Free music theory reference
Music Dictionary
500+ music terms explained in plain English, with engraved examples you can see and hear. From the staff and clefs to cadences, rubato and sonata form.
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508 terms
A
- A CappellaTechnique & PerformanceA cappella means singing without instrumental accompaniment. A choir, a vocal group or a soloist sings every part, and in modern groups the voices may also imitate the bass and drums.
- A TempoTempo MarkingsA tempo means 'in time': return at once to the tempo you were playing before a change such as a ritardando, rallentando, ritenuto or accelerando.
- A440Sound & AcousticsA440 is the standard tuning pitch: the A above middle C (A4) set to 440 hertz. Orchestras, bands, electronic tuners and digital instruments tune every other note from it.
- AABA Form (32-Bar Form)Form & StructureAABA form, or 32-bar form, is a song form of four eight-bar sections: a main melody (A), its repeat (A), a contrasting bridge (B), and a final return of A. It is the plan of many jazz standards.
- AccelerandoTempo MarkingsAccelerando, written accel., means gradually getting faster. The tempo speeds up little by little from the marking until a new, faster tempo is reached.
- AccentArticulation & OrnamentsAn accent is a sign, usually a sideways wedge (>), that tells you to stress a note by playing its start more strongly than the notes around it. The word also means any emphasis a note receives.
- AcciaccaturaArticulation & OrnamentsAn acciaccatura is a very short ornamental note, printed as a small note with a slash through its stem, that is crushed in just before or together with the main note and takes almost none of its time.
- AccidentalNotation & SymbolsAn accidental is a sign placed before a note that alters or restores its pitch, such as a sharp, flat or natural. It applies at that staff position until another accidental changes it or the measure ends.
- AccompanimentMelody, Texture & CounterpointAn accompaniment is the music that supports a melody, usually chords, a bass line and rhythm played underneath a singer or soloist, such as a piano part or a strummed guitar.
- AccordionInstruments & VoicesThe accordion is a portable free-reed instrument. Pushing and pulling its bellows blows air across metal reeds, while the right hand plays a keyboard or buttons and the left hand plays bass notes and preset chords.
- AdagioTempo MarkingsAdagio is a tempo marking meaning slow, from the Italian for 'at ease'. It is slower than andante and a little faster than largo, often about 60 to 76 beats per minute. An Adagio can also be a slow piece or movement.
- Added-Tone Chord (add9, 6)Chords & HarmonyAn added-tone chord is a triad with one extra color note but no seventh, most often a 9th (Cadd9: C–E–G–D) or a 6th (C6: C–E–G–A). Unlike C9, Cadd9 has no B♭.
- Aeolian ModeScales, Keys & ModesThe Aeolian mode is the white keys from A to A, with the step pattern whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. It has exactly the same notes as the natural minor scale.
- AgitatoDynamics & ExpressionAgitato means 'agitated': play with restless, excited energy, as if the music cannot settle. It often appears with a fast tempo word, as in Presto agitato.
- Alberti BassChords & HarmonyAlberti bass is a left-hand accompaniment that breaks each chord into the repeating pattern lowest–highest–middle–highest, such as C–G–E–G. It is a hallmark of Classical-era keyboard music.
- AllargandoTempo MarkingsAllargando, written allarg., means broadening: slow down gradually while keeping the sound full, usually louder and weightier. It is typically used at a climax or a grand final cadence.
- AllegrettoTempo MarkingsAllegretto is a tempo marking meaning moderately fast: a little slower and lighter than allegro. Many charts place it somewhere around 112 to 120 beats per minute, just below allegro and overlapping the top of moderato.
- AllegroTempo MarkingsAllegro is a tempo marking meaning fast and lively. In Italian it means 'cheerful'. It is the most common fast tempo, often around 120 to 168 beats per minute, and also names the fast movement of a sonata or symphony.
- Alto (Contralto)Instruments & VoicesAlto is the lower of the two main women's parts in a choir; as a solo voice type, the lowest female voice is called contralto, with a typical range of about F3 to F5 and a dark, rich tone.
- AmplitudeSound & AcousticsAmplitude is the size of a sound wave's vibration: how far the air pressure swings above and below normal. A larger amplitude sounds louder; it does not change the pitch.
- Anacrusis (Pickup)Rhythm & MeterAn anacrusis, or pickup, is one or more notes leading into a downbeat at the start of a piece or phrase. An opening pickup is often an incomplete first bar; a pickup to a later phrase can occur within a complete bar.
- AndanteTempo MarkingsAndante is a tempo marking meaning at a walking pace: moderately slow, flowing and unhurried. It sits between adagio and moderato, often around 76 to 108 beats per minute.
- AndantinoTempo MarkingsAndantino is a tempo marking meaning 'a little andante'. Today it usually means slightly faster than andante, a light walking pace, although musicians in the past did not agree on whether it was faster or slower.
- AnimatoDynamics & ExpressionAnimato means 'animated': play with more life and energy, usually with a slight quickening of the tempo. Animando means becoming animated, gradually livelier.
- AppassionatoDynamics & ExpressionAppassionato means 'passionately': play with intense, heartfelt emotion, a full tone and strong dynamic shaping. It often joins a tempo word, as in Allegro appassionato.
- AppoggiaturaArticulation & OrnamentsAn appoggiatura is a leaning note: an ornamental note, often a small note without a slash, played on the beat and taking part of the main note's time before resolving to it by step.
- ArcoArticulation & OrnamentsArco tells players of bowed string instruments to play with the bow. It is used mainly to cancel pizzicato (plucking) and return to normal bowing.
- AriaForm & StructureAn aria is a song for solo voice with accompaniment, usually part of an opera, oratorio or cantata, in which a character expresses emotion at a moment when the action pauses.
- Arpeggiando (Rolled Chord)Articulation & OrnamentsArpeggiando means rolling a chord: its notes are played quickly one after another, usually from the bottom up, and held so the whole chord still sounds. It is shown by a vertical wavy line before the chord.
- ArpeggiatorMusic ProductionAn arpeggiator is a feature of a synthesizer, keyboard or DAW that turns a held chord into a rhythmic pattern, playing the chord's notes one at a time in a chosen order, speed and octave range, in time with the tempo.
- ArpeggioChords & HarmonyAn arpeggio is a chord played one note at a time, usually in order from the bottom up or the top down, such as C–E–G–C. Musicians practice them in every key, and composers use them in accompaniments and melodies.
- ArrangementTechnique & PerformanceAn arrangement is a new version of an existing piece of music, reworked for different instruments, voices or a different style, with fresh choices about harmony, texture, form and who plays what.
- Art Song (Lied)Form & StructureAn art song is a composed setting of a poem for solo voice and piano, written for concert performance. The German art song is called a Lied (plural Lieder); the French, a mélodie.
- ArticulationArticulation & OrnamentsArticulation is the way each note starts, how long it really lasts and how it joins the next one: smooth (legato), short (staccato), stressed (accent) and so on. Slurs and small marks show it on the page.
- AssaiTempo MarkingsAssai is an Italian modifier meaning 'very'. It intensifies the tempo word it follows: Allegro assai is very fast, Adagio assai very slow, much like molto.
- AtonalityScales, Keys & ModesAtonality is music without a tonal center: no note or chord acts as home, so the music avoids major and minor keys. It developed in the early 20th century, above all with Arnold Schoenberg and his students.
- Audio InterfaceMusic ProductionAn audio interface is the device that connects microphones, instruments and speakers to a computer. It converts sound into digital audio for recording, and back into sound for listening, usually with better quality than a built-in sound card.
- Augmented IntervalPitch & IntervalsAn augmented interval is one half step larger than a perfect or major interval with the same letter names, such as the augmented fourth C–F♯ or the augmented second C–D♯.
- Augmented Sixth ChordChords & HarmonyAn augmented sixth chord is a predominant chord built around an augmented sixth between ♭6 and ♯4, such as F and D♯ in A minor, which expand outward to the dominant. It comes in Italian, French and German forms.
- Augmented TriadChords & HarmonyAn augmented triad is a three-note chord made of two stacked major thirds, such as C–E–G♯. Its outer notes form an augmented fifth, giving a bright but unsettled sound.
- Authentic CadenceChords & HarmonyAn authentic cadence is a phrase ending in which the dominant chord (V or V7) resolves to the tonic (I). It is the strongest, most final-sounding cadence in tonal music, a musical full stop.
- AutomationMusic ProductionAutomation records or draws changes to a control over time, such as a track's volume, pan or effect settings, so a DAW repeats those changes during playback.
B
- BackbeatRhythm & MeterThe backbeat is a strong accent on beats 2 and 4 of a 4/4 bar, usually played on the snare drum. It is at the heart of rock, pop, R&B, soul and much country music.
- Bar LineNotation & SymbolsA bar line is a vertical line drawn across the staff to divide music into measures (bars). Variants such as the double bar line, the final bar line and repeat bar lines mark sections, endings and repeats.
- BaritoneInstruments & VoicesBaritone is the male voice type between tenor and bass, with a typical classical range of about A2 to A4. It is often described as the most common adult male voice and is written in bass clef.
- Baroque MusicStyles, Genres & ErasBaroque music is European music from roughly 1600 to 1750, the era of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi. It is known for basso continuo, driving rhythms, ornamentation and contrapuntal forms such as the fugue.
- Bass ClefNotation & SymbolsThe bass clef, or F clef, is the symbol whose two dots surround the fourth staff line, marking it as the F below middle C. It is used for lower music: the piano's left hand, cello, bassoon, trombone and tuba.
- Bass GuitarInstruments & VoicesThe bass guitar (electric bass) usually has four strings tuned E–A–D–G, an octave below the guitar's lowest four. It plays the bass line and is written in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds.
- Bass LineMelody, Texture & CounterpointThe bass line is the lowest part of the music. It supports the harmony by sounding the bass note of each chord, and it helps drive the rhythm.
- Bass (Voice)Instruments & VoicesBass is the lowest standard singing voice, with a typical classical range of about E2 to E4. In a choir the basses sing the lowest part, the foundation of the harmony, written in bass clef.
- BassoonInstruments & VoicesThe bassoon is the bass double-reed woodwind: a long wooden tube folded back on itself, played through a curved metal crook. It plays from B♭1 to about E5 and reads bass and tenor clefs at written pitch.
- BeamNotation & SymbolsA beam is a thick line that joins the stems of eighth notes and shorter notes in place of their flags. One beam means eighth notes, two mean sixteenths, and the groups show where each beat falls.
- BeatRhythm & MeterThe beat is the steady pulse you tap your foot to in music. Beats are evenly spaced, the meter groups them into bars, and the tempo is how fast they go.
- Beating (Acoustic Beats)Sound & AcousticsBeating is the regular pulsing you hear when two tones of slightly different frequency sound together. The beats per second equal the difference between the two frequencies, so musicians tune by making the beats slow down and stop.
- BebopStyles, Genres & ErasBebop is a style of jazz that developed in the early to mid-1940s, built on fast tempos, complex harmony and long, intricate improvised lines. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were its leading figures.
- Binary FormForm & StructureBinary form is a two-part musical form, AB, in which each half is usually repeated. The first half typically moves away from the home key and the second half finds its way back.
- Block ChordChords & HarmonyA block chord is a chord whose notes are all played at the same moment, as one solid sound. It is the opposite of a broken chord, in which the notes are played one after another.
- BluesStyles, Genres & ErasThe blues is an African American musical tradition from the American South, known for blue notes, call-and-response phrasing and, very often, the twelve-bar blues chord progression.
- Blues ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe blues scale is a six-note scale: the minor pentatonic plus a flat 5, the blue note. In C it is C E♭ F F♯ G B♭. It is widely used for improvising in blues, rock and jazz.
- Borrowed Chord (Modal Mixture)Chords & HarmonyA borrowed chord is a chord taken from the parallel key, usually from minor into major, such as F minor (iv) or A♭ major (♭VI) in C major. The home note stays the same, but the color darkens.
- Bossa NovaStyles, Genres & ErasBossa nova is a style of Brazilian popular music that emerged in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s, combining samba rhythm with jazz harmony, gentle vocals and a syncopated nylon-string guitar.
- BowingTechnique & PerformanceBowing is the technique of drawing a bow across the strings of a violin, viola, cello or double bass, and also the markings that tell a player which way to bow and which notes share a bow.
