Music Theory Vocab

Staff notation

Staff notation

Representation of music on 5 lines and 4 spaces

Musical alphabet

A B C D E F G

Clefs

Treble clef (G clef), Bass clef (F clef)

Ledger lines

Lines above and below the staff to identify notes

Accidentals

Sharp, natural, or flat sign in front of the notes

Double flat

Symbol that lowers a note by two half steps

Double sharp

Symbol that raises a note by two half steps

Whole step

Combination of two consecutive half steps

Half step

Smallest distance between two notes

Keyboard orientation

Labeling the keys on a keyboard

Elements of rhythm

Beat, Meter, Rhythm, Note values, Rests, Dots, Ties

Beat

Pulse of music

Meter

Division of time indicated by time signatures

Note values

Hierarchy of rhythm durations

Rests

Silent intervals in music

Dots

Extend the duration of a note by half its value

Ties

Combine or extend the duration of two identical notes

Time signatures

Top number says "how many" and the bottom number tells you "what note"

Solo

Music performed by one person

Molto

Much or a lot

A tempo

Return to the original tempo

I (primo)

First or original tempo

Adagio

Slowly

Poco a poco

Little by little

Piu mosso

More motion

Ritardando (rit.)

Gradually slow down

Allegro

Fast

Meno Mosso

Less motion

Dal Segno (D.S.)

Go back to the sign

Da Capo (D.C)

Go back to the beginning

Fine

Finish

Staccato

Short and separated

Legato

Smooth and connected

Tutti

All together

Cantabile

In a singing style

Soli

Small group

Moderato

Moderately

Maestoso

Majestic

8va

Play an octave up

Order of flats

BEADGCF

Order of sharps

FCGDAEB

Flat Key Identification

Second to last flat is the name of the key

Sharp Key Identification

One half step up from last sharp

Enharmonic

Same sound, different spelling of the note

Pattern of whole and half steps for a major scale

WWHWWWH

Circle of fourths

C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb