apmt 2

Conjunct Motion: stepwise motion

Disjunct Motion: motion by leaps/boudns



Parallel keys: start on the same note 

Relative keys: 3 half steps apart 

Distantly Related Keys: more than 1 accidental apart (eg, c and f#) 

Closely related keys: 1 accidental apart (eg, c and g) 




Bb instruments - transpose down a M2 from the written pitch

  • Trumpet

  • Clarinet

  • Tenor Saxophone (down a M9)

Eb instruments - transpose down a M6 from the written pitch

  • Alto Saxophone

  • Baritone Saxophone (down a M13)

  • Clarinet in Eb sounds a m3 higher than written pitch

F instruments - transpose down a P5 from the written pitch

  • English Horn

  • French Horn (can also transpose to many different keys depending on the "crook")

A instruments - transpose down a m3 from the written pitch

  • Clarinet (sometimes)

  • trumpet (rare)



Octave Transposing Instruments - instruments that transpose up or down by one octave




Alberti bass - keyboard pattern to outline arpeggiated chords (usually low-high-mid-high pattern)

Walking bass - common in jazz, also shows pulse and rhythm

Imitation - repetition of musical ideas, common in polyphony

Call and response - a type of imitation in which musical lines are traded between parts or voices

Fugue - a musical form that uses imitations in its structure

Canon - layers of the same melody

Round - a specific type of canon that has the ability to repeat endlessly (go round and round...)

Countermelody - two melodies layered on top of each other, by definition occurs in polyphony

Ostinato - a repeated rhythmic pattern, can be layered on top of other lines, means "stubborn"

Doubling - two instruments playing the same thing

Solo - one single person performing a musical line

Soli - a group of people performing the same musical line

Tutti - refers to the ensemble at large

Open Spacing - large, spaced out intervals between parts

Closed Spacing - close, small intervals between parts



Anacrusis - synonymous with "Pickup note", one or more notes that occur before the first weighted beat of a phrase

Agogic Accent - a natural accent given to a note that is generally performed in common practice, rather than explicitly written down. Agogic accents can be implied for the following reasons:

Syncopation - placement of accents or notes on normally weak beats or beat divisions. Used often in jazz, ragtime, and latin music.

Cross rhythm - a combination of two or more rhythm patterns that do not equally align in their divisions. Also referred to as "polyrhythm".

Hemiola - a musical figure in which two groups of three beats are replaced by three groups of two beats (or vice versa), giving the effect of a shift between triple and duple meter