All Music Concepts

All sqa music concepts and definitions

A Capella

Unaccompanied choral singing.

AB

Two-part form - music in two sections. These sections may be repeated

A Capella

Unaccompanied choral singing.

AB

Two-part form - music in two sections. These sections may be repeated

Accidental

A sign added to a note to change the pitch

Alberti Bass

Broken chords played by the left hand outlining harmonies whilst the right hand plays the melody.

Arco

Instruction given to string players to use a bow

Aria

A solo song sung in an operatic style, in an opera, oratorio or cantata, with orchestral accompaniment

Atonal

The music has no feeling of key, major or minor. It is very dissonant and lacks a 'nice' melody and accompaniment.

Baritone

A male voice whose range lies between that of bass and tenor

Bassoon

This instrument belongs to the woodwind family. It is fairly low in pitch and features a double reed.

Binary

A form in which the music is made up of two different sections labelled A and B.

Bodhran

An Irish wooden drum, held in one hand and played with a wooden beater. It features in Scottish Music

Bongo Drums

Fairly high-pitched drums, joined in pairs and usually played with fingers and palms

Bothy Ballad

A folk song, usually with many verses, from north-east Scotland.

Cadence

The end of a musical phrase

Castanets

A percussion instrument popular in Spanish music

Celtic Rock

A style of music that mixes Celtic folk music and rock together

Chord Progressions

Different progressions using the chords built on the 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th notes of a major or minor scale

Chorus

A group of singers, the music written for them or the refrain between verses of a song.

Chromatic

Notes which move by the interval of a semitone.

Clarsach

A small Scottish harp, used in folk music.

Classical

A term used to describe/refer to music composed during the period 1750-1810 approximately; the era of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Cluster

A term used to describe a group of notes, which clash, played together

Coda

A passage at the end of a piece of music which rounds it off effectively

Col Legno

Instruction given to string players to turn the bow over and bounce the wood on the strings.

Compound Time Groupings

The beat is a dotted note which divides into three, eg 6/8 = two dotted crotchet beats in a bar and each beat can be divided into three quavers

Con Sordino

Muted

Contrapuntal

Texture in which each of two or more parts has independent melodic interest; similar in meaning to polyphonic

Contrary Motion

Two parts which move in opposite directions, eg as one part ascends the other part descends.

Countermelody

A melody played against the main melody.

Cross Rhythm

Contrasting rhythms played at the same time or played with unusual emphasis on notes.

Descant

A counter melody which accompanies and is sung above the main melody

Dotted Crotchet

A note that last for 1½ beats

Dotted Quaver

A note that last for ¾ beats.

Flutter Tonguing

Rolling your 'r's' whilst playing a brass or woodwind instrument.

Fortissimo

This means very loud volume

French Horn

This instrument belongs to the brass family and is basically four metres of tubing curled around, with a bell-shaped opening on one end and a mouthpiece in the other.

Gaelic Psalms

Psalms (hymns) which were sung in Gaelic, unaccompanied.

Glissando

Sliding from one note to another, taking in all the notes in between where possible

Gospel

Music written with religious lyrics, often in praise or thanksgiving to God.

Grace Note

A type of ornament played as a quick, crushed note before the main note of a melody.

Ground Bass

A theme in the bass which is repeated many times while the upper parts are varied.

Hi Hat Cymbals

Used as part of a drumkit, they consist of two cymbals (one upside-down) that are hit with a stick or brush, and opened/closed with a foot pedal.

Homophonic

Texture where you hear melody with accompaniment or where all the parts play a similar rhythm at the same time.

Imperfect Cadence

A cadence where the last chord is chord V (the dominant) creating an unfinished effect.

Impressionism

A term borrowed from painting in which brief musical ideas merge and change to create a rather blurred, hazy and vague outline.

Indian Music

Music from India which uses instruments such as the sitar and tabla

Inverted Pedal

A note which is held on or repeated continuously at a high pitch

Melismatic

Several notes sung to one syllable

Mezzo Soprano

A female singer whose voice range lies between that of a soprano and an alto.

Minimalist

A development in the second half of the 20th century based on simple rhythmic and melodic figures which are constantly repeated with very slight changes each time.

Moderato

A medium tempo (speed).

Modulation

A change of key.

Oboe

This instrument belongs to the woodwind family. It uses a double reed which is placed between the lips and the air travels between the two reeds into the instrument. it is fairly high pitched.

Perfect Cadence

This cadence is the dominant to tonic chords (V-I). It sounds finished.

