Showing posts with label terms general music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label terms general music. Show all posts

Monday, December 13, 2010

TERMS, PLACES, and FAMOUS PEOPLE INTRODUCED IN GENERAL MUSIC CLASS SEMESTER 1

THIS SECTION IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. I WILL BE ADDING TO THE LIST AS THE SEMESTER CONTINUES.

Accompaniment:
A vocal or instrumental part that supports the primary part, or provides background for a soloist.
Acoustics:

1. The science relating to the creation and dissipation of sound waves. 2. The way in which sound production is affected by the physical properties of the room or chamber in which they are produced.
Act:
The largest division of a play or opera, which can be sub-divided into scenes
Ambidextrous:

Anderson, Leroy:
Apollo:

Articulation:
The way notes are joined to one another when forming a musical line, e.g. staccato, legato, tenuto, glissando, slur, phrase mark, accents, sforzandos, rinforzandos, etc.
Aulos:
Author:
Automatic Reflex:

Battery Percussion:
Bach, C.P.E.:

Bach, J.S.:
Ballet:

Banjo:
Banjar:
Bar Line:
A vertical line (or lines) drawn across a staff (or if there are many lines, across a number of staves) to mark off measures of a particular length, i.e. containing a number of notes and/or rests whose total time value is given by the time signature
Baroque:

The musical era from roughly 1600 to 1750 A.D., characterized by the establishment of major and minor tonality, rather than modes, and the introduction of opera.
Bart, Lionel:
Bass:

Lowest part; often the lowest in a family of instruments, for example, bass saxophone, bass clarinet, bass trombone, etc.

Beam:
Horizontal line linking two or more notes that individually would have had flags
Beat:
The regular pulse of music which may be dictated by the rise or fall of the hand or baton of the conductor, by a metronome, or by the accents in music. Related to the heartbeat; it is the unit of musical rhythm.
Beethoven, Ludwig Van:
Bell Tree:

Long stick with cup shaped-bells, ordered in pitch, suspended from it
Berlin, Irving:
Bernstein, Leonard:
Binary Form:

A two-part song form consisting of an initial section, which is then followed by a contrasting section. (AB)
Body Percussion (BP):
Using the human body to produce percussive sounds. Examples of body percussion are the actions of stomping, patsching, clapping, and snapping.
Bongos:
Smaller and shallower than conga drums, come in pairs: one drum is slightly larger and lower in pitch than the other. The larger drum is about 7" in diameter, and the smaller is about 5". The contrast between the higher and lower pitch gives the bongos their distinctive sound. A bongo player holds the drums between his/her knees and strikes the drums with his or her hands. The bodies of the bongos are made of wood, and a small piece of wood connects the two drums. Bongos were originally created around 1900 in Cuba to be used in dance bands.
Boulanger, Nadia:
Brandenburg:
Bravo:

Brubeck, Dave:
Cabasa:
Cage, John:
(September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) He was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, print maker,[1] and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde.

Canon:
Castanets:
(from the Spanish casstano, meaning 'chestnut') a percussion instrument (idiophone) much used in Moorish music, Gypsy music, Spanish music and Latin American music. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by string. These are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or a ripping or rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of clicks. They are traditionally made of hardwood, although, Bakelite was and fibreglass is now popular. In practice a player usually uses two pairs of castanets. One pair is held in each hand, with the string hooked over the thumb and the castanets resting on the palm with the fingers bent over to support the other side. Each pair will make a sound of a slightly different pitch. The higher pair, known as hembra (female), is usually held in the right hand, with the larger macho (male) pair held in the left
Celesta:

Cello:
Chopin:
French composer (born in Poland) and pianist who wrote music in the romantic style. (1810-1849).
Choreographer:

A person who invents the sequence of steps and movements that make up a ballet or dance, a term that has now replaced 'ballet master', 'dancing master' and le maître à danser
Chromatic:

Motion by half steps; or pitches used outside of the diatonic scale in which they normally occur.
Chromatic Scale:
Includes all twelve notes of an octave.
Classical:
Clapping:

To strike the palms of one's hands together, repeatedly (as in an applause); a body percussive movement
Claves:

(from clavija, literally 'wooden peg') a pair of round sticks, about 7" long, made of hard wood (rosewood is popular), beaten together and used in Cuban music. The larger of the two sticks is called the hembra and the smaller macho. One clave is cupped loosely in the hand and is struck with the other. The clave are used widely in Latin America, and are most popular in Cuba. The usual rhythm played on the claves is called clave
Clavichord:
Clef:
The symbol used at the beginning of a staff to indicate which lines and spaces represent which notes. In modern practice, only three clefs are commonly used, the G clef or treble clef, the F clef or bass clef, and the C clef, when used as an alto clef.In sheet music, a symbol at the beginning of the staff defining the pitch of the notes found in that particular staff.
Coda:
The concluding passage of a movement or composition [Italian, from Latin cauda, tail].

Como, Perry:
Concerto:

A piece for soloist(s) and orchestra.A composition written for a solo instrument. The soloist plays the melody while the orchestra plays the accompaniment.in classical music, the word concerto is a label for a piece in which a small musical group and a large musical group are given distinct roles, with the smaller group to the fore. The most common kind of concerto pairs a solo instrument with a full orchestra. The term also implies the form of a piece as most concerti follow sonata form, typically found with three movements
Conductor:
One who directs a group of performers. The conductor indicates the tempo, phrasing, dynamics, and style by gestures and facial expressions.
Consonance:

Counterpoint:
Cowbell:
A thin walled iron bell mounted on a frame, with its clapper removed, used as an orchestral percussion instrument, often to mimic the dry sound of bells worn by animals; in Latin-America, the cowbell is descended from the guataca, and includes the timbale-mounted bells (mambo, cha-cha, charanga), campana, agogo and comparsa bells. The patterns performed on these bells, when used either alone or simultaneously, make up most of the metallic percussive rhythms of Afro-Cuban popular music
Crumb, George:
Cue:
Indication by the conductor or a spoke word or gesture for a performer to make an entry. Small notes that indicate another performer's part.
Crash Cymbals:

A pair of cymbals held by leather straps and hit together to make a loud, metalic crashing sound
Creative Team:
In a musical the people (director, musical director and/or conductor, choreographer) who oversee and coordinate all the people involved in putting on the production.
Curwin Hand Signs: (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Curwen)
Hand signs used with solfege to show musical pitches.

Daguerreotype Photography:
Dance:

A form of expression using movement
Definite Pitch:

In music, a sound or note of definite pitch is one of which it is possible or relatively easy to discern the pitch or frequency of the fundamental, as opposed to sounds of indefinite pitch.
Delacroix, Eugene:
Delius, Frederick:
Dialogue:

The spoken lines of a in a play, essay, story, or novel, especially a conversation between two characters, or a literary work that takes the form of such a discussion
Diaphragm:

In its relaxed state, the diaphragm is shaped like a dome. It is critically important in respiration: in order to draw air into the lungs, the diaphragm contracts, thus enlarging the thoracic cavity and reducing intra-thoracic pressure (the external intercostals muscles also participate in this enlargement). When the diaphragm relaxes, air is exhaled by elastic recoil of the lung and the tissues lining the thoracic cavity.In heavy breathing additional muscles like, the abdominal muscles are brought into play and they push diaphragm further upwards or downwards to take in or push out a greater volume of air try putting your hand on your stomach and cough. You should feel your stomach muscles tighten when you cough. This is your diaphragm working naturally.
Dickens, Charles:
Dionysus:

Director:
Dissonance:

Divisi:
Double Bar:
A pair of vertical lines at the end of a section of a work
Double Concerto:

A concerto for two solo instruments, and orchestra.
Drum Roll:
Drum Stick:
Duet:

A piece of music written for two vocalists or instrumentalists.
Dulcimer (Appalachian):

Dulcimer (Hammered):
Dynamics:
Pertaining to the loudness or softness of a musical composition. Also the symbols in sheet music indicating volume.
Ear Training:
Echo:
Eighth Note:
Encore:

Enharmonic Equivalent:
Ensemble:

Etude:
Excercise: A short piece written to improve performance technique.A musical composition written solely to improve technique. Often performed for artistic interest.(from the French word étude meaning 'study') is a short musical composition designed to provide practice in a particular technical skill in the performance of a solo instrument
Finger Cymbals:

