Music Keyword Definitions

Composition Technique

Arpeggio - Composition Technique
Notes of a chord played separately in ascending or descending motion

Arrangement
A musical adaptation of an existing composition

Contrast
When an aspect of a piece of music develops in a different way, most often heard with extremes (loud and soft, short and long, slow and fast)

Dynamics - Composition Technique
The spectrum of loudness and softness in a piece of music

Extended Technique - Composition Technique
Singing and/or playing techniques that are typically unconventional

Harmonic Progression - Composition Technique
A group of chords played one after the other, often ending with a cadence

Imitation - Composition Technique
When a musical idea is echoed in another voice

Inversion - Composition Technique
When a musical passage is turned upside-down, turning its ascending intervals into descending intervals and vice versa

Modulation - Composition Technique
The change from one key to another

Motif
A short pattern of 3-5 notes that is repeated and/or varied during a piece of music

Ornamentation - Composition Technique
The embellishment of a musical passage by adding notes or modifying rhythms

Ostinato - Composition Technique
A short musical pattern that is repeated usually as an accompanying part

Range - Composition Technique
1. The distance between the lowest and highest note of a piece of music or musical instrument 2. The placing of each musical element of a composition in a specific pitch class, often for clarity's sake

Rhythmic Pattern - Composition Technique
A succession of rhythms performed in repetition, often used to establish beat

Sequence - Composition Technique
A specific pattern of notes that is repeated at a higher or lower level of pitch

Terraced Dynamics - Composition Technique
A sudden change from one dynamic to another making abrupt shifts from loud to soft or soft to loud

Theme and Variation - Composition Technique
A melody is stated and then developed in different ways several times to create more interest and variety

Timbre - Composition Technique
The quality given to a note when played on a particular musical instrument

Counterpoint

Bass Line
A line of music played by a low-range instrument, serving as foundation for the melody and harmony played above

Conjunct Motion - Counterpoint
Moving by steps

Disjunct Motion - Counterpoint
Moving by skips and leaps

Contrary Motion
Two voices moving in opposite direction

Oblique Motion
One melodic line remains on one pitch sustained or repeated while the second melodic line ascends or descends

Parallel Motion
Two melodic lines moving in the same direction

Imitation - Counterpoint
When a musical idea is echoed in another voice

Counterpoint - Misc.

Ensemble Size / Type

Solo
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer

Solo - Piano
A piece played by a solo pianist

Solo and Ensemble
A musical group that plays with a featured soloist

Duo / Duet
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring two performers

Trio
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring three performers

Quartet
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring four performers

Quintet
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring five performers

Sextet
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring six performers

Septet
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring seven performers

Octet
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring eight performers

Nonet
A piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring nine performers

Chamber Group
A musical ensemble modest in size

Band
A large ensemble of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments that often plays for marching or open-air performances

Cello Ensemble
A musical group comprised entirely or primarily by cello players

Chorus
An ensemble of singers

Guitar Ensemble
A musical group comprised entirely or primarily by guitar players

Percussion Ensemble
A musical group comprised entirely or primarily by percussionists

String Orchestra
A musical group comprised entirely or primarily by string players

Symphony Orchestra
A large ensemble composed of wind, string, brass and percussion instruments, organized to perform classical music

Live Instruments with Electronics
When an acoustic instrument plays alongside another digital component, such as a recording or audio program

Mixed Ensemble
A musical group comprised of non-conventional instrumentation, with any size and mix of instruments

Wind Ensemble
A performance group made up of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments that often plays indoor classical performances

Expressive Elements

Avant-Garde / Experimental
Music favoring unusual or experimental ideas

Dynamics - Expressive Elements
The spectrum of loudness and softness in a piece of music

Extended Technique - Expressive Elements
Singing and/or playing techniques that are typically unconventional

Glissando
A continuous slide upward or downward between two notes

Improvisation - Expressive Elements
Created or performed spontaneously, or without preparation

Ornamentation - Expressive Elements
The embellishment of a musical passage by adding notes or modifying rhythms

