music that uses the scales or harmonies of major or minor.

Tone:

A sound of measurable pitch as opposed to a noise; or the quality of the sound.

Tonic:

The first step of a scale; also a refreshing drink or hair product.

Treble:

The G clef that is used to notate the tones above middle C.

Triad:

A chord consisting of three notes built in thirds. Example: C – E – G.

Trio:

Music that contains three individual parts, or three people who perform together.

Triple:

Music that has three beats per measure. Example: ¾ time.

Tune:

a simple melody or the act of correcting pitch

Unpopular music: Music designed for a small discriminating audience. This includes most classical music and contemporary jazz. Tickets are either free or very expensive.

Vibrato:

Technique to improve the richness of the sound

Virtuoso:

A highly skilled musician who you pay a lot to see in person.

Volume:

The loudness of the music as measured in decibels. 125dB really hurts!

Whole step:

An interval that contains two semitones. Example: A – B (bypasses B@).