Music Theory Definitions

A - B...A basic structural pattern based on statement of a "theme" and "departure" to contrasting material. (Binary form, Two-part form)

A - B - A...A basic structural pattern based on statement of a "theme", "departure" to new material and "return to the theme." (Ternary form, Tree-part form)

Absolute Music...Without literary or pictorial associations, as opposed to "program music." Forms: sonata, symphony, concerto, chamber music.

a cappella...(Italian, for the chapel). Choral Music without instrumental accompaniment.

accidentals...Signs such as sharp, flat , natural , introduced to alter pitch of single notes.

alla breve...(Italian)...A marking that indicates duple meter, with a half note receiving the beat instead of quarter: 2/2 instead of 4/4. Implies a faster tempo.

alto...1. Women's voice of lower range than soprano. The second highest part in 4-part chorus (Contralto), 2. An instrument in this range: alto saxophone. (Clef)

aria...(Italian)...An elaborate solo song with instrumental accompaniment. Either separate or part of opera, oratorio, cantata, etc.

arpeggio...(Italian)...A broken chord, the tones being played in succession rather than simultaneously.

arrangement...Adaptation of a piece for instruments or voices other than for which it was written. Art Song...A musical setting of a literary text.

augmentation...Theme presented in longer time values: halfnotes instead of 1/4 notes, etc.

Relating to the period from about 1600-1750, characterized by grandeur and heavy elaboration of design in music.

Referring to that period from approximately 1750-1800, characterized musically by objectivity of the composer, emotional restraint, and simple harmonies.

A simultaneious sounding of tones that produces a feeling of rest, i.e., a feeling that there is no need for further resolution.

Cardinal Number -- the number of pitches, or elements, contained within a set. Example: The set [0,4,5,2] has a cardinal number of 4, because it contains four elements.

Cent -- Is just a form of measurement, used to measure the distance between intervals. It is used because in different registers the frequency between pitches changes. For example the difference of the double 66 to 132 is 66, but the double of 440 and 880 is 440. Each are the same intervals but because of the relative highness or lowness of the interval the difference will change. Each octave, or double, is divided into 1200 cents.

Chance Composition -- music in which the the compositional process is undetermined, but the end result constant. Chance is an out growth of serialism, in an effort the remove the composer from the compositional process. Chance music is mostly associated wth John Cage and also evolved into the indeterminate sytle.

Controlled Improvisation -- where a composer only partially composes a piece of music, and the remaining aspects of the piece are determined by the performer.

Dissonance -- A simultaneous sounding of tones that produces a feeling of tension or unrest and a feeling that further resolution is needed.

Dynamics -- Varying intensities of sound throughout a given musical composition. (Piano, Mezzo Piano, Forte, etc.)

Dodecaphonic -- means 'through the twelve.' It is a style of composition that takes advantage of all twelve tones. Music is written with rows or sets of tones, and the variations of each. It is another name for twelve- tone composition.

Double -- same as the octave. The difference being that the double refers to twice the frequency of the first pitch and the octave means to go through the eight. Meaning that the octave consists of eight whole steps. This works fine in most tunings systems, but in some there are no whole steps; therefore, double is a more appropriate term for the interval of 1200 cents.

Fermata -- A pause, stop, or interruption as that before the cadenza of a concerto.

Harmony -- The sound resulting from the simultaneous sounding of two or more tones consonant with each other

Homophonic -- Were a melody is supported and played in conjunction with an underlying chord progression. The progressions move in note against note fashion.

Istesso tempo -- The same tempo. (The tempo remains as before, after a change was made)

Ictus -- (as used in 20th century music) -- is similar to a chord, the difference is that a chord has a tonic and an ictus is just a collection of note. No note in the ictus is more important than another.

Indeterminate Composition -- music which was mostly developed by John Cage, in indeterminate music only instructions are given, such as, "play three notes as fast as possible for two minutes."

Interval Class -- Each interval contains a specific number of half steps, the number of half steps indicates the interval class

Isorhythm -- the use of repetitive patterns in music. The term "talea" is a repeating rhythmic pattern, and the term "color" is a repeating melodic pattern. The talea is similar to ostinato.

Musica Ficta -- in music of the middle ages, musica ficta was the use of notes out side of the hexachord systems in use at the time.

Picardy Third -- a technique that uses a major third instead a minor third in the final chord of a piece in minor.

Pitch Class -- is similar to pitch space except that octave equivalence does apply. C and c are treated as equals. Only there name is important not their relative highness or lowness. Example: C = 0, C# = 1, D = 2 , . . . , A# = 10, B = 11

Pitch Space -- every note has a defined name. Octave equivalence does not apply here. C and c are separate pitch spaces. Both their name and relative highness and lowness is used to identify them.

Polyphonic -- music with multiple melodic lines. Each melodic line is considered independent, harmony is not intended.

Register -- usually started on a c note. For ever c that is encountered the register changes. Register Names: Sub contra -- AAA,BBB ( the lowest tones on the piano) /

Contra -- CC - BB /Great -- C - B/ Small -- c - b /One Line -- c' - b' (c' is middle c)

Two Line -- c'' - b'' / Three Line -- c''' - b''' / Four Line - c'''' - b'''' / Five line -- c''''' Retrograde -- when a series of pitches is written or played backwards, it was done in retrograde, meaning backwards.Example: A = [3,2,5,4,11] The retrograde of A is A' = [11,4,5,2,3]

Set -- is a collection of pitches. A set can be in ordered or unordered form. Example: [3,4,2,3] is a collection of pitch classes.

Serialism -- a style of composition in which the various aspects of the music of dtermined by tone rows. These rows are transformed into numbers which can be used to create rhythms, note or chord durations, etc...

Solfege -- the use of syllables to sing the pitches: C = DoD = ReE = MiF = FaG = SolA = LaB = Si (or Ti)

Altered pitches are often sung as the unaltered, C# sung as Do and Db as Re. But sometimes alternate syllables are used:C# = DiD# = ReF# = FiG# = SiA#= Li

Tonal -- a piece is tonal if it is centered around a tonic. Meaning that the piece has one note that is more dominating than any other note in the composition.

Trinary Form -- is the division of a piece into three section respectively, ABA. Where the second A section is usually a variation of the first A section.

Tonicization -- a small scale modulation, usually only a couple of chords. Where a tone other than the keys tonic acts as a tonic note.

Unordered Set -- when the order of the elements in the set is arbitrary. Meaning the pitches are not in any given order.