Music vocab week 4

Modal

See mode

Modes

In Ancient Greece, when the notes of the scale were worked out and used in 7 different ways

Modulation

Change of key in a piece of music

Monophonic

A solo line with no accompaniment

Neapolitan 6th

Chromatic chord using the flattened supertonic triad in first inversion

Neo-classical

20th century style which drew out styles of baroque and classical periods

Oblique motion

A texture with moving parts against static parts

Ostinato

Persistently repeated melody, bass, chord pattern or rhythm (riff)

Parallel motion

A texture where parts move in a similar direction, but using the same interval between them

Pedal point

A harmonic device where a fixed sustained or repeated note is heard while the chords above it change

Pentatonic

Music that uses a scale of 5 notes. Found by playing the black notes on the keyboard

Pickup

See anacrusis. A group of unaccented notes prior to the first full bar of a phrase or piece

Pivot chord

A chord that belongs to both the old and new key

Pizzicato

Opposite of arco, string players pluck the string

Polarised

A texture which features a wide gap between melodic parts and the bass

Polychordal

Music written for 2 or more groups of performers who are often placed in different parts of the performing space

Polyphonic

A texture consisting of two or melodies sounding together (contrapuntal)

Polyrhythm

Different rhythms used simultaneously in different parts