Music Theory Terminology (Pages 1-2)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key music theory terms from Pages 1–2 of the notes.

Muse

A source of inspiration for artistic creation; in Greek myth, the Muses inspire the arts.

Music

The art of arranging sound in time.

Pitch

The highness or lowness of a sound; determined by frequency.

Hertz

Unit of frequency (cycles per second) used to measure pitch.

Beat

The basic unit of time in music; the pulse.

Meter

Pattern of beats in music; grouping of beats into measures.

Duple or Triple

Common meter types: duple has two beats per measure, triple has three.

Tempo

Speed of the beat, measured in beats per minute.

Rhythm

Pattern of strong and weak beats in time.

Timbre

Color or tone quality of a sound; determined by the shape of the sound wave.

Dynamics

Loudness or softness of sound (volume).

Texture

The number and interaction of parts sounding at once; fabric of sound and interaction of musical lines.

Apollo

Greek god of healing, medicine, archery, music, poetry, and sun; leader of the Muses.

Calliope (instrument)

Steam organ made of train whistles; very loud and typically with limited dynamic variation.

Calliope (Muse)

The Greek Muse most closely associated with music; name means ‘the one with the beautiful voice.’

Ethnomusicology

The study of music from different cultures, especially non-Western ones.

Etymology

Origin and history of a word.

Form

The overall structure or arrangement of sections in a composition.

Harmony

Simultaneously sounding pitches or chords; vertical arrangement of notes.

Melody

A series of notes that create a tune; horizontal arrangement of notes in time.

Note

A symbol that represents pitch and duration.

music

art of the muses

Attack

the beginning of a note, or sound

Decay

the decrease in volume from the original attack

Substain

the middle or prolonged section of a note or sound

Release

the end of the note or sound

Medium

a substance regarded as the means of transmission

Soundscape

Is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment

Study of Soundscape

the subject of acoustic ecology or soundscape ecology

Idea of Soundscape

refers to both the natural acoustic environment, consisting of natural sounds, including animal vocalizations, the collective habitat expression of which is now referred to as the biophony, and, for instance, the sounds of weather and other natural elements, now referred to as the geophony; and environmental sounds created by humans, the anthropophony

Geophony

sounds of the planet i.e. water, wind, rain, lightning, volcano etc.

Biophony

the sounds of plants and animals

Anthrophony

the sounds of man, music and noise

Aerophone

Instruments that create noise by pushing vibrating columns of air through them.

Chordophone

instruments that produce sound by vibrating strings

Idiophone

instruments that create sound through vibrating themselves

Membranophone

Instruments that produce sound by vibrating a membrane