Zills: Tiny metallic cymbals with a diameter of about 2 inches, they are an early Asian percussion instrument often used by female dancers in belly dancing and similar performances. Zills are commonly placed on the thumb and middle finger of one or both hands and struck together in a specific rhythmic pattern.
Fipple:
Flag:
Flat:

A symbol that lowers a given pitch by one half-step.
Flexatone:

or 'Flex-a-tone', a percussion instrument from the 1920s comprising wooden balls on a spring attached to a flexible metal sheet, which when shaken producing a sound similar to a musical saw as the balls strike the metal sheet. Thumb pressure is used to control pitch, which is distinct but generally in motion (and accompanied by rattling from the balls). The instrument's range is approximately E5 to A6
Flutter Tongue:
A vibration of the tongue, as if rolling the syllable rrrr
Folk Music:
songs and dances transmitted orally through several generations before being recorded or notated. Folk music is somewhat synonymous with traditional music. Both terms are used semi-interchangeably amongst the general population; however, some musical communities that actively play living folkloric musics have adopted the term traditional music as a means of distinguishing their music from the popular music called "folk music", especially the post-1960s "singer-songwriter" genre
Form:
The arrangement of sections in a song to contrast similiar and different sections. Often, letters are used to represent different parts of a given selection: ABA, AABA, ABACA, etc.
Forte:

A symbol indicating to play loud.
France:
Fugue:

G Clef:
A clef that indicates which line represents G on a staff, as opposed to a C clef, or an F clef.
Germany:
Gourd:

Gravity Beat:
Gruel:
Guiro:
Guitar:

Guitar Lute:
Hale, Sarah:
Half Step:
Hand Drum:
Harpsichord:
Heifetz, Jasha:
Hindemith, Paul:
Hugo, Victor:
Ignorance:
Impromptu:

A short, improvisational-sounding piece.a free-form musical composition with the character of an improvisation, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano
Improvisation:
Spontanious Composition. The performance of music that is composed on the spur-of-the moment by the performer, usually as a solo, or cadenza. Also used extensively in jazz.
Indefinite Pitch:
Interlude:

Short music used to bridge the acts of a play, or the verses of a hymn.
Intermission:
Introduction:
The opening section of a piece of music or movement.
Invention:

Irving, Washington:
Jazz:

Jingle Bells:
Jolson, Al:
Kapellmeister:

"Master of the chapel." Director of music for a church or royalty.
Kithara:

Kodaly, Zoltan:
Lerner and Lowe:

Linguistics:
Liszt, Franz:
Lug:
Lute:

Lyrics:
The words to a song.
Lyricist:
Major:
A pattern or sequence of notes that define a specific tonality that often gives off an expression of happiness or positive affirming character.One of the two modes of the tonal system. Music written in major keys have a positive affirming character.

Major Scale:
A diatonic scale where the half-steps fall between the third and fourth, and the seventh and . This scale is identical to the Ionian Mode.
Marching Band:
Mallet:
Maracas:
Marimba:
Mazurka:
Measure:

The unit of measure where the beats on the lines of the staff are divided up into two, three, four beats to a measure.
Melody:
A rhythmically organized sequence of single tones of varying pitches so related to one another as to make up a memorable, particular phrase or idea.
Mendelssohn, Felix
Menotti, Gian Carlo:
Meter:
Minor:

One of the two modes of the tonal system. The minor mode can be identified by the dark, melancholic mood.
Minuet:

Slow and stately dance music written in triple time.
Monochord:

Mouth Bow:
Movement:
A self-contained segment of a larger work. Found in works such as sonatas, symphonies, concertos, etc.
Muse:

Musical Alphabet:
Musical Form:
The structure of a piece of music.
Musical (Theater):
Myth:

Nationalism:
Nocturne:
A musical composition that suggests some aspect of the night and is usually solemn and contemplative. A night-piece, or seranade. Originally a salon piano work, as in examples by John Field and Chopin, with nighttime associations.A musical composition that has a romantic or dreamy character with nocturnal associations.
Note Stem:
Novel:
Odious:

Opera:
A musical play, usually entirely sung, making use of costumes, staging, props, sets, and dramatic elements. Operas usually consist of two types of musical elements, the aria, which primarily expresses a single idea or theme, and the recitative which advances the story.A drama where the words are sung instead of spoken.
Opus:
A term used to classify a composition in relation to the composer's other compositions."Work". With a number, used to show the order in which the works by a given composer were written or published. Opus numbers are most often used for composers who catalogued their own works.

Orchestra:
A large group of instrumentalists playing together.
Organ:
Overture:

The introductory music for an opera, ballet, or oratorio.Introduction to an opera or other large musical work.
Pachelbel, Johan:
Panpipe:
Patsch:
Patting either the left, right, or both thighs with hands.

Pattern:
Pedal:
Pen Name:
Pentatonic Scale: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic_scale)

An ancient musical scale containing five pitches creating both the major and minor tonalities. The 5 black keys of the keyboard are also pentatonic scale notes.
Percussion:
Instruments that are sounded by striking, shaking, plucking, or scraping.
Percussionist:
Piano:

An instruction in sheet music to play softly. Abbreviated by a “p”.
Piano(Instrument):
A modern keyboard instrument that produces sounds by hammers striking strings. These hammers are activated by keys, depressed by the performer's fingers.
"Piggy Back" Songs:
The idea of taking a tune from a very familiar song and changing the lyrics to to fit a specific purpose. This technique is often used to help teach and/or memorize important facts.
Pitch:
The frequency of a note determining how high or low it sounds.
Plectrum:

Poland:
Polonaise:
Prelude:
A short composition for piano. "Play-before". An introductory movement or work.Since Chopin, the term often denotated a short piano piece, not necessarily an introduction, for example, one might play 24 successive preludes. In Baroque music, the prelude was often paired with the fugue
Prepared Piano:
A piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects (preparations) between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc3-C7Lnzh0&feature=related

Pythagorus:
Pygmalion:
Quarter Note:
A note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note.
Quarter Note Rest:

A silence of the same duration as a quarter note.
Rasps:
Ratchet:
Rebec:

Recital:
Recorder:
A wind instrument of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Baroque eras. The recorder is a simple instrument related to the flute; it is sounded by blowing into one end and the pitch is adjusted by covering finger holes.
Repeat Sign:
A 'double bar' (a pair of vertical lines; one thin and one thick) which is preceded by a pair of vertical dots, called repeat dots, indicating that the section should be played twice, that is, should be repeated
Repertoire:
Reprise:

To repeat a previous part of a composition generally after other music has been played.
Resonance:

Reinforcement and intensification of sound by vibrations
Resonating Chamber:
Resonator Tubes:
Rest:

A symbol used to denote silence.
Rhythm:
The timing of musical sounds and silences.The term which denotes the organization of sound in time. The element of music pertaining to time, played as a grouping of notes into accented and unaccented beats.
Romantic:
A period in history during the 18th and early 19th centuries where the focus shifted from the neoclassical style to an emotional, expressive, and imaginative style.
Rondo:

A musical form where the principal theme is repeated several times. The rondo was often used for the final movements of classical sonata form works.In rondo form, a principal theme (sometimes called the 'refrain') alternates with one or more contrasting themes, variously called 'digressions', 'couplets', 'episodes', or 'subordinate themes'. The overall form can be represented as ABACADA.... The number of themes can vary from piece to piece, and the recurring element is sometimes embellished or shortened in order to provide for variation
Rosewood:
Rossini, Gioacchino:
Round:

Russia:
Sand blocks:
Sand, George:
Scale:

A series of notes which define a diatonic tonality, often consisting of eight degrees, and containing a tonic and sometimes also a leading tone.Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending.
Schumann, Clara:
Schumann, Robert:
Sequence:

Serenade:
Sharp:
A symbol that raises a given pitch by one half-step.
Shaw, George Bernard:

Shofar:
Skips:
Skips on the recorder:
Slapstick:
Snare Drum:
Solfege:
The syllables: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do, and their association with specific pitches.
Solo:
Sondheim, Stephen:
Song:
Sounding Point:
Sound Wave:
Sousa, John Phillip:

Sousaphone:
Spoons:
Staccato:

Short detached notes, as opposed to legato.
Staff:

Made up of five horizontal parallel lines and the spaces between them on which musical notation is written.
Staff Lines:
Staff Spaces:
Steps:
Steps on the Recorder:
Stravinsky, Igor:
String Quartet:

A group of 4 instruments, two violins, a viola, and cello.
Suite:

Suspended Cymbals:
Sustain:
Tambourine:
Tchaikovsky, Peter:

Technicians (in a musical):
In a musical, the people involved in the production who are responsible for the costuming, lighting, staging, audio, and make-up/hair.

