Musical Instruments
An orchestral percussion instrument resembling a small upright piano. Also called a bell-piano, it is the instrument behind the Sugar Plum Fairy.
What is the celesta?
A tone row played backwards and upside down.
What is retrograde inversion?
A string technique meaning “with the bow.”
What is arco?
How quietly or loudly a piece of music should be played.
What are dynamics?
A Latin hymn sung in a Mass for the dead.
What is Dies Irae?
A keyboard instrument in which strings are set in vibration by plucking. A predecessor to the piano.
What is the harpsichord?
The number of tone rows possible (from the initial tone row and its permutations).
What is 48?
To make the notes sound by plucking the strings with the fingers rather than by using the bow.
What is pizzicato?
The arrangement of notes of different lengths.
What is rhythm?
Short recurring musical ideas that signify the presence of a monster or villain.
What is a leitmotif?
An electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer.
What is a theremin?
A group of composers comprised of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern.
What is the second Viennese school?
A pitch that is produced by lightly touching an open, vibrating string.
What is a harmonic?
The absence of sound. It can be used to punctuate/emphasize the sound that comes before or after it.
What is silence?
“Iconic” is used to describe which scene from Psycho?
What is the shower scene?
A double-reed woodwind instrument having a conical tube, and a brilliant penetrating tone.
What is an oboe?
Another name for the prime or initial tone row.
What is the original tone row?
An effect produced by moving the bow very quickly in small strokes from the wrist.
What is tremolo?
The Devil's Interval In music theory.
What is the tritone?
A sharply attacked chord used to reinforce moments of surprise or revelation.
What is a stinger chord?
Drums that are made out of large bowls that are usually made of copper.
What are timpani drums? What are kettledrums?
A tool used to create and analyze a 12-tone composition.
What is a matrix?
A glide from one pitch to another.
What is glissando?
Also known as tone color or tone quality.
What is timbre?
A film technique that syncs the accompanying music with the actions on screen.
What is Mickey Mousing?