ABSP - Musical Notes

Musical Notes and Ornaments

Words

acciaccatura	a grace-note performed quickly before an essential note of a melody > ACCIACCATURAS or ACCIACCATURE
agoge	in Greek music, tempo; sequence in melody.
agogic	accenting a musical note by slightly dwelling on it.
agogics	the accentuation of a musical note by slightly dwelling on it > AGOGICS.
alt	a high tone; a halt or rest.
amusis	the inability to distinguish differences in musical pitch.
amusic	suffering from amusia, the inability to distinguish differences in musical pitch.
anacrusis	one or more unstressed notes immediately preceding the first bar line > ANACRUSES.
appoggiatura	a short note placed before a longer one.
arpeggiate	to perform or write in arpeggios.
arpeggio	the sounding of the notes of a chord in (usu. rapid upward) succession, not simultaneously.
atonal	not referring to any scale or tonic, NONTONAL.
atonality	the state of being ATONAL.
atonally	in an ATONAL manner.
backbeat	one of the normally unstressed beats in a bar, used as a secondary syncopated beat.
bassline	the lowest line in a piece of jazz or popular music, provided by a bass instrument or electronically.
battuta	the measuring of time by beating.
beatless	without a beat.
bebung	a tremolo effect produced on the clavichord.
bitonal	using two musical keys simultaneously.
bitonality	the use of two musical keys simultaneously.
bravura	spirit and dash in execution > BRAVURE or BRAVURAS.
breakbeat	in house music, a short sample of drum beats taken from old soul or jazz records.
breve	an obsolescent note, twice as long as the longest now generally used (the SEMIBREVE).
cadenza	a (sometimes improvised) flourish or passage for a solo instrument or voice, usu. near the close or between the divisions of a movement.
chord	a group of notes to be played together; (verb) to play a chord.
chordal	of or pertaining to a chord.
chording	the playing, singing, or arrangement of chords.
chromatic	(noun) a chromatic note.
clef	a character placed on the stave by which the absolute pitch of the following notes is fixed.
concertante	exhibiting or needing great skill and brilliancy; alternating tutti passages and passages for a group of soloists.
continuo	the bass part as written for a keyboard instrument.
contralto	the part sung by the highest male or lowest female voices; the alto or counter tenor > CONTRALTI or CONTRALTOS.
crotchet	a note in music, equal to half a MINIM.
demisemiquaver	a 1/32 note in music.
descant discant	a variation upon a melody, hence, metaphorically, a comment on a given theme; (verb) to comment on a theme.
diapente	the interval of the fifth. [Gk. dia, through + pente, five].
diaphony	a dissonance; also, two-part polyphony.
diastaltic	of intervals, extended; of style, bold.
diastem	in Greek music, an interval, esp. one forming a single degree of the scale.
diatonic	using only the 8 tones of a major or minor scale without chromatic deviations.
diazeuctic	relating to DIAZEUXIS, the separation of two tetrachords by a whole tone.
diazeuxis	the separation of two tetrachords by a whole tone > DIAZEUXES.
ditone	the Greek major third, which comprehend two major tones (the modern major third contains one major and one minor whole tone).
doh	a musical note.
downbeat	the first or most heavily accented beat of a measure (indicated by a conductor's downward beat).
ecbole	a digression; (Mus.) the sharpening of a tone.
fa	a musical note, as in sol-fa.
fah	a musical note.
fermata	a pause in music > FERMATAS or FERMATE.
finalis	a type of tone in mediaeval music > FINALISES.
fioritura	a florid embellishment introduced into a melody by a singer or player > FIORITURE.
gamme	a musical scale.
gamut	the complete range of something, e.g. the full range of notes which a voice or instrument can produce.
gorgia	an improvised virtuoso passage in 16th and 17th century singing.
halftone	a semitone.
harmonic	a musical tone with a frequency that is a multiple of the fundamental frequency.
hemiola hemiolia	in mediaeval music, a perfect fifth.
heptachord	a system of seven sounds.
heptatonic	of a musical scale, containing seven notes.
hexachord	a series of six notes, with a semitone between the third and fourth, the other intervals being whole tones.
hypate	in Greek music, the lowest string of the lyre, or its tone.
hypodorian	relating to a mode in ancient Greek music.
hypolydian	relating to a mode in ancient Greek music.
klang	a complex tone, composed of fundamental and harmonics.
klangfarbe	tone-colour; timbre.
la	a musical note > LAS.
lah	a musical note.
large	an obsolete note in music.
lichanos	in ancient Greek music, the string or the note struck by the forefinger > LICHANOSES.
longa	a long note > LONGAS.
me	a musical note > MES.