Tempo:
Speed of the music. It is an Italian term (can be related to the Spanish: "tiempo").Indicating speed.
Texture:
Thumb Roll:
Time Signature:

The numbers written on staff of any piece, indicating which type of note gets a single beat, and also how many beats are in each measure.
Timpani:
Tone:

The intonation, pitch, and modulation of a composition expressing the meaning, feeling, or attitude of the music.
Tone Color:
Transcription:

Treble:
The playing or singing the upper half of the vocal range.
Treble Clef:

The G clef falling on the second line of the staff.
Triangle:
Triplet:
Tune:

A rhythmic succession of musical tones, a melody for instruments and voices.
Tuning:
Vibration:

when something oscillates about a static position it can be said to vibrate.Musical instruments are generators of vibrations, whether those be of a string, a column or air or of a sounding body, hollow or solid. The human ear is sensitive to vibrations in the range 16 Hz. to several thousand Hz., where 1 Hz. is a unit of frequency equal to 1 cycle per second. On the piano, the lowest A has a frequency of 27.5 Hz., while the highest C vibrates as 4,224 Hz.
Vibraphone:

also called 'vibes' or 'vibraharp', a marimba with metal bars and tuned resonators that are fitted with caps that electrically open and close to produced a pulsed vibrato-like sound. It is played with soft beaters and its range is F3 to F6 (notated at pitch). Many vibraphones have a damper pedal that stops or starts the sound
Vibrasnap or Vibraslap:

a percussion instrument designed to imitate the sound of a donkey jawbone or quijada. It is formed of a sprung steel rod, bent into shape, with an open wedge-shaped wooden box on one end and a wooden ball on the other. The box contains a number of loosely fastened rivets in the centre, and when the player strikes the wooden ball or the box itself, the rivets vibrate to produce a sound similar to that of the 'jawbone'
Vibratone:
Victorian Era:

the period of British literature in the late nineteenth century. The date of the period is often given as 1837-1901, the years Queen Victoria ruled the expanding British Empire
Victoria, Queen of England:
Vielle:

Viola:
Violin:

In the violin family, the treble instrument played under the chin. It is a bowed string instrument which has 4 strings and plays high ranges of sounds.
Virtue:

Waltz:
An extremely popular ballroom dance of the 19th century in triple meter, where the accent falls on the first beat of each measure.
Warsaw:
Wisdom:
Woodblock:

Zappa, Frank:

http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/

http://www.musicoutfitters.com/dictionary.htm
http://www.classicalworks.com/html/glossary.html
http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheorydefs.htm

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

2009-2010 TERMINOLOGY: MUSICAL TERMS USED IN CLASS SO FAR THIS YEAR WITH DEFINITIONS (Green:Trimester 1/Orange:Trimester 2/Purple:Trimester3)

HERE ARE MANY OF THE NEW TERMS AND NAMES WE HAVE LEARNED THIS YEAR SO FAR. I AM IN THE PROCESS OF WORKING ON THE DEFINITIONS/EXPLANATIONS AND CORRECTING ERRORS. HOPEFULLY I WILL BE FINISHED SOON.


A (tuning note):
The musical pitch relating to 440 oscillations per second of vibration.

Accompaniment:

The musical background for a principal part or parts.


Acoustic:



Act:
An act is a division or unit of a drama or some other form of entertainment, such as film, television, variety show, music hall, and cabaret. The number of acts and lengths in a production can vary depending on the production. The Roman theatre was the first to divide plays into a number of acts separated by intervals. Acts may be further divided into scenes; in classical theater each regrouping between entrances and exits of actors is a scene, while later use describes a change of setting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_(drama)



Alcott, Louisa May:


Andersen, Hans Christian:
(April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875) was a Danish author and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and the "The Ugly Duckling."

Angelou, Maya:
Born Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928)[2] is an American autobiographer and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adulthood experiences.[3] The first, best-known, and most highly acclaimed, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), focuses on the first seventeen years of her life, brought her international recognition, and was nominated for a National Book
Award.


Applause:
(Bravo) An exclamation of approval often used after particularly moving opera performances (often after arias meaning excellent or very good.) Arabesque:



Arco:
Playing a string instrument with the hair of the bow.

Aristocratic:
Characteristic of an aristocrat; having the manners, values, or qualities associated with the aristocracy: aristocratic bearing; aristocratic snobbishness.

Articulation:
The way successive notes are joined to one another in performance. Opposite kinds of articulation are staccato (detached) and legato (smooth). The three standard signs of articulation are the dot, the bow or slur, and the tenuto dash. In performance, the characteristics of attack and delay of tones and the manner and extent to which tones in sequence are connected or disconnected. Directions to a performer typically through symbols and icons on a musical score that indicate characteristics of the attack, duration, and decay (or envelope) of a given note. These directions are often interpreted by the conductor for the ensemble. The conductor also provides direction where no articulation markings are provided by the composer.

Ascending Scale:
An ascending major scale is the most basic type of musical scale; Do, Me, Ri, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do. A scale is basically notes put in a particular order. The 'ascending' part just means it goes up but not down, as in you get the whole Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, but then it DOESN'T come back down - it doesn't go through Do Ti La So etc.

Ascot:
Ascot Racecourse is a famous English racecourse, located in the small town of Ascot, Berkshire, used for thoroughbred horse racing. It is one of the leading racecourses in the United Kingdom. The course is closely associated with the British Royal Family, being approximately six miles from Windsor Castle,and owned by the Crown Estate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascot_Racecourse


A tempo: A musical direction meaning "in time." It is a note to the performer to return to the preceding tempo.


Atonal:
Music that lacks a tonal or key center; music without tonality, or music that is centered around no central key or scale; dissonant music.


Author:
An originator or creator

Automatic Reflex:

Enough repetition of a physical skill when playing a musical instrument makes that skill become automatic. The muscles develop their own "memory" for the skill. http://www.thomasjwestmusic.com/visualization.htm


Bach, Carl Phillip Emanuel (CPE):
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788) was a German musician and composer, the second of three sons of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach. He was a crucial composer in the transition between the Baroque and Classical periods, and one of the founders of the Classical style, composing in the Rococo and Classical periods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Philipp_Emanuel_Bach


Bach, Johann Sebastian (JS):
(31 March 1685 [O.S. 21 March] – 28 July 1750) (often referred to simply as Bach) was a German composer, organist, violist, and violinist whose
ecclesiastic
al and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach


Ball (dance):
A ball is a formal dance. The word 'ball' is derived from the Latin word "ballare", meaning 'to dance'; the term also derived into "bailar", which is the Spanish and Portuguese word for dance (verb). In Catalan it is the same word, 'ball', for the dance event. Attendees wear evening attire, which is specified on the invitation as black tie or white tie (the most formal). Social dance forms a large part of the evening; actual ballroom dancing may or may not occur. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_(dance)


Ballet:
Dancing in which conventional poses and steps are combined with light flowing figures (as leaps and turns). A representation of a story by means of dances (usually with theatrical sets and costumes) or pantomimic action accompanied by music.

Band:
An instrumental ensemble, usually made up of wind and percussion instruments and no string instruments.

