Musical Terms - Melody

(unmentioned: pitch, octaves and major intervals)

Anacrusis (incomplete bar)

an upbeat into the first bar of the melody

Conjunct

stepwise movement

Disjunct

leap movement

Arpeggio/ broken chord

the notes of a chord are played one after another

Scalic

moves up or down in the pattern of a scale

Range

distance between lowest and highest note

 Fish technique: Repetition

a melodic idea that is exactly copied

 Fish technique: Sequence

a melody repeated immediately at a higher or lower pitch

 Fish technique: Retrograde

repeating a melody backwards

 Fish technique: Imitation

a melodic idea that is repeated immediately by another instrumental part

 Fish technique: Inversion

repeating a melody upside down through major thirds

Contrast

alternating two or more different styles of melodic ideas

Leitmotif - (character)

a piece of music used to represent a character or place in a film / musical / opera

Motif - (theme)

a short, repeated musical idea throughout a piece of music

Microtone

smaller than a semitone

Chromatic Movement

movement of semitones - builds tension

Pentatonic

5 notes

Blue notes - in jazz

unique sound from playing slightly against the standard pitch

Trill / ornamentation / decoration

alternate rapidly between the main note and the note directly above

Countermelody

a second melody at the same time as the first melody

Answering Phrase

phrase ‘questioning’ and phrase ‘answering’ leading to a perfect cadence

Thematic

an important them of the piece

Fanfare

short, loud, major key of music, played by brass to grab attention