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The highness or lowness of sound. |
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| A horizontal succession of pitches. |
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| Is a tuned and distinct sound, such as the singing voice. |
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| Is an untuned sound, such as the speaking voice. |
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| A series of notes moving up or down to the next note in the key without skipping a note in between. (An interval of a 2nd a tone or semitone) |
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| Notes moving a large interval in the music. (An interval of a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th,8th, 9th, 10th etc). |
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| Is the shape of the melody in a piece of music. It can be ascending or descending in pitch. If you look at a musical score and draw a line through the centre of each note in a melody, you can see a shape. |
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| A series of notes moving upward: an ascending minor scale. |
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| A series of notes moving downward: a descending minor scale. |
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| Is the distance between any two notes. |
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| The eighth tone above a given pitch |
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| The first note of a key. Also, the first name of a chord built on the first degree of the scale, indicated by I in a major key or i in a minor key. |
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| The fourth degree of the major or minor scale. Also, the name of the triad built on the fourth degree of the scale, indicated by IV in a major key and by iv in a minor key. |
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| The fifth degree of the major or minor scale. Also, the term for the triad built on the fifth degree, labelled V in harmonic analysis. |
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| Is a harmonic feature of a melody heard at the same time as the main melody. |
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| Is the ‘height’ of the sound, as in high, middle or low register. |
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| Refers to the extent of the notes used in a melody. If a piece of music uses only a few notes a limited distance apart, the range is analysed as narrow. A wide range uses a wide span of notes, such as a melody consisting of notes more than an octave apart. |
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| Is the decoration of a melody with special features to add interest, such as a trill, mordent or glissando. |
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| A musical ornament performed by the rapid alternation of a given note with a major or minor second above. |
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| An ornament consisting of an alteration (once or twice) of the written note by playing the one immediately below it (lower mordent), or above it (upper, or inverted, mordent) and then playing the note again. |
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| Four notes which turn round the main note with the note above, the main note, the note below, and the main note again. An inverted turn starts with the note below reversing the process. |
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| A ‘leaning’ note; a note that leans into the following note, changing the note value. |
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| A ‘crushed’ note; a note played at the same time as, and crushed into, the following note, where the value does not change. |
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| A slide from one note to another. |
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| Is a repeated melodic pattern. |
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| Is a repeated melodic or chordal pattern heard throughout the melody, most commonly in jazz or rock music. |
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| Is a melodic fragment heard throughout a piece of music that helps to unify the piece. |
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| Is a section of a melody that is shorter than a phrase. It does not have significant musical value on its own. It can be a slur over it too, as in this example. “fragment” is a useful word to remember so you can use it when talking about a small “bit” of a phrase. |
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| Is the immediate repetition of a melodic fragment at a different pitch. |
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| The main melody is likely to be repeated more than once in a composition so that it creates a memorable impact. The main melody can be repeated, as can individual notes, or sections of the melody. |
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| Refers to the singing of several notes to one syllable of text. |
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| A pattern that is restated by the same or a different instrument as a unifying feature. |
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| A musical ‘sentence’ within a piece of music containing part or of a melody. |
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| Question and Answer Phrasing |
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| Similar in form to a simple ‘conversation’, a phrase is played or sung and a response by an instrument or vocalist follows. |
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| The strictest form of imitation, in which two or more parts have the same melody but start at different points. |
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| Harmony is two or more pitches sounding together. |
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| Supports the melody line. |
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| Consonant sound is harmonious sound that is easy on the western ear. |
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| Dissonant sound is created by a clash of discordant notes and is less pleasing to the western ear. |
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| Is a scale that consists of all 12 semitones. |
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| Refers to the major and minor scales used in western music. |
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| Is the main key quality of the music. Tonality is the pitch arrangement chosen by the composer, usually based on a scale or mode. |
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| Has a maj 3rd and a maj 6th. |
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| Has a min 3rd and a min 6th. |
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| Scales on which modal tonality, the earliest documented scale system. |
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| A scale in which notes a separated by whole steps of equal intervals. |
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| Is often heard in the genre of jazz music; the most common formula in the scale degree numbers is I, 3flat, 4, 5flat, 5natural, 7flat, and 8. |
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| A device employed by composers that aims at a total alienation from any set scale or key centre. The result aurally is one of distortion and disorientation. |
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| Is the change of key in music. |
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| A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The perfect cadence moves from chord V to chord I, like a full stop (finished). |
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| A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The plagal cadence moves from chord IV to chord I, like a full stop (finished). |
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| A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The imperfect cadence moves from chord I or ii or IV or vi to chord V, like a comma (unfinished). |
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| A two chord movement that acts as punctuation in a musical phrase/section. The interrupted cadence moves from chord V to chord VI, like a comma (unfinished). |
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| A term used to describe the pitches of a chord as they are sung or played one after the other, rather than simultaneously. |
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| Harmonising the melodic line. |
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| An oscillating pattern based on notes of a chord. |
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| A bass line that moves steadily in a rhythm contrasting to that of the upper parts; in jazz, a walking bass usually moves by steps played on bass or piano, with each note usually having the duration of a quarter notes. |
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| A combination of three or more tones sounded simultaneously. |
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| Is a chord with a simple structure of three notes. |
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| The simultaneous sounding of two or more adjacent tones. |
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| One or more notes held throughout a piece or section of music. |
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| A held or repeated note, usually in the bass. |
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| A pedal point which sounds in an upper part instead of in the bass. |
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| A note in one chord is held on into the next chord, to which it does not belong. |
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| A series of related chords built on the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of a major or minor scale. Listen to a song using chords I (1), IV (4) and V (5). |
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| In some pieces, the chord changes quickly on every crotchet beat (for example, a Bach chorale) so we can say it has a fast rate of harmonic change. In other pieces, the same chord is used for a whole page of music, so we can say it has a slow rate of harmonic change. |
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