Bar Line:
vertical dividing line between measures on the musical staff


Bart, Lionel:
Popular Song, Musicals, Film Music English 1930-1999 Oliver! (1960) Tony Award two Songwriters Guild Ivor Novello Awards 1968 movie version of Oliver! The movie received a whopping 12 Academy Award Nominations and won in 6 categories including Best Picture and Best Music.
Baritone Horn:
The baritone horn, or simply baritone, is a member of the brass instrument family.[1] The baritone horn is a cylindrical bore instrument like the trumpet and trombone. [2] A baritone horn uses a large mouthpiece much like those of a trombone or euphonium. It is pitched in B♭, one octave below the B♭ trumpet. In the UK the baritone is frequently found in brass bands. The baritone horn is also a common instrument in high school and college bands. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baritone_horn

Baroque Style:
Relating to the period from about 1600-1750, characterized by grandeur and heavy elaboration of design in music. The music of the period c. 1600 - 1750 C.E., directly following the Renaissance and preceding the Classical era. This style is characterized by a lot of ornamentation, thus the name; it is also distinguishable by its use of basso continuo and application of the doctrine of the affections. The main composers of this era include Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Dominico Scarlatti, Johann Sebastian
Bach, and George Frederick Handel.


Bass Bar:
An oblong piece of wood,acting as a brace, fixed lengthwise inside the belly of the various instruments belonging to the violin-tribe, running in the same direction with the strings, below the lowest string , and running from the foot of the neck to a position under the bridge,to strengthen the belly against the pressure of the left foot of the bridge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_bar


Bass Line:

The lowest part in a composition with mutiple parts, usually regarded as having a primary structural role in determining
harmony.


Baton:
The stick used by the conductor to define the beat of the
music.


Beam:
A beam in musical notation is a thick line frequently used to connect multiple consecutive eighth notes, or notes of shorter value (indicated by two or more beams). Beamed notes are groups of notes connected by a beam; the use of beams is called beaming. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beam_(music)


Beat:
The unit of time in metric music. It has a steady pulse, a unit of time (1) the pronounced rhythm of music; (2) one single stroke of a rhythmic accent The regular pulse of music which may be dictated by the rise or fall of the hand or baton of the conductor. by a metronome, or by the accents in music. A constant unit of time that forms a background clock in music.
Beethoven, Ludwig Van:
Classical Orchestral German 1770-1827 He was able to complete these masterful creations, including the extended finale in the 9th symphony, Ode to Joy, while being almost completely deaf.

Berlin, Irving:
Twentieth Century American(May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) who was an American composer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in history. His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band," became world famous. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Berlin

Bernstein, Leonard:
Musical Theatre, Orchestral Twentieth Century American (August 25, 1918 –October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim. He was probably best known to the public as the longtime music director of the New York Philharmonic(from 1958 to 1969), for conducting concerts by many of the world's leading orchestras, and for writing the music for the musicals West Side Story, Candide, Wonderful Town, and On the Town. Bernstein was the first classical music conductor to make numerous television appearances between 1954 and 1989. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Bernstein


Bierstadt, Albert:
(January 8, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lush, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Though not the first artist to record these sites, Bierstadt was the foremost painter of these scenes for the remainder of the 19th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bierstadt

Bingham, George Caleb:


Blackguard:
A thoroughly unprincipled person; a scoundrel and/or a person with a foul-mouth.

Black Keys:
On a keyboard instrument, such as the piano, the black-colored keys (black keys) comprise many of the sharps and flats found in various scales. When performed by themselves, the black keys produce a pentatonic scale.

Boucher, Francois:
(29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, a proponent of Rococo taste, known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories representing the arts or pastoral occupations, intended as a sort of two-dimensional furniture. He also painted several portraits of his illustrious patroness, Madame de Pompadour. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Boucher
Boulanger, Nadia:
(September 16, 1887 – October 22, 1979) was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. An outstanding music educator at the highest level, she taught many of the most important composers and conductors of the 20th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Boulanger

Bout:
In the violin and guitar families, the curves in the ribs (sides) of the instrument, especially the C-shaped inward curv
es that form the waist.

Bow:
The device used in the string instrument family composed of a wooden stick with a pointed end, strung with horsehair. The bow is drawn across the strings to set them vibrating.

Brahms, Johannes:

Brahms 1833–1897), was a German composer and pianist, one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable; following a comment by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the Three Bs. Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he gave the first performance of many of his own works; he also worked with the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed many of his works and left some of them unpublished. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Brahms


Brandenburg:

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam. Brandenburg surrounds but does not include the national capital Berlin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg

Brass Instrument:
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones, literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments." There are two factors in producing different pitches on a brass instrument: One is alteration of the player's lip tension (or "embouchure"), and air flow. The second is the use of slides or valves to change the length of the tubing, thus changing the harmonic series presented by the instrument to the player. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_instrument


Breath Mark:
Indication of where to breathe in vocal and wind instrument parts. It may look like a large comma or apostrophe or like a tick/checkmark (✓), and is always written above the staff.
A directive to the performer to break the phrase at that point in the composition and breathe, thus assisting in the production of a smooth phrase consistent with the composer's wishes. The breath mark looks like a large comma or apostrophe and should always be located at the end of the phrase above the staff.

Bridge (violin):
The part of a stringed instrument that holds the strings in place and transmits their vibrations to the resonant body of the instrument. Broadway:


Browning, Robert:
(1812–1889) He was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Browning

Brubeck, Dave:
Jazz Twentieth Century American 1920 He has written and recorded several large-scale works, including at least two ballets, a musical, an oratorio, four cantatas, a mass, and works for jazz group and orchestra. He demonstrated employing classical techniques such as polytonality and dissonance, and working in unusual time signatures to create a distinctively modern jazz sound.


Budapest:
Is the capital of Hungary.[1] As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of right (west)-bank Buda and Óbuda with left (east)-bank Pest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest

Burleigh, Harry:
(1866–1949) Having a baritone voice, he was an African American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer. He was the first black composer to be instrumental in the development of a characteristically American music and he helped to make black music available to classically-trained artists both by introducing them to the music and by arranging the music in a more classical form. He was a great influence over Antonin Dvorak especially when writing his "New World" Symphony #9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Burleigh


Buxtehude, Dieterich:
(c.1637 – 9 May 1707) was a German-Danish organist and a highly regarded composer of the Baroque period. His organ works comprise a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and church services. He wrote in a wide variety of vocal and instrumental idioms, and his style strongly influenced many composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieterich_Buxtehude


Caccia:


Cakewalk:


Cage, John:
(September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, to name a few. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century instrumental in the development of modern dance. Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is entitled Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage

Canon:
A canon is a composition in which each part has exactly the same melody throughout the piece, starting at different points. The strictest form of imitation. Strict imitation, in which one voice imitates another at a staggered time interval. It is a melody that is repeated exactly by a different voice, entering a short interval after the original voice. a musical form that uses exact imitation.
Capo:

Carlyle, Thomas: (1795–1881) He was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era. He called economics "the dismal science," wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle

Carnegie Hall: This is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1891, it is one of the most famous venues in the United States for classical music and popular music, renowned for its beauty, history and acoustics. Carnegie Hall has its own artistic programming, development, and marketing departments, and presents about 250 performances each season. It is also rented out to performing groups. The hall has not had a resident company since 1962, when the New York Philharmonic moved to Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall (renamed Avery Fisher Hall in 1973). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Hall
Carroll, Lewis:
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and a photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, and fantasy, and there are societies dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life in many parts of the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll
Cello: In the violin family, the tenor instrument, played while held between the knees. The third lowest member of the violin family, after the violin and the viola. The violoncello (often shortened to just cello) is actually the lowest member of those descended from the viola da braccio with a range of C below the bass clef to G at the top of the treble clef. It is as expressive and versatile as the violin, but with a richer, deeper, darker tone.

Cervantes, Miguel de:
Born in modern Spain (September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616) he was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, often considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature and is regularly regarded among the best novels ever written.


Cezanne, Paul

(1839-1906) He was a French painter, one of the greatest of the post impressionists, whose works and ideas were influencial in the aesthetic development of many 20th-century artists and art movements, especially Cubism. Cézanne's art, misunderstood and discredited by the public during most of his life, grew out of Impressionism and eventually challenged all the conventional values of painting in the 19th century through its insistence on personal expression and on the integrity of the painting itself. He has been called the father of modern painting. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/




Chant:




Chopin, Fryderyk:


Born near Warsaw in 1810, the son of a French émigré and a Polish mother, Chopin won early fame in the relatively limited circles of his native country, before seeking his fortune abroad, in Paris. His departure from Warsaw coincided with the unsuccessful national rising against Russian domination and Chopin found himself in Paris in the company of a number of other Polish exiles. He was able to establish himself as a pianist and as a teacher of the piano, primarily in fashionable society. For some ten years Chopin enjoyed a liaison with the writer George Sand, but broke with her during the last years of his life, brought to a close by the tuberculosis from which he had long suffered. His compositions, principally for the piano, make a remarkable use of the newly developed instrument, exploring its poetic possibilities while generally avoiding the more obvious ostentation of the Paris school of performers. http://www.naxos.com/composerinfo/fryderyk_chopin/25949.htm



Chord:


Three or more pitches sounded simultaneously.



