All music terms

Ornamentation 

Decorations to the melody 

Acciaccatura  

A crushed note, played in as short a time as possible. It is notated as a small  note with a diagonal line through the stem to show that it really has no value.  

Lip trills  

Using the lips to produce a trill effect on brass instruments rather than the  valves. 

Mordent  

A musical ornament involving moving rapidly from one note, to another, then  back again.  

Portamento 

Sliding from one pitch to another 

Tremolo  

A rapidly repeated note or a rapid alternation between two different notes.  The note or notes to be played in this way are shown with one or more lines  crossways through the stem to indicate the speed of repetition. 

Trill 

Rapid alternation between two notes. 

Turn  

A musical ornament consisting of the note above the written  note, the written note, the note below and the written note  again.  

Articulation 

Marcato  

Marked, i.e. accented (stressed on a certain note) 

Legato  

Played smoothly  

Staccato  

An instruction to play the notes crisply, detached, which is shown in the music  by placing dots above or below the notes being played. 

Texture 

Texture refers to the way that the various instrumental or vocal  parts relate to one another. 

Monophonic 

Music consisting of a single unaccompanied melody line. 

Homophonic 

A musical texture in which all parts move in a similar rhythm creating a  chordal effect. 

Polyphonic 

A musical texture where two or more parts move independently of each  other. 

Contrapuntal  

Two or more independent melodic lines performed at the same time.  

Call and response  

Refers to a musical texture whereby one musician or group of musicians  makes a musical statement and this is immediately answered by another  musician or group of musicians.  

Imitation  

One part copying or imitating another, not necessarily at the same pitch 

Antiphonal  

Where a bar or phrase is alternated between two instruments, groups of  instruments or singers; from 'anti' (opposite' or 'against') and 'phonos' (voice).  

Unison 

Two or more people performing the same note or melody.

Harmony 

Harmony refers to the chords and cadences used. 

Diminished seventh  

A chord built up of minor thirds. 

Dominant seventh  

The dominant chord plus an extra note a minor seventh above the root or first  note.  

Drone  

A harmonic effect where a single note or chord is sustained throughout a  musical phrase. Often appears as a perfect 4th or 5th interval.  

Imperfect cadence  

In an imperfect cadence the last chord is chord V (the dominant) creating  an unfinished effect.  

Inverted pedal  

When the pedal (the sustained or repeated note) is played at a higher pitch  than the other parts.  

Inversions  

An inverted chord is one where any note from the chord appears as the  lowest in pitch other than the root.  

Modulation  

Process of changing from one key to another.  

Pedal  

A sustained or repeated note, usually in the bass or lowest part, above which  the harmony changes 

Perfect cadence  

Two chords played as a progression to mark the end of a phrase. The chords  are dominant to tonic, often shown by Roman numerals as V-I.  

Tierce de Picardie 

A major chord used to end a piece in a minor key.

Rhythm 

Rhythm refers to the patterns made by the notes and rests. Anacrusis  

An upbeat to a musical theme starting before the first beat of the bar.  

Augmentation  

Extending a musical idea rhythmically. Typically doubling the length of the  notes. 

Backbeat  

(Or offbeat) Refers usually to the second and fourth beat in a drum rhythm in  4/4 time.  

Bi-rhythm 

Two independent rhythms played simultaneously  

Cross Rhythm 

When two different rhythms are heard together with different accented  beats (different time signatures together) 

Double-dotted  

A dot after a note increases its duration by half the original value. The second  dot adds a further half of that half. 

Hemiola 

A rhythmic device in which two groups of three beats are performed as three  groups of two. 

Ostinato  

A repeated rhythm or melodic pattern; such short melodic patterns are often  referred to in pop music as 'riffs'.  

Polyrhythm 

Two different rhythms heard played simultaneously. 

Scotch Snap 

A two-note dotted pattern with the shorter note first followed by the  longer note. 

Shuffle beat  

Commonly found in rock, jazz and blues with an 8 beat rhythm sub-divided  into triplets. 

Sextuplets  

Six notes played in the time usually taken by four. The feeling is of two triplets  rather than pairs of quavers or semiquavers.  

Swung Rhythms 

Particularly in jazz music, the first quaver of a pair will be  

played slightly longer than the second.  

Syncopation  

Refers to stresses in the rhythmic flow that appear to be off the main beats in  the pulse.  

Tala  

A repeated rhythmic pattern found in Indian music.  

Tie  

Two or more notes tied together – the length of the two notes combined 

Triplet  

Three notes played in the time of two.  

Compound Time 

A metre (time signature) in which the main beats can be subdivided into  three. 

Simple Time 

A metre in which the main beat can be subdivided into two.

Dynamics 

Dynamics are the levels of loudness and quietness in a piece. 

ppp – pianississimo  

Very, very quiet 

pp-pianissimo 

Very quiet 

p – piano 

Quiet 

mp – mezzo piano 

Quite (half) quiet 

mf – mezzo forte 

Quite (half) quiet 

f – forte  

Loud  

ff – fortissimo  

Very loud  

fff – fortississimo  

Very, very loud  

Crescendo  

To get gradually louder  

Diminuendo 

To get gradually quieter

Melody 

How is the melody constructed?  

