| Acoustics | science of sound
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| Age of Humanism | period characterized by a new optimism that began in fourteenth-century Italy and spread throughout western Europe during the Renaissance
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| Atonality | avoidance of a tonic note and of tonal relationships in music
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| Baroque | term, originally meaning irregular, applied to the dramatic, emotional style of seventeenth and early eighteenth century art
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| Canon | polyphonic composition in which all the voices perform the same melody beginning at different times
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| Cantata | multimovement dramatic vocal work on a religious or secular subject, performed in concert style; shorter than an oratorio
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| Chicago jazz (Dixieland) | imitation by white musicians of the New Orleans style of jazz
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| Counter Reformation | Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation; it proposed certain reforms including some related to church music
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| Dies Irae | Gregorian chant for the dead
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| Enlightenment | 18th century movement led by French intellectuals who advocated reason as the universal source of knowledge and truth
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| Ethnomusicology | study of the music of specific cultures
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| Ethos | moral and ethical qualities of music
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| Experimentalism | exploration of previously unknown aspects of musical sound
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| Expressionism | highly emotional style in art that sought to express disturbed states of mind
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| First New England School | largely self-taught singing school masters who composed original songs in the late 18th century
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| Fortepiano | early piano named for its range of dynamic levels; it was smaller and less sonorous than the modern instrument
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| Gamelan | Indonesian percussion ensemble
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| Golden Age of Polyphony | term for the Renaissance when polyphonic texture was prevalent and particularly beautiful
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| Impressionalism | style of painting and music that avoids explicit statement instead emphasizing suggestion and atmosphere
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| Improvisation | process of simultaneously composing and performing music
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| Leitmotif | recurring melodic fragment or chord bearing dramatic or emotional significance introduced by Wagner in his music dramas
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| Les Six | 6 French composers of the 1920s whose music reflected the strong influence of popular styles
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| Lieder | German art songs
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| Liturgy | words of the Mass
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| MIDI | system allowing composers to manage quantities of complex information, and making it possible for unrelated electronic devices to communicate with each other
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| Mass | Roman Catholic worship service
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| Medieval modes | seven-note scales modeled on but differing somewhat from those of the Greeks
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| Medieval period or Middle Ages | period from about 500 to 1450 C.E.
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| Minimalism | style of music based on many repetitions of simple melodic and rhythmic patterns
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| Minnesinger | noble poet-musicians of Medieval Germany
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| Modes | seven-note scales within the range of an octave
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| Music | in Ancient Greece, "the art of the Muses" blending poetry, drama, and the visual arts with what we consider to be musical sounds
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| Musicology | scientific study of music
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| Neoclassicism | 20th century version of classicism in music
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| Neoromanticism | 20th century version of a romantic approach to music
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| Netherlands, Flanders | area of northern Europe where the musical Renaissance began
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| New Orleans jazz | music performed by a small combo whose soloists take turns improvising on a given tune
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| Operetta | comic or romantic form of music theater sometimes called light opera. It includes some spoken dialogue
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| Ostinato | persistently repeated melodic or rhythmic pattern
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| Passion | oratorio based on the events leading to the crucifixion of Christ
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| Pitch | highness or lowness of a sound
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| Pizzicato | technique of plucking string instruments
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| Primitivism | style inspired by primitive works of art and by the relaxed life of unsophisticated cultures
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| Protestant Reformation | Protestant movement, led by Martin Luther, against certain tenets of the Catholic church
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| Renaissance motet | religious composition that is through-composed polyphonic in texture sung in Latin and invariably serene and worshipful
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| Renaissance | "Rebirth" period of renewed interest in the classical arts of ancient Greece and Rome. The Renaissance began in the early fifteenth century and dominated the style of Western music from 1450 to 1600
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| Requiem | mass for the dead
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| Rococo | elegant, sometimes frivolous, style of art introduced during the French regency and prevalent in France during the second quarter of the 18th century
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| Second New England School | group of late-19th century New England composers who studied in Germany and contributed to every genre of art music
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| Sprechstimme | "speech voice" style of melodramatic declamation between speaking and singing
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| Symbolism | literary movement sharing the ideals of the Impressionists
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| The Five | 19th century Russian composers associated with nationalism
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| Viennese style | term sometimes applied to the Classical style to avoid the ambiguity of "classical"