Phrase - Expressive Elements
A substantial musical thought, which ends with a musical punctuation called a cadence

Range - Expressive Elements
The use of high, middle, and low range musical placement, especially in contrast, to create musical expression

Ritardando - Expressive Elements
Gradual slowing in tempo

Rubato - Expressive Elements
The freedom or flexibility to choose your own tempo for a section or a phrase of music

Terraced Dynamics - Expressive Elements
A sudden change from one dynamic to another making abrupt shifts from loud to soft or soft to loud

Text Painting - Expressive Elements
When music reflects the meaning of words or lyrics

Tremolo
A performance technique in which a performer plays an individual note or two alternating notes as fast as possible.

Form and Structure

Ostinato - Form
A short musical pattern that is repeated usually as an accompanying part

Round - Form
A melody performed with itself in imitation

Canon
A melody performed with itself in imitation

Refrain
A line or lines of sung music that are repeated in a song, often called “the chorus”

Binary Form
Two-part form where the two main sections are repeated A-B

Ternary Form
A three-part form where the initial music returns after a contrasting section A-B-A

Rondo Form
An instrumental form characterized by the initial statement and subsequent restatement of a particular melody or section, with each statement separated by contrasting material (ABACA)

Sonata Form
A musical form that consists of three main sections: the exposition, the development and the recapitulation

Theme and Variation - Form
A melody is stated and then developed in different ways several times to create more interest and variety

Attacca
An instruction found in between two musical movements, to begin the next movement right away without pause

Cadenza - Form
An often virtuosic solo passage near an important cadence, or near the end of a piece of music

Improvisation - Form
Created or performed spontaneously, or without preparation

Aria / Art Song
A song for a solo voice that is often accompanied.

Ballet
An artistic dance form performed to music using precise and highly formalized set steps and gestures.

Concerto
A musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra

Etude
(The French word for "Study") Music designed to train a performer a particular skill on a solo instrument

Fantasy
A composition free in form and inspiration, usually for an instrumental soloist. (Also called Fantasia)

Fugue
A compositional procedure characterized by the systematic imitation of a principal theme or subject in simultaneous melodic lines

Prelude
A short piece of music with little or no particular form, often played before something else.

Overture
The orchestral introduction to a musical work

Scherzo
A light or playful composition

Sonata
Small scale works that typically have a soloist, and sometimes a piano accompaniment

Suite
A set of connecting pieces of music that are typically dances, occasionally preceded by a prelude

Symphony
Large scale classical works featuring a full symphony orchestra. They typically have four movements, one of which is in sonata form

Waltz
Music in triple meter that is often tied to dance

Form - Misc.

Harmony

Arpeggio - Harmonic
Notes of a chord played separately in ascending or descending motion

Cadence
A short sequence of notes or chords that end a musical phrase

Chords
Three or more single pitches played together in blocked or broken style

Chordal Texture - Harmony
Musical material primarily using chords/harmony with little melodic activity

Dissonance
Two or more notes that create musical tension when played together

Double Stops
The playing of two notes at once on a bowed string instrument

Harmonic Inversion
When a note other than the root of a given harmony is in the bass

Harmonic Motion
When a piece moves from one chord or harmony to another

Harmonic Progression
A group of chords played one after the other, often ending with a cadence

Harmonic Rhythm
How frequently the music moves from one chord or harmony to another

Modulation - Harmony
The change from one key to another

Harmony - Misc.

Instruments

Brass Instruments
An instrument of brass or other metal with a cup-shaped mouthpiece

Percussion Instruments
Any instrument that makes a sound when it is struck, shaken or scraped

String Instruments
Musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings

Woodwind Instruments
A musical instrument on which sound is produced by blowing against an edge or by vibrating a thin piece of wood or metal known as the reed

Timbre - Instruments
The quality given to a note when played on a particular musical instrument

Live Instruments with Electronics
When an acoustic instrument plays alongside another digital component, such as a recording or audio program

Melody

Arpeggio - Melodic
Notes of a chord played separately in ascending or descending motion

Cadenza - Melodic
An often virtuosic solo passage near an important cadence, or near the end of a piece of music

