ABA Form: See Ternary form.
ABBA: Extension of the above.
Accompaniment: The backing parts to a melody.
Bar: Vertical lines which divide written music into sections.
Beat: The underlying 'throb' of music that you would normally clap to.
Binary Form: A piece of music with two contrasting sections, one following the other.
Body sounds: Any sounds that can be made up using hands, feet, mouth, voice. e.g. clap, click, stamp, shout etc.
Call and Response: Echoing e.g. teacher sings a line, children respond by copying or with another predetermined answer.
Canon: A piece where the same melody is used by everybody but each group starts at a different time and the parts overlap each other. eg.Frere Jacques, London's Burning
Chant: Singing a short repetitive phrase.
Chord: Any two or more notes sounding together.
Crescendo: Gradually increasing in volume.
Cyclic patterns: Similar to ostinato. A repeated pattern of
sounds which can be a melody or an acompaniment.
Diminuendo: Gradually decreasing in volume.
Dynamics: Soft and loud - light rain to heavy, breeze to a gale. Quiet birdsong, loud thunder.
Duration: Long and short. Long - thunder rumbling. Short - rain.
Found
Sounds: Sounds made
by using objects around the immediate area e.g.banging ruler on table.
Form: See structure.
Forte (f): Loud (Italian).
Gamelan: An Indonesian bell and gong orchestra.
Graphic Score: A non-standard way of notating music which uses signs or symbols instead of the traditional staff notation system.
Harmony:
Playing or singing different notes or melodies together - at the same time.
Home note: The note where a melody sounds started and finished.
Improvise: 'Making up' music as you go along.
Internalising: Remembering music - hearing music in the mind.
Melody: The tune. A series of notes that is often singable.
Mezzoforte (mf): Moderately loud (Italian).
MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface: A language that
computers and music keyboards use to pass each other information.
Minuet: A piece of dance music in three time.
Offbeats: Traditionally the weaker beats in a bar. In a bar of 4 beats these would be numbers 2 & 4.Ostinato (ostinati pl.): A repetitive phrase that can be used as an accompaniment.
Pentatonic Scale: A five-note scale. If melodies are constructed from a pentatonic scale they can be played simultaneously. For example, the notes C D E G A form a pentatonic scale as do the notes F G A C D and G A B D E.
Piano (p): Quiet (Italian).
Percussion: Instruments that are 'hit' to create a sound.
Pitch: Highness or lowness of notes eg a high pitched squeal or
a low pitched rumble. A whistle or piccolo plays at a high pitch while a double bass,
bassoon or tuba plays low pitched notes.
Pulse: See Beat.
Rhythm: A musical pattern of sounds.
Riff: A catchy pattern of notes.
Rondo: A piece of music which keeps returning to the first idea (A). It may be like a double-decker sandwich (ABACA) or longer e.g. ABACABA.
Staff: The
horizontal lines on which notes are placed. Stave: See staff. Syncopated: Having the strong sounds in an unusual place. Ternary form: A piece of of music with two contrasting sections, a musical sandwich. Section A then Section B then Section A again. Texture: How the sounds fit and mix together. Theme: The main idea of a piece of music. Timbre:Sounds of the instruments or voices. Mood of music - changes from
happy/light to loud/angry. Unison: Everyone singing the same tune
together. (No vocal harmony). Untuned Percussion: An untuned instrument eg clave (two
sticks of hardwood that are tapped to produce a pleasant clicking sound).