Chord Progression:


A succession of two or more chords; a harmonic progression; often forming a pattern.

Choreographer:

Someone who creates new dances.

Chromatic:
Motion by half steps; or pitches used outside of the diatonic scale in which they normally occur. Music which proceeds in half steps.


Classic:



Classical:
Art music of any culture; distinguished from folk, jazz or popular music European music of the Classical Period. The musical period from the late 18th century to the early 19th century: 1750 - 1825. The Classical period succceeds the Baroque and precedes the Romantic.



Class System:


Claves:
This instrument consists of two small wooden rods (about 8 inches long and 1 inch in diameter). They are typically made of rosewood, ebony or genadillo. One clave (often called the male) is normally rested in a loosely cupped hand and struck with the second clave (often called the striker or female). The male is typically held in the left hand with right-handed performers and lays between the fingertips and the heel of the hand. The thumb is held out to provide added support. There should be a space between the clave and the palm of the hand to create a resonating chamber. The female is held as a striker in the other hand and is struck against the male.

Clavichord:
A small keyboard instrument popular in the Renaissance, which is distinguished from other keyboard instruments of the era by the fact that its strings are struck rather than plucked. Because the strings are sounded only by being struck, the volume of the clavichord is very soft. It is one of the simplest keyboard instruments, built into a rectangular frame in which the keys and attached levers are fixed; the levers strike the strings by means of small, metal hammers.


Clef:


A clef (French: clef "key") is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes.[1] Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff may be determined. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clef
Cochlea:
A spiral-shaped cavity of the inner ear that resembles a snail shell or a scroll of the violin. It contains nerve endings essential for hearing.
Coda:
A tail; i.e., a closing section appended to a movement. The closing few measures of a composition, usually not a part of the main theme groups of the standard form of a composition, but a finishing theme added to the end to give the composition closure
Composer:
A person who creates musical works
Composition:
A musical work or the craft of making a musical work
Concert:
A public performance of music.

Concertmaster:
The term used to address the principal first violinist of an orchestra. The concertmaster is the leader of the orchestra and first violin section. They provide a lead to this section and perform any extended violin solos that are part of the performance. The concertmaster tunes the orchestra at the start of a concert and acts as a liaison between conductor and orchestra.

Concerto:
A multimovement piece for soloist(s) and orchestra. Usually a three-part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.

Conductor:
the director or leader of a musical group The leader of a musical ensemble who indicates through gestures or conducting patterns how the music should be interpreted by the musicians. A pattern of arm and hand movements that a conductor employs to lead and coordinate an ensemble of musicians through a composition. Conducting patterns typically indicate the meter of the composition. The most common conducting patterns reflect the most common meters used in Western music and include patterns with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 beats per measure. Conductors may conduct with either a baton or just using their hands.


Confucius:


Confucius, literally "Master Kong," (551 BCE–479 BCE) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and life. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius
Consonance:
Sounds that are pleasing to the ear. A simultaneious sounding of tones that produces a feeling of rest, i.e., a feeling that there is no need for further resolution. There is an absence of tension or discord in the music making for pleasing, sweet, harmonies. Also, intervals (pairs of pitches) that are treated as stable and not requiring
resolution.




Continuity:
The state or quality of being continuous. It is an uninterrupted succession or flow; a coherent whole

Contrast:
A compositional device which has come to be one of the principal properties of good music. A variety of contrast(s) such as tempo (contrasting fast to slow), timbre (contrasting strings to brass or strings to woodwinds), dynamics (contrasting loud to soft), and meter (contrasting duple to triple) is essential to good composition. Contrast is a means to maintain listener interest.


Copland, Aaron:


Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American nationalist composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers." Copland's music achieved a balance between modern music and American folk styles. The open, slowly changing harmonies of many of his works are said to evoke the vast American landscape. He also incorporated percussive orchestration, changing meter, polyrhythms, polychords, and tone rows in a broad range of works for concert hall, theater, ballet, and films. Aside from composing, Copland was a teacher, lecturer, critic, writer, and conductor (generally, but not always, of his own works). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Copland



Copyright:
The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.


Covent Garden:


The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Originally called the Theatre Royal, it served primarily a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later Handel's first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Opera_House


Cremona:

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana (Po valley). It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments. The city of Cremona is especially famous for its musical history and traditions, including some of the earliest and most renowned luthiers, such as Guarnieri and Stradivari. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremona


Cristofori, Bartolomeo:
An Italian maker of musical instruments, he is famous as the inventor of the piano.
Crumb, George:

George Crumb (born October 24, 1929) is an American composer of modern and avant-garde music.[1][page needed] He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres and extended technique. Examples include spoken flute (one speaks while blowing into the instrument) and glass marbles poured onto an open piano. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Crumb


Crumhorn:




Crumpet:


A crumpet is a savory/sweet bread snack made from flour and yeast. It is eaten mainly in the United Kingdom and other nations of the Commonwealth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumpet


Cylinder Phonograph:


The earliest medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1888–1915), these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was played on a mechanical phonograph. The competing disc-shaped gramophone record system triumphed in the market place to become the dominant commercial audio medium in the 1910s, and commercial mass production of phonograph cylinders ended in 1929. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph_cylinder









Czechoslovakia:


Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992. From 1939 to 1945 the state did not have de facto existence, due to its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, but the Czechoslovak government-in-exile nevertheless continued to exist during this time period. On 1 January 1993 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovakia



Dance:
Any physical movements done to music; also, specified steps or movements done in unison with specific music. Throughout the history of music, different dance types were especially popular at different times; In the Renaissance and Baroque eras, the suite was invented and developed. The earliest suite has been dated 1557. By the 1620's, a standard format was developed for the suite, consisting of the allemande, the courante, and the sarabande. At about 1650, the gigue was added to the suite, and by the end of the 17th century, the suite had a standard pattern and order. The ballet was another popular form of dance, first developed in France in the late 16th century. The ballet is generally a story told entirely through music and dance.

Debussy, Claude:


Defoe, Daniel:




Degas, Edgar:


DeMille, Agnes:


Descending Scale:


Delacroix, Eugene:


Delius, Frederick:


Dialogue:
Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative or the lines or passages in a script that are intended to be spoken. Dickens, Charles:

Dissonance:
A simultaneous sounding of tones that produces a feeling of tension or unrest and a feeling that further resolution is needed. Notes that conflict, or sound outside of a chord in which they occur. Such notes usually fall outside of the overtones which are being generated by the note or chord that is sounding. Discord in music, suggesting tension with two or more notes (often using intervals of seconds, tritones, and sevenths) sounded together which are discordant, and, in the prevailing harmonic system, require resolution to a consonance. The opposite of consonance.

Double Bar:
A set of two vertical lines drawn perpendicularly through the staff to indicate the end of one section and the beginning of another in a larger composition. A double bar with a thin line followed by a heavy line is known as a final barline and indicates the end of the composition. The last barline in a composition. This is a form of the double barline (or more commonly double bar) and has two bars with the second being thicker than the first. It indicates that this is the end of the composition or of a movement of a composition.


Double Concerto:
A concerto for two solo instruments and ensemble.

Double Reed:




Down Bow:
Double Down Bow:


Double Stop:




Drum Practice Pad:



Drum Stick:



Dubbing:
The replacement of a singer's voice in a movie soundtrack by another.Duet: composition for two performers


DuPre, Jacqueline:


Dvorak, Antonin:


Dynamic
Marking:

Refers to the relative volumes in the execution of a piece of music; the degrees of loudness or softness in a musical work, and their symbols.

Ear Training:


Ebony:
A hard dark-colored heartwood of the ebony tree; used in for piano keys and various violin fittings.