Call and Response
Music that works similarly to a conversation, with one musical phrase offered first and a second phrase answers back

Chromatic
Musical scale of 12 tones, each a half step or semitone above or below the adjacent pitches

Conjunct Motion - Melody
Moving by steps

Contour
the sequence of motion between notes in a melody

Disjunct Motion - Melody
Moving by skips and leaps

Imitation - Melody
When a melody is echoed in another voice

Interval
The measurement between two pitches either vertically or horizontally

Improvisation - Melody
Created or performed spontaneously, or without preparation

Melodic Ornamentation
The embellishment of a musical passage by adding notes or modifying rhythms

Melodic Sequence
A specific pattern of notes that is repeated at a higher or lower level of pitch

Phrase - Melody
A substantial musical thought, which ends with a musical punctuation called a cadence

Range - Melody
The distance between the lowest and highest note of a melody

Trill
A musical ornament where two notes, often a step apart from each other, rapidly alternate

Solfege
A music education method often used to teach aural skills, pitch and sight-reading

Text Painting - Melody
When music reflects the meaning of words or lyrics

Melody - Misc.

Meter

Simple Meter
Meter where the beat divides into two, or then further subdivides into four

Compound Meter
Meter where the beat divides into three, or then further subdivides into six

Duple Meter
Pulse groupings of 2

Triple Meter
Pulse groupings in 3

Quadruple Meter
Pulse groupings of 4

Mixed Meter
Meter where the beat groups in a bar change freely throughout the music

Non-Metric
Music without a sense of underlying pulse or beat

Meter - Misc.

Rhythm

Duplet
A borrowed division from Simple Meter where two equal notes are played in the time of three

Hemiola
Three beats of equal value played in the amount of time normally occupied by two beats

Rhythmic Duration
How long a note is sustained

Rhythmic Pattern
A succession of rhythms performed in repetition, often used to establish beat

Syncopation
A temporary displacement of the regular metrical accent in music caused typically by stressing the weak beat

Triplet
A borrowed division from Compound Meter where three equal notes are played in the time of two

Tempo

Largo
Very slow, labored

Adagio
Slow

Moderato
Moderate tempo

Andante
Walking speed

Allegro
Moderately Fast (skipping speed)

Vivace
Fast / Lively

Presto
Very fast

Rubato - Tempo
The freedom or flexibility to choose your own tempo for a section or a phrase of music

Accelerando
Gradual increase in speed of the pulse or beat

Ritardando - Tempo
Gradual slowing in tempo

Fermata
A note prolonged beyond its normal duration for expressive purposes

Tempo - Misc.

Texture

Unison
All musical parts performing the same pitches at the same time

Round - Texture
A melody performed with itself in imitation

Chordal Texture
Musical material primarily using chords/harmony with little melodic activity

Range - Texture
The distance between the lowest and highest note of a piece of music or musical instrument

Heterophony
The simultaneous variation of a single melodic line

Homophony
When multiple lines or parts of music move with similar or identical rhythm

Monophony
One note sounding at a time

Polyphony
Multiple independent melodic lines performed at the same time

Texture - Misc.

Tonality

Atonal/Atonality
Music that does not utilize traditionally tonal structures (ex. Major, Minor, Modal), often with an unidentifiable tonic (home-note)

Bitonality
Music that utilizes two keys / tonalities simultaneously

Free Tonality / Pantonality
Music that is not in one tonality or key, but shifts freely among many or all keys

Major Tonality
Music that is centered around the tonic (home-note) of a major scale and/or harmonic progression

Minor Tonality
Music that is centered around the tonic (home-note) of a minor scale and/or harmonic progression

Modal
Music based on one of the eight church modes, which use the major scale and start on a home tone other than Do

Pentatonic Scale
A musical scale with five notes per octave

Whole Tone Scale
A scale consisting entirely of whole steps, no half steps

Microtonal
Music using intervals outside of standard tuning, often with intervals smaller than a semitone.

Twelve Tone Serialism
All 12 notes of the chromatic scale are given equal importance, often by using 12-tone rows that are played in order, reversed, and upside down