Music KS4 Vocab

ORGANISATION OF PITCH (HARMONY)

‘Pitch’ refers to how high or low sounds are

ARPEGGIO

An arpeggio has the notes of a chord played in succession rather than together, strictly in continuously ascending or descending order. The term ‘broken chord’ is sometimes used as a synonym (the notes of the chord thus broken often occurring in any order)

CADENCE

The chords that conclude a musical phrase. Cadences are of four main types: perfect, with chords V‒I; imperfect, with I (or other non- dominant chord) and V; plagal, with chords IV‒I; interrupted, usually with V‒VI. (See ‘Roman numerals’ below)

BASS (LINE)

The lowest part in the musical texture, which often determines or generates the harmony. A Baroque ‘figured bass’ has numerals underneath to indicate the chords to be ‘realised’ by the continuo keyboard player. A ‘murky’ bass has a pattern of broken octaves (as in parts of Beethoven’s Pathétique sonata)

CHORD

The simultaneous sounding together of two or more notes. Often used to refer to the triads in major and minor keys.

DISSONANCE

In traditional harmony a dissonance is a note that does not belong to a common chord or triad – strict rules usually govern its approach and its resolution back to a non-dissonant note (i.e. a ‘consonance’)

CHORD SEQUENCE

A series of chords, usually repeated (e.g. in a 12-bar blues)

DRONE

Especially in non-classical genres, the extended sustaining or repeating of a note or a harmonic interval (notably a perfect 5th)

HARMONY

Successions of chords (or sometimes refers to single chords)

PEDAL (OR PEDAL POINT)

A note (usually in the bass, and generally either the tonic or dominant of the key) which is sustained or repeated while chords change, often resulting in dissonance

ROMAN NUMERALS

Roman numerals (from I to VII) are used to label chords in traditional harmony according to which degree of the scale is used as the root. Thus in C major, the chord D F A (with root D) is II

TONALITY

The relationship of notes within a scale or mode to a principal note (the tonic or final). A wider term than key but often used synonymously with it

ATONAL

An arpeggio has the notes of a chord played in succession rather than together, strictly in continuously ascending or descending order. The term ‘broken chord’ is sometimes used as a synonym (the notes of the chord thus broken often occurring in any order)

CHROMATIC

Chromatic notes are those progressing by semitones, especially to a tone having the same letter name, eg C to C sharp

DOMINANT (KEY)

The key a perfect 5th higher than the tonic (‘home’) key of a piece (e.g. D major in a G major piece)

KEY

A form of tonality based on major and minor scales

MAJOR

Based on major scales, with a major 3rd between scale degrees 1 and 3.

MINOR

Based on minor scales, with a minor 3rd between scale degrees 1 and 3

MODAL

Tonality based on modes (precursors of modern scales ‒ of several types, each with a different series of tones and semitones)

MODULATION

Change of key

PENTATONIC

Based on a five-note scale (often equivalent to scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 of a major scale, or 1, 3, 4, 5, (flat)7 of a minor scale)

RELATIVE MINOR/MAJOR

Major keys and their relative minors have the same key signature (e.g. F major and D minor). Minor keys and their relative majors have the same key signature (e.g. E minor and G major)

FORM/STRUCTURE

The overall shape of a composition (e.g. binary. ternary, rondo). ‘Form’ and ‘structure’ are largely synonymous

BINARY

A form with two sections (often referred to as A and B), each usually repeated. The A section usually modulates from the tonic to dominant or relative major. The B section returns to the tonic, usually via other keys

INTRODUCTION

An opening passage or section which clearly prepares for (or introduces) the first main idea (e.g. in a song where the piano has an introduction before the singer begins)

PHRASE

A short passage of music to some extent comparable to a phrase in speaking or writing. Many phrases are two or four bars long

RONDO

A form comprising several statements of a main section interspersed with contrasting episodes. The simplest rondo structure was ABACA, where A is the recurring section, and B and C are the episodes

SONATA FORM

A large-scale form which evolved in the Classical period. It combines elements of binary form, and ternary form (in having exposition, development and recapitulation)

TERNARY

A form with three sections (often referred to as A B A). The opening section is repeated (exactly or varied), section B providing pronounced contrast

STROPHIC

A strophic song has the same (or similar) music for each stanza of the poem being set. (A song in which some or all stanzas are set differently is ‘through-composed’)