- BPM (Beats per Minute)Tempo MarkingsBPM, short for beats per minute, measures tempo as the number of beats in one minute. At 60 BPM each beat lasts one second; at 120 BPM each beat lasts half a second.
- Brass FamilyInstruments & VoicesThe brass family is the group of wind instruments whose sound starts with the player's buzzing lips in a cup- or funnel-shaped mouthpiece: trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba and their relatives.
- Breath MarkNotation & SymbolsA breath mark is a small comma-shaped sign above the staff that shows where a singer or wind player should breathe. For other instruments it asks for a slight break in the sound, taken from the end of the note before it.
- BridgeForm & StructureA bridge is a contrasting section of a song that usually appears once, offering new melody and chords before the music returns to familiar material. In classical forms, it is the transition between two themes.
- Broken ChordChords & HarmonyA broken chord is a chord whose notes are played separately instead of all at once, in any order or pattern. Arpeggios, Alberti bass and many guitar picking patterns are kinds of broken chord.
C
- C Clef (Alto and Tenor Clef)Notation & SymbolsA C clef is a movable clef whose center marks middle C. On the third line it is the alto clef, read by violas; on the fourth line it is the tenor clef, used by cellos, bassoons and trombones for high passages.
- CadenceChords & HarmonyA cadence is the chord progression that ends a musical phrase, like punctuation at the end of a sentence. The main types are authentic (V–I), plagal (IV–I), half (ending on V) and deceptive (V–vi).
- CadenzaForm & StructureA cadenza is a virtuosic passage for a soloist, usually near the end of a concerto movement, in which the orchestra stops and the soloist plays alone in a free, improvisatory style.
- CaesuraNotation & SymbolsA caesura is a pair of slanted lines (//) above the staff that marks a complete break in the music. The sound stops, a short silence of no fixed length follows, and then the music starts again.
- Call and ResponseMelody, Texture & CounterpointCall and response is a musical conversation in which one performer or group plays or sings a phrase (the call) and another answers it (the response), back and forth.
- Canon (Round)Melody, Texture & CounterpointA canon is a piece in which one melody is imitated strictly by one or more voices, each entering after the one before. A round is a canon at the same pitch that can loop back to the start.
- CantabileDynamics & ExpressionCantabile means 'in a singing style': play the melody smoothly and expressively, shaping it as a singer would, with a sustained, connected tone.
- CelloInstruments & VoicesThe cello is a large bowed string instrument played seated, with four strings tuned C–G–D–A an octave below the viola. Its rich, singing tone covers bass lines and melodies, and it reads bass, tenor and treble clefs.
- CentSound & AcousticsA cent is a unit for measuring small differences in pitch: one hundredth of an equal-tempered half step. An octave contains 1,200 cents, and tuners show how many cents sharp or flat a note is.
- Chamber MusicTechnique & PerformanceChamber music is music for a small group of instrumentalists, usually with one player on each part and no conductor, such as a string quartet, a piano trio or a wind quintet.
- ChoirInstruments & VoicesA choir is a group of singers performing together, usually with several voices on each part. A mixed choir most often sings in four parts, soprano, alto, tenor and bass (SATB), with or without accompaniment.
- ChordChords & HarmonyA chord is a group of different notes, usually three or more, sounded together and typically built by stacking thirds. Chords supply the harmony under a melody and are named by their root and quality, such as C major or G7.
- Chord InversionChords & HarmonyA chord inversion is an arrangement of a chord with a note other than the root in the bass. In first inversion the third is lowest, in second inversion the fifth; seventh chords also have a third inversion.
- Chord ProgressionChords & HarmonyA chord progression is a series of chords played one after another, such as C–G–Am–F. Progressions give a piece its harmonic shape, moving away from the home chord and back again.
- Chord SymbolNotation & SymbolsA chord symbol is a short label, such as C, Am7 or G/B, written above the staff to name a chord. The letter gives the root; what follows gives the chord's quality, any added notes and, after a slash, the bass note.
- Chromatic ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe chromatic scale is a scale of twelve notes per octave, each a half step from the next. On the piano it uses every key, black and white, in order.
- Circle of FifthsScales, Keys & ModesThe circle of fifths arranges the twelve keys like a clock, each a perfect fifth from the next. Going clockwise from C adds one sharp per key; going counterclockwise adds one flat.
- ClarinetInstruments & VoicesThe clarinet is a single-reed woodwind with a mostly cylindrical tube. The common B♭ clarinet sounds a major second lower than written, and its written range runs from E3 to about C7.
- Classical PeriodStyles, Genres & ErasThe Classical period is the era of Western music from roughly 1750 to 1820, the age of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven, known for clear melodies, balanced phrases and forms such as the sonata and symphony.
- ClefNotation & SymbolsA clef is the symbol at the start of a staff that fixes the pitch of one line, and with it the name of every line and space. The common clefs are the treble, bass, alto and tenor clefs.
- Click TrackMusic ProductionA click track is a metronome played through headphones while recording or performing, so every musician and every overdub lines up with the same steady tempo and with the bar grid of the DAW.
- CodaNotation & SymbolsA coda is the closing section of a piece, added after its main structure to bring it to an end. In notation, the coda sign, a circle crossed by two lines, marks the jump to that ending in a D.C. or D.S. al Coda.
- Common TimeRhythm & MeterCommon time is another name for 4/4 time, with four quarter-note beats in every bar. It is often written as a large C in place of the two numbers.
- CompingTechnique & PerformanceComping is the chordal accompaniment a jazz pianist or guitarist plays behind a soloist or singer: chords placed in short, rhythmic, often syncopated figures that support the music without crowding it.
- Compound IntervalPitch & IntervalsA compound interval is an interval wider than an octave, such as a 9th (an octave plus a 2nd) or a 10th (an octave plus a 3rd). It keeps the quality of the simple interval inside it.
- Compound MeterRhythm & MeterA compound meter is one whose beats divide into three equal parts, such as 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8. Each beat is a dotted note, usually a dotted quarter worth three eighth notes.
- CompressionMusic ProductionCompression is an audio process that automatically turns a sound down when it gets louder than a set level, reducing the difference between its loud and quiet moments so it sounds more even and present.
- Con BrioDynamics & ExpressionCon brio means 'with vigor' or 'with spirit': play with energy, brilliance and drive. It is most often joined to a tempo word, as in Allegro con brio.
- Con FuocoDynamics & ExpressionCon fuoco means 'with fire': play with fiery, impetuous energy, usually fast and loud, with bold accents. It often joins a fast tempo word, as in Presto con fuoco.
- Con MotoDynamics & ExpressionCon moto means 'with motion': keep the music moving forward, a little more flowing than the tempo word alone would suggest. It is most familiar in Andante con moto.
- Concert PitchInstruments & VoicesConcert pitch is the actual sounding pitch of a note, as opposed to the written pitch a transposing instrument reads. The term also names the standard tuning reference, most often A4 = 440 Hz.
- ConcertoForm & StructureA concerto is a work for one or more soloists and orchestra, usually in three movements (fast–slow–fast), that contrasts the soloist with the full ensemble.
- Conjunct and Disjunct MotionMelody, Texture & CounterpointConjunct motion is a melody moving by step, to the next note up or down; disjunct motion is a melody moving by leaps larger than a step. Most melodies mix the two.
- ConsonancePitch & IntervalsConsonance is the quality of intervals and chords that sound stable and at rest, such as octaves, fifths, thirds and sixths. Its opposite, dissonance, sounds tense and seems to need resolution.
- Contrary MotionMelody, Texture & CounterpointContrary motion is when two musical lines move in opposite directions, one rising while the other falls. It is one of four kinds of motion between voices, with parallel, similar and oblique motion.
- CountermelodyMelody, Texture & CounterpointA countermelody is a second, independent melody played or sung at the same time as the main melody, designed to complement it rather than simply accompany it.
- CounterpointMelody, Texture & CounterpointCounterpoint is the art of combining two or more independent melodies so that each makes sense on its own and together they make convincing harmony. The texture it produces is polyphony.
- Counting RhythmRhythm & MeterCounting rhythm means saying the beats and their parts out loud, such as 1 & 2 & or 1 e & a, while you read or play, so that every note and rest starts in exactly the right place.
- Country MusicStyles, Genres & ErasCountry music is an American popular genre that grew out of the folk music of the rural South in the 1920s, known for storytelling lyrics, simple chord progressions and the sound of guitar, fiddle and steel guitar.
- Courtesy AccidentalNotation & SymbolsA courtesy accidental is a sharp, flat or natural that the rules do not require but that is printed as a reminder, often in parentheses. It usually appears in the bar after an accidental, once the bar line has canceled it.
- CrescendoDynamics & ExpressionA crescendo is a gradual increase in loudness. It is written as an opening hairpin (<) under the notes or as the word cresc., and it continues until a new dynamic is reached.
- Cut Time (Alla Breve)Rhythm & MeterCut time is 2/2 time: two half-note beats in each bar, written as a C with a vertical line through it. The notes look like 4/4, but you count and feel two beats instead of four.
D
- Da Capo (D.C.)Notation & SymbolsDa capo, abbreviated D.C., is Italian for 'from the beginning'. It tells you to go back to the start of the piece and play again, usually as far as the word Fine or until a jump to the coda.
- Dal Segno (D.S.)Notation & SymbolsDal segno, abbreviated D.S., is Italian for 'from the sign'. It tells you to go back to the segno sign and play on from there, usually as far as the word Fine or until a jump to the coda.
- DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)Music ProductionA DAW, or digital audio workstation, is software for recording, editing, arranging and mixing music on a computer. It combines a multitrack recorder, a MIDI editor, virtual instruments and a mixing desk in one program.
- Deceptive CadenceChords & HarmonyA deceptive cadence is a progression in which the dominant (V) moves to a chord other than the expected tonic, most often vi, as in G to A minor in C major. It postpones the ending of the phrase.
- Decibel (dB)Sound & AcousticsA decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit that compares a sound's level with a reference. Every 10 dB step means ten times the sound intensity, which most listeners hear as roughly twice as loud.
- Decrescendo (Diminuendo)Dynamics & ExpressionA decrescendo, also called a diminuendo, is a gradual decrease in loudness. It is written as a closing hairpin (>) or as decresc. or dim., and continues until a new dynamic is reached.
- Delay (Echo)Music ProductionDelay is an audio effect that records a sound and plays it back a moment later, producing one or more distinct echoes. The delay time, the number of repeats and their level are adjustable, and often set in time with the tempo.
- Deliberate PracticeTechnique & PerformanceDeliberate practice is focused, goal-directed practice: working on one specific weakness at a time, slowly enough to get it right and with immediate feedback, instead of simply playing pieces through.
- DevelopmentForm & StructureThe development is the middle section of a sonata-form movement, where themes from the exposition are broken up, transformed and moved through several keys before the music returns home.
- DiatonicScales, Keys & ModesDiatonic describes notes, scales and chords that belong to a key's seven-note scale. A diatonic scale, such as the major scale, has five whole steps and two half steps in each octave.
- Diminished IntervalPitch & IntervalsA diminished interval is one half step smaller than a perfect or minor interval with the same letter names, such as the diminished fifth B–F or the diminished seventh B–A♭.
- Diminished Seventh ChordChords & HarmonyA diminished seventh chord is four notes each a minor third apart, such as B–D–F–A♭ (B°7). Tense and symmetrical, it is built on the leading tone and usually resolves to a tonic.
- Diminished TriadChords & HarmonyA diminished triad is a three-note chord made of two stacked minor thirds, such as B–D–F. Its outer notes form a diminished fifth, which gives it a tense sound that wants to resolve.
- DissonancePitch & IntervalsDissonance is the quality of intervals and chords that sound tense or unstable and seem to need to move, such as seconds, sevenths and the tritone. In tonal music, dissonances usually resolve to consonances.
- DolceDynamics & ExpressionDolce means 'sweetly': play gently and tenderly, with a warm, soft tone. It describes the character of the sound rather than an exact loudness, though dolce passages are usually soft.
- DominantScales, Keys & ModesThe dominant is the fifth degree of a scale, a perfect fifth above the tonic: G in C major, E in A minor. Its chord, V or V7, pulls strongly back to the tonic and drives most cadences.
- Dominant Seventh ChordChords & HarmonyA dominant seventh chord is a major triad plus a minor seventh, such as G–B–D–F (G7). Built on the fifth degree of a key, it is the V7 chord, and it pulls strongly toward the tonic.
