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Sound
Begins with the vibration of an object.
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Pitch
Pitch is the relative highness or lowness that we hear in a sound.
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Tone
A sound that has a definite pitch.
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Interval
The “distance” between any two tones.
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Octave
- A special type of interval where the frequency of a tone is half or double another.
- The sounds will sound alike because of this.
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Pitch Range or Range
The distance between the lowest and highest tones that a voice or instrument can produce.
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Pianissimo
- Abbreviation: pp
- Meaning: very soft
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Piano
- Abbreviation: p
- Meaning: soft
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Mezzo Piano
- Abbreviation: mp
- Meaning: moderately soft
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Mezzo Forte
- Abbreviation: mf
- Meaning: moderately loud
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Forte
- Abbreviation: f
- Meaning: loud
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Fortissimo
- Abbreviation: ff
- Meaning: very loud
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What is the term and meaning of the following symbol?
- Term: decrescendo or diminuendo
- Meaning: gradually softer
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What is the term and meaning of the highlited symbol?
- Term: crescendo
- Meaning: gradually louder
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Improvisation
Music created at the same time as it is performed.
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Name the three vocal ranges for women from highest to lowest.
- Soprano
- Mezzo-soprano
- Alto (or contralto)
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Name the three vocal ranges for men from highest to lowest.
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Name the main six categories of western instruments.
- String
- Woodwind
- Brass
- Percussion
- Keyboard
- Electronic
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Name a string instrument.
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Name a woodwind instrument.
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Name a percussion instrument.
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Name a keyboard instrument.
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Name an electronic instrument.
Synthesizer
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Who leads orchestras and bands?
A conductor.
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What does a conductor do for a performance?
They coordinate the performers and shapes the interpretation of a musical composition.
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What is the name of the thin stick a conductor wields?
A baton.
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What does the conductor use the baton for?
The baton is used to beat time and indicate pulse and tempo.
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Who is the concertmaster and what do they do?
- The principal first violinist.
- They play solo violin passages and coordinate the bowing of string instruments.
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What is pizzicato?
Pizzicato is a string technique where the musician plucks the string.
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How is the string technique of a double stop performed?
- By drawing the bow across two strings.
- There is also a triple stop and quadruple stop, where the strings are played almost – but not quite – together.
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Vibrato
A string technique which produces a throbbing, expressive tone.
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Mute
- A device used to veil or muffle the tone of an instrument.
- For strings, it’s a clamp that fits onto the bridge.
- For brass instruments, it’s a funnel-shaped piece of wood, metal, or plastic that fits into the bell
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Tremolo
Rapid repetition of a tone, produced in string instruments by quick up-and-down strokes of the bow.
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Harmonics
Very high-pitched whistle like tones, produced in bowed string instruments by lightly touching the string at certain points while bowing.
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Tape Studio
Studio with tape recorders and other equipment used to create electronic music by modifying and combining recorded sounds
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Synthesizer
System of electronic components that can generate, modify, and control sound; used to compose music and perform it
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Beat
Beat is a regular recurrent pulsation that divides music into equal units of time.
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Rhythm
Ordered flow of music through time; the pattern of durations of notes and silences in music
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Meter
The organization of beats into regular groups.
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Measure
A group containing a fixed number of beats.
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Duple Meter
2 beats to the measure
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Downbeat
The first, or stressed beat.
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Triple Meter
3 beats to the measure.
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Quadruple Meter
4 beats to the measure
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Upbeat
An unaccented pulse preceding the downbeat.
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Sextuple Meter
6 beats to a measure
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Quintuple Meter
5 beats to a measure
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Septuple Meter
7 beats to a measure
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Accent
Emphasis of a note, which may result from it’s being louder, longer, or higher in pitch than the notes near it.
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Syncopation
When an accented note comes when we normally would not expect one.
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Tempo
The speed of the beat
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What is the higlighted part of this image called?
Tempo indication
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Name 5 tempo indications
- Largo
- Andante
- Moderato
- Allegro
- Vivace
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What is the indication for a gradual quickening of tempo?
Accelerando
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What is the indication for a gradual slowing down of tempo?
Ritardando
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Metronome
An apparatus that produces ticking sounds at a desired musical speed.
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Notation
A system of writing music so that specific pitches and rhythms can be communicated.
