Jazz History Music Terns

Rhythm

the durational patterns of sound and silence in a piece of music

Beat (or pulse)

the division of musical time into regular, recurring units; also: any of those units

Tempo

speed of the beat

Meter

the organization of beats into regular, recurring patterns

Measure (or bars)

a regular grouping of beats in a given meter

Swing

a rhythmic element in a lot of jazz music where the beat is subdivided into two unequal parts, one long and one short.

Syncopation

the accentuation of rhythms that ordinarily go unaccented

Melody

a linear succession of pitches that we hear as a coherent unit

Pitch

(1) the "highness" or "lowness" of a sound

(2) an individual note

Interval

distance between two pitches

Scale

an abstract collection of notes from which musicians draw to create melodies

Harmony

(1) simultaneous sounding of different pitches (often called a chord)

(2) how the simultaneous sounding of pitches moves throughout a piece

Chord progression/chord changes

the succession of different chords in a piece

Key

the tonal center or central pitch in a piece of music

Modulation

the process of changing keys

Consonance

a state of harmonic rest

Dissonance

a state of harmonic tension

Instrumentation

the instruments the composer or musician have chosen for a performance

Unison

type of texture; a group of instruments all playing the same melody

Polyphony

type of texture; two or more melodies sounding at once (sometimes called counterpoint)

Homophony

type of texture; melody with accompaniment

Dynamics

patterns of loud or soft in the music

-Forte=loud

-Piano=soft

Form

the shape of a piece of music, determined by the repetition and variation of material

Ex: AABA

Chorus

one statement of the form of the piece

Improvisation

the process of spontaneously creating a musical statement during a performance

Composition

the process of creating a piece of music in advance of the performance

Timbre/tone color

the quality of sound of a given instrument, player, or group