AP music theory

music dih notes

Cadence

The melodic or harmonic ending of a piece or the sections or phrases therein. A chord progression that ‘feels’ like the conclusion

Cadential extension

delay of cadence by addition of material

Coda

the concluding passage of a piece or movement, typically forming an addition to the basic structure

Codetta

marks end of sonatas, ends in a perfect cadence; not necessarily signals the end of the piece; a smaller version of a coda

Contour

shape of the melody

Countermelody

A secondary melody played in counterpoint with the primary melody. A countermelody performs a subordinate role, and is typically heard in a texture consisting of a melody plus accompaniment.

Elision (phrase elision)

A special device for joining phrases together in an overlapping manner - the end of one pattern overlaps or coincides with the beginning of the next pattern. The final bar of a phrase is simultaneously the first bar of the next phrase. (Aka elided cadence)

Fragment (fragmented motive)

motive is broken up

Introduction

the beginning of a piece - motives don’t necessarily continue

bridge

The section of music used to build tension, function as a transition, and add variety; break in the middle of a piece with new material.

chorus

part of song that comes back with same lyrics

Recurring chord progression

A series of chords that are repeated or used in a specific order to create a musical phrase or section, forming the harmonic foundation of a song.

song form (AABA)

the organization of sections of a song, represented by letters

turnaround

a term used in popular song to denote four-chord formulas that signal the repetition of a period or return to a previous period; a short chord progression, typically at the end of a section or a song, that leads back to the beginning or a new section, creating a sense of movement and anticipation.

twelve-bar blues

twelve-bar units repeated as many times as lyrics dictate; a chord progression that consists of 12 measures, or bars, of music. It’s the most common form of blues music and is used in many other genres including jazz, R&B, and Rock and Roll.

augmentation

raised

Conjunct (motion)

stepwise

diminution

lowered

Disjunct (motion)

two scale degrees greater than a 2nd

extended version, Phrase extension

a longer version of a song; the lengthening of a musical phrase beyond its expected or typical length, often through techniques like adding notes or repeating sections.

fragmentation

division of a musical idea into segments

internal expansion

phrase extends beyond the expected length

inversion, melodic inversion

A procedure for deriving another form of a given melody. An ascending interval in a melody becomes a descending interval (and vice versa) or the same size in the inversion of the melody. A melody is inverted by flipping it “upside down”, reversing the melody’s contour.

literal repetition

sequences are repeated, indicated by repeat sign, capo, or segno

Motivic development

A compositional technique where a short musical idea, or motive, is taken and expanded, varied, or developed to create a larger piece of music, serving as a building block for larger sections or entire compositions.

motivic transformation

when rhythmic theme is changed

octave displacement

taking a melodic line and moving some of the notes into a different octave

retrograde

occurs when a melodic line is performed backwards/ reverse, meaning that the notes and rhythms are presented in the opposite order of the original melody.

rhythmic transformation

multiplication, rotation, permutation (i.e. transposition, inversion, and retrograde), and combinations thereof involving rhythm

sequence

pattern that is repeated immediately in the same voice but that begins on a different pitch class

Sequence: Real

A “real sequence” involves the exact repetition of a melodic or harmonic pattern at different pitch levels, maintaining the original intervals

Sequence: Tonal

A “tonal sequence” involves the exact repetition of a melodic or harmonic pattern at different pitch levels, while altering the intervals to stay within the same key.

Sequential Modulation

Involves repeating a musical phrase or sequence of chords at different pitches, effectively changing the keys of a piece.

sequential repetition

transposing a longer sequence to a different scale degree; may be diatonic or intervalically exact

shortened version

abbreviated version of a piece

Stretto

A musical technique that involves overlapping a theme itself. It is often used near the end of a fugue to create a climactic conclusion.

transposition

The process of rewriting a piece of music or a scale so that it sounds higher or lower in pitch. This involves raising or lowering each pitch by the same interval

truncation

to write or play music in some key other than the original

Motive

theme in music; a short, distinctive musical idea, a fragment of a melody or rhythm, that serves as a building block for larger compositions.

Period

a musical statement, made up of two or more phrases and a cadence

antecedent

question

consequent

answer

contrasting period

period in which phrase beginnings are not similar

double period

four phrases in two pairs, cadence at end of second pair is stronger than cadence at the end of the first pair

parallel period

melodic material that begin the two halves of the periods are similar

Phrase group

group of phrases seem to belong together without forming period or double period

Refrain

music that is repeated after each stanza

Binary form

movement with two main sections. Usually labeled A or B and the sections are often repeated.

rounded binary form

when A comes back but there aren’t stand alone sections - ABA’; a musical structure where a piece, typically in two sections (A and B), returns to a portion of the opening material (A) after the contrasting B section, creating an ABA or ABA’ (with repeats) form.

