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