| A Cappella | Unaccompanied choral (vocal) music |
Accidental | A sharp/flat or natural that does not form part of the key signature |
| Adagio | Music played at a slow speed (tempo) |
| Andante | Music played at a walking pace |
| Antiphonal | Use of question and answer phrases |
| Allegro | Quick and lively speed |
| Alto | Female voice that sings lower than the soprano. |
| Arco | Indication for string players to use the bow |
| Aria | A solo vocal piece in an opera or oratorio |
| Art Song | Used in 'Music from Wales' to describe a 'classical style' song usually accompanied by piano. |
| Atonal | Music without a sense of key |
| Baroque | A word borrowed from architecture to describe decorative or ornamental music eg 1600-1750 |
| Bass | A low sounding instrument (Bass guitar, double bass, Tuba) |
| Binary form | ||: A :||: B :|| A piece of music with 2 sections which sound different, each section is played twice. |
| Blues | Sad sounding music which originated from the slaves working in the
Southern States of America in the 19th Century. |
| Cadence | Pair of chords used to finish off a phrase. (eg, Perfect, Plagal, Imperfect and Interrupted) |
| Cadenza | Flashy music played by a soloist to show off their brilliance! |
| Call & response | Popular in African music – Musical phrases are copied by other musicians. |
| Cerdd Dant | Used in 'Music from Wales' to describe a piece of music that involves a vocal improvisation accompanied by a harp. The harp melody is repeated while the voice/s adds a changing part. Often used as a category in a Welsh music festival. |
| Chamber Music | Music for small groups of musicians – originally designed to be
performed in people’s houses (eg, Baroque music) |
| Chamber Orchestra | Orchestra with small string and percussion section and one or 2 brass,
wind instruments. No tubas and Trombones. |
| Chromatic | Music which modulates / or uses lots of unusual keys. A scale which
goes up or down in semitones. |
| Classical | Period in musical history 1750-1830 |
| Chord clusters | Popular in modern music – several notes played at the same time,
distance between the notes is very close – sounds dissonant and clashes. |
| Concert Harp | Music played on a harp in a concert hall. It usually sounds complex and needs a great deal of skill to perform. |
| Continuo | A term used in Baroque music to describe the music played by
harpsichord and cello. |
| Contrapuntal | A combination of 2 or more melodies moving in different rhythms. |
| Coda | A section of music added to round off a movement. |
| Concerto | Generally a piece for one or more soloists accompanied by orchestra. |
| Concerto Grosso | Orchestral music from the Baroque era which uses a group of soloists accompanied by a smaller group of instruments, usually strings . |
| Counter Melody | Extra tune added to the music and played at the same time as the theme to make it more interesting. |
| Counter Tenor | A High male voice popular in Baroque music – eg, Purcell, Handel |
| Crescendo | Getting gradually louder < |
| Diminuendo | Becoming gradually softer > |
| Dissonant | Horrible sound you get when notes that don’t go together are played at the same time. |
| Dominant | The 5th note of a scale |
| Drone | A note which sustains throughout the piece and does not change. Can be heard in Indian music played by the Sitar and in Bagpipe music. |
| Dynamics | Volume (loud and soft) (eg, piano, mezzo piano, forte etc) |
| Forte | Loud (f) |
| Ground Bass | A repeated bass line (low part) which plays throughout the music.
(eg, Canon by Pachelbel and bass line in ‘Stand by Me’ by Ben E. King) |
| Imitation | One instrument copies another |
| Imperfect Cadence | Cadence moving from the chords I, II or IV to chord V. |
| Impressionist | Music written between 1850 – 1900 approx. Tone quality and harmony
are used to give an impression with soft vague outlines – eg, music by Debussy. |
| Interrupted Cadence | Cadence moving from chord V to chord VI (sounds unusual) |
| Legato | Music played smoothly |
| Lied | A German song with piano accompaniment. |
| Madrigal | A contrapuntal vocal composition written in the 16th and 17th centuries
(Renaissance Period) often with many Fa, La, La’s in the song! |
| Major | Music written in a major key – sounds happy and uplifting. |
| Mass | Sacred music in 5 sections sung in Latin. ( sections are Kyrie, Gloria,
Credo, Sanctus with Benedictus and Agnus Dei) |
| Mezzo piano | Music played moderately softly (mp) |
| Microtones | Intervals smaller than a semi-tone. Used in modern music and music from around the world. (stringed instruments and the voice are good at this). |
| Minimalism | Developed during the 1960’s and 1970’s, the music is sparse and
repetitive. (eg, Steve Reich (composer), Michael Nyman (Composer). |
| Minor | Music written in a minor key – sounds sad. |
| Modes (modal) | A scale used before major / minor system evolved. Used in folk songs.
