TUOM 1st Exam

Noise

Any sound that produces a series of irregular sounds, causing a diffusion of oral clarity. Can be used to make music (whistling, clicking scissors)

Musical Tone

Sound producing a series of regular, predictable pulsations, which possess four basic definitive characteristics; frequency, volume, timbre, and duration

Pitch

The highness or lowness of musical sound

Soprano

The highest female voice register; an instrument that performs in a range similar to a _______ voice

Alto

The lowest female vocal range, also called contr____; an instrument that performs in a range similar to an ____ voice

Tenor

The highest natural adult male singing voice; an instrument that performs in a range similar to a _____ voice

Bass

The lowest male voice register; an instrument that performs in a range similar to a ____ voice

Staff

The five lines and four spaces used to indicate graphically the relative highness or lowness of pitch

Ledger Lines

Short extra lines added above and below the staff used to accommodate a few higher or lower pitches

Clef

A symbol used to designate pitch on a staff

Interval

The distance between two pitches

Octave

An interval of eight notes, represented by white keys on the piano, where a pitch is perceived as being duplicated

Dynamics

The loudness or softness of sound, or volume of a musical passage

Duration

The length of time a particular sound or silence lasts

Timbre

The sonorous quality of tone of a particular voice or instrument, or group of voices or instruments; dependent on the amount and proportion of overtones present

Scale

A collection of pitches chosen for a particular piece

Diatonic Scales

The natural scales consisting of five whole steps and two half steps, produced by the white keys on the piano | CDEFGAB

Major

A diatonic scale represented by the white keys of the piano keyboard, oriented around C as the tonic; characterized by half-step intervals between the third and fourth tones and seventh and eighth tones, with whole tones between all other consecutive steps

Minor

A diatonic scale represented by the white keys of the piano keyboard, oriented around A as the tonic; the third and usually, sixth and seventh notes are lower by half-step than those in the major scale, giving it a less bright quality

Chromatic Scale

The set of twelve pitches represented by all the white and black keys on the piano within one octave | Includes flats and sharps

Tonality

The feeling of centrality of one note to a passage of music

Rhythm

In general terms, the organization of sound and silence through time

Meter

The arrangement of rhythms in a repetitive pattern of strong and weak beats

Syncopation

The deliberate displacement of the expected pulse of meter, accent, and rhythm | (Where the beat falls on and, that ragtime song)

Tempo

The pace at which rhythmical units progress

Melody

A succession of single pitches going somewhere with an appeal to the sense, heard as a recognizable whole

Song

A relatively short composition for solo voice

Motive, motif

A short musical idea consisting of at least two notes, forming the basis for development in a piece of music

Phrase

A sequence of notes that form a unit in music, each leading sensibly to the next

Chord

Three or more notes played or sung simultaneously to harmonize and embellish a melody

Harmony

A combination of musical notes that usually form chords; the vertical aspect of music

Cadence

Notes that give pause or end, to a passage, or work, with some degree of conclusiveness

Consonance

Intervals or chords, or any other musical sound combinations that sound free of tension or discord

Dissonance, discord

Intervals or chords, or any other musical sounds that sound relatively tense, harsh, biting, or unstable

Texture

A term used to describe the various sounds and melodic lines taking place concurrently in a piece of music

Monophony

A texture describing one unaccompanied melody

Homophony

A musical texture that describes only one melody of real interest presented with other sounds used to harmoniously support it

Polyphony

A texture describing two or more melodies played or sung simultaneously

Imitative polyphony

A musical texture describing two or more simultaneous melodic lines using the same or quite similar melodies, but with staggered entrances (Row Row Row your Boat)

Non-imitative polyphony

A musical texture that describes two or more simultaneous melodic lines that are quite different (We Don’t Talk about Bruno)

Church Modes

Pitch orderings that date back to ancient Greece, represented by several pitch orientations of the diatonic scales with D, E, F, G, and B, as tonics, instead of the tonal scales represented by C and A

Organum

An early form of medieval polyphonic music that combines a plainchant melody with one or more other melodies

Troubadours

A writer or singer of lyric verses about courtly love who entertained the upper classes in parts of Europe during the 11th to 13th centuries

Strophic Form

When all stanzas of the text in a song are sung to the same music (Amazing Grace, Awesome Screen Awesome Camera?) AAAA

Motet

A vocal composition, usually sacred, with parts for different voices, early motets, were based on fragments of Gregorian chant

Isorhythm

The 14th century technique of constructing a piece with a voice that is comprised of borrowed, repeating melodic line (a color) and repeated rhythmic pattern (talea, repeated, rhythmic pattern)

Ars Nova vs. Ars Antiqua

New art” or “new technique” a term used by composers of the 14th century to distinguish their new and complex and polyphonic music from earlier 13th century organum, which they referred to as “old technique”

Humanism

The belief in the power of human beings and their achievements. Pride was considered one of the seven deadly sins, now it is considered virtuous.

Declamation

When words are set in music by incorporating rhythms and melodies that approximate normal speech patterns

Points of Imitation

A short, distinctive melodic phrase that was repeated in different voice parts, one after the other, creating a unified and imitative texture. This technique was central to the period's polyphony, where a musical idea was passed between voices, often starting on different pitches but beginning on the same beat, contributing to a flowing and seamless sound

Musical Settings

A musical composition that is written on the basis of a literary work. The literary work is said to be set, or adapted, to music. Musical settings include choral music and other vocal music. A musical setting is made to particular words, such as poems.

Madrigal

A polyphonic composition for unaccompanied voices, ideally they feature responsive settings of elegant, secular poetry

Word (or Text) Painting

The musical illustration of the text when a composer strives to marry the music to the least change of meaning or tone in the poetry

Melisma

A decorative phrase or passage in vocal music, in which one syllable of text is sung to a melodic sequence of several notes

 Medieval (c. 476-1453)

Renaissance (c.1453-1600)