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| a cappella | unaccompanied group singing
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| absolute music | instrumental music based on abstract principles of music theory and form
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| accent | strong sound. Accents may be achieved by stress, duration, or position of a tone
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| alto (contralto) | low female voice
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| aria | songlike vocal piece, musically expressive, with orchestral accompaniment; generally homophonic in texture
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| ars antiqua | musical style of the thirteenth century
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| ars nova | prevalent musical style of the fourteenth century
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| art song | concert setting of a poem, usually by a well-known poet, to music
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| backbeat | heavy accent on the normally weak second and fourth beats in quadruple meter
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| ballad opera | English dramatic form in which humorous and satirical texts were set to popular tunes
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| ballad | folk song, strophic in form that tells a story
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| band | instrumental ensemble consisting of woodwind, brass, and percussion
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| baritone | medium-range male voice
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| bass | low male voice
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| beat | basic rhythmic pulse of music
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| bebop | complex, highly improvised style of jazz
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| bel canto | "beautiful singing" 18th century Italian singing style that emphasized the beauty and virtuosity of the voice
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| big band jazz | another name for swing
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| blue notes | flexible tones chosen subjectively from between the half steps of tonal scales
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| blues | vocal style that originated as a kind of African American folk song and became a form of jazz. The classical form is strophic with three lines in each verse
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| boogie-woogie | piano style derived from the formal and harmonic structure of the blues, but bright in mood and fast in tempo
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| brass | wind instruments that include the trumpet, trombone, French horn, and tuba
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| cadence | stopping point
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| cadenza | extended passage for solo instrument; typical feature of a solo concerto
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| call-and-response | solo voice alternating with a chorus
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| castrato | male singer, castrated to preserve the unchanged soprano or alto voice
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| chamber music | music for a small instrumental ensemble with one instrument per line of music
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| character piece | relatively short piano piece in a characteristic style or mood
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| character piece: ballades | songlike character pieces
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| character piece: etudes | studies or "exercises" based on specific pianistic techniques
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| character piece: impromptus | character pieces of an improvisatory character
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| character piece: nocturnes | piece expressing the "character" of night
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| chorale prelude | prelude based on a Lutheran chorale tune
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| chorale | characteristic hymn introduced by Martin Luther
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| chord | meaningful combination of three or more tones
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| chorus, choir | usually a vocal ensemble of mixed voices, sometimes an instrumental ensemble as a brass choir
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| classical style | restrained, objective style of art. Spelled with a capital letter, Classical refers to Western music characteristic of the period from about 1750 to 1825
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| clavichord | keyboard instrument capable of subtle changes of volume and a slight vibrato
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| clef | sign that fixes the tone represented by each line and space on the staff
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| coda | literally "tail" a closing section
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| combo | small jazz ensemble
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| comic opera | operas light in mood, modest in performing requirements, written in the vernacular language of the intended audience
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| comic opera: Singspiel | German comic opera containing folklike songs
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| comic opera: opera buffa | Italian comic opera
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| comic opera: opera comique | (1)French comic opera of a satirical or romantic (2)In the 19th century, French works shorter more modest and more realistic than grand operas but not necessarily humorous
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| concept musical | musical show presenting ideas subject ot the audience's interpretation and leaving situations unresolved
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| concert overture | one-movement orchestral composition often inspired by literature and dramatic in expression, yet generally subject to analysis according to classical principles of form
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| concert | any music performance, but usually one by an orchestra, band, or choral ensemble
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| concertmaster | conductor's assistant, who is also the orchestra's first, or principal, violinist
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| concerto grosso | multimovement composition for orchestra and a small group of solo instruments
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| concerto | multimovement work for orchestra and an instrumental soloist
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| concrete music (musique concrete) | music consisting of recorded and electronically altered sounds
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| consonance | passive sound that seems to be at rest
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| consort | ensemble of several members of the same instrument family
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| continuo | group of instruments, including a lute or keyboard instrument and one or more sustaining bass instruments, that accompanied Baroque ensemble compositions