(eg, Play A – A on the piano = Aolian mode) |
| Modulation | Changing from one key to another. |
| Monophonic | Music with one tune only. (mono = one) |
| Musical | A stage show of light entertainment. (eg, Oliver, Annie etc) |
| Octave | 8 notes C – C or G – G etc. |
| Opera | Massive compositions telling stories using large orchestras and many
singers. |
| Oratorio | A large scale religious work for choir, solo singers and orchestra.
eg, Handels Messiah. |
| Ornaments | Decorations used in music eg, trills, mordent, turn etc. |
| Ostinato | A musical pattern which repeats over and over again. Could be a melody
or a rhythm pattern. |
| Pedal note | A sustained note held in the bass while the chords and harmonies change
above it (eg, organ music uses a lot of these). |
| Perfect Cadence | A cadence that ends on chords V – I (sound perfect because it ends on
the tonic chord) |
| Piano | Music played softly (p) |
| Plagal Cadence | A cadence that ends with chords IV – V. (sounds like an ‘Amen’ in
hymn tune) |
| Polyphonic | See Contrapuntal music. (poly = many) |
| Poly rhythms | 2 or more different rhythms performed at the same time. Used in African music and 20th century modern music. (poly = many) |
| Polytonality | 2 or more different keys played at the same time (eg, C major and D major). Used in 20th Century music and often sounds Dissonant (clashes). |
| Prepared piano | A piano prepared with screws and nails between the strings. Used
extensively by John Cage (American composer). Not a popular idea!! |
| Programme Music | Music written in the Romantic Period that tells a story and illustrates moods or feelings without using words |
| Raga | Specific Indian scales |
| Rallentando | Music slows down. (rall) |
| Recitative | Speech-like singing in an opera or an oratorio. |
| Requiem | A mass for the dead. |
| Romantic | Music composed between 1830 – 1900. The music sounds emotional. |
| Rondo | Music in many sections – eg, A B A C A (the music keeps repeating the original tune – tune A) |
| Sacred Music | Music performed in a church with a religious content. |
| SATB | Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, the voice parts of a choir. |
| Secular Music | Music without a religious content. |
| Semitone | The smallest distance between 2 notes – (eg, F – F#) |
| Sequence | Repeated musical phrases that change up or down in pitch. |
| Serial Music | 20th Century music style which uses all the notes of the chromatic scale in various pattern called rows (sounds atonal) |
| Soprano | The highest voice part in a choir, sung by female singers. |
| Symphony | A large scale orchestral composition played by a symphony orchestra (large orchestra) and usually has 4 movements. |
| Tala | Specific Indian rhythms performed in a piece. |
| Tempo | The speed of the music usually described in Italian words –
eg, Moderato, Adagio, Andante etc. |
| Tenor | The male voice in a choir that sings above the bass line. |
| Ternery | Music in 3 sections A B A |
| Tonic | The first note of the scale. |
| Transposing | i) instrument which produces notes higher or lower than written (clarinet, trumpet etc) ii) transposed music which has been re-written higher or
lower. |
| Triad | A 3 note chord eg, CEG, GBD etc. |
| Treble | The name for a child’s voice – sounds high (eg, Aled Jones – walking in
the Air) |
| Triple Harp | Used in 'Music in Wales' to describe a piece of harp music where the music has 3 different melodies played at the same time. It is played by one person who plays 3 harp strings simultaneously. |
| Whole Tone Scale | A scale using tones only, used in impressionist music (eg, CDEF#G#A#) |
