Musical terms

Anacrusis

A pick-up note or notes before the first strong beat

Conjunct

Stepwise movement between adjacent notes

Disjunct

Melodic movement with larger intervals (leaps)

Arpeggio

Notes of a chord played one after another

Scalic

Moving in stepwise motion up or down a scale

Range

Distance between the lowest and highest notes

Sequence

Repeating a musical idea at different pitches

Imitation

A melody repeated in another part

Repetition

Repeating a musical idea

Contrast

Different musical ideas placed together

Leitmotif

A recurring theme linked to a character or idea

Motif

A short musical idea

Octave

Interval of 8 notes

Tone

Whole step interval (two semitones)

Semitone

Smallest interval in western music

Chromatic movement

Movement by semitones

Pentatonic

Scale with five notes

Trill

Rapid alternation between two notes

Countermelody

A second melody played alongside the main melody

Major

Key with a bright, happy sound

Minor

Key with a darker, sadder sound

Modulation

Change from one key to another

Primary chords

Mains chords I, IV, V

Inversion

Chord with notes reordered

Diatonic

Notes belonging to the key

Perfect cadence

V - I ending, sounds finished

Imperfect cadence

Ends on V, unfinished

Plagal cadence

IV - I, ‘amen’ cadence

Interrupted cadence

V - VI, unexpected ending

Chord progression

Series of chords

Drone

Sustained note throughout

Dissonance

Clashing sounds

Binary

Structure in two sections (AB)

Ternary

Structure in three sections (ABA)

Rondo

Repeated theme with contrasting sections

Theme and variations

Theme repeated with changes

Strophic

Same music for each verse

12 bar blues

Chord pattern used in blues music

Call and response

Question and answer musical phrases

Ostinato

Repeated pattern

Improvisation

Music created spontaneously

Monophonic

Single melody line

Homophonic

Often layers of sounds that all move

Polyphonic

Multiple independent melodies

Unison

Same notes played together

Melody and accompaniment

Tune with backing chords

Canon

Strict limitation starting at different times

Alberti bass

Broken chord accompaniment pattern

Walking bass

Stepwise moving bass line

Allegro

Fast tempo

Andante

Walking pace

Adagio

Slow tempo

Accelerando

Gradually getting faster

Ritardando

Gradually getting slower

Rubato

Flexible tempo

Syncopation

Accents off the beat

Triplet

Three notes in place of two

Swing

Uneven rhythmic feel

Simple time

Beats divide into 2

Compound time

Beats divide into 3