Musical Terms Part 2

Here is the second, and final, post on musical terms. Note that this list is not complete; if you encounter other terms, you can always look them up in a dictionary or on the internet.

A Measure is a rhythmic grouping or metrical unit that contains a fixed number of beats; in notated music, it appears as a vertical line through the staff.

A Movement is a section of a more extended work that is more or less complete in itself, although occasionally movements are linked together, either through the choice of a final inconclusive chord or by a linking note.

A Nocturne is a night-piece, music that evokes a nocturnal mood. It was developed as a form of solo piano music by the Irish pianist and composer John Field in the early 19th century, leading to its notable use by Chopin.

A Note in English is either a single sound or its representation in notation. American English refers to a single sound as a tone, following German practice.

The Octave is an interval of an eighth, as for example from the note C to C or D to D. The first note can have a sharp or flat providing the last note has the corresponding sharp or flat (i. e. C sharp to C sharp).

An Opera is a drama in which most of the actors sing all or most of their parts. The form developed at the end of the 16th century in Italy, from where it spread to other regions of Europe

Opus (from Latin: work) is generally used in the listing of a composer's works by opus numbers, usually abbreviated to Op. Opus numbers are not always a guide to the date of composition or even to the date of publication.

Forms of Oratorio change, but it remains primarily a work in which religious texts often with a narrative content are set for performance by singers and instruments.

The Overture is an introductory piece, often designed to initiate an opera or other dramatic work. also a possible independent composition, a concert movement, often with literary or geographical associations, or an occasional connotation.

Performance Practice indicates the attempt to perform music in the way  the composer would have experienced it. The past 50 or so years has brought a renewed interest in musicology and the technology and scholarship necessary to construct copies of earlier instruments, which generally have somewhat different tonal qualities than modern instruments.

Pizzicato (Italian: plucked) is a direction to performers on string instruments to pluck the strings. A return to the use of the bow is indicated by the word 'arco', bow.

Rhythm, an essential element in music in one way or another, is the arrangement of notes according to their relative duration and relative accentuation.

Ritardando (Italian: becoming slower) abbreviated often to rit., is often used as a direction to players.

Scale:  A series of tones or pitches in ascending or descending order. Scale tones are often assigned numbers (1-8) or syllables (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do).

A musical Score is written music that shows all parts. A conductor's score, for example, may have as many as thirty different simultaneous instrumental parts on one page, normally having the woodwind at the top, followed below by the brass, the percussion and the strings.

A Sharp, represented by the sign #, added before a note, raises its pitch by a semitone. In general terms music that is sharp may be simply out of tune, at too high a pitch.

Sonatas developed from an earlier form in which the melody instrument predominated to a form in which the keyboard assumed greater importance, with an optional accompaniment from a melody instrument. Greater degrees of equality between the two were achieved in the later violin sonatas of Mozart and the violin sonatas and cello sonatas of Beethoven.

Staccato, (Italian) "Separated." Notes which are held for less than their written value, or "separated" from one another. Notes written to be played staccato are often played in a pointed or spiky manner.

The String Family includes two types of instruments: bowed and plucked. The standard bowed string instruments, from highest to lowest, are violin, viola, cello and double bass. The harp and guitar are common plucked string instruments.

A Symphony may simply be defined as an orchestral composition generally in several movements.

Syncopation: A change in the expected rhythmic emphases: for example, stressing a weak (instead of a strong) beat, or replacing strong beats with a rest (silence). Syncopations disturb the regular, predictable pattern of strong and weak beats.

Tempo (Italian: time) means the speed at which a piece of music is played. Sometimes the exact tempo is given at the beginning of a piece of music with the number of beats to a minute, as measured by a metronome. More often tempo indications give the performer more latitude.

Tonality is a term for the principle of organization around a tonic, or home, pitch, based on a major or minor scale.

A Tone Poem is a symphonic poem, an orchestral composition that seeks to express extra-musical ideas in music.

Variation relates to the repetition of a theme in changed versions. It is possible to vary the melody, its rhythm and its harmony, or to vary by addition.

The family of Woodwind Instruments is less homogeneous in construction and sound production than the strings; it includes the piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone.