Melody & Harmony
The part sung by the lead singer.
What is melody?
The duration of sounds and silences in music.
What is rhythm?
The structural organization of a piece.
What is form?
The distinctive sound or tone color of a sound.
The volume of a song.
What are dynamics?
All the other pitches being used to support a melody.
What is harmony?
The number of beats and pattern of accents in music.
When there are very few parts playing.
What is thin texture?
The key or tonal center of a piece of music.
What is tonality?
The speed of a song.
What is tempo?
3 or more pitches played at the same time (usually pitches 1, 3, & 5 of the 8-note scale).
What is a chord?
Emphasizing the off/weak beats in a rhythm.
What is syncopation?
The name for ABA form.
What is ternary form?
When a song sounds overall sad.
What is minor tonality?
The Italian word for "loud".
What is forte?
When two notes have a clashing sound.
What is dissonance?
The symbol at the beginning of a piece that tells musicians what type of beats to count and how many of them are in each measure.
What is the time signature?
When there is only one part playing.
What is monophonic?
2 words to describe timbre.
What are bright, dark, hollow, reedy, warm, harsh, metallic, dull, mellow, raspy, piercing, airy.
The Italian word for "very fast".
What is presto?
When the pitches of the melody go up.
What is ascending contour?
The number of eighth notes in a measure with time signature 6/8.
What is 6?
When many parts are moving at different times.
What is polyphonic?
When there is no "home base" pitch in a piece of music and it sounds random.
What is atonal?
The Italian word for "getting quieter over time?"
What are diminuendo &/or decrescendo?