Music Appreciation Unit 1 Flash Cards

call and response

a style of music where a soloist sings or plays a melody and then a larger group or other soloist sings or plays an identical or similar pattern back, in a musical question-and-answer format.

big band

a large ensemble of 12-16 jazz instrumentalists often joined by a singer.

blue note

notes that are lowered by a quarter step to form the blues scale; The only exception is the piano, which is only capable of lowering notes in half-step increments. the third, fifth, and seventh degrees of the scale can be lowered to become blue notes.

blues

a music style evolving from the spirituals, field hollers, shouts, and chants of African slaves and expressing sadness, ordeal, and longing; characterized by the repetition of a specific 12-bar chord progression.

chord

three or more notes sounding simultaneously

chord change

movement from one chord to another in a harmonic pattern; Improvisation uses a given pattern of chord changes as its underlying structure.

chromatic scale

a scale that includes all twelve notes contained in one octave

dissonant

intervals of chords that are treated as instable and require resolution to a consonance

improvisation

a spontaneously created musical melody over a given harmonic progression

ragtime

a style of music that combined traditional European musical forms with African syncopated rhythms; usually written for piano

spiritual

a religious song often coming from African American culture

syncopation

accenting notes on weak or unexpected beats