Echo Technique:


Edison, Thomas Alva:


Eighth Note:
A note having the time duration of one eighth of the time duration of a whole note.
Einstein, Albert:




Elgar, Edward:



Eliot, T.S.:


Ellis Island:
Embouchure:
The position of the lips and mouth when playing a wind instrument.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo:




End Button:


End Pin:


Endings (1st/2nd Endings):
Often, repeated sections of a composition will have different endings for each repeat of that section. This can be to create the symetry of an antecedent and consequent phrase or simply to extend the composition. Although there are normally only first endings and second endings, the composer can choose to have as many different endings as there are repeats of the section.

England:

English Horn:




Enharmonic Equivalent:
The phenomenon that two separate notations stand for the same sound. For example, the enharmonic spelling of F-sharp is G-flat, both of which are the same note on the piano.
Ensemble:
A group of musicians that perform as a unit.
Epoch:



Etude:


Exercise:
A short study written to improve technique.


Faun (myth):




Fermata:
F Hole:


Fifth:
The interval or span of five diatonic degrees. How violin strings are tuned.

Fine Tuners:


Fingerboard:
On string instruments, the top surface of the neck where the fingers press down on the strings.

Finger Cymbals:
An early Asian percussion instrument often used by female dancers. They are small non-pitched cymbals that are commonly attached to the thumb and middle finger of one or both hands and struck together in a specific rhythmic pattern.


Fingerings:


Flat (♭):
Accidentals that lower a given pitch by one half-step. Also see key signature. A symbolthat lowers the pitch of a note by a semitone. The term may also be used as an adjective to describe a situation where a singer or musician is performing a note in which the intonation is an eighth or a quarter of a semitone too low. Accidentals that lower a given pitch by one half-step. Also see key signature. symbol that lowers a pitch by one half step (b)
Flute:



Flutter Tonguing:

An instrumental wind technique in which the tongue is fluttered or trilled against the roof of the mouth behind the teeth.

Form:
(Musical Form) musical design; incorporating repetition and contrast, unity, and variety The overall structural organization of a music composition (e.g., AB, ABA, call and response, rondo, theme and variations, sonata-allegro) and the interrelationships of music events within the overall structure.


Folk Music:

Songs from an oral tradition, often in relatively simple style, used and understood by broad segments of a population or culture.

Ford, Henry:


Fontaine, Jean de la:




Forte:
(Dynamic Marking) or f (usually): loud strong; i.e., to be played or sung loudly
Fortepiano:
A keyboard instrument, the predecessor of the piano, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
France:


Franklin, Benjamin:


Fret:
Music / Instruments:
any of several small metal bars set across the fingerboard of a musical instrument of the lute, guitar, or viol family at various points along its length so as to produce the desired notes when the strings are stopped by the fingers

Frog
(violin):


Fugue:
“Flight.” A contrapuntal piece, in which two or more parts are built or “layered” on a recurring subject that is introduced alone and followed by an answer, which is the subject (or theme) at a different pitch.


Frost, Robert:

Gavotte:


Germany:
Gershwin, George:

Gravity Beat:




Gregorian Chant:


Goethe, Johann Wolfgang:
Gramophone:

Guiro:
A Latin percussion instrument consisting of a gourd with grooves cut around its circumference and large holes in the bottom. The performer holds the instrument with the holes in the bottom while scraping across the grooves with a stick in a rhythmic fashion.

Guitar:



Gut String:

Guttersnipe:

Guthrie, Woody:


Half Note:
A note that has half the duration of time of a whole note.

Half Step
:

The smallest interval that is commonly used in Western music. There are 12 half-steps in an octave.
Hammer:
(Piano Hammer) That part of the action of a piano that strikes the strings, thus producing a tone.

Hammerstein, Oscar II:


Hand Drum:


Handel, George Frideric:


Harburg, E.Y.:


Harmony:
The study of the structure, progression and relationships of chords.When pitches are in agreement, or consonance. The sounding of two or more tones simultaneously; the vertical aspect of music.

Harpsichord:
Early stringed keyboard instrument that produced tones by means of plucking strings with quills rather than by striking them with hammers, as in the modern piano. The range of the harpsichord is generally about four octaves; it was most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, in the classical era it was eclipsed by the piano.
Heifetz, Jascha:


Hiawatha:


Hoffman,
E.T.A.:




Hildegard:


Holmes, Oliver Wendell:


Horse Hair:


Hugo, Victor:


Humoresque:


Impressionism:


Improvisation:


The creation of music in the course of performance.



Intermission:


Interlude:


Music played between sections of a compostion or dramatic work.



Interval:
The distance between two notes.



Instrumentation:
The art of composing, orchestrating or arranging works for an instrumental ensemble. Also, the properties and capabilities of individual instruments.


Intermission:


Interval:
The distance between two notes.
Introduction:
The preparatory section, movement, or phrase of a musical work.


Irving, Washington:


Ives, Charles:


Italy:


Jazz:
A style of music of Afro-American roots characterized by strong, prominent meter, improvisation, and dotted, or syncopated patterns.


Joplin, Scott:


Kapellmeister:
“Master of the chapel.” Director of music for a church or royalty.


Kern, Jerome:


Key:


The tonal center based on the tonic note of the scale; the tonality of a composition
Kodaly, Zoltan:




Landini:


Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm:


Lerner, Alan Jay:


Levant, Oscar:
Line Note:

Linguistics:


Liszt, Franz:


Loewe, Frederick:


London:
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth:

Louis XIV:


Lower Half (LH):




Lute:


Lyrics:
The words of a song Lyricist: the writer of lyrics


Machaut:




Madrigal:




Mahler, Gustav:


Major:
“Greater.” A term used in music theory to describe intervals, chords and scales.
Major Scale:
scale built as follows: two whole steps, half step, three whole steps, half step
Mallarme, Stephane:




Mallet:
A device used by a percussion player to strike the instrument. It typically has the appearance of a light hammer with a small, rounded or spherical head used to play certain percussion instruments (marimba, xylophone, orchestra bells, chimes etc.). The head will come in a variety of materials of varying hardness to produce a wide range of timbres on the instrument. Head materials range from soft cloth to yarn to soft or hard rubber to hard wood.

Manet, Edouard:




Maple:


Maracas:
Latin American percussion instruments that consist of a gourd with dried seeds inside it and a handle with which to shake it. Maracas are played in pairs and their use is not limited to that of Latin American music.
Mazurka:
A lively Polish dance in 3/4 or 3/8 time with the accent usually on the second or third beat of the measure. The mazurka was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Mass:




Measure:
the division of beats into set groups; a measure is denoted by a bar line American term, equivalent to the English term "bar", signifying the smallest metrical divisions of a composition, containing a fixed number of beats, marked off by vertical lines on the staff.the period of a musical piece that encompasses a complete cycle of the time signature, e.g., in 4/4 time, a measure has four quarter-note beats American term, equivalent to the English term "bar", signifying the smallest metrical divisions of a composition, containing a fixed number of beats, marked off by vertical lines on the staff.
Medieval:


Latin phrase "medium aevum," meaning literally "the Middle Age."

Melody:
An arrangement of single tones in a meaningful sequence a succession(rather than simultaneous sounds) of musical tones A tune; a succession of tones comprised of mode, rhythm, and pitches so arranged as to achieve musical shape, being perceived as a unity by the mind. In a piece of music where there is more than one voice, or where harmony is present, the melody is the dominant tune of the composition.
Mendelssohn, Felix:


Menotti, Gian Carlo:
(1911-2006); Italian composer who moved to America in his youth; follows in the tradition of Puccini in his approach to melody in opera; his most famous works are The Medium, The Telephone, The Consul, and Amahl and the Night Visitors.
Meter
(or metre):


The pattern of a music piece's rhythm of strong and weak beats; the organization and grouping of musical beats. The grouping in which a succession of rhythmic pulses or beats is organized indicated by a meter signature at the beginning of a work. A measure of time; arrangement of poetical feet. The grouping or organization of rhythmic beats into regular patterns in such a way that a regular(steady), repeating pulse of beats may continue throughout the composition.

