KEY WORDS

KEY WORDS

1. Rhythm Metre and Tempo

   • Syncopation: playing on the offbeat
   • Trill: rapidly alternating between two notes
   • Pizzicato: when a stringed instrument is plucked (creating a light staccato sound)
   • Pedal: a sustained note. You only need to write about this in Chopin's Prelude No.15
   • Triplet: group of three notes that have the same time value
   • Largo: a very slow tempo
   • Allegro: quick/brisk tempo
   • Staccato: short detached notes
   • Cadence: conclusion of a phrase before the chord of the tonic
     • Perfect cadence: cadence in which the chord of the dominant comes immediately before the chord of the tonic
   • Plagal cadence: a cadence in which the chord of the subdominant comes immediately before the chord of the tonic

2. Tonality

   • Chromatic: Music in which the notes that are used are not in the key of the piece.
   • Dominant: fifth note of a diatonic scale
   • Subdominant: fourth tone of a diatonic scale
   • Tonic: first note of a diatonic scale
   • Atonal: piece of music with no key
   • Dissonance: combination of tones that sound harsh and create tension. An unresolved feeling is created.
   • Disjunct: 2 notes in a piece of music in which the interval between is longer than a second
   • Modulation: when the key or tonality changes to another

3. Structure

   • Mixolydian Mode: a scale that uses the following pattern of notes (T being tones and S being semitones): TTSTTST. You only need to talk about this in All Blues by Miles Davis.
   • ternary form: ABA
   • Binary form: piece of music with two sections that are played twice.

4. Melody

   • Imitation: repetition of a phrase that varies in rhythm, key and voice
   • Melisma: where several notes are sung in one syllable. You'll need to know this for Jeff Buckley's Grace.
   • Acciaccatura: a note that's played as quickly as possible before an essential note of a melody. This falls before the beat

5. Dynamics

   • Ritenuto: music suddenly slowing/being held back
   • Crescendo: gradually getting louder
   • Diminuendo: gradual decrease of volume
   • Virtuosic: music with a high degree of technical difficulty (so showing off)
   • Blue Note: scale in which the 7th note is flattened (usually used in jazz/blues music)

6. Texture

   • Homophonic: piece of music with a single melodic line and accompaniment
   • Polyphonic: (also known as contrapuntal) piece that has two or more independent but harmonic parts playing together