Test 1: Foundations, Elements, and Instruments

Ubantu

“I am because we are”; Teamwork, collaboration, equality; “ A person is a person through other persons

Passive Listening

often doing something else while listening

Active Listening

intentional listening; often eyes closed absorbing music

Ethnomusicology

is the study of music in relation to the society and culture in which it was created

Interval

Distance between two notes

Accelerando

Gradually getting faster

Pitch

High vs. Low notes

Dynamics

Loudness or softness

Contour

Shape and direction of a melody

Form

Organization of the music

Decrescendo

Gradually getting softer

Tempo

Speed of the music

Motive

Short melodic fragment

Timbre

Characteristic sound of an instrument or voice

Key

Tonal center

Phrase

A musical sentence

Meter

The way rhythmic beats are grouped together

Duration

Note values and note lengths

Harmony

More than one note played or sung at the same time

Modulation

Changing keys

Sonority

Combinations of timbres

Ornamentation

Adding notes to or decorating a melody for color and vibrancy

Instrumentation

The instruments a composer “calls for” in a piece

Binary Form

AB

Ternary form

ABA

Rondo form

ABACA

Theme and Variations

A theme is presented, then altered/varied in later sections

Chordophones

vibrating strings(santar, cello, harp, violin, guitar)

Aerophones

vibrating air(saxaphone, didgerido, flute, horn, panapipes)

Membranophones

vibrating membrane/skin(snare drum, taiko, djembe, doumbek, tabla)

Idiophones

The instrument itself vibrates(xylophone, cymbals, claves, guiro, triangle, maracas, marimba)

Electrophones

sound generated or altered electronically(electric guitar, electric bass guitar, electric drum set, sythesizer)

Ethnomusicologists

conduct research/collect data, do field work, learn culture and language, collect interviews, participate in the culture and music, and protect/perserve World Music

Monophony

a single melody, no accompainment

Homophony

melody with accompaniment

Polyphony

multiple independent melodies at once

Heterophony

different renditions of the same melody performed simultaneously