Music

A cappella

Unaccompanied singing

Agogo bells

Struck clapperless bells found in African and Latin-American music

Alto

A high male or low female voice

Antiphony

Music in which two or more groups of performers alternate each other

Arpeggio

A chord played as successful rather than simultaneous notes

Atonal music

Music that is unrelated to a tonic note and so has mo sense of key

Bar

A metric unit represented in print by all of the notes and rests between vertical lines called barlines

Baroque

The period C1600-1700 and it's music

Bass

A low male voice.

The lowest sounding part of a composition whether for voices or instruments.

Beat

The underlying pulse of metrical music

Bhangra

An amalgamation of western pop styles and traditional Punjabi styles of music

Binary form

A musical structure in two sections

Blues scale

A scale in which some pitches (blue notes) are performed slightly flatter than their counterparts in a major scale. The most commonly altered pitches are the third and seventh degrees.

Bpm

Abbreviation of beats per minute

Cadence

A point of repose at the end of a phrase, sometimes harmonised with two cadence chords

Call and response

A technique whereby a soloist sings or plays a phrase to which a larger group responds with an answering phrase

Canon

A compositional device in which a melody in one part is later repeated note for note in another part while the melody in the first part continues to unfold

Chamber music

Music intended for domestic performance with one instrument per part

Choir

A group of singers performing together, whether in unison or parts

Chorus

In popular music, a strong of the refrain of the lyrics.

A large group of singers usually performing compositions in several parts.

The electronic multiplication of an individual part to give it greater body.

Clave rhythm

In salsa, the central rhythmic pattern underlying the entire structure of the music, around which the other parts must fit. The rhythm is usually played on a pair of wooden sticks called claves.

Clef

A symbol defining the pitches of the notes on a stave.

Consonance and dissonance

The relative stability (consonance) or instability (dissonance) of two or more notes sounded simultaneously. Consonant intervals and chords are called concords. Dissonant intervals are called discords.

Counter melody

A new melody that occurs simultaneously with a melody that has been heard before.

Cross rhythm

A rhythm that conflicts with the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed beats of a composition of two conflicting rhythms within a single beat.

Diatonic and chromatic notes

Diatonic notes are those belonging to the scale of the prevailing key wile chromatic notes are foreign to it.

Djembe

Goblet-shaped west-african drum

Dominant

The fifth degree of a major or minor scale

Dominant pedal

The fifth degree of a scale held or repeated against changing harmony

Double stopping

The performance of a two-noye chord on a bowed string instrument

Drone

The same as pedal, but the term is usually associated with folk music. A two-note often consists of the tonic and dominant.

Drum and bass

Very fast popular dance style - drum and bass indicates the underlying structure

Drum machine

A synthesiser capable of simulating the sounds of a number of percussion instruments

Dubbing

Copying of recorded sound and adding it to, or mixing it with, a different sound source.

Dynamics

The loudness or quietness of notes

Falsetto

A special vocal technique that enables a man to extend his range to higher pitches than usual

Flat

A sign which lowers the pitch by semitone. One or more flat signs at the beginning of a stave make a key signature. Each flat in a key signature lowers notes with the same letter name by a semitone throughout the rest of the stave. A flat inserted immediately in front of a note is an accidental, and its effect only lasts until the end of the bar.

An adjective describing a note that is sung or played at a lower pitch than it should be.

Fusion

Music in which two or more styles are blended together.

Glissando

A slide from one pitch to another

Gong

A large metal plate suspended in a frame and beaten with a stick or a mallet.

Grace notes

Any of the many melodic ornaments printed in small type near to a principal melody note

Ground bass

A melody in the bass part of a composition that is repeated many times and which forms the basis for a continuous set of melodic and/or harmonic variations

Harpsichord

A keyboard instrument with one, two or three manuals controlling a set of jacks. Each jack has a quill or piece of plastic that plucks a string when a key is depressed.

Homophony

A texture in which one part has all the melodic interest, while the others provide a simple accompaniment

Hook

In pop music, a short melodic idea that is designed to be instantly memorable

Imitation

A contrapuntal device in which a melodic idea stated in one part is copied in another part while the melodic line of the first part continues. Only the opening notes of the original melody need to be repeated for this effect to be heard.

