Basic Elements of Music

Flashcards on the basic elements of music, sound, and music theory.

Music

Sound organized in time.

Amplitude

Affects the decibel level, or how loud or soft the tone is. The higher the amplitude of a sound wave, the louder it is.

Frequency

Affects the pitch, which is the highness or lowness of the sound. The greater the frequency of a sound wave, the higher its pitch.

Pitched Sounds

Musical sounds that have a regular frequency.

Non-Pitched Sounds

Musical sounds that don't have a regular frequency.

Chordophones

Instruments with one or more strings that are plucked, bowed, or struck to create a sound wave.

Aerophones

Brass and wind instruments that feature a vibrating column of air to produce sound.

Membranophones

Instruments with a skin or other membrane stretched across a frame that vibrates when struck to produce sound.

Idiophones

Instruments where the body of the instrument itself vibrates when struck to produce sound.

Electrophones

Instruments that create sound waves using a mechanical device known as an oscillator and are dependent upon electricity.

Pitch

The highness or lowness of a sound.

Octave

The musical term for the distance between A and the next higher or next lower A.

Half Step (Semitone)

The distance between any two adjacent keys on the keyboard.

Whole Step

The distance between every other key (regardless of color, black or white).

Natural Keys

The white keys, spanning seven alphabetical letters, A through G.

Sharp (#)

Indicates that a given pitch has been raised by a half step.

Flat (b)

Indicates that a given pitch has been lowered by a half step.

Enharmonic Pitches

Two different labels for the same piano key (identical in pitch).

Staff

Five-line staff used in music notation to indicate pitches.

Clef

Symbol at the left-hand end of the staff that serves as the 'key' for reading the lines and spaces of the staff.

Treble Clef (G-clef)

Indicates that the second line from the bottom of the staff is the pitch 'G'.

Bass Clef (F-clef)

Indicates that the fourth line from the bottom of the staff should be read as the pitch 'F'.

Alto Clef

C-clef centered on the middle line of the staff.

Tenor Clef

C-clef centered on the fourth line from the bottom of the staff.

Grand Staff

Two bracketed staves, commonly used in piano music, with the left hand playing the lower staff (bass clef) and the right hand playing the upper staff (treble clef).

Partials/Overtones

The higher pitches that color the fundamental pitch.

Equal Temperament

A system of tuning where the mathematical ratios are adjusted so that the octave is divided into twelve equal parts.

Chromatic Scale

The twelve different pitches in ascending order.

Diatonic Scale

A set of seven pitches arranged in ascending order, forming the basis for a piece of music.

Leading Tone

The seventh scale degree because to Western ears it begs to resolve upward to the tonic above.

Tonic Pitch

The first pitch of the scale and a point of repose and completion.

Dominant Pitch

The fifth scale degree. Functions like a second gravitational center that sets melodies in motion by pulling them away from the tonic.

Interval

The distance between any two pitches.

Major Scale

A scale with a sequence of intervals consisting of whole step-whole step-half step-whole step-whole step-whole step-half step (or u-u-v-u-u-u-v).

Diminished Interval

When a minor interval is made smaller, either by lowering the top note using an accidental, or by raising the bottom note using an accidental.

Minor Scale

A scale featuring a lowered third scale degree.

Relative Major and Minor

Scales that use the same seven pitches but have different tonics.

Parallel Major and Minor

Scales that begin and end on the same tonic pitch.

Melody

A series of successive pitches perceived by the ear to form a coherent whole.

Conjunct melody

Moves smoothly, in stepwise motion, that is, in mostly half steps and whole steps.

Disjunct melody

Contains proportionally more leaps (intervals larger than a major second).

Range

Of possible pitches that it is capable of producing.

Tessitura

Of more pitches in the performer's high register than does a melody with a medium or low tessitura.

Rhythm

The way music is organised in time

Beat

The steady pulse that underlies most music.

Tempo

The speed of the beat.

Ritardando

When tempo can slow down gradually (poco a poco) or suddenly (subito).

Accelerando

When tempo can speed up gradually (poco a poco) or suddenly (subito).

Unmetered

When there is no steady tempo-which is the same as no discernable beat-music is said to be unmetered.

Rubato

If there is a perceived beat, but it speeds up and slows down for expressive effect, it is called rubato.

Measures (or bars)

Beats are grouped into measures, which are separated by bar lines.

Downbeat

The first beat of any measure

Meter

Describes the pattern of emphasis superimposed on groups of beats.

Duple meter

Music with groups of two beats (alternating as STRONG-weak-STRONG-weak, etc.)

Triple meter

Has a three-beat pattern with a STRONG-weak-weak-STRONG-weak-weak (etc.) pulsation.

Quadruple meter

in which there are groups of four beats, with 1 being the strongest beat, 3 being the second strongest beat, and 2 and 4 being weak beats.

Anacrusis

The first word falls before the downbeat. This is called a 'pickup' or anacrusis.

Note

A symbol indicate how long a sound should last.

Rest

Symbols for silence

Tie

Notes of the same pitch can be connected with a curved line called a tie; it 'ties' their values together, so that the note lasts as long as their combined values.

Time signature

In music notation, the meter is indicated with a time signature, which usually consists of two numbers.

Mixed meter

Measures that have different meters occur in rapid succession.

Irregular meter

Irregular meter features measures that have different meters alternating in an irregular pattern.

Polymeter

When two or more meters are operating simultaneously, it is referred to as polymeter.

Syncopation

Rhythm is syncopated when accented or emphasized notes fall on weak beats or in between beats.

Polyrhythm

Occurs when two conflicting rhythmic patterns are present simultaneously.

Harmony

Occurs whenever two or more tones are sounding simultaneously.

Common-Practice Tonality

The system of organizing pitch and harmony that we find intuitive today in Western cultures.

Chord

Three or more pitches sounding simultaneously.

Triad

A three-note chord consisting of two intervals of a third.

Major Triad (M)

Has a major third interval between its lower two pitches and a minor third between the upper two pitches.

Minor Triad (m)

Has a minor third on the bottom and a major third above.

Diminished Triad (d)

Two minor thirds

Augmented Triad (A)

Two major thirds

Key

The world of pitch relationships within which a piece or substantial section of music takes place.