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| contrapuntal | polyphonic
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| cool jazz | mild style performed by bands of a moderate size, often including instruments not traditionally associated with jazz
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| country-western | American vernacular music rooted in the South glorifying the guitar and featuring frank lyrics delivered in an earthy style in southern or country dialect
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| cover | rerecording for commercial purposes such as a recording by white musicians of a rhythm and blues hit
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| crescendo | becoming louder
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| cyclic form | multimovement form unified by recurrence of the same or similar melodic material in two or more movements
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| da capo aria | "from the beginning," an a da capo aria has an ABA design
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| dance | movement organized and accompanied by music
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| decrescendo/diminuendo | becoming softer
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| dissonance | active unsettled sound
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| dominant (V) | fifth note of the major or minor scale
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| downbeat | first beat of a measure
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| duple, triple, quadruple meters | two, three, and four beats per measure
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| dynamic level | level of volume
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| electronic synthesizer | highly versatile electronic sound generator capable of producing and altering an infinite variety of sounds
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| elements of music | basic materials of which music is composed: rhythm, melody, harmony, and timbre
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| ensemble finale | final scene of a musical show or of an act within the show in which several soloists simultaneously express in different words and music their individual points of view
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| expressive style | emotional style of music inspired by the German middle class of the second quarter of 18th century
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| figured bass | system of musical shorthand by which composers indicated intervals above the bass line with numbers (figures) rather than with notated pitches
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| first practice or stile antico | polyphonic conservative style of the late Renaissance
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| flat | sign indicating that a tone is to be performed one-half step lower than notated
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| folk music | usually music of unknown origin, transmitted orally and enjoyed by the general population. Today the term is applied to some popular music that has the style or flavor of folk art
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| form | organization and design of a composition or of one movement within a composition
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| forte | loud
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| free jazz | style in which musicians improvise independently, sometimes producing a random effect
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| frequency | rate of a sound wave's vibration
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| fugue | imitative polyphonic composition
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| glass harmonica | musical instrument invented by Ben Franklin
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| glissando | expressive slide between pitches
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| grand opera | 19th century French serious opera style which emphasized spectacular visual effects. Ballets and stirring choruses were important components of grand opera
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| half step, whole step | smallest interval on a keyboard, and an interval equal to two half steps
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| harmony | simultaneous sounding of two or more different tones conceived as a unit
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| hip-hop | music behind rapped lyrics
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| homophonic texture (homophony) | melodic line accompanied by chordal harmony
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| hymn | religious song with nonliturgical text appropriate for congregational singing
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| idee fixe | the term Berlioz used for the melody representing the loved one in his Symphonie fantastique
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| imitative polyphony | technique in which each phrase of a composition is addressed by all the voices which enter successively in imitation of each other
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| interval | distance between two pitches
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| jazz | popular music rooted in Africa that developed in early-20th century America
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| jazz-rock/fusion | combination of jazz and rock
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| key | tonic note, and the major or minor scale, on which a composition is based
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| keyboard instruments | instruments on which sound is produced by pressing keys on a keyboard
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| legato | smooth, uninterrupted
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| libretto | text of a dramatic vocal work
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| linear polyphony | polyphonic music conceived without an intention that the combined melody lines should form chordal or harmonic combinations
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| lute | plucked string instrument; the instrument most widely used in the 16th century
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| lyrical melody | relatively long, songlike melody
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| madrigal | secular song introduced in Italy that became popular in England as well. Polyphonic in texture and expressive in mood, madrigals are written in the vernacular
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| mainstream | main body of work of a given period
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| mazurka, polonaise | stylized dance piece for piano based on a Polish dance
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| measure (bar) | unit containing a number of beats
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| melody | meaningful succession of pitches
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| metered music | organization of rhythm into patterns of strong and weak beats
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| mezzo-soprano | medium-range female voice
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| minstrel show | variety show, popular in the mid*and late 19th century that included songs, dances, and comic repartee performed by white men who blackened their skin to resemble stereotypical African American figures