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Staff
A set of five horizontal lines.
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What are the highlighted parts of the following image called?
Ledger Lines
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Cleff
Placed at the beginning of each line and space.
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Grand Staff
A combination of treble and bass staves.
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What is used to show how long a note should last?
A stem or flag on the note.
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What is a beam?
Several flags joined together
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What is used to increase a note’s duration by half?
A dot.
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What is used to increase the duration of a note by the duration of the following note?
A tie.
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How is a duration of silence notated?
With a rest.
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What is a time signature used for?
A time signature shows the meter of a piece.
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Score
Shows the music for each instrumental or vocal category in a performance.
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Melody
A series of tones that add up to a recognizable whole; usually the most memorable part of a song.
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When a melody moves by small intervals, what are these intervals called?
Steps
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When a melody moves by large intervals, what are these intervals called?
Leaps
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Climax
Highest tone or emotional focal point in a melody or a larger musical composition.
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Notes of a melody played in a smooth, connected style are an example of what?
Legato
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Notes of a melody played in a short, detached manner are an example of what?
Staccato
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Many melodies are made up of shorter parts called what?
Phrases
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What is a cadence?
A cadence is a resting place at the end of a phrase – a point of arrival.
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What is an incomplete cadence?
A cadence which sets up expectations.
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What is a complete cadence?
A cadence with a sense of finality.
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Theme
Melody that serves as the starting point for an extended piece of music.
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Harmony
Refers to the way chords are constructed and how they follow each other.
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What is a chord?
A chord is a combination of three or more tones sounded at once.
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Progression
A specific series of chords.
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Consonance
A stable tone combination, a point of arrival, rest, and resolution
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Dissonance
- A tone combination that is unstable.
- It’s tension demands an onward motion to a stable chord.
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Resolution
A dissonance has it’s resolution when it moves to a consonance.
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What is produced when a dissonance moves to a consonance?
A resolution.
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What is the most basic chord?
A triad.
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What is a triad based on the fifth note of a scale called?
The Dominant Chord.
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What is it called when the individual notes of a chord are sounded one after another?
A broken chord or arpeggio.
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Keynote (aka Tonic)
Central tone of a melody or larger piece of music. When a piece is in the key of C major, for example, C is the keynote.
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Key or Tonality
Central note, scale and chord within a piece, in relationship to which all other tones in the composition are heard.
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Scale
Series of pitches arranged in order from low to high or high to low.
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Major Scale
A specific pattern of whole and half steps.
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Half Step
Smallest interval traditionally used in western music for example, the interval between ti and do.
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Whole Step
Interval twice as large as the half step.
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Minor Scale
A specific pattern of whole and half steps.
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Major Key
Music based on a major scale
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Minor Key
Music based on a minor scale
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What is the highlighted part of this image called?
Time Signature
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What is the highlited part of this image called?
Key Signature
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Chromatic Scale
Scale including all twelve tones of the octave; each tone is a half step away from the next one.
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Modulation
Shift from one key to another within the same piece
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Tonic or Home Key
Central key of a piece of music, usually both beginning and ending the piece, regardless of how many other keys are included.
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Musical Texture
Number of layers of sound that are heard at once, what kind of layers they are, and how they are related to each other.
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Name three musical textures.
- Monophonic
- Polyphonic
- Homophonic
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Monophonic
Single melodic line without accompaniment
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Unison
Performance of a single melodic line by more than one instrument or voice at the same pitch or in different octaves.
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Polyphonic
Performance of two or more melodic lines of relatively equal interest at the same time
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Counterpoint
Technique of combining two or more melodic lines into a meaningful whole.
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Imitation
Presentation of a melodic idea by one voice or instrument that is immediately followed by it’s restatement by another voice or instrument, as in a round.
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Homophonic
Music in which one main melody is accompanied by chords.
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Form
Organization of musical ideas in time
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Repetition
Reiteration of a motive, phrase, or section, often used to create a sense of unity.
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Variation
Changing some features of a musical idea while retaining others.
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Contrast
Striking differences of pitch, dynamics, rhythm, and tempo that provide variety and change of mood.
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Three-Part Form (A B A)
Form that can be represented as statement (A) contrast (B) and return to statement (A)
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Binary Form or Two-Part Form (A B)
Form that can be represented as statement (A) and counterstatement (B)
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