Comprehensive Musical Technical Terms Review

A set of question-and-answer flashcards covering genres, forms, textures, historical periods, tonalities, cadences, melodic devices, rhythmic techniques, Baroque & serial procedures, and basic orchestral instrumentation extracted from the lecture notes.

What texture consists of a single unaccompanied melodic line?

Monophonic texture.

Which texture features several parts moving in roughly the same rhythm?

Homophonic texture.

What do we call a texture in which two or more independent melodic lines are combined?

Polyphonic (or contrapuntal) texture.

Which historical style period spans 1450–1600?

The Renaissance period.

Which historical period of Western music runs approximately from 1600–1750?

The Baroque period.

Which historical period covers about 1810–1910?

The Romantic period.

Which musical form consists of two complementary repeated sections, usually labelled A and B?

Binary form.

Which form has a recurring A section separated by contrasting episodes (e.g., ABACA)?

Rondo form.

Which large‐scale orchestral genre is normally in several movements and developed during the Classical era?

The symphony.

What name is given to a constantly repeated bass pattern over which the upper parts change?

Ground bass (also called passacaglia or chaconne).

Which cadence moves from the dominant (V) to the tonic (I) and sounds final?

Perfect cadence.

Which cadence moves IV to I and is sometimes called the ‘Amen’ cadence?

Plagal cadence.

Which cadence surprises by moving V to vi in a major key?

Interrupted cadence.

What five-note scale is common in folk music worldwide?

The pentatonic scale.

What term describes music with no single tonal centre?

Atonal music.

What are the flattened 3rd and/or 7th scale degrees used in blues called?

Blues notes.

What is an acciaccatura?

A crushed ornamental note played very quickly before the main note.

Define Alberti bass.

A broken-chord accompaniment figure common in Classical piano music.

What is an anacrusis?

An upbeat; one or more unstressed notes before the first strong beat.

What is antiphony?

Alternation of two spatially separated or contrasted groups.

What does augmentation do to a previously heard idea?

Proportionally lengthens its note-values.

What is a cadenza in a concerto?

An often improvised solo passage near a cadence, showcasing the soloist.

Define canon.

Strict imitation in which a following voice duplicates a leading voice exactly.

What is a cantus firmus?

A pre-existing melody (often plainchant) used as the basis of a composition.

What is meant by the circle of fifths?

A harmonic progression whose roots move down by perfect fifths.

What is compound time?

Meter in which each beat divides into three (e.g., 6/8, 9/8).

In a concerto grosso, what is the concertino?

The small group of soloists contrasted with the ripieno.

What is continuo (basso continuo)?

The Baroque ensemble that realizes figured bass by filling in harmonies.

What is a drone?

A sustained tonic (and often dominant) pitch beneath the texture.

What does diminution do to a musical idea?

Proportionally shortens its note-values.

What does dodecaphonic mean?

Music based on a 12-note (serial) row, as in Schoenberg.

What are enharmonic equivalents?

Different spellings of the same pitch (e.g., F♯ and G♭).

What is a false relation?

The adjacent or simultaneous sounding of a note and its chromatic alteration in different voices.

What is figured bass?

Baroque shorthand that shows interval figures over the bass line to indicate chords.

Define fragmentation.

Breaking a phrase into smaller motives for development.

What is a hemiola?

A metric device where two bars of triple time feel like three bars of duple (or vice versa).

What is imitation?

A device where a musical idea in one voice is repeated in another, overlapping with the first.

What is an internal pedal?

A sustained or repeated note held in the middle of the texture.

What is inversion of a melody?

Repeating a phrase with all its intervals turned upside-down.

What is an inverted pedal?

A sustained or repeated note at the top of the texture.

Explain Klangfarbenmelodie.

Melody split between instruments to vary timbre, associated with Webern.

What is melisma?

Singing several notes on a single syllable.

What is a Neapolitan 6th chord?

A first-inversion flattened supertonic triad, usually in a minor key.

What is obbligato in Baroque arias?

An important instrumental solo line that complements the vocal part.

Define ostinato.

A short, obsessively repeated melodic or rhythmic figure.

What is a pedal (in harmony)?

A sustained or repeated bass note over changing harmonies.

What is polyrhythm?

Simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythmic patterns.

Describe a Phrygian cadence.

iv6–V in a minor key, with the bass descending by semitone.

What is a real answer in a fugue?

An answer that is an exact transposition of the subject.

Define recitative.

Speech-like singing that declaims text, often supported only by continuo.

What is retrograde?

Playing a series or melody backwards.

In popular music, what is a riff?

A short, often syncopated, repeated ostinato figure.

In a concerto grosso, who are the ripieno?

The full ensemble that contrasts with the concertino.

What is a ritornello?

A ‘little return’—recurring orchestral passage in a concerto grosso or aria.

Define musical sequence.

Repetition of a motif at higher or lower pitch.

What is serial music?

Music constructed from an ordered series of pitches (often 12-tone).

What is simple time?

Meter where each beat divides into two (e.g., 2/4, 3/4, 4/4).

Explain Sprechstimme.

A vocal technique between speaking and singing, used by Schoenberg.

What does stretto mean in a fugue?

Entries of the subject overlap more closely than before.

What does strophic mean?

Using the same music for each verse of text.

Define suspension.

A held consonant note becoming dissonant as harmony changes, then resolving down.

What is syllabic word-setting?

One note per syllable of text.

What is syncopation?

Placing accents on normally weak or off-beat parts of the bar.

What are terraced dynamics?

Sudden shifts between loud and soft with no gradual change.

What is a tierce de Picardie?

A tonic major chord ending a piece written in a minor key.

What is a tonal answer in a fugue?

A modified transposition of the subject to preserve tonal relationships.

In serial music, what is verticalisation?

Sounding two or more notes of a tone row together as a chord.

To which orchestral family does the piccolo belong?

Woodwind family.

Which brass instrument commonly transposes down a perfect fifth?

The (modern) horn.

Which woodwind instrument sounds an octave lower than written and uses the F clef?

Contrabassoon.

Which string instrument is written an octave higher than it sounds?

Double bass.

Which clef is primarily used by the viola?

Alto (C3) clef.

What structural form comprises exposition, development and recapitulation?

Sonata form.