- Dorian ModeScales, Keys & ModesThe Dorian mode is a minor-sounding scale with a raised 6th: the white keys from D to D. Its step pattern is whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half, whole.
- Dotted NoteRhythm & MeterA dotted note has a small dot after its notehead, which makes it half again as long. A dotted half note lasts three beats in 4/4, and a dotted quarter lasts one and a half.
- Double Bar LineNotation & SymbolsA double bar line is a pair of vertical lines across the staff that marks the end of a section or a change of key, meter or tempo. A thin line followed by a thick one is the final bar line that ends a piece.
- Double BassInstruments & VoicesThe double bass is the largest and lowest bowed string instrument. Its four strings are tuned E–A–D–G in fourths, it is played standing or on a high stool, and its music is written in bass clef an octave above its sound.
- Double FlatNotation & SymbolsA double flat is a sign of two flats side by side that lowers a note by two half steps, a whole step. B double-flat is played on the same key as A; the sign appears mostly in flat keys and diminished chords.
- Double SharpNotation & SymbolsA double sharp is an x-shaped sign that raises a note by two half steps, a whole step. F double-sharp is played on the same key as G; the sign appears mostly in keys that already have many sharps.
- Double-Dotted NoteRhythm & MeterA double-dotted note has two dots after it. The first adds half the note's value and the second adds a quarter, making seven-fourths of the original duration. A double-dotted quarter lasts one and three-quarter quarter-note beats.
- DownbeatRhythm & MeterThe downbeat is the first beat of a bar, usually the strongest. The name comes from the conductor's downward stroke on beat 1, and it is also used loosely for any strong beat.
- DroneMelody, Texture & CounterpointA drone is a note, or a pair of notes such as the tonic and fifth, sustained or repeated continuously beneath a melody. Bagpipes, the hurdy-gurdy and the Indian tanpura are built around one.
- Drum KitInstruments & VoicesA drum kit is a set of drums and cymbals arranged so one seated player can play them all: usually a bass drum worked by a foot pedal, a snare drum, tom-toms, a hi-hat and one or more cymbals.
- DuetTechnique & PerformanceA duet is a piece for two performers, or a performance by two musicians together, such as two singers, two instruments, or two pianists sharing one piano (piano four hands).
- Duple MeterRhythm & MeterDuple meter groups the beats in twos, strong-weak, strong-weak. 2/4 and 2/2 (cut time) are simple duple meters, and 6/8 is compound duple.
- DynamicsDynamics & ExpressionDynamics are the levels of loudness in music and the changes between them. They are written as Italian words and letters such as p (soft) and f (loud), and as hairpins for getting gradually louder or softer.
E
- Ear TrainingTechnique & PerformanceEar training is practice that teaches you to recognize and name what you hear in music, such as intervals, chords, rhythms and melodies, and to sing or play them back.
- Eighth NoteRhythm & MeterAn eighth note is a filled notehead with a stem and one flag, or one beam when several are grouped. Two eighth notes last as long as one quarter note.
- Eighth RestRhythm & MeterAn eighth rest is a slanted stroke with one small hook at the top, a little like the number 7. It is half a beat of silence in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4, the same length as an eighth note.
- Electric GuitarInstruments & VoicesThe electric guitar is a guitar whose magnetic pickups turn string vibrations into an electrical signal for an amplifier. It is tuned and written like the acoustic guitar and leads much rock, blues and pop.
- Electronic Dance Music (EDM)Styles, Genres & ErasElectronic dance music (EDM) is a family of dance styles made mainly with synthesizers, drum machines and computers, including house, techno, trance, drum and bass and dubstep, built around a steady beat for DJs and clubs.
- EmbouchureTechnique & PerformanceEmbouchure is the way a wind or brass player shapes and uses the lips, mouth and facial muscles on the instrument's mouthpiece or reed to produce and control the sound.
- Enharmonic EquivalentPitch & IntervalsEnharmonic equivalents are two names for the same pitch, such as C♯ and D♭ or E and F♭. On a piano they are the same key; which name is correct depends on the key and the harmony.
- Envelope (ADSR)Sound & AcousticsAn envelope is the way a sound's loudness, or another quality, changes over time from the moment it starts until it dies away. Synthesizers set it with four controls: attack, decay, sustain and release (ADSR).
- EQ (Equalization)Music ProductionEQ, short for equalization, is adjusting the balance of frequencies in a sound, boosting or cutting bass, middle or treble ranges, to make it clearer, warmer or brighter, or to fit it into a mix.
- Equal TemperamentSound & AcousticsTwelve-tone equal temperament divides the octave into 12 equal half steps of 100 cents each. Every key sounds equally in tune, at the cost of making most intervals slightly impure.
- EspressivoDynamics & ExpressionEspressivo, written espr. or espress., means 'expressively': play with feeling, giving the melody shape, color and a little freedom. It often marks the line that matters most.
- ÉtudeForm & StructureAn étude (French for "study") is a piece written to practice a particular technical skill, such as fast scales, broken chords or octaves. The best études are also fine music in their own right.
- ExpositionForm & StructureThe exposition is the first main section of a sonata-form movement, where the main themes are presented: the first in the home key, the second in a contrasting key. In a fugue, the exposition is the opening entries of the subject.
- Extended Chord (9th, 11th, 13th)Chords & HarmonyAn extended chord is a seventh chord with more thirds stacked on top: the 9th, 11th or 13th. C9, Dm11 and G13 are extended chords, everyday sounds in jazz, soul, gospel and film music.
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- FermataNotation & SymbolsA fermata is an arc over a dot, placed above or below a note, chord or rest, that tells you to hold it longer than its written value.
- Figured BassChords & HarmonyFigured bass is a bass line with small numbers (figures) beside its notes, showing which intervals to play above each bass note. Baroque keyboard players read it and improvised the full chords.
- Film MusicStyles, Genres & ErasFilm music is music written or chosen to accompany a film, from the orchestral underscore that shapes a scene's emotion to the songs and source music heard by the characters themselves.
- FineNotation & SymbolsFine (pronounced FEE-nay) is Italian for 'end'. It marks where a piece finishes, often after a D.C. or D.S. has sent you back to an earlier passage.
- FingeringTechnique & PerformanceFingering is the choice of which finger plays each note, shown in music by small numbers. On the piano the thumb is 1 and the little finger is 5, in both hands.
- FingerpickingTechnique & PerformanceFingerpicking is playing a guitar or similar instrument by plucking individual strings with the thumb and fingers, usually in a repeating pattern, so bass notes, chord tones and melody can sound together.
- First and Second EndingsNotation & SymbolsFirst and second endings are numbered brackets over the last bars of a repeated passage. Play the first ending the first time and repeat; the second time, skip it and play the second ending instead.
- Five-Finger PositionTechnique & PerformanceA five-finger position is a hand position with one finger over each of five neighboring notes, such as C, D, E, F and G, so you can play a melody without moving your hand.
- FlagNotation & SymbolsA flag is the curved tail at the end of a note's stem. One flag makes an eighth note, two a sixteenth note and three a thirty-second note: each extra flag halves the note's length.
- FlatNotation & SymbolsA flat (♭) is a sign that lowers a note by one half step. On the piano, B-flat is the key just to the left of B. Flats appear before single notes or, for a whole piece, in the key signature.
- FluteInstruments & VoicesThe flute is a woodwind instrument without a reed: you blow across a hole in its side, and the air stream splitting on the hole's edge makes the sound. The concert flute plays from C4 to about C7 and reads treble clef.
- Folk MusicStyles, Genres & ErasFolk music is traditional music passed on by ear within a community, usually with no known composer and many local variants. The term also covers the singer-songwriter folk revival of the 1950s and 60s.
- FormForm & StructureForm is the overall plan of a piece of music: how its sections are arranged, which ones repeat, which ones contrast and which ones come back.
- Forte (f)Dynamics & ExpressionForte, written f, is the dynamic marking for loud. It sits between mezzo forte (mf) and fortissimo (ff). In Italian forte means 'strong', and a good forte sounds full rather than harsh.
- Fortepiano (fp)Dynamics & ExpressionFortepiano, written fp, means loud then immediately soft: attack the note forte and drop at once to piano. The same word also names the early piano of Mozart's and Beethoven's time.
- Fortissimo (ff)Dynamics & ExpressionFortissimo, written ff, means very loud. It is the superlative of forte, one step above f on the dynamic scale; fff and beyond ask for even more.
- Four-Part Harmony (SATB)Chords & HarmonyFour-part harmony is music for four independent voices, soprano, alto, tenor and bass (SATB), that form a chord on each beat. It is the texture of hymns and chorales, and the classic way to study harmony.
- French HornInstruments & VoicesThe French horn is a brass instrument with long, coiled tubing, rotary valves and a wide bell that the player's right hand rests inside. The horn in F sounds a perfect fifth lower than written.
- FrequencySound & AcousticsFrequency is the number of times a sound wave vibrates per second, measured in hertz (Hz). The higher the frequency, the higher the pitch: A4 vibrates 440 times a second, the A above it 880.
- FugueForm & StructureA fugue is a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody, the subject, is introduced by one voice and then imitated by each other voice in turn, and is developed throughout the piece.
- FundamentalSound & AcousticsThe fundamental frequency is the base frequency of a harmonic tone: its repetition rate and first harmonic. It normally establishes perceived pitch even when the component at that frequency is absent.
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- GainMusic ProductionGain is the amount a signal is amplified, especially at the input of a preamp or audio interface. Setting gain well means recording strongly enough to stay clear of noise without overloading and clipping.
- GiocosoDynamics & ExpressionGiocoso means 'playfully' or 'merrily': play with good-humored, bouncy high spirits. It often joins a fast tempo word, as in Allegro giocoso.
- GlissandoArticulation & OrnamentsA glissando is a slide from one note to another: a rapid sweep across the keys or strings on piano and harp, or a smooth, continuous slide in pitch on strings, trombone or voice. It is shown by a line between two notes.
- Gospel MusicStyles, Genres & ErasGospel music is Christian music rooted in African American church traditions, known for powerful solo and choir singing, call and response, rich harmony and driving rhythm. It shaped soul, R&B and pop singing.
- Grace NoteArticulation & OrnamentsA grace note is a small ornamental note printed in front of a main note. It does not count in the bar's rhythm; its time is borrowed from a neighboring note. A slash through it means play it very quickly.
- Grand StaffNotation & SymbolsThe grand staff is two staves joined by a brace, usually a treble staff above a bass staff. Piano and harp music is written on it, with middle C sitting between the two staves.
- GraveTempo MarkingsGrave is a tempo marking that means very slow and solemn. It is usually listed as the slowest of the common tempo words, and it asks for a heavy, serious character as well as a slow beat.
- GraziosoDynamics & ExpressionGrazioso means 'gracefully': play with elegance and charm, with a light touch, gentle accents and neatly shaped phrases. It often marks dance-like music such as minuets.
- Gregorian ChantStyles, Genres & ErasGregorian chant is the traditional monophonic, unaccompanied song of the Roman Catholic liturgy, sung in Latin in free rhythm. It was central to Western music for centuries.
- GrooveRhythm & MeterA groove is the repeating rhythmic pattern and feel that a band or player locks into, built from how the drums, bass and other parts fit together. Musicians also use the word for the quality that makes music move you.
- GuitarInstruments & VoicesThe guitar is a fretted string instrument, usually with six strings tuned E–A–D–G–B–E, that you pluck or strum. Guitar music is written in treble clef an octave higher than it sounds, and often in tablature.
H
- Half CadenceChords & HarmonyA half cadence is a phrase ending that stops on the dominant chord (V), leaving the music open and unresolved, like a comma or a question. A later phrase usually answers it by ending on the tonic.
- Half NoteRhythm & MeterA half note is an open notehead with a stem. It lasts half as long as a whole note, which is two beats in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time.
- Half RestRhythm & MeterA half rest is a small filled rectangle sitting on top of the middle line of the staff. It is two beats of silence in 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4, the same length as a half note.
- Half Step (Semitone)Pitch & IntervalsA half step, or semitone, is the smallest interval on a piano: the distance from any key to the very next key, black or white. Two half steps make a whole step.