SONORITY

The nature and quality of musical sounds

ARTICULATION

The degree to which a note is separated from the note that follows it (ranging from minimal (legato) to much greater (staccato or staccatissimo)

TIMBRE

The particular tone colour of an instrument or voice

TEXTURE

The number of parts in a piece of music and how they relate to one another. Several types of texture are listed below

ACCOMPANIMENT

Musical background to a principal part or parts (e.g. piano accompanying a solo singer)

CONTINUO (OR BASSO CONTINUO)

The bass line in many Baroque orchestral, choral and chamber works. Most commonly played by low string instruments (with or without bassoons) and with a chord-playing instrument (notably harpsichord, organ or lute) to complete the harmony by realising the figured bass

HETEROPHONY

Where two or more parts play the same melodic line simultaneously, but there are small variations between them. The adjective is ‘heterophonic’

HOMOPHONY

A widely-used type of texture consisting of a melody part and other subsidiary (accompanying) parts. The adjective is ‘homophonic’

MONOPHONY

Music in which only one note is heard at a time – a single melodic line. The adjective is ‘monophonic’

POLYPHONY

In one sense any texture with two or more parts, but commonly used as a synonym for ‘counterpoint’ where there are two or more simultaneous and largely independent melody lines. The adjective is ‘polyphonic’

TWO-PART

Music for two ‘parts’ (i.e. for two melodic lines, and therefore with two notes sounding simultaneously except where one or both rest). ‘Three- part’ and ‘four-part’ music have three and four parts respectively

IMITATION

Two or more parts share the same melodic idea (not necessarily in full, exactly or at the same pitch). Each new part enters separately, the preceding one continuing with shared or new material

TEMPO, METRE & RHYTHM

‘Tempo’ is the speed of the music, (which may be, for example, slow, quick, or lively).
‘Metre’, often indicated by a time signature, concerns the pattern and number of strong and weak beats (e.g. 2/4 metre has two crotchets per bar, the first ‘strong’, the second ‘weak’).
‘Rhythm’ refers more broadly to the relationship between sounds and the passage of time, and often concerns conventional groupings (e.g. ‘dotted rhythms’, as defined below).

BEAT

Most music has a regular beat rather as most people have a regular pulse. Small numbers of beats are generally grouped into bars. Some beats, notably the first of a bar, are ‘strong’ or ‘accented’, others, notably the last, are ‘weak’ or ‘unaccented’. Some rhythms come ‘off the beat’: further, see ‘syncopation’

DOTTED RHYTHM

The term ‘dotted rhythm’ is usually applied to a pair of notes consisting of a dotted note and a shorter note (the two making up a complete beat or number of beats), or to several successive such pairs of notes

DURATION

In rhythmic terms, the length of a note

SHUFFLE

A rhythm based on the shuffle dance step, characteristically featuring alternately long and short notes (within triplet groupings)

SWING

A jazz style that incorporates swung rhythms

SWUNG RHYTHM

Two notes of the same value (usually quavers) are played with the first lengthened and the second correspondingly shortened (as often in jazz)

SYNCOPATION

A ‘strong’ or stressed note occurs on a part of a bar or beat that would normally be ‘weak’ or unstressed

TRIPLETS

Three notes of equal value taking the time normally occupied by two notes of the same written value (or by one undotted note of the next highest value)

DYNAMICS

The volume of musical sound(s), and also the symbols used in a score to indicate volume (e.g. f and p)

ACCENT

Notes may be given special prominence by the addition of accent marks (e.g. › )

INSTRUMENTAL & PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUES

SOLO

A complete piece (or a section) for one player or singer with no accompaniment, or for one player or singer with accompaniment

TONE (QUALITY)

The quality of a performer’s sound (which may be termed rich, rounded, thin, etc.)

FORCES

The instrument(s) and/or voice(s) that perform the music

DOUBLE STOPPING

Where two (or more) notes are played together on an orchestral string instrument (two or more strings being ‘stopped’ simultaneously).

