Music Vocabulary

Flashcards for musical terms and definitions.

Arpeggio

The notes of a chord played in succession rather than together.

Cadence

The chords that conclude a musical phrase.

Chord

The simultaneous sounding together of two or more notes.

Conjunct

Synonym for stepwise.

Dissonance

A note that does not belong to a common chord or triad.

Chord sequence

A series of chords, usually repeated.

Drone

The extended sustaining or repeating of a note or a harmonic interval.

Fanfare

A flourish for brass instruments for ceremonial or celebratory effect.

Ground bass

A repeating phrase in the bass.

Interval

The distance between two neighboring notes or two heard simultaneously.

Melody

A succession of single sounds.

Monotone

Use of the same pitch repeatedly in a melodic part

Ostinato

A short musical pattern repeated throughout a section or complete piece.

Sequence

Repetition of a melody (or an harmonic progression) but at different pitch level(s) rather than at the same pitch

Theme

A melody (or occasionally some other form of musical material) on which part or all of a piece is based.

Tonality

The relationship of notes within a scale or mode to a principal note.

Atonal

Absence of tonality or key.

Chromatic

Notes progressing by semitones, especially to a tone having the same letter name.

Major

Based on major scales, with a major 3rd between scale degrees 1 and 3.

Minor

Based on minor scales, with a minor 3rd between scale degrees 1 and 3

Modal

Tonality based on modes

Modulation

Change of key

Pentatonic

Based on a five-note scale.

Binary

A form with two sections.

Introduction

An opening passage or section which clearly prepares for the first main idea.

Phrase

A short passage of music to some extent comparable to a phrase in speaking or writing.

Rondo

A form comprising several statements of a main section interspersed with contrasting episodes.

Ternary

A form with three sections.

Timbre

The particular tone colour of an instrument or voice.

Accompaniment

Musical background to a principal part or parts.

Homophony

A type of texture consisting of a melody part and other subsidiary (accompanying) parts.

Monophony

Music in which only one note is heard at a time - a single melodic line.

Polyphony

A texture with two or more simultaneous and largely independent melody lines.

Beat

Most music has a regular beat rather as most people have a regular pulse.

Duration

In rhythmic terms, the length of a note.

Swing

A jazz style that incorporates swung rhythms.

Syncopation

A ‘strong’ or stressed note occurs on a part of a bar or beat that would normally be ‘weak’ or unstressed

Dynamics

The volume of musical sound(s), and also the symbols used in a score to indicate volume.

Ensemble

The instrument(s) and/or voice(s) that perform the music

Glissando

A slide between adjacent notes of a chromatic or diatonic scale.

Harmonics

Each sound combines a fundamental and a series of much less clearly heard higher pitches.

Melisma

A group of notes used to set just one syllable of text.

Range

The distance between the lowest and highest notes in a single melodic part.

Wah wah

The Wah wah (or Harmon) mute, as used with trumpets and trombones.

Genre

A type of piece (e.g. opera, rock, concerto)

Jazz

Originally a fusion of African and North American styles.

Rock

Emerged in the 1950s as 'rock and roll', and subsequently developed into a range of different popular styles

Chorus effect

An effect used to simulate the small variations of pitch and timing experienced when several performers play or sing the same part

Track

An individual song, piece or movement on a recording