MusicHum Quiz 1 Terms

Vocabulary flashcards covering core musical terms, genres, forms, and techniques for MusicHum Quiz 1.

Monophony

Music with only one melody line, with no harmony or counterpoint (may add a drone to the single line). Note: it doesn't matter if there are several singers, as long as they all sing the same notes. Examples: O Euchari, Hildegard von Bingen; A Chantar, Beatriz de Dia.

Plainchant

A Medieval musical genre: monophonic vocal music designed to project religious texts. Ex: O Euchari, Hildegard von Bingen.

Drone

The prolongation of a single note over which the moving melodic line sounds. Features as softly sung open vowel sounds. Examples: O Euchari, Hildegard von Bingen; A Chantar, Beatriz de Dia.

Dissonance

An unpleasant, jarring set of pitches that seem to demand some kind of resolution; often precedes a cadential point. In Renaissance music, there are rules to this: it occurs when the notes outside of the tonic chord occur.

Consonance

Relative stability attributed to certain harmonies in a piece of music; traditionally used for points of rest or closure, such as the final harmony of a cadence.

Cadence

Provides a marked sense of closure to any given phrase/section. Ex: Viderunt Omnes, Pérotin; Ave Maria, Josquin de Prez.

Strophic

Structure in which the melody is the same for every verse. Examples: partially O Euchari, Hildegard von Bingen; A Chantar, Beatriz de Dia; "Vi recorda, o bosch'ombrosi" in L'Orfeo Act II, Claudio Monteverdi.

Troubadour

Secular singer/song-writers who wrote and performed poetry in Occitan. Ex: Beatriz de Dia (A Chantar m'er would be troubadour song).

Syllabic

Melodic style of one note set to each text syllable.

Melismatic

Melodic style characterized by many notes sung to a single text syllable.

Melisma

A group of notes/pitches sung to one syllable of text; has the effect of extending or embellishing that syllable.

Text-setting

Assigning syllables of speech to specific musical pitches; allows certain emotional words to have heightened or lowered pitches for dramatic effect.

Register

The division of a range of musical pitches into high, medium, and low. Example of high: sopranos in a chorus, medieval music attempting to reach God. Example of low: cello or bass.

Organum

A late Medieval musical genre: earliest kind of polyphonic music, which developed from the custom of adding voices above a plainchant. Ex: Viderunt Omnes, Pérotin = plainchant with 3 added voices making the plainchant polyphonic.

Polyphony

Music with two or more melodies blended together played at the same time; adds depth and complexity. Ex: Viderunt Omnes, Pérotin; Ave Maria, Josquin de Prez.

Motet

A Renaissance musical genre: a polyphonic choral piece based on sacred matters. Ex: Ave Maria, Josquin de Prez.

Imitative polyphony

Polyphony when one melody line begins and then another melody begins shortly thereafter, imitating the first melody line in its own register. Ex: Ave Maria, Josquin de Prez.

Canon

A part of polyphony that consists of the playing or singing of a melody against itself; a common form of this would be that the second presentation of the melody is delayed by a specified number of notes or beats after the beginning of the first. Ex: Ave Maria, Josquin de Prez.

Scale

A collection of tones traversing the interval of the octave, among which one tone is particularly stable (where the stable tone is called the tonic).

Homophony

(Chordal texture) there are many voices that are all moving together at the same rhythm; the voices give a distinct sense of chords following succession. Example: occurs at the end of Ave Maria, Josquin de Prez.

SATB

Soprano, alto, tenor, bass (the arrangement of voices in a chorus). Example: all 4 in Ave Maria, Josquin de Prez.

Madrigal

A Renaissance musical genre: a polyphonic piece based on non-sacred matters like love and courtship; comes into historical context as the Renaissance period became increasingly secular. Ex: Era l'anima mia, Claudio Monteverdi.

Word painting

(Madrigalism) the practice of illustrating specific words of a text in a vocal composition by means of musical analogy. Composers began to find ways of mimicking real-world sounds and expressing human emotions through musical textures. Ex: Era l'anima mia, Claudio Monteverdi (dissonance reflecting "cruel").

