Essential Music Theory Grade 2 Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering terms, definitions, symbols, metres, scales, intervals, and performance markings from Essential Music Theory Grade 2.

Semiquaver (Sixteenth-Note)

A note worth half a quaver, appearing like a quaver with an extra tail added to its stem.

Semibreve Rest

A rest worth 8 quaver rests that hangs below the fourth line of the staff in the third space.

Whole Bar Rest

Another term for the semibreve rest when it is used to indicate a whole bar of silence, regardless of the time signature.

Quaver Rest

A rest worth half a crotchet rest that has its head in the third space of the staff and looks like the figure 7 with a curved top.

Compound Time

A metre in which the beat has the value of a dotted note, formed by a group of three pulses.

Compound Duple Time

A metre, such as $\frac{6}{8}$ time, containing two dotted-note beats per bar, each made up of three pulses (six pulses total).

Pulse

In compound time, the term used for each individual time division within a beat (a group of three pulses forming one beat).

Triplet

A group of three equal notes played or sung in the time of two of the same value, indicated by the figure 3 over or under the heads of the notes.

Major Scale

A scale in which semitones fall between the 3rd and 4th degrees and between the 7th and 8th degrees, with tones between all other adjacent degrees.

Harmonic Minor Scale

A minor scale in which semitones occur between the 2nd and 3rd, 5th and 6th, and 7th and 8th degrees, with a tone-and-a-half between the 6th and 7th degrees.

Leading Note

The seventh note of the scale, situated just before the upper keynote, which is raised a semitone by an accidental in harmonic minor scales.

Related Keys

Major and minor keys that share the same key signature; the keynote of the major scale is always three semitones above the keynote of its corresponding minor scale.

Interval

The distance assessed by counting from a note of one letter-name upwards to a note of another letter-name.

Perfect Interval

The term used for intervals of the fourth, fifth, and octave as they occur in a major or minor scale measured from the keynote.

Major Interval

The term used to describe the intervals of the second, third, sixth, and seventh when measured from the keynote of a major scale.

Minor Interval

The term applied to intervals of the third and sixth when they are a semitone smaller than the corresponding major intervals measured from the keynote.

Major Triad

A tonic triad consisting of a keynote with a major 3rd and a perfect 5th above it.

Minor Triad

A tonic triad consisting of a keynote with a minor 3rd and a perfect 5th above it.

Transposition

Moving a melody a certain distance up or down to a different key while keeping all relative intervals constant.

Form

The shape, pattern, balance, and proportion in music.

Binary Form

A musical form where a piece falls into two distinct parts, usually indicated in analysis by the letters A and B.

Ternary Form

A musical form applied to music falling into three distinct sections, described by the letters A, B, and A.

Pianissimo ($pp$)

Very soft.

Fortissimo ($ff$)

Very loud.

Mezzo Forte ($mf$)

Moderately loud.

Mezzo Piano ($mp$)

Moderately soft.

Largo

Broadly.

Lento

Slowly.

Allegretto

Moderately fast.

Vivace

Lively, spirited.

Allargando

Becoming broader.

Più Mosso

Quicker.

Meno Mosso

Slower.

Maestoso

Majestic.

Sostenuto

Sustained.

Sempre

Always.

Poco

A little.

Senza

Without.

Cantabile

In a singing style.

Leggiero

Lightly.

Molto

Very.

Pause

A sign indicating that the note, chord, or rest over which it is placed is to be lengthened for as long as the performer wishes.

Mezzo Staccato

An articulation indicated by dots with a line or slur above or below notes, played moderately short and detached (approximately three quarters of their usual length).

Tenuto

A horizontal line placed above or below a note indicating a weaker accent.

Da Capo (D.C.)

An indication to go back to the beginning of the music.

Dal Segno (D.S.)

A musical term meaning 'from the sign'.

Da Capo al Fine (D.C. al Fine)

A direction meaning 'begin again but only go as far as the word Fine (the end)'.

Dal Segno al Fine (D.S. al Fine)

A direction meaning to go back to the sign and play to the word 'Fine' (the end).

Fine

A term indicating the end of a piece of music.