- Half-Diminished Seventh ChordChords & HarmonyA half-diminished seventh chord is a diminished triad plus a minor seventh, such as B–D–F–A (Bø7 or Bm7♭5). It sits on degree 7 of a major key and is the ii chord of a minor-key ii–V–i.
- Hand IndependenceTechnique & PerformanceHand independence is the ability to make each hand do something different at the same time, such as a legato melody in one hand and detached notes in the other, or two different rhythms or dynamics at once.
- Harmonic FunctionChords & HarmonyHarmonic function is the role a chord plays in a key: tonic (stable home), predominant or subdominant (moving away), or dominant (tension that leads home). Chords with the same function can often replace one another.
- Harmonic Minor ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe harmonic minor scale is a natural minor scale with its 7th degree raised a half step, so it leads strongly back to the tonic. In A minor that turns G into G♯.
- Harmonic RhythmChords & HarmonyHarmonic rhythm is the rate at which the chords change in a piece, regardless of how many melody notes move above them. One chord per bar is a slow harmonic rhythm; a new chord on every beat is a fast one.
- Harmonic SeriesSound & AcousticsThe harmonic series is the set of frequencies at whole-number multiples of a fundamental: 1, 2, 3, 4 times and so on. Above a low C it gives C, C, G, C, E, G, a flat B♭, C, and continues upward.
- HarmonyChords & HarmonyHarmony is the sound of different pitches heard at the same time, and the way those combinations (chords) follow one another under or around a melody to create tension and release.
- HarpInstruments & VoicesThe harp is a plucked string instrument whose strings run vertically inside a triangular frame. The concert pedal harp has 47 strings, from C1 to G7, and seven pedals that make each note name flat, natural or sharp.
- HarpsichordInstruments & VoicesThe harpsichord is a keyboard instrument whose strings are plucked when you press the keys. It was the main keyboard instrument of the Baroque era, and it cannot play louder or softer through touch alone.
- HemiolaRhythm & MeterA hemiola is a rhythmic regrouping in which two bars of triple meter are heard as three groups of two, so the accents shift from 3+3 to 2+2+2. It is especially common just before cadences in Baroque music.
- Hertz (Hz)Sound & AcousticsThe hertz (Hz) is the unit of frequency: one hertz is one cycle per second. In music it measures how fast a sound vibrates; the tuning note A4 is 440 Hz.
- HeterophonyMelody, Texture & CounterpointHeterophony is a texture in which several performers play or sing the same melody at the same time, each in a slightly different version, for example one plain and one ornamented.
- Hip-HopStyles, Genres & ErasHip-hop is a culture and musical genre that began in the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s. Its music combines rhythmic rapping over beats built from samples, drum machines and turntables.
- HomophonyMelody, Texture & CounterpointHomophony is a texture with one main melody supported by accompaniment, either chords that move in the same rhythm as the tune or a separate accompaniment pattern beneath it.
- HookMelody, Texture & CounterpointA hook is the catchiest, most memorable part of a song, often a short phrase in the chorus that carries the title. It can be a melody, a riff, a rhythm, a lyric or a sound.
I
- ii–V–I ProgressionChords & HarmonyThe ii–V–I is a three-chord progression in which the supertonic chord moves to the dominant and then to the tonic, such as Dm7–G7–Cmaj7 in C major. It is one of the most common progressions in jazz.
- ImitationMelody, Texture & CounterpointImitation is when one voice repeats a melodic idea just played by another voice, at the same or a different pitch, while the first voice continues with new material.
- ImpressionismStyles, Genres & ErasImpressionism is a style of music, centered in France from about 1890 to 1920 and associated above all with Debussy and Ravel, that favors atmosphere and color over clear themes and functional harmony.
- ImprovisationMelody, Texture & CounterpointImprovisation is creating music on the spot while performing it, inventing melodies, rhythms or harmonies in the moment, usually within a framework such as a chord progression, scale or groove.
- IntervalPitch & IntervalsAn interval is the distance in pitch between two notes. It is named by counting letter names (a 3rd, a 5th) and described by its quality: major, minor, perfect, augmented or diminished.
- Interval InversionPitch & IntervalsInterval inversion turns an interval upside down by moving its lower note up an octave, or its upper note down one. An interval and its inversion add up to 9 by number and 12 by half steps.
- IntonationTechnique & PerformanceIntonation is how accurately a musician plays or sings in tune, especially on instruments and voices where the performer controls the exact pitch of each note, such as strings, winds and the voice.
- Introduction (Intro)Form & StructureAn introduction, or intro, is the opening passage of a piece or song that comes before the main material. It sets up the key, tempo, groove or mood before the first theme or verse begins.
- InventionForm & StructureAn invention is a short keyboard piece in two-part counterpoint, built from one musical idea that the hands imitate and develop. The name comes from J. S. Bach's fifteen Two-Part Inventions.
- Inverted MordentArticulation & OrnamentsAn inverted mordent, or short trill, is a quick ornament of the written note, the note above it, and the written note again. Its sign is a short wavy line without a vertical stroke.
- Ionian ModeScales, Keys & ModesThe Ionian mode is the first of the seven church modes: the white keys from C to C. It has exactly the same notes and step pattern as the major scale.
- Irregular MeterRhythm & MeterAn irregular meter has beats of unequal length, usually a mix of two- and three-pulse groups, as in 5/8 (3+2) or 7/8 (3+2+2). It is also called an asymmetrical, additive or odd meter.
J
- JazzStyles, Genres & ErasJazz is a musical tradition that grew out of African American communities in New Orleans in the early 1900s, built on improvisation, swing rhythm, blue notes and rich harmony.
- Just IntonationSound & AcousticsJust intonation tunes intervals to simple whole-number frequency ratios, such as 3:2 for a perfect fifth and 5:4 for a major third, so chords ring without beating. On a fixed keyboard it cannot stay pure in every key.
K
- KeyScales, Keys & ModesA key is the tonal home of a piece of music: a central note, the tonic, plus the scale and chords built around it. A piece in G major treats G as home and uses mostly the notes of the G major scale.
- Key SignatureNotation & SymbolsA key signature is the group of sharps or flats printed after the clef at the start of every line. It tells you which notes are sharp or flat throughout the piece, in every octave, and points to the key.
- Keyboard InstrumentsInstruments & VoicesKeyboard instruments are played from a keyboard of white and black keys: the piano, harpsichord, organ, synthesizer, accordion and others. They share one layout but make their sound in very different ways.
L
- LarghettoTempo MarkingsLarghetto is a tempo marking meaning fairly slow: a little less slow than largo. The -etto ending makes largo 'smaller', so the music moves a little more easily, often around 60 to 66 beats per minute.
- LargoTempo MarkingsLargo is a tempo marking meaning slow and broad. It is one of the slowest common tempo words, often given as about 40 to 60 beats per minute, with a wide, spacious feel.
- LatencyMusic ProductionLatency is the delay between an action or incoming sound and the sound you hear from an audio system. It can make recording or playing a software instrument feel late.
- Lead SheetNotation & SymbolsA lead sheet is a compact way to write down a song: the melody on one staff, chord symbols above it and usually the lyrics below. Players make up their own accompaniment from the chord symbols.
- Leading ToneScales, Keys & ModesThe leading tone is the seventh degree of a scale when it lies a half step below the tonic: B in C major, G♯ in A minor. Its strong pull upward makes the tonic feel like a destination.
- Ledger LineNotation & SymbolsA ledger line is a short extra line drawn above or below the staff for a note that is too high or too low to fit on the five lines. Each one extends the staff by one line.
- LegatoArticulation & OrnamentsLegato means smooth and connected: each note passes into the next with no gap between them. It is shown by a slur over the notes or by the word legato.
- LeggieroDynamics & ExpressionLeggiero means 'lightly': play with a light, nimble touch, usually quick and delicate, with clear, unforced notes. It is most common in fast passagework.
- LentoTempo MarkingsLento is a tempo marking meaning slow. It sits in the same range as largo and adagio, often around 40 to 60 beats per minute, but without their extra character: the word simply says slow.
- LFO (Low-Frequency Oscillator)Sound & AcousticsAn LFO is an oscillator used to vary another control repeatedly, usually at a slow rate. It can create vibrato, tremolo, filter sweeps or moving stereo positions in a synthesizer or effect.
- Locrian ModeScales, Keys & ModesThe Locrian mode is the white keys from B to B. With a lowered 2nd and a lowered 5th, its tonic chord is diminished, which makes it the least stable of the seven modes.
- LoopMusic ProductionA loop is a short section of music, usually one, two or four bars, that repeats seamlessly. Producers build tracks from audio or MIDI loops, and a DAW's loop region repeats a passage for practice or recording.
- Lydian ModeScales, Keys & ModesThe Lydian mode is a major-sounding scale with a raised 4th: the white keys from F to F. Its sharpened 4th degree gives it a bright, floating, slightly dreamy sound.
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- Ma Non TroppoTempo MarkingsMa non troppo means 'but not too much'. It restrains the word before it: Allegro ma non troppo is fast but not too fast, Adagio ma non troppo is slow but not too slow.
- MaestosoDynamics & ExpressionMaestoso means 'majestic': play in a stately, dignified way, usually at a moderate, unhurried tempo with full, weighty tone. It appears alone or with a tempo word, as in Allegro maestoso.
- Major and Minor IntervalsPitch & IntervalsMajor and minor intervals are the two everyday sizes of seconds, thirds, sixths and sevenths. A minor interval is one half step smaller than the major interval with the same number: C–E is a major 3rd, C–E♭ a minor 3rd.
- Major Pentatonic ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe major pentatonic scale is a five-note scale made of degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the major scale. In C it is C D E G A. With no half steps, its notes blend easily over many chords.
- Major ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe major scale is a seven-note scale built from the step pattern whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. Its bright, settled sound is the basis of most Western melody and harmony.
- Major SecondPitch & IntervalsA major second (M2) is an interval of two half steps between neighboring letter names, such as C–D, E–F♯ or B♭–C. It is the whole step that most steps of a scale are made of.
- Major SeventhPitch & IntervalsA major seventh (M7) is an interval of eleven half steps spanning seven letter names, such as C–B, F–E or B♭–A. Just a half step short of an octave, it is sharply dissonant, yet it gives maj7 chords their glow.
- Major Seventh ChordChords & HarmonyA major seventh chord is a major triad plus a major seventh above the root, such as C–E–G–B (Cmaj7). Its seventh lies a half step below the octave, giving a soft, glowing sound common in jazz and pop.
- Major SixthPitch & IntervalsA major sixth (M6) is an interval of nine half steps spanning six letter names, such as C–A, F–D or G–E. It is the inversion of the minor third and has a warm, open sound.
- Major ThirdPitch & IntervalsA major third (M3) is an interval of four half steps spanning three letter names, such as C–E, F–A or D–F♯. It is the bottom interval of a major chord and sounds bright and stable.
- Major TriadChords & HarmonyA major triad is a three-note chord built from a root, a major third and a perfect fifth, such as C–E–G. It is the bright, stable chord that most music treats as home.
- MarcatoArticulation & OrnamentsMarcato means marked: play the note with a strong, heavy accent. Its sign is a small upright wedge (^), and the word marcato over a passage asks for every note to be clearly emphasized.
- MarchForm & StructureA march is a piece with a strong, steady beat in duple meter, originally written to keep soldiers in step. Marches usually use 2/4, 6/8 or cut time and are built from short sections called strains.
- MasteringMusic ProductionMastering is the final stage of audio production: preparing a finished stereo mix for release by adjusting its overall tone, dynamics and loudness, and making a set of songs sound consistent together.
- Measure (Bar)Notation & SymbolsA measure, or bar, is a segment of music between two bar lines. It holds the number of beats set by the time signature, so in 4/4 time every full measure adds up to four quarter-note beats.
- MediantScales, Keys & ModesThe mediant is the third degree of a scale, halfway between the tonic and the dominant: E in C major, C in A minor. It decides whether a key sounds major or minor.
- Medieval MusicStyles, Genres & ErasMedieval music is the music of Europe from roughly 500 to 1400: Gregorian chant, early polyphony such as organum, and the songs of troubadours and trouvères.
- MelismaMelody, Texture & CounterpointA melisma is a group of several notes sung on a single syllable of text. Music that sets words this way is melismatic; one note per syllable is syllabic.
- Melodic ContourMelody, Texture & CounterpointMelodic contour is the overall shape of a melody, the pattern of its rises and falls: for example an arch that climbs and comes back down, a steady descent, or a wave.