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| minstrel | traveling or resident entertainer and music performer
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| minuet and trio | ABA. Often the third movement of a symphony, sonata, or string quartet. Consists of two minuets, the second (trio) lighter and more lyrical than the first
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| modern dance | contemporary dance form usually performed barefoot with steps, gestures, and costumes freely designed for each work
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| monophonic texture (monophony) | one unaccompanied melodic line
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| motet | polyphonic vocal form, usually consisting of two melodic lines, each with its own text above a plainchant melody
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| motive | short melodic phrase that may be effectively developed
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| motive, motivic melody | short melodic phrase that may be effectively developed
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| movement | section of a complete work that has its own formal design and a degree of independence but is conceived as a part of the whole; usually separated from other movements by a pause
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| music (musical) theater | staged drama including instrumental and vocal music and sometimes dance
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| music drama | Wagner's concept of music theater in which the drama and the music were theoretically of equal interest
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| musical comedy | musical show combining the entertainment of vaudeville with the integrated plot characteristic of operettas
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| nationalism | late 19th century movement in which artists of many nationalities turned from the dominant German influence in the arts to the cultural characteristics of their own and other countries
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| octave displacement | melodic concept involving the selection of pitches from various sometimes distant octaves
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| octave | interval of an eighth, as from C to C
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| opera | dramatic vocal form blending visual, literary, and musical arts in which all dialogue is sung
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| opus | "work." An opus number indicates the chronological order in which a piece was composed or published
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| oratorio | multimovement dramatic vocal work on a religious subject, performed in concert style
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| orchestra | mixed ensemble of string and wind instruments
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| orchestral suite | several sections of varying character drawn from a larger work, such as a ballet
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| organum | earliest form of polyphony
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| overture | introductory orchestral piece
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| pants or trousers role | male role written for a female singer
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| patter songs | setting of humorous words sung very rapidly with comic effect
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| percussion | all instruments that may be played by shaking, rubbing, or striking the instrument itself. These include the timpani, other drums, chimes, tambourine, triangle, cymbals, and various mallet instruments, such as the xylophone
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| phrase | section of a melody, comparable to a section or phrase of a sentence
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| piano | keyboard instrument, also soft in dynamic level
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| pizzicato | technique of plucking string instruments
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| plainsong, plainchant, chant, Gregorian chant | music to which portions of the Catholic service are sung. The texture is monophonic, the timbre that of unaccompanied voices
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| polyphonic texture (polyphony) | combination of two or more simultaneous melodic lines
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| polyrhythm | two or more rhythmic patterns performed simultaneously
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| polytonality | two or more keys at the same time
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| post-Romanticism | general term for several romantic styles that succeeded the dominance of German Romanticism and preceded the return of classicism to the arts
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| prelude | short independent or introductory piece for keyboard
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| prepared piano | piano whose timbre and pitches have been altered by the application of foreign materials on or between the strings
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| program music | instrumental music that purports to tell a story or describe a scene, idea, or event
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| program symphony | multimovement orchestral work whose form is based on programmatic concepts
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| psalm tune | tuneful settings of the 150 psalms in versions suitable for congregational singing
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| quarter tone | interval halfway between half steps
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| ragtime, rag | popular piano style in which a syncopated melody in the right hand is accompanied by a regular duple pattern in the bass
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| rap | rapid spoken patter accompanied by hip-hop music
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| recital | performance by a soloist or small ensemble
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| recitative | speechlike setting of a text, with homophonic accompaniment by a keyboard (dry recitative) or an orchestra (accompanied recitative)
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| recorder | end-blown wind instrument, sometimes called a whistle flute, developed in the Middle Ages and very popular in the Renaissance. The tone is soft and slightly reedy
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| refrain | section of melody and text that recurs at the end of each verse of a strophic song
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| rest | sign that indicates silence, or the cessation of musical sound
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| rhythm | arrangement of time in music
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| rhythm-and-blues | broadly, black popular music of the 1950s. Specifically, a black popular style in quadruple meter with strong backbeats and a danceable tempo
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| rock 'n' roll | popular style developed in the early 1950s from a combination of country-western and rhythm and blues
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| romantic style | Emotional, subjective style of art; Romanticism refers to the style of Western art prevalent in the 19th century.
