Definitions

Revision Notes JC Course Ms Fagan

DEFINITIONS

1. Andantino: slower than andante

2. Arco: Use bow

3. Aria: Solo song in an opera

4. Art Song: A poem put to music for voice with accompaniment. The composer is known and the music is written down.

5. Baroque Period: 1600- 1750

6. Bass Clef: Great Big Dogs Fly Away, All Cows eat grass.

7. Basso Continuo: used in baroque period and gives harmony to music (figured bass).

8. Binary Form: AB

9. Cadence: Perfect Cadence has a finished ending (V-I). Imperfect Cadence has an unfinished ending (I-V). Plagal cadence sounds like

Amen (IV-I). An interrupted cadence sounds interrupted (VI-I)

10. Cadenza: a virtuoso solo passage occurring near the end of a piece of music. Used to be improvised now usually specially composed.

11. Canon: passage in which a melody is imitated by one or more voices at fixed intervals of pitch and time.

12. Cantata: Sacred or secular vocal music for solo, chorus and orchestra

13. Classical Period: 1750-1820

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14. Coda: the final, sometimes inessential, part of a musical piece.

15. Concerto: A composition for an orchestra and one or more solo instruments, typically in three movements.

16. Concerto: for a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra

17. Counterpoint: combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear

individuality.

18. Dandling Song: A song where you bounce a child on your knee to the beat.

19. Farandole: lively dance in six-eight or four-four time from Provence.

20. Fusion: mixture of Irish and other styles of music

21. Homophonic: melody & harmony

22. Incidental music: background music

23. Intermezzo: short movement separating major sections of a lengthy composition, brief entertainment between two acts of a play

24. Lament: Sad song

25. Lied: German Art Song

26. Macaronic: Song which is sung in 2 or more languages.

27. Melismatic: Many notes per syllable

28. Modern Period: 1900- 2000

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29. Modulation: key change

30. Monophonic: 1 melody

31. Motif: short musical phrase

32. Nationalist composer:

33. Oratorio: Religious vocal music for solo, chorus and orchestra. It is sung in a church or stage with no costume or drama.

34. Ornamentation: Decoration of the music. (Trill: tr, grace notes)

35. Ostinato: A repeating fragment of music. Can be rhythmic or melodic

36. Pizzicato: Plucking the strings

37. Plainchant: First form of written music by the monks. Also called Gregorian chant. Free rhythm.

38. Polyphonic: many melodies (Counterpoint)

39. Programme Music: Music that paints a picture. Overture to William Tell: Sunrise in the Alps describes a Swiss morning. The Storm has

William Tell escape prison by rowing across Lake Lucerne, leaving the guards terrified.. Shepherd on a mountainside describes a typical

Swiss scene, a herdsman with his cattle. Revolution is where William kills the enemy and brings Switzerland to freedom. The Trumpet

fanfare represents Victory.

40. Ripieno: Tutti

41. Ritornello: returning theme

42. Romantic Period: 1820-1910

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43. Rondo Form: ABACA

44. Sequence: short melody repeated up or down a step

45. Sf: Sforzando: sudden loudness

46. Smorzando: Dying away

47. Sonnet: A 14-line poem form usually having a rhyme scheme

48. Soprano: Alto: Tenor: Bass:

49. Sotto Voce: in an undertone

50. Stingendo: hurrying along

51. Stropic form: verse/ chorus

52. Suite: An instrumental composition, of the 17th or 18th century, consisting of a succession of dances in the same or related keys

53. Syllabic: one note per syllable.

54. Syncopation: Emphasis is on the weak beat of the bar

55. Tempo Rubato: free rhythm

56. Ternary Form: ABA

57. Treble Clef: Every Green Bus Drives Fast, FACE.

58. Tutti: Full orchestra

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59. Vc: Violincello (cello)

60. Word Painting: the composer describes the picture through music

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