| Term | Definition |
|---|
| sound | noise, what we hear |
| amplitude | how loud or soft something is; measured in decibles |
| pitch | highness or lowness of a sound |
| hertz | measures frequency |
| note | symbol used to describe musical sound |
| decibel | measures volume |
| duration | length |
| volume | amplitude; its loudness |
| frequency | number of vibrations per second |
| noise | sounds without a distinct pitch |
| acoustic music | does not involve electricity |
| melody | single line of notes; what you walk away singing |
| contour | shape of a melody-the shape the notes make once connected |
| range | space between the highest and lowest notes |
| interval | relationship from one note to another |
| rhythm | what moves music forward in time |
| meter | marked off in measures, organizes the beats in music |
| harmony | the simultaneous events in music |
| tonic | central tone around which a melody and its harmonies are built |
| texture | the interweaving of the melodic lines with harmony in music |
| monophony | simple texture; single voiced music without accompaniment |
| polyphony | a many voiced texture |
| imitation | when a melodic idea is presented in one voice, then restated in another-common unifying technique in polyphony |
| gregorian chant | monophonic, non-metric chant of the church made famous by Pope Gregory |
| modes | scales of pitches with a strong pull towards teh tonic note |
| syllabic | 1 pitch to 1 syllable of a word |
| neumatic | 5-6 pitches to each syllable |
| melismatic | many pitches for one syllable |
| mass | church service of the catholic church |
| proper | texts that vary according to the day; holiday music |
| ordinary | texts that remain the same for every mass |
| responsorial | alternating between a soloist and a chorus |
| organum | earliest polyphonic music; grew out of teh custom of adding a second voice to a gregorian melody at the interval of a fifth or fourth |
| rhythmic modes | a fixed pattern of long and short notes that is repeated or varied |
| motet | french for word |
| polytextual | more than one text |
| secular music | not sacred music; about love and life and not strictly God |
| sacred music | music made for the church |
| ars antiqua | old art, being displaced by new art |
| ars nova | new art (France) |
| estampie | sung dance-form common in late France |
| humanism | shift from predominately religious thought to secular thought |
| a cappella music | unaccompained vocal music |
| word painting | music reflectss the meaning of the word |
| cantus firmus | fixed melody which is then ornamented or elaborated to create musical interest |
| homorhythmic | all the voices are moving in the exact same rhythm at the same time |
| vernacular | the everyday language of the county |
| requiem | mass for the dead |
| counter reformation | rebellion against the catholic church; formed protestant church |
| council of trent | group formed to regulate every aspect of religious discipline |
| Middle Ages | 476-1450 |
| Renaissance | 1450-1600 |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace