IGCSE Music Terms
-
Upload
gianluca-lamplough -
Category
Documents
-
view
107 -
download
2
Transcript of IGCSE Music Terms
IGCSE Music TermsGianluca Lamplough
Monophonic A single melody line/tune played by many people
Polyphonic Many melody lines/tunes, many rhythms played by many peo-ple
Homophonic Many melody lines/pitches but only ONE rhythm played to-gether
Ostinato a musical phrase (tune or rhythm) repeated over and over dur-ing a composition
Imitation copying the tune or melody of another instrument or vocal part
Sequence several repetitions of a melodic phrase in different pitches - moving up or down by step
Ternary Form A - B - A (3 sections with the first and last the same)
Binary Form a musical form consisting of two units (A and B) constructed to balance and complement each other
Rondo Form Structure takes the form of A B A C A etc
Strophic Form a song form in which the music composed for the initial stanza of text is repeated for each additional stanza (often with a cho-rus in between)
Variation Form Structure consisting of an initial theme (A) and a series of vari-ations placed after it. Usually A, A', A'', A''' etc. Each variation varies one of the Elements of music slightly.
Major a key whose harmony is based on the major scale which sounds happy
Minor a key based on the minor scale which sounds sad or depress-ing
Sonata Form The form most often used for the 1st movement of large works like symphonies and concertos. It is a large 3-part form, usually with an Introduction, Exposition (A), Development (B), and Re-capitulation (A), with a coda to end.
Chromatic motion by half steps; also describes harmony or melody that employs some of the sequential 12 pitches (semi-tones) in an octave - Chromatic nates are notes not in the key
Timbre quality of a musical tone produced by a musical instrument (which distinguishes it from others of the same pitch)
Tempo the speed at which a composition is to be played
Texture the interweaving of melodic and harmonic elements in the mu-sical "fabric". It can be transparent, dense, thin, thick, heavy, light - Polyphonic, Homophonic, Monophonic etc
Structure The way different sections a placed one after another - Binary Form, Ternary Form etc
Silence Rests placed in music
Dynamics how loud or soft the music is
Duration The note lengths placed together to produce different rhythms - dotted rhythms, syncopated rhythms, repetitive rhythms, reg-ular rhythms
Pitch High and Lowness in music
Pulse The regular or irregular BEAT in the music - relates to time sig-natures - 3 time, 4 time etc
Pentatonic Music that only uses a scale with five-pitches - most Chinese music is Pentatonic and some African music
Cadence the notes or chords ending a section of music with a feeling of conclusiveness
Plagal Cadence a IV - I cadence (frequently ending church music - sounlds like 'Amen') - (a fullstop cadence)
Perfect Cadence the chordal progression of dominant to tonic i.e. V-I (a fullstop cadence)
Pedal A long note held in the bass part
Diminuendo Getting quieter
Cresendo Getting louder
Atonal No Key
Reverb Electronically making the instrument or voice sound like it is in a large room - reverberating
Delay Electronically making a sound repeat and die away (like in a cave or valley)
EQ Electronically making the bass sounds or treble sounds louder or softer
Distortion Electronically distorting the sound
Drum Loop Using a drum machine to repeat or loop a drum beat
Sampler A machine that digitally records a live sound and plays it back
Tambura A bass Sitar with a drone
Sitar A Indian string insrument which plays the melody
Tabla A pair of Indian drums
Oritorio Bible Story that is sang with an orchestra - religious opera
Sympyhony A large piece for orchestra with 4 movements
Prelude a short musical piece played as an introduction to a larger piece of music
SATB The abbreviation for Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass
Hexachord series of six adjacent tones with a half step occuring between the third and fourth degree
Motif A short musical idea
Syncopation A rhythmic idea not on the beat
Compound Time The beat is divided into groups of three quavers - The time sig-nature has an 8 on the bottom i.e. 6/8 or 9/8 or 12/8
Ascending pattern A tune that goes up
Decending pattern A tune that goes down
Scalic passage a tune that moves up or down by step
Improvisation process of simultaneously composing and performing music (make up music) on the spot
Accompany to sing or play a musical instrument for or with other people
Muted To muffle of dampen (quieten) the sound of an instrument
Melismatic Singing a word or syllable over MANY notes
Accent A slightly emphasised or louder note
Harpsichord A plucked keyboard instrument from the Baroque period of mu-sic
Djembe an African single skinned drum
Talking Drum or Donno an African two skinned drum used to communicate between tribes
Raga a piece of Indian Classical music - OR - an Indian scale or set of notes that represents a mood, time of day or occasion
Alap The FIRST section of a Raga that is slow and has no pulse and introduces the notes of the Raga
Jhor The SECOND section of the Raga which is slightly faster and has a pulse
Jhalla The THIRD section of the Raga which is much faster, has a pulse and has virtuoso displays but has NO TABLA
