Music GCSE basics

Register

High or low

Range

Wide or narrow

A progression of single notes , a tune that has structure

Melody

Ascending

Up

Descending

Down

An idea that recurs or takes over in some way

Theme

Short melodic phrase repeated throughout a composition

Ostinato

Two notes next to eachother

Semitone

Two semitones

Tone

Moves by step

Conjunct

Moves by step

Disjunct

Lots of scales within the melody

Scalic

Based on chords, broken up

Triadic

‘happy’ sounding notes

Major

‘sad’ sounding notes

Minor

Not happy or sad notes ( afro celt sound system)

Modes

Only 5 notes

Pentatonic

Melodies are mainly based on major or minor scales

Diatonic

Melodies include notes outside the keys

Chromatic

A section of melody

Phrase

Regular phrases are normally how many bars long?

2 or 4

The phrases are diff lengths

Irregular phrases

Balanced phases are also known as …

Question and answer phrases

One note per syllable

Syllabic

Many notes per syllable

Melsimatic

The embellishment of a melody by adding notes

Ornamentation

The quick alteration between notes

Trill

Example : c, d, c

Upper mordent

Example : c, b, c

Lower mordent

Example. C, b, c, d, c

Turn

Opposite of a turn

Inverted turn

The repetition of a melody in polyphonic texture shortly after its first appearance in a different voice

Imitation

A repeated sequence of notes or chords

Riff

A short musical idea, longer than a single note but shorter than an entire section

Motif

Quality of how a note is played

Articulation

Notes played smooth no gaps

Legato

Short or detached notes

Staccato

Notes held for full length

Tenuto

Suddenly with force

Sforando

Puts emphasis on a particular note

Accent

Loud and forceful note (louder version of accent)

Marcato

Trembling note

Tremolo

Plucking the string

Pizzicato

Bow plays on the strings

Arco

Sweeping the thumb up and down the string

Strumming

Held

Sustained

How a note starts

Attack

How a note ends

Decay

How loud or quiet a note is

Dynamics

Pianissimo pp

Very quiet

Piano p

Quiet

Forte f

Loud

Fortissimo ff

Very loud

Sforzando sfz

Suddenly loud

Fortepiano fp

Loud then suddenly quiet

Sfp

Suddenly loud then suddenly quiet

Crescendo / cresc.

Gradually louder

Diminuendo /dim.

Gradually quieter

Music alternated between loud and quiet( baroque)

Terraced

Very slow, solmn

Grave

Walking pace

Andante

Moderate pace

Moderato

Fast and livley

Allegro

Gradually getting faster

Accelerando Accel.

Slowing down

Ritardando rit.

Gradually getting slower

Rallentando rall.

The top number of the time sig shows what

How many beats in a bar

Ab is an example of what form

Binary form

Aba is an example of what form

Tenary form

Shows idea

Exposition

Shows idea again

Recapitulation

A section that repeats and has the same music and lyrics

Chorus

Have the same music but diff lyrics

Verse

A musical form comprising of an exposition , middle section and a final section

Fugue

Final section of a piece

Coda

End of a section

Codetta

Continuously held or repeated note

Drone

Prolonged note to create dissonance with the next chord

Suspension

A series of chords in which the root note of each note is a fifth lower or forth higher than previous

Circle of fifths

When the harmony remains on a single chord for a prolonged period of time

Static harmony

A chord with at least one added note

Extended chords