- Melodic Minor ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe melodic minor scale raises the 6th and 7th degrees of natural minor on the way up and returns to natural minor on the way down. In A minor it climbs with F♯ and G♯ and falls with G and F.
- MelodyMelody, Texture & CounterpointA melody is a series of single notes heard one after another as a recognizable musical line: the tune you hum or sing. It combines pitch, the ups and downs, with rhythm, the longs and shorts.
- MemorizationTechnique & PerformanceMemorization is learning a piece well enough to play or sing it without the score. Secure memory combines several kinds: hearing the music, feeling the movements, seeing the page and understanding the structure.
- Meno MossoTempo MarkingsMeno mosso means 'less motion': play slower from this point on. The new, calmer tempo starts at once rather than gradually and lasts until another tempo marking appears.
- MeterRhythm & MeterMeter is the way beats are grouped into a repeating pattern of strong and weak, usually in twos, threes or fours. The time signature at the start of the music shows it.
- MetronomeTempo MarkingsA metronome is a device or app that clicks at a steady, adjustable speed measured in beats per minute. Musicians use it to set a tempo and to practice keeping the beat even.
- Metronome MarkTempo MarkingsA metronome mark, such as ♩ = 96, names a note value and a number of beats per minute. It gives the exact tempo: here, 96 quarter notes in each minute.
- Mezzo Forte (mf)Dynamics & ExpressionMezzo forte, written mf, means moderately loud: a little softer than forte and a little louder than mezzo piano. It is close to many players' natural, everyday playing level.
- Mezzo Piano (mp)Dynamics & ExpressionMezzo piano, written mp, means moderately soft: a little louder than piano and a little softer than mezzo forte. Mezzo means 'half' or 'medium' in Italian.
- Mezzo-SopranoInstruments & VoicesMezzo-soprano is the female voice type between soprano and alto, with a darker, richer color than a soprano. Its typical classical range is about A3 to A5.
- MicrotonePitch & IntervalsA microtone is any interval smaller than a half step, such as the quarter tone (half of a half step, 50 cents). Microtones are central to many musical traditions and to some modern Western music.
- Middle CNotation & SymbolsMiddle C is the C nearest the center of the piano keyboard, called C4 in scientific pitch notation. It is written on a ledger line between the treble and bass staves and is the reference point for every clef.
- MIDIMusic ProductionMIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a standard language that lets keyboards, computers and other electronic instruments exchange performance data, such as which note was played, how hard and for how long. It carries instructions, not sound.
- MinimalismStyles, Genres & ErasMinimalism is a style that began in the United States in the 1960s, built on short repeated patterns, a steady pulse and consonant harmony that change only gradually, as in the music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass.
- Minor Pentatonic ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe minor pentatonic scale is a five-note scale made of degrees 1, ♭3, 4, 5 and ♭7. In A it is A C D E G. It is a favorite scale for blues and rock solos.
- Minor SecondPitch & IntervalsA minor second (m2) is an interval of one half step between neighboring letter names, such as E–F, B–C or C–D♭. It is the smallest interval in major and minor scales.
- Minor SeventhPitch & IntervalsA minor seventh (m7) is an interval of ten half steps spanning seven letter names, such as G–F, D–C or C–B♭. It is the seventh of a dominant seventh chord and sounds tense but mellow.
- Minor Seventh ChordChords & HarmonyA minor seventh chord is a minor triad plus a minor seventh above the root, such as D–F–A–C (Dm7). Mellow and relaxed, it sits on degrees 2, 3 and 6 of a major key and is the ii of the ii–V–I.
- Minor SixthPitch & IntervalsA minor sixth (m6) is an interval of eight half steps spanning six letter names, such as E–C, A–F or C–A♭. It is the inversion of the major third and sounds warm but slightly bittersweet.
- Minor ThirdPitch & IntervalsA minor third (m3) is an interval of three half steps spanning three letter names, such as A–C, D–F or C–E♭. It is the bottom interval of a minor chord and sounds darker than a major third.
- Minor TriadChords & HarmonyA minor triad is a three-note chord built from a root, a minor third and a perfect fifth, such as A–C–E. Its lower third gives it a darker sound than a major triad.
- MinuetForm & StructureA minuet is a graceful dance in 3/4 time at a moderate tempo, popular at the French court in the 17th century, and later a standard movement, with a contrasting trio, in Classical symphonies and sonatas.
- MixingMusic ProductionMixing is the stage of music production where the recorded tracks are balanced and combined into a final stereo version, using level, panning, EQ, compression, effects and automation so every part can be heard.
- Mixolydian ModeScales, Keys & ModesThe Mixolydian mode is a major-sounding scale with a lowered 7th: the white keys from G to G. It fits the dominant seventh chord and is a staple of rock, blues and folk.
- ModeScales, Keys & ModesA mode is a type of scale defined by its pattern of whole and half steps around a home note. The seven church modes, from Ionian to Locrian, each start on a different note of the major scale.
- ModeratoTempo MarkingsModerato is a tempo marking meaning at a moderate speed: neither fast nor slow. It sits between andante and allegro, often around 108 to 120 beats per minute, and is also used to soften other tempo words.
- ModulationScales, Keys & ModesModulation is a change of key within a piece of music, when a new note becomes the tonic. It is usually confirmed by a cadence in the new key and often signaled by a new accidental.
- MoltoTempo MarkingsMolto is an Italian modifier meaning 'very' or 'much'. It intensifies the word beside it: molto allegro is very fast, molto rit. slows down a lot, molto legato is very smooth.
- MonophonyMelody, Texture & CounterpointMonophony is a musical texture made of a single melodic line with no accompaniment, whether it is performed by one person or by many in unison or octaves.
- MordentArticulation & OrnamentsA mordent is a quick ornament of three notes: the written note, the note below it, and the written note again. Its sign is a short wavy line with a vertical stroke through it.
- MorendoDynamics & ExpressionMorendo means 'dying': let the music fade away, getting softer and usually slower until it almost disappears. It most often appears at the end of a piece or a quiet section.
- MotifMelody, Texture & CounterpointA motif (or motive) is a short, distinctive musical idea, a few notes with a recognizable rhythm and shape, that comes back and is developed through a piece.
- MovementForm & StructureA movement is a self-contained section of a larger work such as a symphony, sonata, concerto or suite, with its own tempo, character and form, usually separated from the next movement by a short pause.
- Multimeasure RestNotation & SymbolsA multimeasure rest is one symbol for several bars of silence: a thick horizontal bar across the middle of the staff with a number above it that says how many bars to rest. It appears mostly in instrumental parts.
- Multitrack RecordingMusic ProductionMultitrack recording captures separate instruments or voices on separate tracks that play back in sync, so each part can be edited, balanced and processed on its own before everything is mixed together.
- Musical TheaterStyles, Genres & ErasMusical theater is a form of stage drama that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance to tell a story. It is most closely associated with Broadway in New York and the West End in London.
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- Nationalism (in Music)Styles, Genres & ErasNationalism in music is the use of a country's folk songs, dances, legends and landscapes to create a distinctly national style, a movement especially strong in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- NaturalNotation & SymbolsA natural (♮) is a sign that cancels a sharp or flat, returning a note to its plain letter pitch. It can cancel an earlier accidental in the same bar or a sharp or flat from the key signature.
- Natural Minor ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe natural minor scale is a seven-note scale with the step pattern whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. Compared with the major scale on the same note, its 3rd, 6th and 7th are a half step lower.
- Neapolitan SixthChords & HarmonyThe Neapolitan sixth is a major chord built on the lowered second degree of a key, usually in first inversion: B♭/D in A minor. It is a dark, dramatic predominant chord that leads to the dominant.
- Neighbor ToneChords & HarmonyA neighbor tone is a non-chord tone that steps away from a chord tone and returns to the same note, such as E–F–E over a C chord. An upper neighbor steps up first, a lower neighbor steps down.
- NocturneForm & StructureA nocturne is a dreamy, lyrical piece, usually for solo piano, with a singing melody over a broken-chord accompaniment. The piano nocturne was created by John Field and made famous by Chopin.
- NoiseSound & AcousticsIn acoustics, noise is sound without a regular, repeating vibration, so it has no definite pitch. In recording, noise also means any unwanted sound, such as hiss, hum or room rumble.
- Non-Chord ToneChords & HarmonyA non-chord tone is a melody note that does not belong to the chord sounding with it. Passing tones, neighbor tones, suspensions and appoggiaturas are the common kinds, named by how the note is approached and left.
- NoteNotation & SymbolsA note is a symbol for a musical sound: where it sits on the staff shows its pitch, and its shape shows how long it lasts. The word also means the sound itself, as in 'play that note again'.
- Note NamesPitch & IntervalsNote names are the letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G that musicians use for pitches. The seven letters repeat in every octave, and sharps and flats name the notes in between.
- Note ValueRhythm & MeterA note value is how long a note lasts compared with other notes: whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth and so on. Each value in the series lasts half as long as the one before it.
- NoteheadNotation & SymbolsA notehead is the oval part of a written note. Its position on the staff shows the pitch, and whether it is open (hollow) or filled in helps show how long the note lasts.
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- OboeInstruments & VoicesThe oboe is a double-reed woodwind with a conical wooden body and a clear, penetrating tone. It plays from B♭3 to about A6 at written pitch, and the orchestra traditionally tunes to its A.
- Octatonic Scale (Diminished Scale)Scales, Keys & ModesThe octatonic scale is an eight-note scale that alternates half steps and whole steps, such as C D♭ E♭ E F♯ G A B♭. Jazz musicians call it the diminished scale.
- OctavePitch & IntervalsAn octave is the interval between two notes with the same letter name, eight letter names apart, such as C4 to C5. It spans 12 half steps, and the upper note vibrates exactly twice as fast.
- OperaForm & StructureOpera is a form of drama in which the story is told mostly or entirely through singing, accompanied by an orchestra and performed on stage with sets, costumes and acting.
- Opus (Op.)Form & StructureOpus, abbreviated Op., is a number given to a composer's work or group of works, usually in order of publication, as in Chopin's Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4.
- OrchestraInstruments & VoicesAn orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble of strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion, usually led by a conductor. A full symphony orchestra can have around a hundred players; a chamber orchestra is smaller.
- OrganInstruments & VoicesThe organ (pipe organ) is a keyboard instrument that sounds when air flows through pipes. Organists play one or more keyboards with their hands and a pedalboard with their feet, choosing the sounds with stops.
- OrnamentArticulation & OrnamentsAn ornament is a decoration added to a melody note, usually a few quick extra notes around it. Most are written as small signs or small notes, such as the trill, mordent, turn and grace note.
- OscillatorSound & AcousticsAn oscillator generates a repeating signal. In a synthesizer, an audio oscillator supplies a tone whose frequency sets its pitch and whose waveform helps determine its timbre.
- OstinatoMelody, Texture & CounterpointAn ostinato is a short musical pattern, a rhythm, melody or chord figure, repeated persistently throughout a passage or a whole piece, usually while other parts change above it.
- Ottava (8va, 8vb)Notation & SymbolsOttava, written 8va, tells you to play the notes under its dashed line an octave higher than written; 8vb (ottava bassa) means an octave lower. It keeps very high or low notes readable without stacks of ledger lines.
- OverdubMusic ProductionAn overdub is a new part recorded on top of tracks that already exist, while the performer listens to them, such as adding a vocal, a solo or a harmony to a recorded backing.
- OvertoneSound & AcousticsAn overtone is any frequency that sounds above the fundamental of a note. Together the overtones shape the note's tone color. In a complete harmonic series, the first overtone is the 2nd harmonic.
- OvertureForm & StructureAn overture is an orchestral piece that opens an opera, ballet, musical or play. A concert overture is an independent one-movement orchestral piece written for the concert hall.
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- PanningMusic ProductionPanning is placing a sound at a position between the left and right speakers of a stereo mix, using a pan control, so instruments are spread across the stereo field instead of piled up in the center.
- Parallel Fifths and OctavesChords & HarmonyParallel fifths and octaves occur when two voices a perfect fifth or an octave apart both move in the same direction to another perfect fifth or octave. Traditional part writing avoids them because the two lines lose their independence.
