niche important music terms/moves (acadeca)

what frequencies can humans hear?

20-20,000 Hz

What hz do western orchestras tune their instrument to?

440 hz or A-440

What's the difference between a pitched and unpitched noise?

A pitched noise has a discernible note to it, it has to vibrate and sustain vibration.

An unpitched noise doesn't hold one note (E.g. a percussion instrument)

Chordophones (Sachs and Hornbostel)

String vibrates to make the sound. E.g. violins, harps, guitars

Aerophones (Sachs and Hornbostel)

A vibrating column of air makes the sound. E.g. Horns and flutes

Membranophones (Sachs and Hornbostle)

"membrane" (skin-like cover) vibrates to make sound, but not the frame. E.g. Timpani, bass drum, snare drum, tambourine

Idiophones (Sachs and Hornbostel)

Body of the instrument itself vibrates to make the sound. E.g. bells and wood blocks

Electrophones

The sound is produced by electronic means or it is electronically amplified. E.g. Theremin

families of instruments

Strings are bowed or plucked.

Brass instruments are sounded by the performer's buzzing lips. (E.g. French Horn)

In woodwinds column of air is moved by breath alone. (e.g. flute, recorder)

Percussion includes membranophones as well as idiophones, plus some chordophones like piano which are struck instead of bowed or plucked.

Keyboard instruments (e.g. piano, harpsichord, organ, celesta)

One octave scale

C D E F G A B C

Clefs in order from lowest to highest

bass, alto, tenor, treble

chromatic scale

Includes all eight notes of an octave in ascending order

Names of intervals in order

Half step (m2), whole step(M2), minor third(m3), major third(M3), perfect fourth (P4), tritone (TT), perfect fifth (P5), minor sixth(m6), major sixth (M6), minor seventh (m7), major seventh (M7), octave (P8)

arpeggio

individual pitches are played in an upward or downward succession rather than simultaneously

cadenza

elaborate solo (e.g. violin cadenza in Grand Canyon)

call-and-response

a soloist or small group presents a short motif that is answered by another musician

canon/round

a single melody is performed by multiple musicians but at staggered intervals of time.

character piece

a composition that conveys an image without literally trying to depict a storyline

concerto

instrumental genre that juxtaposes an orchestra against a soloist

conjunct

successive pitches rise in small intervals.

delicato

an instruction to play a piece "delicately"

disjunct

successive pitches rise or fall in larger intervals. Greater jumps than a major 2nd (e.g. grand canyon drop in the hee-haw noises)

double stop

a technique with stringed instruments where the musician bows two strings simultaneously to produce an interval

Fermata

a symbol indicating that a note (or silence) should be sustained longer than its notated value

glissando

a rapid glide up or down through the pitches of an instrument

grace note

a short note played as an embellishment just before a longer pitch

leitmotif

a melodic idea representing a particular person, object, or idea

mute

a device that quiets or muffles an instrument's sound in some way

quintuplet

a group of five notes that occupy the

same duration of time that four notes of the same

value would normally require

sforzando

an indication to play a note loudly and with a sharp accent at the start

stopped horn

basically fisting a French Horn

through-composed

a term for a piece of music without clearly repeated sections

tremolo

a rapid repetition of a pitch or an oscillation between two pitches to make a "Trembling" effect

vibrato

a slight wavering or oscillating sound

accelerando

Music progressively gets faster/the tempo speeds up

swing

a repeated series of notes is "swung" to make it more interesting. It is not notated differently, but it is played very differently. The series of notes are separated into groups of two, then those notes are turned into triplets

polymeter

when two or more meters are played simultaneously

polyrhythm

the beats are the same, but the rhythms are different

syncopation

when the stressed, or emphasized beats fall on weak beats of the meter, or between beats. The emphasis is on the "And" not the "one"

variation

parts of a piece are repeated but in slightly different ways, so that it feels like it's progressing

sequence

repetition of a musical phrase happens at a different octave

cadences

break points in the music, like musical periods or commas

Ostinatos

a motif that constantly repeats

Trill

when a note oscillates quickly between itself and the note above (or below in some music)

Diminuendo/decrescendo

get softer

crescendo

get louder

instrumentation

combination of instruments (or voices) that make up a piece

arranging

when you adapt an existing piece to be played by different instruments or in a different way

Major Scale

whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half

natural minor

whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole

melodic minor

Raised seventh and sixth ascending, natural minor descending

harmonic minor

a minor scale with a raised 7th

diatonic scale

The 8 notes of a scale are played in ascending order

tonic pitch

first note of a scale

dominant pitch

fifth note of a scale

leading tone

7th note of a scale. Begs to be resolved by the eighth pitch

relative scales

use the same seven pitches, but start on different tonics. Still considered relative even if the minor is in harmonic or melodic

parallel scales

Major and minor scales that start on the same pitch are called parallel scales. They will end up using different notes. They are less closely related than relative scales

Blue scales

combine elements of both minor and major scales. The third or seventh note is often lowered, and sometimes the fifth as well. Will sometimes use slides to play notes that are "between keys".

transposing

playing the same melody using different keys or a different octave

tessitura

the range within which most notes lie in a piece

Beat

the underlying, steady pulse in most music

tempo

the speed of the beat

ritardando

the tempo slows down

poco a poco

gradual change in the tempo

unmetered

no steady tempo

rubato

Flexible tempo

subito

sudden change in tempo