Meter (Duple):
beats grouped into sets of two (strong-weak) A rhythmic pattern with the measure being divisible by two. This includes simple double rhythm such as 2/2, 4/4, but also such compound rhythms as 6/8.

Meter (Triple):
A metrical pattern having three beats to a measure.



Metronome:




Michener, James A:




Middle Ages:




Minor:
A series of tones that defines a minor tonality. Minor Scale:


Minuet:




Modern Dance:




Monet, Claude:


Monochord:


Morrison, Van:




Motet:


Mouth Bow:


Movement:
One part of a larger musical composition; like a chapter of a book. Any self-contained section of a composition (amd thus at least potentially independent section) of a larger work such as a sonata, symphony, concerto, etc.
Motive:
A short melodic, harmonic or rhythmic idea. It is the shortest fragment of a theme or a phrase that still maintains its identity. A typical example is the opening motif in Beethoven's Symphony No.5 which is incomplete in itself but can be heard (and recognized) all the way through in the symphony. As few as two notes can make up a motif as the descending fifth at the opening of Beethoven's Symphony No.9. A motif is the elemental brick of a theme (or subject) and a theme is the building block of a movement. A figure is similar to the motif but it is of secondary importance as motifs are part of themes and figures are not.

Muse:


Music:
Any rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic grouping of sounds that is specifically composed and that forms a unity so as to convey a message, to communicate, or to entertain.




Musical Theatre:
A stage presentation which combines the four fine arts of visual art, music, drama, and dance


Music Theory:


Study that includes many different methods for analyzing, classifying, and composing music and the elements of music.



Myth:


Nationalism:
Term describing the movement in the mid 19th century in which composers felt compelled to infuse nationalistic features into their music, so that it would declare its nationality.




New York City:




Nobleman:
Nocturne:


a piece written for the night



Note:
A notational symbol used to represent the duration of a sound and, when placed on a music staff, to also indicate the pitch of the sound.
Nut
(violin):




Oboe:


Octave:
(Interval) The interval between the first and eighth degrees of the diatonic scale. an interval of eight pitch names; twelve half steps An interval spanning seven diatonic degrees, eleven semitones. An octave above C would be C. The frequency of a note one octave above another will have exactly twice as many Hertz as the frequency of the note an octave below it.

Oliver Twist:
Open String:

Opus:
“Work.” With a number, used to show the order in which pieces were written or published. work; a number indicating the order in which compositions were composed


Orchestra:
a large musical ensemble consisting of string, woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments
Orchestra Pit:




Orchestration:


The art of employing instruments in various combinations, most notably the orchestra. Orchestration also includes the concept of instrumentation, the study of the properties and capabilities of individual instruments.

Organ:
(Pipe Organ) Pipe organ - A keyboard instrument that is sounded by air moving through pipes. The pipe organ usually has several manuals as well as pedals that control the air flow through combinations of pipes. A rank of pipes constitues one stop and consists of a row of pipes, one for each key on the keyboard. Organ pipes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, materials, and methods of setting the air columns to vibrate. The pipes can range in size from a quarter-inch in length to over 32 feet with the shorter pipes creating the higher pitches and the larger pipes creating the lowest pitches. Organ pipes can be any shape from round to square, conical to cylindrical, or from straight to curved. The differing shapes provide a variety of tone colors. The pipes are typically constructed from either wood or metal. These materials provide another factor in the tone color of the pipe. The pipes are broken into two categories for creating sound, flue pipes and reed pipes.The flue pipes produce sound on the same principle of a whistle or recorder. The reed pipes produce sound on the same principle as the clarinet. The organ is an ancient instrument popular since the Medieval era. The use of organs is most commonly associated with religious music.

Overtone:


Overture:
The introductory music for an opera, ballet, or oratorio. A concert overture is an independent work. an extended orchestral introduction to an opera, ballet, or similar type of musical presentation
Pachelbel Canon:


Paganini, Nicolo:


Pan Pipes:


Parallelogram:
Paris:

Parker, Charlie:


Peasant:

Percussion:


Pedal:

(Piano Pedal) A device on a piano that is activated by the foot of the performer. There are either two or three pedals on the modern piano. The right pedal is a damper pedal, which, when depressed, raises the dampers and allows the sound of the piano to be sustained. This is the most used pedal. The letters "Ped" provide the directive for the performer to depress the damper pedal and the marking to indicate the release is a flowery looking asterisk symbol (More about Piano Pedal Markings). These directives should be exactly under the beat or fraction of the beat where the damper pedal should be depressed or released. It should be noted that there is a half-pedal directive that instructs the performer to depress the damper pedal fully and then release half-way before depressing fully again or releasing. The markings are similar, however there is a line between the two markings with a spike in the line where the half-pedal is to occur. The left pedal is the soft pedal or the muting pedal, which, when depressed, softens the volume of the sound. The term una corda (Italian for one string) is shown under the staff directing the performer to depress the soft pedal, and the term tre corde (Italian for three strings) is shown under the staff directing the performer to release the soft pedal. Larger pianos will also have a third pedal in between the damper pedal and the soft pedal called the sostenuto pedal. Depressing this pedal will dampen only the strings that have been struck. The letters "S.P." below the notes of the composition direct the performer to depress the sostenuto pedal. This is often followed by a line slanted up with a downward line on the end to indicate the release of the pedal.

Peg (violin):


Peg Box:


Pentatonic Scale:
a five tone scale
Percussion:
instruments that derive their sound from being shook or struck
Peripheral Vision:
Perlman, Itzhak:

Pernambuco:


Philosopher:


Phonetics:


Phrase:
A musical unit, often a component of a melody. The phrase may be regarded as a dependent division of music, such as a single line of poetry; it does not have a sense of completion in itself. Usually two or more phrases balance each other, as in a period.
Piano:
(Dynamic Marking) or p (usually): soft gently; i.e., played or sung softly (see dynamics)

Pianoforte (Instrument):

A modern keyboard instrument that produces sounds by hammers striking strings. These hammers are activated by keys, depressed by the performer's fingers. The piano is equipped with a pedal that controls the dampers which stop the vibration of the strings. When the pedal is pressed by the performer's foot, the dampers are lifted from the strings, and the strings are allowed to vibrate freely. Another pedal softens the volume of the piano. Picasso, Pablo:

Piccolo: Pitch: The location of a musical sound in the tonal scale which is determined by the vibration frequency the highness or lowness of sound based on frequency of vibration The specific quality of a sound that makes it a recognizable tone. Pitch defines the location of a tone in relation to others, thus giving it a sense of being high or low.
Pizzicato:
Pizzicato is a method of playing an orchestral string instrument. Instead of using the bow, the performer plucks the desired string with their finger. This produces a very different sound, short and rapid rather than sustained.
http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Pizzicato/


In Italian, is a direction to stringed instruments tp pluck the strings. Pizzicato notes on the violin, viola, and cello are normally plucked with index finger on right hand.


Plato:



Pointillism:

Polonaise:



Poland:


Polonaise:
A Polish national dance of a stately and festive character. The music is always in moderate triple metre and typically phrases end with feminine cadences. The basic Polonaise rhythm is generally given to the left hand accompaniment, and the right hand accentuates it by its melody. WF Bach brought the form to artistic perfection. Beethoven, Schubert, Weber, Liszt all wrote Polonaises, but Chopin made it a symbol of Polish heroism.

Popular Music:
American music that has wide appeal; commercial Music of the common people. Popular music includes folk music, since that is a form of music of the populace, but the most common current usage of this term applys to rock, country and western, or jazz.

Portative Organ:





Prague:


Prelude:
An opening, introductory movement or work which is in a free style; typical of the seventeenth century. The term is also used for independent pieces that stand alone like Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.




Protest Music: Music used as a method of expressing discontent.
Puccini, Giacomo:


Pulse:


Purfling:


Pygmalion:


Pythagoras:


Quarter Note:
A note having the time duration of one fourth of the time duration of a whole note.

Rauschenberg, Robert:


Ravel, Maurice:




Rebec:
Recorder
(Instrument):

Reed:




Renoir, Pierre:

Repeat Sign:
A repeated section in a composition is designated with a repeat sign at the beginning and end of the section to be repeated. The repeat sign consists of two thick vertical bar lines through the staff, with two dots, one between the second and third lines of the staff and one between the third and fourth line. The dots will be on the same side of the line as the material which is to be repeated. If there is no beginning sign, the section should be performed from the beginning of the composition or movement. The repeat signs signify one repetition of the section unless otherwise noted. The repeat can also be used in conjunction with first endings and second endings (prima volta, seconda volta) if only the last few measures of the section are different.