- Parallel KeyScales, Keys & ModesParallel keys are a major key and a minor key that share the same tonic, such as C major and C minor. They have different key signatures; the natural minor scale lowers the major scale's 3rd, 6th and 7th degrees.
- Passing ToneChords & HarmonyA passing tone is a non-chord tone that connects two different chord tones by step, moving in one direction, such as D between E and C over a C major chord. It is the most common non-chord tone.
- Pedal PointChords & HarmonyA pedal point is a note held or repeated, usually in the bass, while the harmonies above it change, some of them clashing with it. Pedals on the tonic and the dominant are the most common.
- Percussion FamilyInstruments & VoicesThe percussion family is the instruments played by striking, shaking or scraping. It includes pitched ones, such as timpani and xylophone, and unpitched ones, such as snare drum, cymbals and triangle.
- Perfect FifthPitch & IntervalsA perfect fifth (P5) is an interval of seven half steps spanning five letter names, such as C–G, D–A or A–E. With its pure 3:2 frequency ratio, it is the most consonant interval after the octave.
- Perfect FourthPitch & IntervalsA perfect fourth (P4) is an interval of five half steps spanning four letter names, such as C–F, D–G or E–A. It is the inversion of the perfect fifth and has a pure frequency ratio of 4:3.
- Perfect IntervalPitch & IntervalsA perfect interval is a unison, fourth, fifth or octave in its natural size: 0, 5, 7 or 12 half steps. Perfect intervals have no major or minor form, and they invert to other perfect intervals.
- Perfect Pitch (Absolute Pitch)Technique & PerformancePerfect pitch, or absolute pitch, is the rare ability to name or sing a musical note without hearing any reference note first, for example naming a note played on a piano without seeing the keys.
- Period (Antecedent and Consequent)Melody, Texture & CounterpointA period is a pair of phrases that belong together like a question and its answer: the antecedent ends with a weaker cadence, and the consequent ends with a stronger one on the home chord.
- PesanteDynamics & ExpressionPesante means 'heavily': play with weight, giving each note emphasis and a full, solid sound, often at a steady, unhurried tempo. It is the opposite of leggiero.
- PhraseMelody, Texture & CounterpointA phrase is a musical sentence: a passage, often four bars long, that makes sense on its own and ends with a point of rest called a cadence.
- PhrasingDynamics & ExpressionPhrasing is how a musician groups notes into musical sentences and shapes them: where each phrase starts and ends, where it rises to its high point, and where it breathes. It is shown by phrase marks, breath marks and dynamics.
- Phrygian ModeScales, Keys & ModesThe Phrygian mode is a minor-sounding scale with a lowered 2nd: the white keys from E to E. The half step from its 2nd degree down to the tonic gives it a dark, Spanish-tinged color.
- Pianissimo (pp)Dynamics & ExpressionPianissimo, written pp, means very soft. It is the superlative of piano and sits just below p on the dynamic scale; ppp and beyond ask for even softer playing.
- PianoInstruments & VoicesThe piano is a keyboard instrument in which felt hammers strike steel strings. A standard piano has 88 keys, from A0 to C8, and plays softer or louder depending on how quickly you press each key.
- Piano (p)Dynamics & ExpressionPiano, written p, is the dynamic marking for soft. It sits between pianissimo (pp) and mezzo piano (mp), and it gave the instrument its name: the pianoforte could play soft as well as loud.
- Piano RollMusic ProductionA piano roll is the MIDI editor in a DAW: a grid with a piano keyboard down the side, where each note is a bar whose height on the grid is its pitch and whose length is its duration.
- PitchPitch & IntervalsPitch is how high or low a sound is. It depends mainly on how fast the sound vibrates: the faster the vibration (the higher the frequency), the higher the pitch.
- Pitch ClassPitch & IntervalsA pitch class groups pitches that are an octave apart. C3, C4 and C5 belong to the same pitch class; in twelve-tone equal-tempered analysis, enharmonic spellings such as C♯ and D♭ also share one class.
- Più MossoTempo MarkingsPiù mosso means 'more motion': play faster from this point on. The new, quicker tempo starts at once, not gradually, and lasts until another tempo marking appears.
- PizzicatoArticulation & OrnamentsPizzicato, written pizz., tells players of bowed string instruments to pluck the strings with a finger instead of using the bow. The word arco tells them to return to the bow.
- Plagal CadenceChords & HarmonyA plagal cadence is a phrase ending in which the subdominant chord (IV) moves to the tonic (I), as in F–C in C major. Its soft, settled sound is often called the Amen cadence.
- Playing by EarTechnique & PerformancePlaying by ear means playing music you have heard, or imagine, without reading it from notation, by working out the notes and chords with your listening skills.
- PocoTempo MarkingsPoco is an Italian modifier meaning 'a little'. It softens the word beside it: poco rit. slows down slightly, poco cresc. grows a little louder, poco più mosso is a little faster.
- Poco a PocoTempo MarkingsPoco a poco means 'little by little'. Attached to cresc., dim., accel. or rit., it asks for a change spread gradually over a longer passage rather than happening quickly.
- PolyphonyMelody, Texture & CounterpointPolyphony is a texture of two or more independent melodies sounding at the same time, each with its own shape and rhythm, which together make harmony.
- PolyrhythmRhythm & MeterA polyrhythm is two or more conflicting rhythms played at the same time, such as three even notes against two. Each part divides the same span of time into a different number of equal pulses.
- Pop MusicStyles, Genres & ErasPop music is commercially oriented popular music designed for a wide audience, usually built on catchy hooks, short verse–chorus songs and polished production, and constantly absorbing other styles.
- Portato (Mezzo-Staccato)Articulation & OrnamentsPortato, or mezzo-staccato, is an articulation halfway between legato and staccato: each note is gently separated but still weighted. It is shown by dots under a slur or by a line and a dot on each note.
- Power ChordChords & HarmonyA power chord is a two-note chord of a root and the fifth above it, often with the root doubled an octave higher, such as C–G–C (C5). With no third, it is neither major nor minor.
- PreludeForm & StructureA prelude is a piece that originally introduced another piece, such as a fugue, suite or opera. Since Chopin, it can also be a short independent piece built on a single idea or mood.
- PrestissimoTempo MarkingsPrestissimo is the fastest common tempo marking: as fast as possible while staying clear. It is the superlative of presto, usually placed above about 200 beats per minute.
- PrestoTempo MarkingsPresto is a tempo marking meaning very fast. It is faster than allegro and vivace, often around 168 to 208 beats per minute, and only prestissimo is faster.
- Primary Chords (I, IV, V)Chords & HarmonyThe primary chords are the triads built on degrees 1, 4 and 5 of a scale: I, IV and V. In C major they are C, F and G. Together they contain every note of the scale, so they can harmonize most simple melodies.
- Program MusicStyles, Genres & ErasProgram music is instrumental music that tells a story, depicts a scene or illustrates a text, usually indicated by a title or a written program. Its opposite is absolute music.
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- Quadruple MeterRhythm & MeterQuadruple meter groups the beats in fours, with the main accent on beat 1 and a lighter one on beat 3. 4/4 (common time) is simple quadruple, and 12/8 is compound quadruple.
- QuantizationMusic ProductionQuantization moves recorded MIDI notes, or audio hits, onto the nearest point of a rhythmic grid, such as every eighth or sixteenth note, to tighten timing that was played slightly early or late.
- Quarter NoteRhythm & MeterA quarter note is a filled-in notehead with a stem and no flag. It lasts a quarter as long as a whole note and is the beat in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time.
- Quarter RestRhythm & MeterA quarter rest is a zigzag symbol that lasts as long as a quarter note: one beat of silence in 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4 time.
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- RagtimeStyles, Genres & ErasRagtime is an American piano style that flourished from the late 1890s to around 1920, combining a syncopated right-hand melody with a steady, march-like left hand. Scott Joplin was its most famous composer.
- RallentandoTempo MarkingsRallentando, written rall., means gradually slowing down. In practice it is used almost exactly like ritardando: the tempo relaxes little by little from the marking onward.
- RangePitch & IntervalsRange is the span of pitches from the lowest to the highest note that a voice or instrument can produce, or that a piece of music uses. A standard piano's range is A0 to C8, 88 keys.
- R&B (Rhythm and Blues)Styles, Genres & ErasR&B, or rhythm and blues, is a family of African American popular styles that began in the 1940s with blues-based dance music and later grew to include soul, funk and contemporary R&B.
- RecapitulationForm & StructureThe recapitulation is the third main section of a sonata-form movement, where the themes of the exposition return, now with the second theme in the home key instead of the contrasting key.
- RecitalTechnique & PerformanceA recital is a performance by one musician or a small group, often a soloist with a pianist. Students give recitals to share what they have learned, and many music degrees require them.
- RecitativeForm & StructureRecitative is a style of singing that imitates the rhythms of speech, used in opera, oratorio and cantata for dialogue and narration that move the story forward between arias and choruses.
- RegisterPitch & IntervalsA register is one part of the pitch range of a voice or instrument, such as its low, middle or high notes. Many instruments and voices sound different in each register, like a clarinet's dark low notes.
- Relative KeyScales, Keys & ModesRelative keys are a major key and a minor key that share the same key signature, such as C major and A minor. Their major and natural minor scales use the same notes. The relative minor's tonic is three half steps below the major's.
- Relative PitchTechnique & PerformanceRelative pitch is the ability to identify or sing a note by its relationship to another note, such as hearing that two notes are a fifth apart, or naming notes once you know a reference pitch.
- Renaissance MusicStyles, Genres & ErasRenaissance music is European music from roughly 1400 to 1600, known for smooth, flowing vocal polyphony in which several equal voices imitate one another, as in the masses of Josquin and Palestrina.
- Repeat SignNotation & SymbolsA repeat sign is a double bar line with two dots that tells you to play a passage again. An end-repeat sends you back to the matching start-repeat sign, or to the beginning if there is none.
- RepertoireTechnique & PerformanceRepertoire is the collection of pieces a musician or ensemble knows and can perform, and also the whole body of music written for an instrument, voice or group, such as the piano repertoire.
- ResonanceSound & AcousticsResonance is the way an object vibrates strongly when it is pushed at its own natural frequency. Instrument bodies, air columns and your vocal tract use resonance to make sounds louder and give them color.
- RestRhythm & MeterA rest is a symbol for a measured silence. Each note value has a matching rest, from the whole rest to the sixteenth rest and beyond, and you keep counting through a rest just as you would through a note.
- ReverbMusic ProductionReverb, short for reverberation, is the blend of countless reflections that makes a sound linger in a room or hall. In production it is added as an effect to give recordings a sense of space and depth.
- RhythmRhythm & MeterRhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds and silences in music, often organized around a beat. If pitch tells you which notes to play, rhythm tells you when.
- RiffMelody, Texture & CounterpointA riff is a short, catchy musical figure, usually one or two bars long, repeated over and over as the backbone of a song. It is a defining feature of rock, blues, funk and jazz.
- RitardandoTempo MarkingsRitardando, written rit. or ritard., means gradually getting slower. The tempo slows little by little from the marking until a new, slower tempo is reached or the music ends.
- RitenutoTempo MarkingsRitenuto, written riten., means held back: play at a slower tempo immediately, from the marking onward, rather than slowing down gradually as in a ritardando.
- RockStyles, Genres & ErasRock is a genre of popular music that grew out of 1950s rock and roll, built on electric guitar, bass and drums, a strong backbeat on beats 2 and 4, and riffs, with roots in blues, R&B and country.
- Roman Numeral AnalysisChords & HarmonyRoman numeral analysis labels each chord by the scale degree of its root, such as I, IV and V in a major key. Capital letters mean major, small letters minor, and added figures show sevenths and inversions.
- Romantic MusicStyles, Genres & ErasRomantic music is Western music from roughly 1820 to 1900, which put personal emotion, imagination and color first: long singing melodies, rich chromatic harmony, virtuosity and a larger orchestra.
- Rondo FormForm & StructureRondo form is a musical form in which a main theme, the refrain (A), keeps returning in the home key, with contrasting sections called episodes in between: ABACA or ABACABA.
- Root (of a Chord)Chords & HarmonyThe root of a chord is the note the chord is built on and named after: C in a C major chord, G in G7. When the chord's notes are stacked in thirds, the root is at the bottom of the stack.
- Root PositionChords & HarmonyA chord is in root position when its root is the lowest note sounding, such as C–E–G with C in the bass. Root-position chords sound the most stable and are the easiest to name.
