ABA- a Common Musical Form

K-12 MUSIC CURRICULUM GLOSSARY

ABA- a common musical form in which the first part and the third part are the same

and the middle part is different and provides contrast

Abstract- form that goes beyond the boundaries of traditional form and may be less

symmetrical or balanced

Accents – emphasis on one pitch or chord (<)

Accidental - a symbol used to raise or lower a pitch; may be used to cancel a previous sign

Active Listening- listening while engaged in some way with the music (ie…keeping the steady

beat)

Aerophones - instruments whose sound source is vibrating air

Alto – low-pitched female voice

Andante - moderately slow, walking tempo

Arpeggio – broken chords in which notes are played in consecutive order

Arranger - one who organizes music by assigning parts to different instruments or voices

Articulation - the manner in which notes are joined in succession (staccato, legato, slur)

Assessment - evaluation

Atonal - music that goes beyond the boundaries of traditional harmonic and melodic concepts

Bar lines - a line drawn vertically through one or more staves to mark off a measure

Baritone - low male voice between tenor and bass

Bass – low-pitched male voice

Bass Clef or F Clef – the sign at the beginning of the staff that indicates where F is located

Bass Staff – the lower staff of the grand staff; the part of the staff that contains notes for low

voices or instruments to sing or play or for the pianists’ left hand to play

Beat - rhythmic units in music

Block chords - chords played in such a way that all pitches are sounded simultaneously

Blue notes - in African American music or jazz, the lowered third, seventh, and fifth

scale degrees

Breathing - the act of breaking to support phrasing and to take in air while singing or playing

Chest voice - the voice’s lower register

Chords - 3 or more pitches in a scale that are played or sung simultaneously

Classroom instruments – may be pitched or unpitched; term includes such instruments

as recorder, autoharp, guitar, electronic keyboard, piano, Orff barred instruments,

and miscellaneous non-pitched percussion instruments

Clef signs - signs placed at the beginning of a staff to indicate the position and names of pitches

located on the staff’s lines and spaces

Chordophones - instruments whose sound source is a vibrating string or strings

Choreography - organized patterns of dance moves to music

Coda - a concluding passage that occurs after the structural conclusion

Coda sign

Composer - one who creates a musical work

Concrete - forms that are common and balanced

Consonance - frequencies or pitches that sound pleasing to the ear

Contour - shape of the phrase or melodic line

Cooperative learning – collaborative work with others in pairs or small groups

Corpophones - the body as an instrument, using its own sound producers

Countertenor - a male alto who sings falsetto

Damper Pedal - on the piano, a sustaining pedal located to the far right of the three pedals

Damper Pedal Marking – a bracket in the piano part to indicate when the damper pedal

should be depressed

Dance forms and styles – waltz, swing

DC al Fine (Da Capo al Fine) - indication that the piece is to be repeated from the beginning to

the end

Diction - the clarity and distinctness in pronouncing and singing texts in multiple languages

Dissonance - frequencies or pitches that clash

Double bar lines - two parallel lines drawn vertically through a staff to indicate the end of the

composition or a section of a composition

DS al Fine (Dal Segno al Fine) - indication that a piece should be repeated from the place

marked with the Dal Segno Sign to the end

Dynamic markings - terms, abbreviations, and symbols used to indicate degrees of volume

Dynamics - loud and soft in music and variations in between. (ie… P, f, ff, mf, <, >)

Duet - a composition for 2 performers; a performance by two performers

Duration - the time that a sound lasts

Eighth note -

Eighth rest -

Electrophones - instruments whose sound source is electricity

Ensemble - a group of performers who work together

Flats - a symbol that indicates lowering of the pitch of a note by a half step

Folk Instruments - ie.… banjo, dulcimer, ukulele, washboard, autoharp, recorder, etc…

Form - the shape of a musical composition as defined by all of its pitches, rhythms, dynamics,

and timbres

Fundamental - the lowest frequency or tone in the harmonic series

Genres (ie…. opera, musical theatre, symphony, concerto, spiritual, etc…)

Grand Staff – the entire set of lines and spaces for musical notation that includes all clefs

Guided Listening - listening with an idea in mind; listening for something specific in music

Half note -

Half rest -

Harmonic interval – two pitches a certain distance apart that are played at the same time

Harmony - pitches sounded simultaneously

Head Voice - the voice’s higher register

Headset – equipment to wear over the ears for the purpose of hearing sound in isolation from

Surrounding sounds

Idiophones - instruments made of various materials whose sound source is the vibration of the

instruments themselves as they are struck shaken, scraped, or tapped

Instrument families of the band and orchestra - strings, percussion, brass, woodwinds,

electronic

Interval – the relationship of 2 pitches measured by the distance between them

Intonation - the degree of accuracy with which pitches are produced

Inversions - moving the bass note, or the bass and third note, out of root position

Keyboard - the set of levers in pianos, organs, harpsichords, and similar instruments; an

electronic instrument similar to the piano

Key Signature – and indicator of which notes are to be performed with a flat or sharp

throughout a piece of music

Largo - very slow

Left hand C-position – left pinky on C on the piano

Legato - played smoothly with little or no separation between notes

Major Key -

Measure - unit of musical time consisting of a fixed number of beats

Melodic Interval - relationship between 2 pitches played separately and sequentially

Melody - an organized succession of single pitches

Membranophones - instruments whose sounds source is a vibrating skin or membrane

Meter – organization of beat patterns with time signature indicators

Minor Key

Moderato - moderate tempo

Modes - variations on the major/minor scales, where the sequence of whole steps/half steps are

adjusted for a specific melodic line

Music – sound and silence

Musical alphabet – a, b, c, d, e, f, g

Natural signs - sign used to cancel a previous sharp or flat

No beat - absence of rhythmic units in music

Note head

Note Values

Organizers (Twelve-tone technique)

Patterns - a group of notes or rhythms that is imitated

Phrases - unit of musical syntax, usually forming part of a larger period

Piano - soft

Pitch - the perceived highness or lowness of a sound, or its frequency

Portfolio - a portable case for holding loose papers

Posture - position of the body

Practice - repeated performance of an activity in order to acquire or perfect a skill

Quarter note

Quarter rest

Right hand C-position – right thumb on middle C

Rondo - a musical form in which the A section repeats between two or more contrasting sections

(ABACADA)

Recorder - end-blown flute used from middle ages through Baroque

Repeat Sign - indicates to play a passage again

Rest - a span of time in which there is silence

Rhythm - organization of time in music; a pattern of long and short sounds and silences

Ritardando - slowing down gradually

Scales - collection of pitches arranged in order from lowest to highest or highest to lowest

Scoring Rubric – developed both by students and teachers

Sharps - indicates to raise a pitch by a half step

Slurs - curved line placed above two or more notes indicating that they should be played legato

Solo - A work for a single instrument

Soprano – high-pitched female voice

Staccato - indicates that notes should be played detached from one another

Staff - group of horizontal lines on which notes are placed in such a way as to indicate pitch

Steady Beat - the steady pulse heard in most music

Stem - the vertical stem attached to a note head

Style - modes of expression or performance

Syncopation - momentary contradiction of the prevailing meter or pulse

Tenor – high-pitched male voice

Theme and Variations - a changed version of a theme or melody

Tied notes - two notes connected with a curved line indicating that the second note is not to be

played

Timbre - tone color; unique sound or character of a voice or instrument

Time Periods

Time Signature

Tonal - music based on traditional western theory (harmony, melody)

Tonality – a system of organizing pitch in which a single pitch is made central

Treble clef or G clef

Treble Staff

Video and Audio Recordings

Vowel formation

Whole note

Whole rest -