Copy of `Classical Works - Classical music terms`

The wordlist doesn't exist anymore, or, the website doesn't exist anymore. On this page you can find a copy of the original information. The information may have been taken offline because it is outdated.

Classical Works - Classical music terms Category: Music and Sound > Classical music Date & country: 25/04/2012, UK Words: 218

Monotone
Repetition of a single tone.

Motif
Primary theme or subject that is developed.

Movement
A separate section of a larger composition.

Musette
A Boroque dance with a drone-bass.

Musicology
The study of forms, history, science, and methods of music.

Natural
A symbol in sheet music that returns a note to its original pitch after it has been augmented or diminished.

Neoclassical
Movement in music where the characteristics are crisp and direct.

Nocturne
A musical composition that has a romantic or dreamy character with nocturnal associations.

Nonet
A composition written for nine instruments.

Notation
First developed in the 8th century, methods of writing music.

Obbligato
An extended solo, often accompanying the vocal part of an aria.

Octave
Eight full tones above the key note where the scale begins and ends.

Octet
A composition written for eight instruments.

Opera
A drama where the words are sung instead of spoken.

Operetta
A short light musical drama.

Opus
Convenient method of numbering a composer

Oratorio
An extended cantata on a sacred subject.

Orchestra
A large group of instrumentalists playing together.

Orchestration
Arranging a piece of music for an orchestra. Also, the study of music.

Ornaments
Tones used to embellish the principal melodic tone.

Ostinato
A repeated phrase.

Overture
Introduction to an opera or other large musical work.

Parody
A composition based on previous work. A common technique used in Medieval and Renaissance music.

Part
A line in a contrapuntal work performed by an individual voice or instrument.

Partial
A harmonic given off by a note when it is played.

Partita
Suite of Baroque dances.

Pastoral
A composition whose style is simple and idyllic; suggestive of rural scenes.

Pentatonic Scale
A musical scale having five notes. For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.

Phrase
A single line of music played or sung. A musical sentence.

Piano
An instruction in sheet music to play softly. Abbreviated by a

Pitch
The frequency of a note determining how high or low it sounds.

Pizzicato
String instruments that are picked instead of bowed.

Polyphony
Combining a number of individual but harmonizing melodies. Also known as counterpoint.

Polytonality
Combination of two or more keys being played at the same time.

Portamento
A mild glissando between two notes for an expressive effect.

Prelude
A short piece originally preceded by a more substantial work, also an orchestral introduction to opera, however not lengthy enough to be considered an overture.

Presto
A direction in sheet music indicating the tempo is to be very fast.

Progression
The movement of chords in succession.

Quadrille
A 19th century square dance written for 4 couples.

Quartet
A set of four musicians who perform a composition written for four parts.

Quintet
A set of five musicians who perform a composition written for five parts.

Recapitulation
A reprise.

Recital
A solo concert with or without accompaniment.

Recitative
A form of writing for vocals that is close to the manner of speech and is rhythmically free.

Reed
The piece of cane in wind instruments. The players cause vibrations by blowing through it in order to produce sound.

Refrain
A repeating phrase that is played at the end of each verse in the song.

Register
A portion of the range of the instrument or voice.

Relative major and minor
The major and minor keys that share the same notes in that key. For example: A minor shares the same note as C major.

Relative pitch
Ability to determine the pitch of a note as it relates to the notes that precede and follow it.

Renaissance
A period in history dating from the 14th to 16th centuries. This period signified the rebirth of music, art, and literature.

Reprise
To repeat a previous part of a composition generally after other music has been played.

Requiem
A dirge, hymn, or musical service for the repose of the dead.

Resonance
When several strings are tuned to harmonically related pitches, all strings vibrate when only one of the strings is struck.

Rhythm
The element of music pertaining to time, played as a grouping of notes into accented and unaccented beats.

Ricercar
Elaborate polyphonic composition of the Boroque and Renaissance periods.

Rigaudon
A quick 20th century dance written in double time.

Rococo
A musical style characterized as excessive, ornamental, and trivial.

Romantic
A period in history during the 18th and early 19th centuries where the focus shifted from the neoclassical style to an emotional, expressive, and imaginative style.

Rondo
A musical form where the principal theme is repeated several times. The rondo was often used for the final movements of classical sonata form works.

Root
The principal note of a triad.

Round
A canon where the melody is sung in two or more voices. After the first voice begins, the next voice starts singing after a couple of measures are played in the preceding voice. All parts repeat continuously.

Rubato
An important characteristic of the Romantic period. It is a style where the strict tempo is temporarily abandoned for a more emotional tone.

Scale
Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending.

Scherzo
Pertaining to the sonata form, a fast movement in triple time.

Scordatura
The retuning of a stringed instrument in order to play notes below the ordinary range of the instrument or to produce an usual tone color.

Septet
A set of seven musicians who perform a composition written for seven parts.

Sequence
A successive transposition and repetition of a phrase at different pitches.

Serenade
A lighthearted piece, written in several movements, usually as background music for a social function.

Sextet
A set of six musicians who perform a composition written for six parts.

Sharp
A symbol indicating the note is to be raised by one semitone.

Slide
A glissando or portamento. Also refers to the moving part of a trombone.

Slur
A curve over notes to indicate that a phrase is to be played legato.

Sonata
Music of a particular form consisting of four movements. Each of the movements differ in tempo, rhythm, and melody; but are held together by subject and style.

Sonata form
A complex piece of music. Usually the first movement of the piece serving as the exposition, a development, or recapitulation.

Sonatina
A short or brief sonata.

Song cycle
A sequence of songs, perhaps on a single theme, or with texts by one poet, or having continuos narrative.

Soprano
The highest female voice.

Staccato
Short detached notes, as opposed to legato.

Staff
Made up of five horizontal parallel lines and the spaces between them on which musical notation is written.

Stretto
Pertaining to the fugue, the overlapping of the same theme or motif by two or more voices a few beats apart.

String Quartet
A group of 4 instruments, two violins, a viola, and cello.

Suite
A loose collection of instrumental compositions.

Symphony
Three to four movement orchestral piece, generally in sonata form.

System
A combination of two or more staves on which all the notes are vertically aligned and performed simultaneously in differing registers and instruments.

Tablature
A system of notation for stringed instruments. The notes are indicated by the finger positions.

Temperament
Refers to the tuning of an instrument.

Tempo
Indicating speed.

Tessitura
The range of an instrumental or a vocal part.

Theme
A melodic or, sometimes a harmonic idea presented in a musical form.

Timbre
Tone color, quality of sound that distinguishes one verse or instrument to another. It is determined by the harmonies of sound.

Time Signature
A numeric symbol in sheet music determining the number of beats to a measure.

Tonal
Pertains to tone or tones.

Tonality
The tonal characteristics determined by the relationship of the notes to the tone.

Tone
The intonation, pitch, and modulation of a composition expressing the meaning, feeling, or attitude of the music.

Tone less
Unmusical, without tone.

Tonic
The first tone of a scale also known as a keynote.

Treble
The playing or singing the upper half of the vocal range. Also the highest voice in choral singing.

Tremolo
Quick repetition of the same note or the rapid alternation between two notes.

Triad
Three note chords consisting of a root, third, and fifth.

Trill
Rapid alternation between notes that are a half tone or whole tone apart.