mediant	the third tone of a scale, about midway between tonic and dominant.
melisma	a melody; a melodic ornamentation > MELISMAS or MELISMATA.
melismatic	in florid style, especially of singing one syllable on a number of notes.
mese	in Greek music, the middle string of the lyre; its note.
mi	a musical note > MIS.
microtone	an interval less than a semitone.
minim	a note with the time value of half a semibreve or two crotchets.
mordent	a rapidly alternating a tone with one half-tone lower; a reverse trill. [Ger. fr. Ital. mordente].
nete	the highest note of a lyre. [Gk. nete or neate (chorde), literally, lowest (string)].
neum neume	a succession of notes sung to one syllable.
neumatic neumic	relating to a NEUME.
nontonal	not tonal.
nonuplet	a group of nine notes to be performed in the time of eight or six.
octaval	relating to an OCTAVE.
octave	a set of eight notes.
offbeat	an unaccented beat; any of the normally unaccented beats in a bar, as the second or fourth beat in common time.
ostinato	a short melody or phrase that is constantly repeated in the same pitch, a RIFF > OSTINATOS.
overtone	a harmonic or upper partial.
paramese	the string or tone above the MESE.
paranete	the string or tone next below the NETE, the highest note of a lyre.
parhypate	in Greek music, the lowest note but one in a TETRACHORD.
partitura	a score in music > PARTITURAS.
pentatonic	consisting of five tones or notes.
plagal	of a Gregorian mode, having the final in the middle of the compass instead of at the bottom, as the last two chords of most hymns.
plinky	Of a high pitched sound from a stringed instrument when plucked > PLINKIER, PLINKIEST.
polytonal	of music, having many keys.
polytonality	two or more tonalities in a composition.
pralltriller	a musical ornament comprising a MORDENT plus an added upper note.
presa	a musical symbol used in a canon etc. to mark the entry of a voice or instrument > PRESE.
pycnon	a term in ancient Greek music; in mediaeval music, a semitone.
quaver	a 1/8 note in music; (verb) to tremble, quiver.
re	a musical note > RES.
ribattuta	the slow beginning of a TRILL > RIBATTUTAS.
riff	a short rhythmic phrase repeated constantly; (verb) to play such a phrase.
schisma	in music, an interval equal to half the difference between twelve perfect fifths and seven octaves > SCHISMAS. [Gk. schisma a split, rent].
semibreve	the longest generally used note, having twice length of minim and half that of breve.
semiquaver	a 1/16 note in music, half a quaver.
semitonal semitonic	of or pertaining to a SEMITONE.
semitone	half a tone, one of the lesser intervals of the musical scale, as from B to C.
septimole	a group of seven notes to be played in the time of four or six.
sextolet	a group of six notes performed in the time of four.
sharp	(verb) to raise in music by a semitone.
si	an earlier form of TI, a musical note > SIS.
so	in such a way; (noun) a musical note > SOS.
soh	a musical note.
sol	a musical note; an old French coin.
subchord	part of a chord.
subdominant	the fourth degree of the diatonic scale, e.g. F in the scale of C.
submediant	the sixth degree of the diatonic scale, e.g. A in the scale of C major.
suboctave	the octave below.
subtonic	the seventh tone of a diatonic scale, immediately below the tonic.
superdominant	the SUBMEDIANT or 6th tone of the diatonic scale.
supertonic	the note next above the keynote; the second of the scale.
syncopation	a shift of accent in a musical passage that occurs when a normally weak beat is stressed.
tablature	an old notation for lute music etc.
tala	a traditional rhythmic pattern in Indian music. [Skr. 'hand-clapping'].
talea	a recurring rhythmic pattern in mediaeval motets > TALEAE.
te	= TI, a musical note > TES.
tenuto	sustained; a sustained note or chord > TENUTI.
tetrachord	a scale series of four sounds, of which the extremes, or first and last, constituted a fourth. These extremes were immutable; the two middle sounds were changeable.
tonality	the sum of relations between the tones or notes of a scale or key; a particular scale or key.
tremulate	to sound with a tremolo effect.
trill	a rapid alternation of two notes a tone or semitone apart, commonly ending with a turn; (verb) to perform a trill.
trillo	a TRILL > TRILLOES.
triplex	triple time > TRIPLEXES.
trite	in Greek music, the third string of the lyre; (adj.) banal, commonplace > TRITER, TRITEST.
tritone	a superfluous or augmented fourth.
undecimole	a group of eleven notes, in the time of eight.
unison	identity of pitch.
unisonal unisonant unisonous	being in unison.
upbeat	an unaccented beat in music.
ut	a musical note > UTS.
zoppa zoppo	having a syncopated or temporarily changing accent of a beat. [Ital. 'limping'].

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