GCSE Edexcel Music - Key terminology

Acoustic guitar

Does not require amplification, unlike an electric one.

Added notes

Notes that are added to a basic triad, such as a seventh or a ninth.

Added sixth chord

A common chord in jazz and popular music, a triad with the sixth added above the tonic.

Affection

The prevailing mood in a Baroque movement.

Alberti bass

A figuration commonly used in the Classical period, made up of broken chords used as an accompaniment. Named after a now-forgotten composer called Domenico Alberti.

Altered notes

Notes in a chord that have been sharpened or flattened by a semitone, such as a flattened fifth.

Answer

In a fugue, the subject repeated in response to its initial appearance, usually a fourth or fifth lower or higher than the preceding subject. If it is an exact transposition of the subject it is a real answer; if not it is a tonal answer.

Anthemic, anthem

A song with a strong, memorable melody which has rousing or uplifting characteristics.

Antiphonal

Music performed alternately by two groups which are often physically separated.

Appoggiatura

An ornament often referred to as a 'leaning in' note. The appoggiatura leans on the main note, commonly taking half its value and starting a semitone or tone higher. For example, if the main note is a crotchet and the smaller grace note a quaver, then the player plays two equal quavers.

Arpeggiated

The chord is spread, normally from the bottom note to the top.

Articulation

The manner in which a note or sequence of notes is played, for example, staccato, legato, accented.

Atonal

Music that does not have a key of any sort.

Attack

How the note sounds when it comes in - a slow attack will sound like the note is fading in and a fast attack will sound quite percussive.

Augmented

Doubling (or more) of the original notes' durations.

Augmented chord

A triad built on two major thirds, such as A♭-C and C-E.

Background music, underscore, underscoring

Non-diegetic music adding to the mood of the scene, reinforcing dramatic developments and aspects of character.

Bar lines

Vertical lines ruled down through the stave, indicating bars.

Bare fifth

Chords lacking the third and therefore ambiguous in terms of major/minor tonality.

Bars

The manageable chunks into which music is divided.

Basso continuo

Continuous bass parts provided for harpsichord and stringed instruments such as bass viol and lute. The players add chords and melody.

Binary form

A structure of two sections, A and B. Each section is repeated. In the A section the music modulates from the tonic to the dominant key. In section B, the music starts in the dominant and explores other keys before returning to the tonic at the end of the section.

Bitonal

Refers to music in two keys at the same time.

Block triads

Major or minor triads in root position, built up in thirds.

Breakdown

When many of the parts drop out of the musical texture for a short period of time.

Bridge passage

A linking passage often used to change the key of the music (to modulate) in preparation for the second subject.

Broken chord

When the notes of a chord are played one at a time rather than being sounded simultaneously.

Cadential

This refers to a progression of chords forming a cadence. For example, Ic-V7-I is known as a cadential 6/4 (the refers to the first chord being in second inversion - that is, a fourth and sixth above the bass (e.g. G-C-E)).

Canon

Parts copy each other in exact intervals, often at the fifth or octave, but at different beats of the bar. The song 'London's Burning' is a good example.

Cantata

The word derives from the Italian cantare and means 'sung'. A cantata is an extended piece in several movements, comprising chorus, recitative, chorale and aria with an orchestral accompaniment.

Capo

A clamp fastened across all the strings on the neck of a stringed instruments to raise their pitch.

Chord voicing

How the notes in a chord have been spaced out, and the order in which they occur.

Chromatic

notes that are not diatonic moving in semitones.

Circle of fifths

A series of chords in which the root note of each chord is a fifth lower or a fourth higher than that of the previous one.

Classical era

The musical period extending from c.1750 to c.1820.

Clave

The rhythm closely associated with the Latin percussion instrument known as 'claves' (short squat sticks that are struck together).

Coda

A section sometimes added at the end of a piece or movement.

Codetta

A short coda concluding a single section within a movement.

Colla voce

Literally, 'with the voice'. This is an instruction to the band and the musical director to follow the vocalist's tempo.

Compound interval

One extending over more than an octave. A compound third could be a tenth or a seventeenth and so on up.

Compound metre

A metre in which the beat is dotted and subdivides into groups of three.

Compound time signature

When the bar feels like it needs to be split into groups of three (having a group of three 'mini' beats in a 'big' beat). For example, 6/8.

Concertino

The smaller group of soloists in a concerto grosso.

Concerto grosso

a concerto for more than one soloist. The phrase literally means a large concerto. It is usually written in three movements in the order fast-slow-fast.

Conjunct

Movement by step.

Consonant

Intervals or chords that sound pleasant; the triads and intervals of a third and sixth are examples of this.

Contrapuntal

When two melodies are played 'against' each other and interweave - almost the same as 'polyphonic'; written in counterpoint.

Counterpoint

Literally means 'tune against tune'. It is the simultaneous combination of two or more melodies with independent rhythms.

Countersubject

The melody played after the subject or answer has been sounded. The melody is literally counter (against) the subject.