GLISSANDO

A slide between adjacent notes of a chromatic or diatonic scale. The terms glissando and portamento are to some extent interchangeable, but a portamento involves movements smaller than a semitone (such as a singer can achieve but a pianist cannot)

HAMMER-ON

A guitar technique used to facilitate fast playing by avoiding the need to pick every note

HARMONICS

Each sound combines a fundamental and a series of much less clearly heard higher pitches called harmonics. With stringed instruments these can be sounded by lightly touching a string at particular points (rather than by normal ‘stopping’)

IMPROVISATION

A piece composed as it is performed, although frequently based on a pre-conceived ‘stimulus’ such as a melodic theme or chord scheme

PULL-OFF

A guitar technique: a string is plucked by ‘pulling’ the string off the fingerboard with a finger used to fret the note

RANGE

The distance between the lowest and highest notes in a single melodic part. (A soprano part working between middle C and the C above has a range – or ‘compass’ – of an octave)

TESSITURA

The most widely used part of a vocal or instrumental part’s range

WAH WAH

The Wah wah (or Harmon) mute, as used with trumpets and trombones. The name is onomatopoeic – the resulting sound can be rather like ‘wah wah’. The same result can be obtained via music technology as a studio effect

PIZZICATO

Where the string(s) of a stringed instrument are plucked rather than bowed. The direction ‘pizzicato’ in the score is cancelled by ‘arco’, meaning ‘[with] the bow’

TREMOLO

Rapid repetition of a single note or of notes a 3rd or more apart

HISTORICAL PERIODS, STYLES & GENRES

BAROQUE

Music in the Western Classical Tradition from c1600‒c1750.

CANTATA

A work (sacred or secular, and particularly associated with the Baroque period) in several movements for singer(s) and instruments

CLASSICAL

‘Classical’ with upper-case C can refer to Music in the Western Classical Tradition from c1750‒c1820

(solo) CONCERTO

A work for soloist and orchestra, usually in three movements

CONCERTO GROSSO

A type of concerto favoured in the Baroque period, commonly with three soloists and orchestra

FUSION

The blending of more than one musical style or culture to create a new ‘fused’ sound (e.g. Afro-Cuban)

GENRE

A type of piece (e.g. opera, rock, concerto)

JAZZ

Originally a fusion of African and North American styles. A number of varieties of jazz have developed over time, including New Orleans, swing, bebop

MARCH

Originally a march was for soldiers to march to – usually in 4/4 time, with regular and often repetitive rhythms. Now used for any piece of similar character designed, for example, for ceremonial or processional use

MUSICAL THEATRE

Musical theatre integrates songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance, within a popular idiom. ‘Musicals’ are extended pieces of musical theatre from which favourite songs are often performed separately

ORAL TRADITION

Music learnt by listening and repeating, and passed on orally

PRELUDE

Especially in the Baroque period, an ‘introductory’ piece preceding (an)other piece(s). Later preludes are often just short stand-alone pieces

ROCK

Emerged in the 1950s as ‘rock and roll’, and subsequently developed into a range of different popular styles

SAMBA

A dance characteristic of Brazil, but with its roots in Africa. Usually quick, with frequent use of the syncopated rhythm semiquaver-quaver- semiquaver.

SONATA

A fairly extended composition, usually in three or four movements, with one or more (particularly the first) in sonata form. Many sonatas are for solo piano

SUITE

A group of pieces, all or some of which are usually in Baroque or Classical dance styles

TERMS FOR MUSIC TECHNOLOGY

CHORUS EFFECT

An effect used to simulate the small variations of pitch and timing experienced when several performers play or sing the same part

FLANGER

A flanger is an effects unit that creates ‘flanging’, an audio effect which involves mixing together two identical signals, one of them delayed by a small, gradually changing amount

MULTI-TRACK RECORDING

Recording different audio channels to separate ‘tracks’ (one by one or simultaneously) for greater ease and effectiveness of processing than when all information is stored on a single track

OVER-DUBBING

Adding more recorded sounds to a previously-made recording, with the intention of enhancing it

PITCH SHIFT

Where the original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered, often by means of an effects unit called a ‘pitch shifter’

RE-TAKE

Where the original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered, often by means of an effects unit called a ‘pitch shifter’

(STUDIO) EFFECTS

Methods of artificially creating sounds, or of modifying or enhancing recorded sounds, through use of music technology e.g. Reverb, Delay, EQ etc.

TRACK

(1) An individual song, piece or movement on a recording (e.g. on a CD). (2) A path on a magnetic recording tape (or a computerised recording system) that receives or contains information from a single audio channel