Music Vocabulary
The overall loudness or softness of music.
What are dynamics?
Fine means this.
What is the end?
The top number of a time signature tells you this.
What is how many beats are in each measure?
mp
What is mezzo-piano/moderately soft?
When you make a mistake in a performance, you should do this. What is keep going?
What is keep going?
The quality or character of a musical sound.
What is tone/timbre?
A curved line joining two notes of the same pitch.
What is a tie?
Four sixteenth notes equal this note value.
What is a quarter note?
sfz tells you to do this.
What is play a sudden strong accent?
If you're consistently sharper than the rest of the band, your pitch is too ___.
What is high?
The shaping of a musical idea, similar to shaping a sentence.
What is phrasing?
Two dots beside a double barline mean this.
What is repeat?
This note is worth the same number of beats as two quarter notes.
What is a half note?
dim. or decresc. means this.
What is gradually get softer?
The relationship between the volume of melody, harmony, bass, etc.
What is balance?
The way individual notes are attacked, sustained and released.
What is articulation?
A fermata tells you to do this.
What is hold the note/rest longer than its written value?
A dot beside a note increases its value by this amount.
What is half of the note's original value?
Explain the difference between a tie and a slur.
Tie = same pitch, combine duration; slur = different pitches, connected articulation.
The ability of players to match tone quality so individual sounds combine into one ensemble sound.
What is blend?
Gradually getting slower.
What is ritardando/ritard?
D.C. tells you to do this.
What is return to the beginning?
n 4/4 time, a dotted half note + two eighth notes fills this many beats.
What is 4 beats?
What's the difference between fp and sfz?
fp = loud attack immediately becoming soft; sfz = sudden strong emphasis.
Explain the difference between balance and blend.
Balance = relative volume of parts; blend = matching/combining tone qualities.