Opera

A drama set to music, can be a grand spectacle featuring soloists, chorus, instruments, and dancers. Ex: L'Orfeo, Claudio Monteverdi.

Ritornello

A recurring instrumental passage (doesn't need to be exactly the same each time it's played in terms of loudness, pitch, or speed). Ex: "Vi recorda, o bosch'ombrosi" in L'Orfeo Act II, Claudio Monteverdi.

Aria

A song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment in an opera.

Strophic aria

An aria in which the same music is sung several times to different verses. Ex: "Vi recorda, o bosch'ombrosi" in L'Orfeo Act II, Claudio Monteverdi.

Recitative

A style of singing with instrumental accompaniment that imitates the natural inflections of speech; often used in an opera to report dramatic action and advance the plot. Different accompaniments and change in tempo allows the plot to keep moving. Ex: L'Orfeo, Claudio Monteverdi in "Ahi, caso acerbo".

Concerto

A musical composition for a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra.

Concertino

The group of instruments that function as soloists in a baroque concerto grosso. Example: flute, violin, and harpsichord in Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto no. 5".

Concerto grosso

A Baroque musical genre: based on the opposition between a small group of solo instruments (the concertino) and orchestra (the ripieno). Example: Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, J.S. Bach.

Ripieno

The body of instruments accompanying the concertino in baroque concerto music.

Basso continuo

Instrument(s) that provide a foundation for the melody or melodies above; heard almost exclusively in Baroque music. Fills in harmonic structure. Example: Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, J.S. Bach by the cello, violone, and harpsichord.

Counterpoint

The technique of combining several melodic lines into a meaningful whole. Example: Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, J.S. Bach.

Call and response

A succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first. Example: flute and violin in Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, J.S. Bach.

Virtuosic

Music that requires a display of advanced technical skill for its execution, shows off the playing and instrument. Occurs in Baroque music because the Baroque era is very ornamented, elaborate, and detailed. Example: harpsichord in Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, J.S. Bach.

Tonality

Organizing pitches around the note associated with the composition's key (major or minor) to create harmonic structure; a defining feature of the Common Practice Period.

Compositional device

Means by which a composer might develop a musical work. Example: fugue, theme and variations.

Fugue

Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which one or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint. Broken into 3 sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation. Exposition: initial presentation of thematic material (statement of the subject). Development: extension, transformation, and restatements of the initial subject. Recapitulation: a return to/a restatement of thematic material presented in the exposition.

Subject and answer (in a fugue)

In a fugue, the 1st melodic line is called the subject, and the 2nd melodic line is called the answer.

Modulations

Changing key within a piece (might happen in the development).

Chamber music

Music using a small group of musicians, with one player to a part. Example: String Quartet in C Major, Joseph Haydn.

Theme and variations

A musical form in which a theme continually returns but is varied by changing the notes of the melody, the harmony, the rhythm, or some other feature of the music. Common in classical music. Example: String Quartet in C Major, Joseph Haydn.

Tonic note

The pitch that begins and ends the scale of a given key, allows for resolution; the home base.

Dominant note

The fifth note of the scale.

Rhythm

The placement of sounds in musical time; occurs on or within beats, in the context of an underlying meter.

Meter

A regular, repeating pattern of strong and weak beats; most commonly: duple, triple, and quadruple.

Texture

How the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece; most commonly monophony, homophony, or polyphony.

Major mode

Generally feels bright and happy, associated with the major scale. Ex: "Vi recorda, o bosch'ombrosi" in L'Orfeo Act II, Claudio Monteverdi.

Minor mode

Generally feels dark and sad, associated with the minor scale. Ex: "The Well Tempered Clavier; Prelude and Fugue in C-Sharp Minor," J.S. Bach.

Countersubject

A distinctive polyphonic line that recurrently accompanies the subject of a fugue in another voice.

Tone color

The sonorous quality of a particular instrument, voice, or combination of instruments or voices.