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| rondo | ABACA. Form in which various episodes alternate with the opening material. The tempo is usually fast and the mood merry
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| round | melody that may be performed by two or more voices entering at different times, producing meaningful harmony
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| row | series of tones on which a serial composition is based
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| rubato | Romantic technique of "robbing" from the tempo at some points and "paying back"at others
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| sample | a recorded sound stored digitally and thus subject to manipulations indeterminate, aleatoric, random, or chance music
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| scales: chromatic | twelve consecutive half steps within the range of an octave
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| scales: major | ascending pattern of steps as follows: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, whole, half
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| scales: minor | ascending pattern of steps as follows: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole
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| scales: pentatonic | five-note scale
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| scales: whole-tone | six consecutive whole steps within a range of an octave
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| scherzo and trio | "Joke" a movement, often the third, of a multimovement piece. The mood is lighthearted, the form is ABA with a trio inserted between the scherzo and its repeat
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| score | notated parts for all the voices or instruments of a music composition
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| second practice or stile moderno | homophonic expressive style introduced by Monteverdi
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| sequence | melodic phrase repeated at different levels of pitch
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| sharp | sign indicating that a tone is to be performed one-half step higher than notated
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| singing school movement | late 18th century effort to teach Americans to sing and to read music. The mogvement inspired the composition of America's first indigenous music
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| sonata | (1) in the 15th and 16th centuries, an instrumental composition to be sounded on instruments rather than sung, (2) in the Baroque, a multimovement composition for one or two solo instruments accompanied by continuo, (3) after the Baroque, a multimovement composition for one or two solo instruments
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| sonata-allegro | "first movement form"
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| sonata-allegro: development | second section of the sonata-allegro; it moves through many keys
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| sonata-allegro: exposition | first section of a fugue or of a sonata-allegro
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| sonata-allegro: recapitulation | third section of the sonata-allegro. Reviews material of the exposition presenting it in a new light
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| sonata-rondo | combined form, with the key relationships of the sonata-allegro and the alternating themes of a rondo
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| sonata: trio | Baroque sonata for two solo instruments and continuo
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| song cycle | set of songs by one composer, often using texts by the same poet
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| soprano | high female singing voice
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| spiritual | folklike religious song, with a simple tune, developed by African Americans
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| staff | five lines and four spaces on which music is notated
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| stops | levers, handles, or buttons that allow an organist to change timbres at will
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| strain | melodic section of a march or tag
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| string instruments | instruments that may be bowed, strummed, struck, or plucked. Orchestral string instruments include the violin, viola, cello, string bass and harp
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| string quartet | chamber ensemble consisting of two violins, a viola, and a cello
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| strophic form refrain | the most popular song form, which has two or more verses set to the same music
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| subdominant (IV) | fourth note of the major or minor scale
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| suite | collection of stylized dance pieces for keyboard; or an orchestral piece sonsisting of selections from a dramatic work or dance
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| sweet jazz | highly arranged style with little room for improvisation
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| swing | highly improvisatory style of big band music
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| symphonic jazz | concert music with the sounds of jazz but no improvisation
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| symphonic poem or tone poem | one-movement orchestral piece whose form is based on programmatic principles
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| symphony orchestra | instrumental ensemble consisting of members of the four families of instruments dominated by strings
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| symphony | multimovement orchestral form
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| syncopation | occurrence of accents in unexpected places
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| tempo | rate of speed at which a musical piece is performed
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| tenor | high male voice
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| terraced dynamics | abrupt changes of dynamic level
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| texture | manner in which melodic lines are used in music
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| thematic transformation | variation of thematic or melodic material for programmatic purposes
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| theme | melody that recurs throughout a section, movement or an entire composition
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| third stream | combination of jazz and concert music
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| through-composed | containing new music throughout
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| timbre | characteristic quality of the sound of a voice or instrument
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| toccata | rhapsodic virtuosic keyboard piece
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| tonal system | system of harmony based on the major and minor scales that has dominated Western music since the seventeenth century
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| tone cluster | chord built on seconds
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| tone | sound with specific pitch, produced by a constant rate of vibration of the sound-producing medium
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| tonic | first and most important note of the major or minor scale, to which all other notes in the scale are a subordinate. The tonic is represented by the Roman numeral I
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| total serialism | extension of the twelve-tone technique in which other aspects besides melody and hrmony are also arranged into series and systematically repeated throughout a composition
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| transcription | arrangement of a piece so that it may be played by a different instrument or ensemble from that for which it was written
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| triad | chord with three tones consisting of two superimposed thirds
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| troubadours, trouvères | noble French poets and composers of art songs
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| tune | melody that is easy to recognize, memorize, and sing
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| twelve-tone technique | arrangement of the twelve chromatic pitches into a row that provides the melodic and harmonic basis for a music composition
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| unison | production of music by several voices or instruments at the same pitch, performed at the same octave or at different octaves
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| upbeat | last beat of a measure
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| vaudeville | variety show popular in the late 19th century including jokes, stunts, and skits, as well as song and dance
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| verismo | realism in opera
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| vibrato | rapid variation of pitch that lends "warmth" to the tone of a voice or instrument
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| viol | most popular bowed string instrument of the Renaissance
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| white noise | sounds including the entire spectrum of tones as white includes the entire spectrum of colors
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| woodwinds | wind instruments that include the piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone
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| word painting | musical illustrations of verbal concepts
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education