Gat The FOURTH section of a Raga which is fast and the TABLA is introduced - Fixed composition or tune is used
Sam First beat of the TALA or Indian Rhythmic Cycle
TALA Indian Rhythmic Cycle
Basso Continuo a continuous bass line that provided an underlying structure for the harmonies and was usually played by the cello, or bas-soon, or double bass and keyboard in the Baroque period
BASS Low male voice
TENOR High male voice
SOPRANO High female voice
ALTO Low female voice
Largo Slowly
Moderato Medium tempo
Allegro Fast and Lively tempo
Presto Very Fast Tempo
sForzando a sudden, sharp accent
Forte Loud
Piano Soft or Quiet
Pianissimo Very Soft or Quiet
Dissonat Clashing notes played together
Consonant Nice sounding notes played together
Libretto The words of a musical or opera
BPM Beats Per Minute
Comping syncopated chording which provides improvised accompani-ment for other player's solos User-contributed
Oral Tradition Music passed down by generations by word of mouth (i.e. not written down)
Balafon an African xylophone
Polyrhythm More than one rhythm played at the same time
Cross-rhythm A 2 or 4 time rhythm played against a 3 time rhythm
Lead Drummer The leader of African Drumming - bringing people in, changing the tempo and leading the 'call and response'
Melodic Tune or Tuneful
Aria Solo song in an Opera or Oratorio
Augmentation Doubling the length of the note values
Diminution Halving the length of the note values
Solo One instrument playing or a voice singing a tune
Coda End section to a piece of music
Staccato Playing the notes short and detached
Legato Long and smooth notes
Virtuoso A very skilful musician
Arpeggio A broken chord
Cantabile In a singing style
Rubato The performer pulling the tempo about
Modulation The changing of key/tonality within a piece of music
Tonic First note in a scale (key note)
Dominant 5th note in a scale
Klangfarbenmelodie The use of instrumental timbres together - rather than using melody as a priority
Inversion Turning a melody upsidedown
Retrograde Playing the melody backwards
Retrograde Inversion Playing the melody backwards and upside down
Prime Row or Series The 12 notes of the chromatic scale placed into a certain order and used for the Serial composition
Enharmonic Equivalent The equivalent sharp note as a flat and vice versa: e.g. F# is also Gb
Sustained A held note
Pizzicato Plucked notes on a string instrument
Arco Bowed notes on a string instrument
Tremolo The moving backwards and forward on a string instrument with the bow - creates a trembling effect
Riff A repeated short tune/motif in jazz or popular music
Dissonance A clashing sound between notes
Accompaniment The part played under the tune
Phasing When the parts in a minimalist piece go out of time with one another
Note Addition Adding notes to a minimalist tune
Note Substraction Removing notes from a minimalist tune
Loop The electronic repeating of a short tune or rhythm
Layering Parts/tunes placed over one another in a minimalist composi-tion
Metamorphosis When a tune grows/changes slowly throughout a piece of mini-malist music
Drone A long, sustained note in the bass part
Head The main tune in a Jazz or Blues piece
Comping The syncopated chordal accompaniment in a Jazz or Blues piece
Trill an ornament in which the written note is alternated with the note above
Vibrato The slight vibrating of a note by a musician
Overdub additional tracks being added by monitoring the previously recorded tracks while simultaneously recording a new track
Power Chord a loud chord consisting of the only root note of the chord and the fifth, usually played on electric guitar
Acoustic music played not using electronic means
Glissando the sliding between two notes - hitting the notes in between
Outro the end section in piece of popular music (a popular music coda)
Call and Response a musical statement by a singer or instrumentalist that is an-swered by other singers or instrumentalists.
Countermelody a melody over the top of another melody
Heterophonic music in which two or more versions or variations of the same melody are performed simultaneously
Fusion the combining of two or more music styles or genres
Counterpoint a musical form involving the simultaneous sound of two or more melodies (polyphonic)
Lilting singing with a light, graceful rhythm
Nonsense syllables made up syllables or words in a folk or jazz piece to add rhyth-mic effect
Rasa the mood created by the sounds of the pitches in a raga
Matras the individual beats in a rhythmic cycle or Tala
Teental (tintal) the most common 16 beat Tala (rhythmic cycle): 4+4+4+4
Tan the rapid scalic flourishes on the sitar or sarod or sarangai
Meend/Mind the sliding between two notes in Indian music
Fixed Composition the main melody/tune of a particular raga introduced in the Gat or Bandish section
Vocables sound effects made by the voice: e.g. 'eh', 'ah', 'oh'
Membranophones instruments with a 'skin' e.g. drums
Idiophones instruments the resonate or are solid e.g. Balaphones, shak-ers, bells, cow bells, Mbita (thumb piano)
Aerophones instruments that you blow through e.g. flutes, panpipes, pipes, whistles
Chordophones instruments that have strings: e.g. Zither, Lutes, Lyers, Musical Bows, Guitars
Tone Language African languages that use pitch to determine the meaning of words