Imperfect cadence

An approach chord plus chord five at the end of a phrase.

Improvisation

Performance based not on a written score but on the mood of the moment

Interrupted cadence

Chord five followed by an unexpected chord at the end of a phrase.

Interval

The distance between two pitches, including both of the pitches that form the interval.

Inversion

The process of turning a melody upside down so that the interval of the original is maintained but moves in the opposite direction.

A chord is inverted when a note other than the root is sounded in the bass.

An interval is inverted when one of the two notes moves an octave so that instead of being below the second note it is above it.

Key

The relationship between the pitches of notes in which one particular pitch called the tonic seems more important than any other pitch. The pitch of the tonic determines the key of the music.

Key signature

One or more flat signs, or one or more sharp signs placed immediately after a clef at the beginning of a stave.

Legato

A smooth articulation of music without any breaks between successive notes

Lyrics

The text of a song

Major and minor

Greater than a minor interval by a semitone. The interval between the first and third degrees of a major scale is four semitones, one sit one greater than the interval between the same degrees in a minor scale.

Melody and accompaniment

Melody and chords

Metallophone

A category of musical instruments consisting of rows of tuned metal bars that are struck with mallets

Metre

The repeating patterns produced by strong and weak pulses, usually of the same duration.

Minuet

A dance:

Triple time

Medium speed

C17th/18th

Modal music

Music based on one of the scales of seven pitch classes commonly found in western music, excluding the major and minor scales.

Monophony

A single unaccompanied melody which may be performed by a soloist or by many people playing or singing the melody in unison or octaves

Motif

A short melodic or rhythmic idea that is sufficiently distinctive to allow it to be modified, manipulated and possibly combined with other motifs while retaining its own identity

Multi-tracking

A recording technique where several tracks of sound are recorded independently but can be played back together

Octave

The interval between the first and last degrees of an eight-yone major or minor scale.

On-beat and off-beat notes

Notes articulated on strong and weak beats of the bar respectively

Opera

A dramatic fusion of words, music spectacle and sometimes dancing.

Ostinato or riff (pop)

A rhythmic, melodic or harmonic pattern repeated many times in succession.

Passing note

A decorative melody note filling the gap between two harmony notes

Pedal

A sustained or repeated note sounded against changing harmony

Pentatonic music

Music based on a scale of five notes

Perfect cadence

Chords five and one at the end of a phrase

Piano

A keyboard instrument in which strings are sounded by felt-covered hammers.

A dynamic instruction to play softly

Pitch

The height or depth of a note.

Pitch bend

Detuning a note so it slides to another pitch

Plagal cadence

chords for and one at the end of a phrase

polyphony

a texture made up of two or more melodies sounding together.

polyrhythm

the simultaneous combination of 2 call more distinctly different and often conflicting types of rhythm

Pulse

Beat

Rãg

a pattern of ascending and descending notes associated with particular moods and used as the basis for melodic improvisation in Indian classical music

repetition

in music, the restatement of a passage that has already been performed.

Rondo

a composition in which a passage of music heard at the start is repeated several times, the repeats being separated from each other by contrasting passages of music.

a b a c a d a

root

In tonal music, the fundamental pitch of any chord built from superimposed thirds. The fundamental pitch of a dominant triadis the fifth degree of the scale of the prevailing key.

sampler

a device recording sections of sound as digital information. it allows them to be played back with various modifications

Sarod

the North Indian plucked string instrument with a number of melody strings, drone strings and sympathetic strings. Unlike the sitar it has a metal fingerboard and no frets.

Scalic

an adjective referring to a melodic contour in which adjacent notes move by step in a similar manner to notes in a scale

Scratching

The technique of manipulating a vinyl record in order to repeat a passage of music several times.

Semitone

The interval between two adjacent pitches on a keyboard instrument. The semitone is the smallest interval in common use in western music.

Sequence

The immediate repetition of a motif or phrase of a melody in the same part but a different pitch. A harmonic progression can be treated in the same way.