Pianissimo

An indication that the music should be played very softly

Pibroch

Music for solo bagpipe, in theme and variation form, and with grace notes

Piccolo

A half-size flute which plays an octave higher than the standard flute

Pitch Bend

Changing the pitch of a note, for example by pushing a guitar string upwards

Pizzicato

An instruction given to string players to pluck the strings instead of using the bow.

Polyphonic

Texture which consists of two or more melodic lines, possibly of equal importance, which weave independently of each other.

Reverb

An electronic effect which can give the impression of different hall acoustics.

Ritardando

The music slows down

Roll

A very fast repetition of a note on a percussion instrument, eg on a snare drum or timpani

Rondo

A form where the first section (A) keeps returning, in between different sections - B, C etc.

Rubato

Translates as 'robbed time' which means the music will speed up and slow down in order to allow for expression, therefore there will not be a strict tempo maintained.

Semitone

Half a tone, eg G to Ab on a keyboard. From one fret to another on a guitar

Sforzando

A note played with a forced sudden accent

Sitar

A plucked, stringed instrument from India. It's basically an Indian guitar - easy to remember because it rhymes with guitar

Spanish Music

The folk music of Spain.

Strophic

A song which has music repeated for verses/choruses, therefore the same music will be heard repeating throughout the song.

Syllabic

Vocal music where each syllable is given one note only.

Symphony

A large work for orchestra, usually in four movements

Tabla

Indian drums often used to accompany the sitar.

Tierce de Picardie

When a piece of music which is in a minor key has a major chord as its last chord.

Tone

The distance between two notes, equivalent to two semitones (for example, two frets on a guitar

Trill

Moving quickly and repeatedly between two notes which are a step apart

Triplets

Squeezing three notes into the space where there are normally two.

Tuba

The largest and lowest brass instrument in the brass family. Air vibrates through a player's lips, into a mouthpiece which is connected to the instrument.

Viola

This instrument belongs to the string family. It is slightly bigger and lower in pitch than the violin, but looks similar. It can be played with a bow.

Walking Bass

A bass line (low notes) often featured in a variety of jazz styles. It goes for a walk, up and down a pattern of notes, and is often played on a double bass.

Waulking Song

A rhythmic song sung in Gaelic by the women in the Western Isles of Scotland while they waulked woolen cloth to soften and shrink it.

Whole Tone Scale

A scale containing no semitones but built entirely on whole tones.

Mode

A type of early scale used before major and minor keys were developed. Modes are also used in jazz and pop music for improvising.

Harmonic Minor

The natural minor scale with the 7th scale degree raised one semi-tone.

Melodic Minor

The natural minor scale that includes the raised 6 and 7 as it ascends, but reverts to the natural minor form of 6 and 7 as it descends.

Acciaccatura

A 'crushed' note; a note played at the same time as, and crushed into, the following note, where the value does not change

Appoggiatura

Ornament which takes half the value of the main note, or two thirds if the main note is dotted.

Turn

Four notes which turn round the main note with the note above, the main note, the note below, and the main note again. An inverted turn starts with the note below reversing the process.

Mordent

An ornament in which the written note is played, followed by the note below the written note and the written note again. An inverted turn starts with the note below reversing the process.

Microtone

Musical interval smaller than a semitone, prevalent in some non-Western musics and in some twentieth-century art music.

Tritone

the interval of an augmented 4th or a diminished 5th (spanning 3 whole tones).

Tone Row

The particular ordering of the twelve chromatic tones, from which all pitches in a twelve tone composition are derived.

Plagal cadence

a IV - I cadence (frequently ending church music - sounlds like 'Amen') - (a fullstop cadence)

Interrupted cadence

A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The interrupted cadence moves from chord V to chord VI, like a comma (unfinished).

Dominant 7th

Chord built on the dominant (5th) note of a key which adds the 7th note above its root. For example G7 is made of the notes G-B-D-F

Diminished chord

A three note chord made up of 2 minor thirds (Eg. C Eb Gb)

Diminished 7th

A diminished triad, with the interval of a diminished seventh added to the top ( Eg. C# E G Bb)

Augmented Chord

This chord is fomed by a major triad in which the 5th degree is raised by a semitone and the lowest and highest notes in the chord are an augmented fifth apart

Added 6th

Root, 3rd and 5th of a chord with the 6th added (e.g. CEGA). This chord is used frequently in jazz and popular music.

Polytonality

The simultaneous use of two or more keys, common in twentieth-century music.