Cover

A new version of an existing song.

Crescendo

Getting gradually louder.

Cross-rhythms

Rhythms that cross the usual pattern of accented and unaccented beats, creating irregular accents and syncopated effects.

Cue

A section of music in a film. Here it refers to the whole track.

Dance suite

In Baroque music the suite comprised a series of dance movements. By the time of Purcell, suites were composed of four main movements called the allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue. These movements are based on dance forms from different countries. Optional extra movements include the air, bourrée, gavotte, minuet and prelude.

Decay

How the note dies away after being sounded.

Diminished seventh

A four-note chord made up solely of minor-third intervals.

Diminuendo

Getting gradually quieter.

Disjunct

Movement by leap.

Da capo aria

ABA or ternary form. Often the repeated A section would be ornamented by the singer. Da capo means 'again from the beginning'.

Dissonant intervals

The intervals that are dissonant (clashing) are the minor and major second, the minor and major seventh and the tritone (augmented fourth or diminished fifth).

Distortion

An effect that increases the volume and sustain on an electric guitar as well as making the timbre more gritty or smooth depending on the settings.

Dialoguing

Instruments literally 'in dialogue', playing one after the other, swapping ideas.

Diatonic

Notes that belong to the key of the piece (literally 'of the key').

Diegetic music

This is music contained within the action of the film and is included in the story - for example, music played in a bar. If a character in the story can hear the music, it is diegetic. Most film music is non-diegetic.

Dominant preparation

A passage focused on the dominant chord to create expectation for a return to the tonic.

Dominant seventh

Chord V with added minor seventh.

Drone

A continuously held or repeated note, usually low in pitch.

Drum loops

A pre-recorded drum pattern repeated on a loop, over which other music can be laid.

Dynamics

Marks in the score indicating to the performer how loud or soft their part should be played.

Dominant

The fifth note of the scale or key - the strongest note after the tonic.

Effects

Electronic devices designed to enhance or alter the basic sound quality (e.g. delay, reverb).

Extended chord

A chord with at least one added note, such as the ninth.

First subject

The first theme or melody.

Flanger, flanging

An effect creating a swirling or swooshing sound.

Forte

Loud.

Fortissimo

Very loud.

Enharmonic

Two identically sounding pitches with different names

Fugal exposition

The initial statements of the subject and answer.

Fanfare

A celebratory piece for brass instruments (and sometimes percussion) often marking the opening of an important event or ceremony. The music is short and loud and often features arpeggios and broken chords. An inspiring example of a fanfare for brass and percussion is Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.

Figured bass

A form of musical shorthand that the keyboard player reads from the score to play the intended harmony. 53 (often not indicated so players would automatically assume root position if there was no figuring) indicates a root position chord; 36 (or just 6) is a first inversion; and 64 is a second inversion (64 is always written and not abbreviated). In each case the two numbers are obtained by counting upwards from the bass. For example, if the notes are C-F-A, then C to the top note A is a sixth and from C to the F is a fourth. Other combinations of numbers indicate more complex harmony. Accidentals such as a sharp or flat placed in front of the figure affect that note, and an accidental on its own only applies to the third of the chord.

Fugue

A musical form comprising an exposition, middle section and final section. The music is contrapuntal.

Fusion

The blending of two or more musical styles, usually from different cultures.

Glam

A genre of rock known for over-the-top, glamorous dress sense including platform shoes, glitter and flamboyant hairstyles.

Gospel music

A musical style with roots in the black oral tradition in which vocal harmonies play a prominent role.

Harmonic rhythm

The rate at which the chords change.

Harmonic sequence

When a chord sequence is immediately repeated at a higher or lower pitch.

Heterophonic

Two or more instruments playing the same melody at the same time, with each embellishing it in a slightly different way.

Gavotte

A medium-paced French dance in \frac{2}{2} time beginning on the third beat of the bar. It was popular in the 18th century.

Hi-hat

A pair of cymbals mounted on a special stand so that they can be sounded by pressing a pedal that clamps them together as well as by striking.

Homophonic

A texture comprising a melody part and an accompaniment.

Groove

In the context of the student book this is a drum loop. It can also mean 'rhythmic feel'.

Imperfect cadence

A cadence ending on chord V and sounding incomplete. Usually preceded by chord I, II or IV.

Independent parts

The instruments or voices are each doing different things. Note that a part that is simply harmonising another (e.g. in thirds) throughout the piece is not considered independent.

Interval

The distance between two notes.

Inversions

Major or minor triads with either the third (first inversion) or the fifth (second inversion) in the bass.

Jukebox musical

When the score for a musical is made up of existing songs, usually all by the same artist or with a strong thematic link.

Key signature

A series of sharp or flat signs placed next to the clef sign on every stave, which tells us the key of the music in the following bars.

Lament

A song with a sorrowful mood. Often slow and in a minor key.

Interrupted cadence

Most commonly comprises chord V followed by chord VI. So-called because it interrupts an expected perfect cadence, V-I.