- RubatoTempo MarkingsRubato, short for tempo rubato ('stolen time'), is expressive flexibility in tempo: stretching some notes and hurrying others so the beat bends with the phrase while the music keeps its overall pulse.
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- Sample Rate and Bit DepthMusic ProductionSample rate is how many times per second digital audio measures a sound wave, such as 44,100 times (44.1 kHz). Bit depth is how precisely each measurement is stored, such as 16 or 24 bits.
- SamplingMusic ProductionSampling is taking a short piece of recorded sound, such as a drum hit, a vocal phrase or a bar of an old record, and reusing it as material in new music, often looped, chopped up or played from a keyboard.
- SaxophoneInstruments & VoicesThe saxophone is a single-reed woodwind with a conical brass body. Its main sizes, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone, all read treble clef with the same fingerings and transpose by different intervals.
- ScaleScales, Keys & ModesA scale is a set of notes arranged in order of pitch, climbing or falling step by step from a home note called the tonic. Major, minor and pentatonic scales are the most common.
- Scale DegreeScales, Keys & ModesA scale degree is the position of a note within a scale, numbered from 1 (the tonic) to 7. Each degree also has a name, such as tonic, dominant or leading tone, that describes its role in the key.
- ScherzandoDynamics & ExpressionScherzando means 'playfully' or 'jokingly': play with lightness and humor, crisp staccatos and a sense of surprise. It comes from the same word as scherzo, a 'joke'.
- ScherzoForm & StructureA scherzo is a fast, lively movement, usually in 3/4 time felt in one beat per bar, that replaced the minuet in many symphonies, sonatas and string quartets from Beethoven onward.
- Scientific Pitch NotationPitch & IntervalsScientific pitch notation names a pitch with its letter and an octave number, such as C4 for middle C or A4 for the A at 440 Hz. The octave number goes up by one at every C.
- ScoreNotation & SymbolsA score shows the parts of a piece together, lined up so that notes played at the same moment sit one above another. Parts may have separate staves or share them. Conductors read from the full score.
- Secondary DominantChords & HarmonyA secondary dominant is a dominant chord aimed at a chord other than the tonic, such as D7 (V7/V) leading to G in C major. It brings in a note from outside the key and briefly makes its target sound like home.
- SegnoNotation & SymbolsThe segno is a stylized S crossed by a slanted line, with a dot on each side. It marks the place a D.S. (dal segno) instruction sends you back to, so a passage can be repeated without going back to the beginning.
- SempreTempo MarkingsSempre means 'always': keep doing something throughout the passage. Sempre legato means stay smooth, sempre staccato stay detached, sempre f stay loud, until the music says otherwise.
- Sentence FormForm & StructureA sentence is a musical theme that presents a short idea, repeats it, then develops it toward a cadence. A common eight-bar design groups two bars, two bars and four bars: presentation followed by continuation.
- SequenceMelody, Texture & CounterpointA sequence is the repetition of a short musical idea starting on a higher or lower note, usually two or more times in a row, such as a pattern that steps down the scale.
- SequencerMusic ProductionA sequencer is a device or program that records, stores and plays back a series of musical events, such as notes and drum hits, in time. A step sequencer builds patterns on a grid, often 16 steps to a bar.
- Serialism (Twelve-Tone Music)Styles, Genres & ErasSerialism is a method of composing in which a fixed series, most often a row of all twelve pitch classes, is the basis of the whole piece. Arnold Schoenberg developed twelve-tone technique in the early 1920s.
- Seventh ChordChords & HarmonyA seventh chord is a four-note chord: a triad with one more third stacked on top, so the highest note is a seventh above the root. G–B–D–F (G7) and C–E–G–B (Cmaj7) are seventh chords.
- Sforzando (sfz)Dynamics & ExpressionSforzando, written sfz or sf, asks for a sudden, strong accent on a single note or chord. The note stands out from the music around it, and the music then returns to its previous level.
- SharpNotation & SymbolsA sharp (♯) is a sign that raises a note by one half step. On the piano, F-sharp is the key just to the right of F. Sharps appear before single notes or, for a whole piece, in the key signature.
- ShuffleRhythm & MeterA shuffle is a groove built on a constant long-short pattern of swung eighth notes, often played by the drums, bass and piano or guitar together. It drives a great deal of blues, boogie-woogie and early rock and roll.
- Sight-ReadingTechnique & PerformanceSight-reading is playing or singing a piece of music from the score the first time you see it, keeping a steady beat and carrying on through mistakes rather than stopping to fix them.
- Simile (sim.)Notation & SymbolsSimile, often shortened to sim., is Italian for 'similarly'. It tells you to keep playing in the same way, with the same articulation, pedaling or bowing, after the marks themselves stop being printed.
- Simple MeterRhythm & MeterA simple meter is one whose beats divide naturally into two equal parts, such as 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4. The beat is a plain, undotted note, most often a quarter note.
- Six-Four ChordChords & HarmonyA six-four chord is a triad in second inversion, with its fifth in the bass, such as C/G. Its fourth above the bass makes it unstable, so classical harmony uses it in a few set patterns: cadential, passing and pedal.
- Sixteenth NoteRhythm & MeterA sixteenth note has a filled notehead, a stem and two flags, or two beams when grouped. Four sixteenth notes fill one quarter-note beat, counted 1 e & a.
- Slash ChordChords & HarmonyA slash chord is a chord symbol with a bass note after a slash, such as C/E or F/G. The letter before the slash names the chord; the letter after it names the lowest note to play.
- SlurNotation & SymbolsA slur is a curved line grouping notes for connected playing or instrument-specific articulation: usually legato on piano, without new tonguing on winds, or in one bow on strings. Slurs can include repeated pitches.
- Soft Pedal (Una Corda)Technique & PerformanceThe soft pedal, or una corda, is the left pedal of a piano. It makes the sound quieter and more veiled; scores ask for it with the words una corda and cancel it with tre corde.
- SolfègePitch & IntervalsSolfège is a system of singing the notes of a scale on syllables: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. In movable-do systems, it trains you to hear each note's role in the key. It is a core tool of sight-singing and ear training.
- SonataForm & StructureA sonata is an instrumental work for a soloist or a small group, usually in two to four movements. Most sonatas are for solo piano or for one instrument with piano.
- Sonata FormForm & StructureSonata form is a large musical form in three main parts, exposition, development and recapitulation, built on a contrast of two keys that is resolved when the second theme returns in the home key.
- SopranoInstruments & VoicesSoprano is the highest common singing voice, usually sung by women and children. A classical soprano's range is typically about C4 (middle C) to C6, and in a choir the sopranos usually carry the melody.
- SostenutoDynamics & ExpressionSostenuto means 'sustained': hold each note for its full value with a connected, singing tone. In tempo headings such as Andante sostenuto it can also suggest a slightly broader tempo.
- Sostenuto PedalTechnique & PerformanceThe sostenuto pedal, the middle pedal on most grand pianos, sustains only the notes whose keys are already down when you press it. Other, uncaptured notes stop when you release their keys, as usual.
- Sotto VoceDynamics & ExpressionSotto voce means 'under the voice': play or sing in a hushed, subdued undertone, as if speaking confidentially. It asks for a veiled, very quiet color, not just a soft dynamic.
- SoundSound & AcousticsSound is vibration traveling through air, water or a solid as waves of pressure. When those waves reach your ears, you hear them as sound; regular vibrations are heard as musical tones.
- StaccatissimoArticulation & OrnamentsStaccatissimo means very detached: the note is played even shorter and sharper than a staccato. It is usually shown by a small wedge above or below the notehead.
- StaccatoArticulation & OrnamentsStaccato means detached: the note is played shorter than its written value, so a little silence separates it from the next note. It is shown by a dot above or below the notehead, or by the word staccato.
- Staff (Stave)Notation & SymbolsA staff is the set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that music is written on. Each line and space stands for a pitch: the higher a note sits on the staff, the higher it sounds.
- StemNotation & SymbolsA stem is the thin vertical line attached to a notehead. Every note shorter than a whole note has one; stems point up from notes below the staff's middle line and down from notes above it.
- Stem (Audio Stem)Music ProductionA stem is a mixed-down audio file of one group of instruments from a song, such as all the drums, all the vocals or all the keyboards. Aligned stems can reconstruct a mix, although shared effects and mix-bus processing can change the summed result.
- String FamilyInstruments & VoicesThe string family is the instruments that sound with vibrating strings. In the orchestra it means the bowed strings (violin, viola, cello, double bass); more broadly it includes harps, guitars and other plucked strings.
- String QuartetInstruments & VoicesA string quartet is a chamber group of two violins, a viola and a cello, and also the name of a piece written for them. It is one of the central forms of chamber music from the Classical era to today.
- StringendoTempo MarkingsStringendo, written string., means pressing forward: gradually speed up with growing tension, usually toward a climax. It is an accelerando with a sense of urgency.
- Strophic FormForm & StructureStrophic form is a song form in which every verse (strophe) of the text is sung to the same music, so the outline is A A A. It is the form of most hymns and many folk songs.
- StrummingTechnique & PerformanceStrumming is playing a chord on a guitar, ukulele or similar instrument by brushing a pick or the fingers across several strings at once, in a rhythm called a strumming pattern.
- SubdivisionRhythm & MeterSubdivision is splitting each beat into smaller equal parts, usually two, three or four, and feeling those parts while you play. It keeps rhythms even and makes tricky patterns easier to place.
- SubdominantScales, Keys & ModesThe subdominant is the fourth degree of a scale: F in C major, D in A minor. Its chord, IV (iv in minor), often leads away from the tonic and toward the dominant.
- SubitoTempo MarkingsSubito means 'suddenly' or 'immediately'. Subito p asks for an instant drop to soft, often right after a crescendo; attacca subito means go straight on to the next movement without a pause.
- SubmediantScales, Keys & ModesThe submediant is the sixth degree of a scale: A in C major, F in A minor. Its chord, vi in a major key, is the relative minor's tonic chord and the usual target of a deceptive cadence.
- SubtonicScales, Keys & ModesThe subtonic is the seventh degree of a scale when it lies a whole step below the tonic, as G does in A natural minor. Unlike the leading tone, it has little pull toward the tonic.
- SuiteForm & StructureA suite is a set of instrumental pieces played in sequence. In the Baroque era it meant a series of stylized dances in the same key; later it also meant a set of movements drawn from a ballet, opera or film score.
- SupertonicScales, Keys & ModesThe supertonic is the second degree of a scale, one step above the tonic: D in C major, B in A minor. The chord built on it, ii, usually leads to the dominant.
- Suspended Chord (sus2, sus4)Chords & HarmonyA suspended chord replaces the third of a triad with the second (sus2) or the fourth (sus4), such as C–D–G or C–F–G. With no third it is neither major nor minor, and it often resolves to a chord that has one.
- SuspensionChords & HarmonyA suspension is a note held over from one chord into the next, where it clashes, before it resolves down by step to a chord tone. Its stages are preparation, suspension and resolution, as in the 4–3 suspension.
- Sustain Pedal (Damper Pedal)Technique & PerformanceThe sustain pedal (damper pedal) is the right-hand pedal of a piano. Pressing it lifts every damper off the strings, so notes keep ringing after you let go of the keys.
- SwingRhythm & MeterSwing is a way of playing pairs of eighth notes unevenly, long then short, which gives music a lilting, forward-moving feel. It is usually written as even eighths with the word Swing, and it is the basic feel of much jazz.
- Sympathetic VibrationSound & AcousticsSympathetic vibration is when an object starts vibrating on its own because a nearby sound contains its natural frequency. An undamped piano string, for example, rings when another note supplies its pitch.
- SymphonyForm & StructureA symphony is a large work for orchestra, usually in four movements. It became the central orchestral form of the Classical era through Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
- SyncopationRhythm & MeterSyncopation is rhythm that puts the emphasis where you don't expect it: on a weak beat or between beats, often by holding a note across a strong beat or leaving the strong beat silent.
- SynthesizerInstruments & VoicesA synthesizer is an electronic instrument that creates sound from electrical signals or digital code instead of strings or air. Players shape the sound with oscillators, filters and envelopes, usually from a keyboard.
- SystemNotation & SymbolsA system is one complete line of music: all the staves that are played at the same time, joined at the left by a line. A piano system is a grand staff; an orchestral system can hold dozens of staves.