Conjunct 

A melody in which each note is a step away from the previous one. 

Disjunct 

A melody in which there are many leaps between one note and the next. 

Interval 

The distance between two pitches: C-G = 5^th (count the letter names  between including the first and last) 

Inversion 

When a melody is turned upside down, the intervals between the notes are  the same but move in the opposite direction. 

Tonic  

The first note of the scale used by the piece of music, known as the home key  of the piece of music. 

Dominant  

The fifth note of the scale or the key based on the fifth note of the tonic key  eg if the original key is C major, the dominant is G major.  

Melisma 

A group of notes sung to the same syllable. 

Octave  

The interval of eight notes.  

Passing notes  

Melodic notes that do not form part of the essential harmonic structure but  ‘pass’ between one chord and another.  

Riff  

A short, repeated musical phrase.  

Scalic 

Melody based on segments of scales.

Sequence  

Repetition of a music motif or melodic phrase at a higher or lower pitch.  

Stepwise  

Refers to melody in cases where the movement is largely by step, ie from one  note to the next adjacent note.  

Word painting  

A compositional technique whereby the sound of the music reflects the  lyrical content thereby literally ‘painting’ the words.

Structure 

The overall form of the piece. 

Binary  

A structure with two sections with contrasting material (A B) 

Ternary 

A musical structure with three sections with similar outer sections and a  contrasting central one (A B A). 

Rondo  

A musical structure in which a main melody alternates with contrasting  sections (A B A C A)  

Arch Shape 

A musical structure of contrasting sections in the form A B C B A 

Theme and Variations 

A composition where the main musical idea (theme) is repeated, each time  with alterations to one or more or its original elements. 

Ground Bass 

A repeated bass line over which the melody changes. 

Minuet and Trio 

A minuet is an elegant dance in ¾ time. It is often paired with a trio section  and repeated to form an ABA structured movement. 

Verse 

In vocal music, a section of music that is repeated but with different words  each time 

Chorus  

A pop music, a section of music that is repeated each time with the same  words. 

Bridge  

In song-writing, a bridge is usually a contrasting section performed before  returning to a verse or chorus. Can also be called a ‘Middle 8’.

Interlude  

Similar to a bridge or a break, an interlude breaks up the structure.  

Segue  

A smooth, uninterrupted transition from the end of one piece of music to the  beginning of another.  

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Transition  

A transition is a section of music that links one main idea to another, for  example, between a verse and a chorus. 

Tempo - The speed of the beat or pulse.  

Largo 

Very Slow 

Adagio 

Slow 

Andante  

At a walking pace.  

Moderato 

A moderate speed. 

Allegro  

Quick.  

Presto 

Very Fast 

Accelerando  

To accelerate, increase in speed, become gradually faster  

Rallentando  

To decrease in speed, become gradually slower. 

BPM  

The number of beats in a minute in a musical pulse.  

Meno mosso  

A little less (movement) 

Poco rit.  

Slow down a little  

Molto rit 

Slow down a lot  

Rubato 

‘Robbed’ – being flexible with the strict tempo allowing some speeding and  slackening of pace.

Timbre / Instrument Techniques 

The type of instruments being used and the way those instruments are being  played. 

Arco  

With a bow (also con arco).  

Con sord./con sordino  

With a mute  

Celeste  

A keyboard instrument where hammers strike metal plates of different pitch.  

Congas  

Tall wooden drums - Latin percussion instruments. 

Crook  

Lengths of tubing which could replace the central section of the natural horn  to increase or decrease its overall length, altering the range of notes  available.  

Dilruba  

A bowed string instrument found throughout the Indian sub-continent. 

Falsetto  

False voice. Male vocal in highest register.  

Feedback  

Using the amplifier to set up vibration with the strings on electric guitar  producing a howling effect.  

Harmonic series  

The range of notes available to a brass player by tightening or slackening the  pressure of his or her lips on the mouthpiece.  

Harpsichord  

A keyboard instrument where the strings are plucked rather than struck. 

Horn section  

A group of wind/brass instruments in rock, soul, jazz etc. 

Pitch bend  

Bending the strings on a string instrument such as guitar.  

Pizzicato 

Plucking rather than bowing a stringed instrument such as the Violin or ‘Cello. 

Rap  

A vocal part that combines elements of speech, rhythm and chant.  

Rim shot  

Where the snare drum player places on stick across the rim of the drum,  resting on the skin, and then hits this stick with the other stick, thus producing  a short, loud sound.  

Sitar  

A plucked string instrument found mainly in Indian music.  

Staccato  

An instruction to play the notes crisply, detached, which is shown in the music  by placing dots above or below the notes being played.  

Swardmandal  

An Indian Harp or Zither.  

Tabla  

An Indian drum where the pitch can be altered by pressing on the skin. 

Tambura  

A lute-like stringed instrument producing a drone.  

Timbales  

Shallow single-headed drums with a metal casing.  

Tone  

The sound quality of an instrument or voice.  

Vibrato  

Making a note vibrate rather than playing/singing it pure.