Musical Terms
__________ describes the tone color or quality of sound.
timbre
The __________ is the central pitch (or home base) around which a melody and its harmonies are built.
True or false: The fall of Constantinople in 476 CE is typically used to mark the beginning of a thousand-year period called the Middle Ages.
True!
A _________ is a Mass for the dead.
requiem
An interval spanning eight notes is called an _________.
octave
A single line or voice without accompaniment, or several voices singing the same melody simultaneously, is called:
monophony
___________, which is marked off in measures or bars, organizes the beats in music.
Meter
Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven were known for clear, structured melodies and were active during the _________ era.
Classical
True or false: Although royal courts and palaces had long been sites for music performance, during the Middle Ages music performances in concert halls became increasingly common.
False! This happened during the Classical Era!
________ refers to harmonies that are stable and pleasant/pleasing to listen to.
A _________ is a unit of meaning within a larger structure of music.
phrase
___________ describe the loudness or softness of music.
dynamics
The Renaissance Era was characterized in part by a flowering of ________ music in the vernacular.
secular
The ________ a collection of prayers that remain the same in every Mass.
Ordinary
A melody that moves by leaps instead of small, connected intervals is called __________.
conjunct
Phrases end in a resting place known as a __________ which punctuates music like a period or a comma in a sentence.
cadence
____________ is created by an unstable, or discordant, combination of pitches.
dissonance
True or false: besides advocating for religious texts to be available in the vernacular, during the Protestant Reformation, Protestants advocated for the simple unity of congregational singing.
True!
The _______ refers to the collection of texts in a Mass that vary throughout the year.
Proper
A _________ scale consists of seven whole and half steps.
diatonic
A ________ is an instrumental work for one or two instruments and consisting of three or four contrasting movements.
sonata
When the accent is shifted to a weak beat or an offbeat in music, this is known as _____________.
syncopation
In the Late Middle Ages, Léonin and Pérotin are known for developing a type of polyphony known as __________.
organum
Name the five parts of the Ordinary Mass.
Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
The __________ scale is made up of twelve half steps.
chromatic