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- Tablature (Tab)Notation & SymbolsTablature, or tab, is a notation for fretted string instruments that shows where to play rather than which pitch: each line stands for a string and each number for the fret to press, with 0 for an open string.
- TemperamentSound & AcousticsA temperament is a tuning system that adjusts some intervals slightly away from pure ratios so a keyboard or fretted instrument can play in many keys. Equal temperament is today's standard; meantone and well temperaments came before it.
- TempoTempo MarkingsTempo is the speed of the beat in a piece of music. Composers show it with an Italian word such as Andante or Allegro, with a metronome mark in beats per minute, or with both.
- Tempo PrimoTempo MarkingsTempo primo, usually printed Tempo I, means return to the first tempo: the speed at the start of the piece or section, after a passage played at a different tempo.
- TenorInstruments & VoicesTenor is the highest common adult male voice type, with a typical classical range of about C3 to C5. Tenor parts are usually written in treble clef with an 8 below it, sounding an octave lower than written.
- TenutoArticulation & OrnamentsA tenuto is a short horizontal line above or below a note that asks you to hold it for its full value, often with a little extra weight. The abbreviation ten. means the same thing.
- Ternary FormForm & StructureTernary form is a three-part musical form, ABA: an opening section, a contrasting middle section, and a return of the opening section.
- TessituraPitch & IntervalsTessitura is the part of a range where most of the notes of a passage lie, or where a singer sounds and feels most comfortable. Two songs with the same range can have very different tessituras.
- TetrachordScales, Keys & ModesA tetrachord is a group of four notes spanning a perfect fourth. A major scale is made of two identical tetrachords, whole–whole–half, joined by a whole step, such as C D E F and G A B C.
- TextureMelody, Texture & CounterpointTexture is how the layers of a piece fit together: how many lines sound at once and what each one does. The main types are monophony, homophony, polyphony and heterophony.
- ThemeMelody, Texture & CounterpointA theme is a main musical idea of a piece, usually a complete melody or phrase, that the music is built around and returns to, often in changed forms.
- Theme and VariationsForm & StructureTheme and variations is a musical form in which a theme is stated and then repeated several times, each time changed in melody, rhythm, harmony, key, texture or character, while staying recognizable.
- Thirty-Second NoteRhythm & MeterA thirty-second note has three flags, or three beams when grouped. It lasts half as long as a sixteenth note, so eight thirty-second notes fill one quarter-note beat.
- Through-ComposedForm & StructureThrough-composed music keeps moving on to new material instead of repeating earlier sections. In a through-composed song, the music changes to follow the text from beginning to end.
- Thumb Under (Finger Crossing)Technique & PerformanceThumb under is the piano movement in which the thumb passes beneath the other fingers to reach the next note, or a finger crosses over the thumb, so that five fingers can play a scale or run of any length.
- TieNotation & SymbolsA tie is a curved line joining two notes of the same pitch. The second note is not played again: the sound simply continues, so the two lengths add together, often across a bar line.
- TimbreSound & AcousticsTimbre (TAM-ber) is the tone color of a sound: the quality that lets you tell a flute from a violin when both play the same note at the same loudness.
- Time SignatureRhythm & MeterA time signature is the pair of stacked numbers at the start of the music, such as 3/4 or 6/8. It shows how many of which note value fill each bar, and so how the beats are counted.
- TimpaniInstruments & VoicesTimpani (kettledrums) are large bowl-shaped drums that play definite pitches. A pedal on each drum changes the tension of the head, so the player can tune it to a chosen note, usually across a set of four drums.
- TonalityScales, Keys & ModesTonality is the organization of music around a central note, the tonic, so that other notes and chords are heard in relation to it. It underpins the major and minor keys of most Western music since the 1600s.
- TonicScales, Keys & ModesThe tonic is the first degree of a scale and the home note of a key: C in C major, A in A minor. Music tends to feel finished when it comes to rest on the tonic or the tonic chord.
- TonicizationChords & HarmonyTonicization is the brief treatment of a chord other than the tonic as a temporary tonic, usually by placing its own dominant before it, as in D7–G in C major. Unlike a modulation, the music does not settle in a new key.
- TranquilloDynamics & ExpressionTranquillo means 'calmly' or 'tranquilly': play in a peaceful, unhurried way, with an even, gentle tone and no sense of pressure. It often marks a quiet section after something more active.
- TranscriptionTechnique & PerformanceA transcription is either a written version of music you have heard, such as a jazz solo written down from a recording, or a version of a piece adapted for a different instrument while keeping its original notes.
- Transposing InstrumentInstruments & VoicesA transposing instrument is one whose music is written at a different pitch from the one it sounds. A B♭ clarinet's written C sounds as B♭; a horn in F's written C sounds as the F below.
- TranspositionScales, Keys & ModesTransposition is moving a piece of music, or part of it, higher or lower by a fixed interval. Every note moves by the same amount, so the melody and harmony keep their shape in a new key.
- Treble ClefNotation & SymbolsThe treble clef, or G clef, is the curling symbol that marks the second staff line as the G above middle C. It is used for higher music: the right hand of the piano, violin, flute and high voices.
- TremoloArticulation & OrnamentsA tremolo is a rapid repetition of one note or chord, or a rapid alternation between two notes that are further apart than a step. It is shown by short slanted strokes through a note's stem or between two notes.
- TriadChords & HarmonyA triad is a three-note chord built from a root plus the notes a third and a fifth above it. Its four kinds, major, minor, diminished and augmented, depend on the sizes of those thirds.
- TrillArticulation & OrnamentsA trill is an ornament in which you alternate rapidly between the written note and the note above it. It is shown by tr above the note, often followed by a wavy line.
- Triple MeterRhythm & MeterTriple meter groups the beats in threes, strong-weak-weak. 3/4, the meter of the waltz and the minuet, is the most familiar simple triple meter; 9/8 is compound triple.
- TripletRhythm & MeterA triplet is a group of three equal notes played in the time normally taken by two of the same kind, marked with a 3. Three triplet eighth notes, for example, fill one quarter-note beat.
- TritonePitch & IntervalsA tritone is an interval of six half steps, or three whole steps, such as F–B or C–F♯. Spelled as an augmented fourth or a diminished fifth, it splits the octave exactly in half and sounds tense.
- Tritone SubstitutionChords & HarmonyA tritone substitution replaces a dominant seventh chord with the dominant seventh a tritone away, such as D♭7 instead of G7 before C. Both chords share the same tritone, so the substitute resolves just as well.
- TromboneInstruments & VoicesThe trombone is a brass instrument that changes pitch with a sliding tube instead of valves. Its seven slide positions each lower the pitch a half step, and it reads bass and tenor clefs at concert pitch.
- TrumpetInstruments & VoicesThe trumpet is the highest common brass instrument: you buzz your lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece and use three valves to change notes. The usual B♭ trumpet sounds a major second lower than written.
- TubaInstruments & VoicesThe tuba is the largest and lowest common brass instrument, with a wide conical tube, a big cup mouthpiece and three to six valves. It reads bass clef at concert pitch and anchors bands and orchestras.
- TuningTechnique & PerformanceTuning means adjusting an instrument so its notes sound at the correct pitch, usually against a reference such as A = 440 Hz. The word also names the set of pitches an instrument's strings are tuned to.
- TupletRhythm & MeterA tuplet is a group of notes that divides a beat or bar into a number of equal parts the meter does not normally allow, such as three in the time of two (a triplet) or five in the time of four (a quintuplet).
- TurnArticulation & OrnamentsA turn is an ornament of four notes that circle the written note: the note above, the written note, the note below, and the written note again. Its sign looks like a sideways S.
- Twelve-Bar BluesChords & HarmonyThe twelve-bar blues is a twelve-bar chord progression built from I, IV and V, usually as dominant seventh chords: four bars of I, two of IV, two of I, then V, IV, I and V. It underlies blues, early rock and roll and much jazz.
- Twentieth-Century MusicStyles, Genres & ErasTwentieth-century music is the art music of the 1900s, an era of many competing styles, from impressionism, atonality and serialism to neoclassicism, electronic music, chance music and minimalism.
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- UkuleleInstruments & VoicesThe ukulele is a small four-string instrument from Hawaii, most often tuned G–C–E–A with a high G string. It is strummed or plucked, and its music is usually written in treble clef at the pitch it sounds.
- UnisonPitch & IntervalsA unison is two or more notes, voices or instruments sounding the same pitch. As an interval it is the perfect unison (P1), a distance of zero half steps.
- UpbeatRhythm & MeterAn upbeat is the weak beat just before a downbeat, usually the last beat of a bar, named after the conductor's upward lift. Notes that lead into the first full bar of a piece are also called an upbeat.
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- VelocityMusic ProductionVelocity records how fast a key or pad was struck. In MIDI 1.0 it ranges from 0 to 127; instruments use it to control loudness, tone or other aspects of a note.
- Verse–Chorus FormForm & StructureVerse–chorus form is a song form that alternates verses, which share a melody but tell the story with new words each time, and a chorus, which repeats the same words and music and usually carries the song's title.
- VibratoArticulation & OrnamentsVibrato is a regular, gentle wavering of pitch on a sustained note, used by singers, string players, many wind players and guitarists to warm the tone and help it carry.
- ViolaInstruments & VoicesThe viola is a bowed string instrument slightly larger than the violin, tuned C–G–D–A, a fifth lower. It has a warm, darker tone, plays the inner parts of the string section and reads mainly alto clef.
- ViolinInstruments & VoicesThe violin is the smallest and highest bowed string instrument, with four strings tuned G–D–A–E in fifths. It is held under the chin, played with a bow or plucked, and its music is written in treble clef.
- VivaceTempo MarkingsVivace is a tempo marking meaning lively and fast. It is usually placed between allegro and presto, roughly 156 to 176 beats per minute on many charts, and it stresses energy and spirit as much as speed.
- Voice LeadingChords & HarmonyVoice leading is the way each note of a chord moves to the next chord, treating harmony as several melodic lines at once. Good voice leading keeps those lines smooth and independent, mostly by step or common tone.
- VoicingChords & HarmonyA voicing is the specific arrangement of a chord's notes: which octave each note is in, which are doubled or left out, and which note is on top or in the bass. C–E–G and C–G–E–C are two voicings of one chord.
- Voicing (Bringing Out a Voice)Technique & PerformanceIn performance, voicing means playing one line, usually the melody, louder than the notes around it, so a listener hears it first while the accompaniment and inner notes stay softer.
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- Walking BassMelody, Texture & CounterpointA walking bass is a bass line that moves in steady, even notes, usually one per beat, stepping smoothly through the chord changes. It is the classic bass sound of jazz and swing.
- WaltzForm & StructureA waltz is a dance in 3/4 time with a strong first beat, usually accompanied by an "oom-pah-pah" pattern: a bass note on beat 1 and chords on beats 2 and 3. It flourished in 19th-century Vienna.
- Warm-UpTechnique & PerformanceA warm-up is a short, gentle routine at the start of practice, rehearsal or performance that prepares your body, breath and focus, using simple exercises such as long tones, scales or five-finger patterns.
- Whole NoteRhythm & MeterA whole note is an open oval notehead with no stem. In 4/4 time it lasts four beats, a whole bar, and it is the longest note value in everyday use.
- Whole RestRhythm & MeterA whole rest is a small filled rectangle hanging below the fourth line of the staff. It means four beats of silence in 4/4, and alone in a bar it marks a whole bar of silence in other time signatures too.
- Whole Step (Whole Tone)Pitch & IntervalsA whole step, or whole tone, is an interval of two half steps: from one piano key, skip the very next key and land on the one after it. C to D and E to F♯ are whole steps.
- Whole-Tone ScaleScales, Keys & ModesThe whole-tone scale is a six-note scale made entirely of whole steps, such as C D E F♯ G♯ A♯. With no half steps and no perfect fifths, it has a floating, dreamlike sound.
- Woodwind FamilyInstruments & VoicesThe woodwind family is the group of wind instruments that make sound with an air stream on an edge (flutes) or with a vibrating reed (clarinets, saxophones, oboes, bassoons), whatever they are made of.
- World MusicStyles, Genres & ErasWorld music is a broad label, popularized by record companies in the 1980s, for traditional and popular music from outside the Western mainstream, from Indian classical music to West African drumming.