Ternary form

when A comes back and there are stand alone sections ABA. Difference between ternary and rounded binary: In ternary form, the A section returns fully, while in rounded binary, it is often abbreviated or varied.

Solo, soli

“Solo” signifies a passage for a single player, while “soli” indicates a passage for multiple players, often a section of the ensemble, playing together.

Stanza

section of poetry

Strophic

Strophic form is the term applied to songs in which the same music (melody and chords) is repeated for each verse or stanza of a song while the lyrics change (Aka Verse-repeating, AAA song form, one part song form or chorus form)

Theme

In music, a subject is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based. In forms other than the fugue, this may be known as the theme

thematic transformation

Thematic transformation is a musical technique in which a leitmotif, or theme, is developed by changing the theme by using permutation (transposition or modulation, inversion, and retrograde), augmentation, diminution, and fragmentation; altering elements like melody, rhythm, harmony, and/or dynamics to create a sense of musical growth and transformation.

Through-composed

the term through-composed means that the music is relatively continuous, non-sectional, and/or non-repetitive. A song is said to be through-composed if it has different music for each stanza of the lyrics and there is no return to previous musical material.

Tutti

Tutti is an Italian word literally meaning all or together and is used as a musical term, for the whole orchestra as opposed to the soloist. It is applied similarly to choral music, where the whole section or choir is called to sing.

Variation

variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve melody, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.

Verse

A verse roughly corresponds to a poetic stanza because it consists of rhyming lyrics most often with an AABB or ABAB rhyme scheme

Anticipation

In music, anticipation is defined as a term for when a chord is played and one or two notes in the chord coming after it are played early, thus creating momentary dissonance. An example of anticipation is when a violinist plays a note before the chord, and the effect is a moment of disagreeable sound

Appoggiatura

An appoggiatura is a musical ornament that consists of an added non-chord note in a melody that is resolved to the regular note of the chord.

Embellishment

embellishments are typically, added notes—that are not essential to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony), but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line (or harmony).

Escape tone (échappeé)

An escape tone (ET) or echappée is a particular type of unaccented incomplete neighbor tone that is approached stepwise from a chord tone and resolved by a skip in the opposite direction back to the harmony.

Neighboring tone (auxiliary tone, embellishing tone, neighbor note)

A neighboring tone that is a step higher than the surrounding chord tones is called an upper neighboring tone or an upper auxiliary note while a neighboring tone that is a step lower than the surrounding chord tones is a lower neighboring tone or lower auxiliary note.

double neighbor

notes on either side of a note - AGABA

lower neighbor

note below a note - AGA

upper neighbor

note above a note - ABA

neighbor group (cambiata, changing tones, changing notes)

changing tones (also called double neighboring tones and neighbor group) consists of two consecutive non-chord tones. ... The changing tone functions as a way to decorate, or embellish, a chord tone and are also used to provide rhythmic interest between common tones

Ornament

In music, ornaments or embellishments are musical flourishes—typically, added notes—that are not essential to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony), but serve instead to decorate (a melody or harmony). Provides added interest and variety, and allows for expressiveness.

Passing tone (accented, unaccented)

A passing tone is a melodic embellishment (typically a non-chord tone) that occurs between two stable tones (typically chord tones), creating stepwise motion

Pedal point

a pedal point (also pedal tone, pedal note, organ point, or pedal) is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, dissonant harmony is sounded in the other parts

Preparation

“the resolution of one dissonance is often the preparation for another dissonance

Resolution

Resolution is the move of a note or chord from dissonance (an unstable sound) to a consonance (a more final or stable sounding one).

Retardation

a musical suspension; specifically : one that resolves upward

Suspension

Suspension, in music, a means of creating tension by prolonging a consonant note while the underlying harmony changes, normally on a strong beat.

rearticulated suspension

suspension that is rearticulated on the beat

suspension chain

A series of suspensions that occur in succession in a musical piece.

Alto

refers to the second highest part of a contrapuntal musical texture and is also applied to its associated vocal range, especially in choral music

Bass

Bass describes tones of low (also called "deep") frequency, pitch and range