Music 101 Exam 1 Middle Ages - Baroque Era

Pitch

sound created by vibrations

Note

specific pitch

Interval

distance between any two pitches

Half step

an interval of two pitches right next to each others

Whole step

an interval of two pitches with one pitch inbetween

Scale

succession of whole step and half step intervals

Major scale

succession of whole step and half steps in solfege form

Minor scale

succession of whole step and half steps that sound eerie

Chromatic scale

succession of only half steps

Melody

any succession of notes

Harmony

musical material that enhances or supports the melody

Phrase

short melody with natural ending point

Motive

short succession of notes that is used throughout a piece of music to creae a sense of unity

Theme

a longer motive

Meter

pattern of regularly recurring accented beats and unaccented beats

Duple meter

recurring pattern of one accented beat followed by one unaccented beat (heavy, light)

Triple meter

recurring pattern of one accented beat followed by two unaccented beats (heavey, light, light)

Quadruple meter

recurring pattern of one accented beat followed by a light beath, then a somewhat heavy beat, then a light beat (heavy, light, semi heavy, light)

Compound meter

recurring pattern of accented beats and unaccented beats that can be perceived as either duple or triple, each beach can be subdivided into three beats

Nonmetrical

music that has no regular pattern of beats, therefore no meter

Monophony

single melody line with no harmony

Homophony

melody is enhanced/supported by other musical material

Polyphony

two or more melodic lines that are equal in importance

Imitative polyphony

one melody line begins and then another melody begin shortly after, imitating the first melody line

Nonimitative polyphony

two or more contrasting melody lines occuring at the same time

Score

a printed piece of music

Tone color/Timbre

quality of sound of an instrument or voice

Genre

category of music

Chord

when two or more notes are played at the same time

Song

a sung piece of music

Piece/Work

all instrumental music and vocal music

Rhythm

how music occurs within time

Beat

regularly recurring pulse

Measure/bar

unit of musical time, indicated by barlines

Baroque Orchestra

variety of size, standard orchestra are generally smaller with violins, violas, cellos, double bass, keyboard

Form

the way a particular piece of music is laid out

Binary form

a piece of music has two sections of contrasting music (AB)

Ternary form

a piece of music has three sections of music, the first and last being the same, the middle contrasting (ABA)

Movement

self-contained portion of music that is part of a larger work

Tempo

speed of music

Grave

very slow

Largo

very slow

Lento

very slow

Adagio

slow

Andante

somewhat slow (walking pace)

Moderato

Medium speed

Allegretto

Somewhat fast

Allegro

fast

Vivace

fast (lively)

Presto

very fast

Chamber music

ensembles of a smaller size than a orchestra, between two and twenty performers

pit orchestra

orchestra used in the genre of opera and ballet, located in a pit partitally underneath the stage

Middle Ages time period

450-1450

Middles Ages characteristics

primarily church music, monophonic, nonmetrial, vocal, some basic accompaniment

A cappella

vocal music that is not accompanied (“to the chapel”)

Mode

scale before the development of the major/minor system

Church modes

certain modes that the Catholic church approved (would turn the listener’s mind toward heaven as opposed to sin)

Mass

genre, main Catholic church service

Proper texts

texts within the mass that would change from day to day

Ordinary texts

texts within the mass that are the same every time

Sections of the Ordinary

Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei

Plainchant

main type of music in the Catholic church for the first half of Middle Ages, a cappella, monophonic, nonmetrical, church modes, latin text

Recitation Plainchant

chant in which one pitch is used throughout with only small deviation at the end of the phrase

Responsory Plainchant

chant in which there is a call and response effect

Nonresponsory Plainchant

chant in which there is no call and reponse effect

Syllabic text setting

one note per syllable

Neumatic text setting

a few notes per syllable

Melismatic text setting

a lot of notes per syllable

Anonymous

composers of the Middle Ages who did not want to reveal themselves, to glorify God, avoid the sin of pride

Drone

sustained, continuous pitch

Organa

polyphonic composition for a cappella voices, new melodic line above the original chant, og chant stretched out

Troubadour Song

secular songs of the Middle Ages for voice and instrumental accompaniment

Renaissance time period

1400-1600

Renaissance time period

popularity of polyphonic writing, a cappella, increased educational opportunities

Paraphrase technique

instrumental genre in which a composer takes a preexisting piece of music and rewrites it with considerable new material added

Paraphrase mass

mass in which paraphrase technique is used, each section of the Ordinary uses eh same melody but paraphrases it slightly differently each time

Word painting

Renaissance compositional technique used in vocal music where composers attempted to illustrate, through music, the words being sung

Dance music

music for social dancing (Basse danse, estampie, saltarello, trotto)

Madrigal

song for a cappella multiple voices, scared or secular, use of homophony and imitative polyphony

Baroque Era time period

1600-1750

Baroque Era characterisitics

shift to instrumental music that was meant to be listened to, ornamentation, repetition, long melodies

Basso continuo

improvised chords are added to the bass line in a piece of music

Continuo player

any instrument that is assigned to play the bass line

Realizing a bass line

adding chords and other notes to the basso continuo through improvisation

Figured bass

set of symbols written above/below the bass line to help keyboardists realize the bass line

Ground bass

the rhythm and succession of pitches of the bass line repeats exactly the same over and over again

Walking bass

every note in the bass line is the same length (the pitches can be different)

Cadenza

soloist improvises an unaccompanied solo in order to show off their skill, occuring most frequently in a concerto

Ritornello form

“the music will return again”, found in concerto (ritorn, solo, ritorn, solor, ritorn, etc)

Concerto

multimovement instrumental genre featuring one solo instrument plus orchestra

Concerto Grosso

a concerto that has two or more soloists plus orchestra

Piano reduction

when a piano arrangement of the orchestral score is played

Fugue form

structured form with nonstop imitative polyphony

Fugue Exposition

the main melody in a fugue, that is repeated as more voices join in

Fugue Subject

the main melody stated by voice one

Fugue Bridge

extra musical material inserted between two voices

Fugue Episode

new music that is contrasting the exposition

Retrograde

subject written backwards

Inversion

subject written upside down

Retrograde inversion

subject upside down and backwards