| A | B |
|---|
| tones | musical sounds |
| linear perspective | looking at one line of music= one note after another (linear = line); a melody not chords |
| motive | short melody that recurs (comes again and again) in a piece of music |
| modes | seven-note patterns whose arrangements of half and whole steps are different than the major or minor scale |
| dynamic level | the loudness or softness of a sound |
| meter | the organization of weak and strong beats |
| dissonance | combinations of musical tones that sound tense or very active when played together |
| unison | everyone singing or playing the same notes |
| diatonic scales | tonal scales (no extra sharps or flats) |
| frequency of vibration | creates different tones or notes |
| octave | two notes that are eight steps apart (for example, two Cs or two Fs) |
| chords | three or more different tones played or sung at the same time |
| pentatonic scale | a five-note scale = for example, a series of five black keys on a piano keyboard |
| allegro | played fast and cheerfully |
| harmony | two tones played or sung at the same time and that have some logical relationship |
| key | the scale that most of the notes of a music composition/piece are taken from (A, A flat, A sharp, B, B flat, or B sharp, etc.) |
| accent | a note or beat that is stressed or stronger |
| tonic note; the tonic (in a tonal composition) | the first note of a major or minor scale; the note a piece of Western music is likely to begin or end on |
| angular melody line | a melody in which notes jump from high to low; not a smooth melody |
| andante | moderately slow = a little slow; "walking" speed |
| rhythm | the arrangement of time in music |
| pitch | how high or low a note is |
| triad | the most basic chord; three tones: a third on a third |
| tonality = tonal system | the system of harmony in Western music based on the major and minor scales |
| scales | the patterns of notes or pitches that go up or down like ladders |
| syncopation | accents or stressed notes in unexpected places |
| half step | the closest distance between two keys on a piano |
| melody | tones or notes of different pitches, organized in a meaningful way |
| proportional duration | . the length of sounds in comparison to other sounds in the music; for example, a half note gets two beats which may be fast or slow beats depending on how long other notes in the piece are played |
| tempo | the speed of music |
| quadruple meter | four beats per measure |
| homophony | when a melody is accompanied by chords |
| timbre | color or quality of a musical sound that changes depending on the size and material of an instrument and how it is played |
| polyphony | more than one line of music played or sung at the same time |
| Notes | the way musical sounds are written |