Repetition:
An important principle of musical construction. The use of repetition achieves tonal stability and thematic unity.

Reprise:
Resonator:

Rest (Eighth Rest):
A pause or rest in a composition having the time duration of one eighth of the time duration of a whole rest.

Rest (Half Note Rest):
A pause or rest in a composition having the time duration of one half of the time duration of a whole rest.
Rest (Measure Rest):


Rest (Multi-Measure Rest):
Rest (Quarter Rest):

A pause or rest having the time duration of one fourth of the time duration of a whole rest.
Rhapsody:




Rhythm:
Rhythm is the controlled, organized movement of music in time into defined repeated or regular metric portions; the regular pulsation of music. The aspect of music comprising all the elements: accent, meter, and tempo that relate to forward movement.


Rimsky-Korsakov, Nicolai:


Ritardando (Rit.):


Rococo Style:
The artistic style of the late Baroque and early Classical periods (1700-1770). In music, the Rococo style was chiefly associated with France. It is a rather fussy, elaborate style typified in Rameau and F. Couperin's music (another example is D. Scarlatti). Telemann represents the German equivalent.



Romania:


Romantic Style:
Relating to the nineteenth-century musical period characterized by subjectivity on the part of the composer, emotionalism in music, longer musical forms, and richer harmonies. The musical period roughly from 1820-1900, in which music progressed to a freer, more subjective form with increasing chromaticism, the use of folk themes, the introduction of more virtuosic solo music, and larger orchestras. music written from 1825 - 1910 in which composers were inspired to express emotion through their music

Romeo and Juliet:


Rosewood:


Rosin:


Rossini, Gioachino:
(1792-1868); Italian composer who was a master of opera buffa; his most famous works are The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, and William Tell.

Rostropovich, Mstislav:

Round (Musical Form):
a composition in which the same melody is started at different times and sounded together

Russia:




Sackbut:


Sacred:

Sand, George:


Scale:
A graduated series of tones or progression of notes arranged in a specified order
Schnabel, Artur:


Schubert, Franz:


Schumann, Robert:


Scroll:


Secular:

Sequence:


Repetition of the same melodic or chordal pattern at a different pitch.



Seventh Chord:




Shakespeare, William:


Sharp (#):

A symbol that raises a pitch by one half step. An accidental that raises a given pitch by one half-step.

Shaw, George Bernard:


Shelley, Percy Bysshe:


Shofar:


Shoulder Rest:


Sight Reading:


Silence:
Skip (music):

Sleigh Bells:



Snare Drum:


Solfege:
The practice of singing exercises to the syllables of solmization. The syllables: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do, and their association with specific pitches, especially in regard to the indication of intervals.



Soviet Union:



Sonata:
An instrumental piece,popular from the Classical period to the 20th century, often in several movements. Also refers to a structure or form of an individual movement of a multimovement work consisting of an exposition, development, and recapituation.

Sondheim, Stephen:


Song:
Any composition designed to be sung, either accompanied or unaccompanied

Sounding Point:


Sound Post:


Sousa, John Phillip:
Space Note:

Spiritual: A kind of religious narrative song that articulates the African American slave's emotions and experiences through blending of Africanisms and religious hymns. This style was incorporated into Dvorak's New World Symphony.
Spoons
(Musical Spoons):
Spruce:


Staccato:
Making each note brief and detached; the opposite of legato. In music notation, a small dot under or over the head of the note indicates that it is to be articulated as staccato. A style of playing notes in a detached, separated, distinct manner, as opposed to legato. Staccato is indicated by dots directly above or below the notehead.
Staff:
(Musical Staff) The five horizontal lines upon which music is written. A set of five, equidistant, horizontal lines joined together by a brace. The staff (also called stave) is used to clearly communicate musical notation. Note symbols, dynamics, and other performance directions are placed within, above, and below the staff.
Step:
(Interval)

Stern, Isaac:


Stevenson, Robert Lewis:

Stick (bow):



Stokowski, Leopold:


Stradivari, Antonio:
Stravinsky, Igor:

String:
String Quartet:

Strum:




Style:
(Musical Style) the distinct manner or character of musical expression. The distinctive or characteristic manner in which the elements of music are treated. In practice, the term may be applied to, for example, composers (the style of Copland), periods (Baroque style), media (keyboard style), nations (French style), form or type of composition (fugal style, contrapuntal style), or genre (operatic style, bluegrass style).
Suite:
An important instrumental form of (mainly French) Baroque music, consisting of a number of movements, each in the character of a dance, and all in the same key. The usual movements in a classical French suite are: Prelude, Allemande (German), Courante (French), Sarabande (Spanish), Gigue (English), Chaconne and Minuet. The modern suite is used to describe a number of pieces grouped together by the composer. They are often an arrangement of ballet (Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet Suite) or stage (Bizet's Carmen Suite) works.
Swift, Jonathan:


Symphony:

A piece for large orchestra, usually in four movements.
Syncopation:
The rhythmic result produced when a regularly accented beat is displaced or shifted onto an unaccented beat. There is an emphasis or stress on the weak beats in a measure.Also, a momentary contradiction of the prevaling meter or pulse; the contradiction of the regular succession of strong and weak beats within a measure or a group of measures.

Szell, George:


Tablature:




Tailpiece:
Tailpiece Adjuster:

Tambourine:
A percussion instrument consisting of a shallow wooden ring across which often is stretched a membrane. In the wooden ring are suspended several metal disks which jingle when the instrument is struck.
Tchaikovsky, Peter I:


Telemann, Georg Philipp:
Tempo:
The rate of speed at which a musical compostion is performed




Tenements:
Thomson, Virgil:




Thoreau. Henry David:


Time Signature:
The numbers written on staff of any piece indicating which type of note gets a single beat and how many beats are in each measure. meter signature An indicator of the meter of a musical work, usually presented in the form of a fraction, the denominator of which indicates the unit of measurement and the numerator of which indicates the number of units that make up a measure. A symbol placed at the left side of the staff indicating the meter of the composition. For example, a time signature of 3/4 would indicate that there are three quarter notes in each measure and the quarter notes receive the main pulse (or beat). Tip (bow):

Toccata:
A keyboard piece. It is often designed to display the technical proficiency of the performer. Best examples are those of JS Bach. It may contain a series of movements.


Tone:
1. A musical sound 2. The quality of a musical sound
Tonality:
The principal of organization of a composition around a tonic based upon a major or minor scale. Also the term used to describe the organization of the melodic and harmonic elements to give a feeling of a key center or a tonic pitch.
Tonguing:



Transylvania:


Trapezoid:





Treble Clef:
Tremelo:

Triangle/Beater:
A three-sided (triangular shaped) percussion instrument made of a bent metal bar which is sounded by being struck with a steel tangent and produced a high sound of indeterminable pitch.



Troubadour:



Tuning:


Tuner:
Up Bow:

Upper Half (UH):


Van Dyke, Henry:


Varese, Edgard:


Variations:
The systematic presentation of a theme in different guises. The theme of a set of variations can be anything from a little motif to an elaborate paragraph, a harmonic pattern, or a rhythmic figure.

Verdi, Giuseppe:


Verne, Jules:


Vibrato:
Slight wavering of pitch, used in singing and string-playing to give a sense of vibrancy.
Vibratone:


Victoria, Queen of England:


Vielle:


Viola:


Violin:
In the violin family, the treble instrument played under the chin.
Vivaldi, Antonio:


Wagner, Richard:
(1813-83); greatest German opera composer of the 19th century; created the idea of the music drama; works include The Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin, The Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Tristan und Isolde, The Ring of Nibelungen and others.
Watteau, Jean-Antoine:


Whole Bow:


Whole Note:
A note having the time duration of half the time duration of a double whole note.
Woodblock:
A percussion instrument that is block of wood that is hollowed out and struck with a stick or mallet.


Woodwind Instrument:



LIST OF MUSIC DICTIONARY SITES