Learn to Read Music Glossary of Terms
bass. the lowest pitch, or the lowest note. beats. 1. a constant unit of time that forms a background clock in music. 2. difference tones whose frequency difference is below 20 Hz, resulting in separate pulses rather than a "tone". These are often used in tuning instruments. cadence. a pause or stopping point. Often cadences are associated with harmonic or melodic formulae. chord. three or more pitch classes considered simultaneously. A chord must have at least three pcs in it, but these may or may not sound simultaneously; e.g., in a "broken chord" or arpeggio. A broken chord is, nonetheless, a chord because its content is considered together as a group. Memory plays a part in the perception of arpeggiated chords. clef. a sign that normally occurs at the beginning of each staff to refer a particular staff line to a specific pitch; e.g. a G clef, or treble clef, indicates middle G (G4) as the second line. A bass clef, or F clef, indicates F below middle-C (F3) as the fourth line. half step. the smallest distance between notes in a chromatic scale; syn., semitone. harmony. the sound of tones in combination. The study of harmony makes up a large part of theory courses due to its importance and complexity in our traditional music. It is sometimes considered synonymous with the study of chords and homophony. key signature. sharps or flats that are placed at the beginning of a staff to indicate the pitch classes that are to be so altered on that staff. Notice that, contrary to common thought, a key signature (sic) does not specify key. melody. a combination of a pitch series and a rhythm having a clearly defined shape. meter. a grouping of pulses. Meter actually sounds and is not the same as a time signature, which is written. A time signature is actually a meter signature, and tells us something about the meter, but a signature is not the meter itself. meter signature, or time signature. a symbol normally consisting of two vertically placed numbers occurring at the beginning of a score, the upper indicating the metric organization of the music, i.e., the number of pulses in a group in a compound meter or the number of beats in a group in a simple meter; the lower number is a notational reference for the pulse, e.g., 3/4 indicates three beats per metric group, and a quarter note gets a beat. note. a written symbol for a pitch. A note does not sound. octave. two frequencies, or pitches, in the ratio of 2:1.
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pitch. the predominant frequency in a sound. Note the difference from tonic. rhythm. any aspect of music having to do with time. Notice that since music must exist in time, all music is rhythmic. scale. a group of pitch classes arranged in ascending or descending order. E.g., take the pc set G, C#, A, F#, D, B, E and arrange it as E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D, E (with E as tonic) and you have an E Dorian scale. tempo. the speed of music. Tempo marks are normally indicated in one of two ways: 1. as an Italian word, e.g. allegro=fast, lento=slow, or, 2. as a metronome mark, e.g. quarter note=144, meaning there are to be 144 quarter notes per minute. tone. 1. a pitch and all of its overtones. 2. a whole step, or whole tone. whole step. a distance or interval equal to two semitones.
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