0
Musical Terminology
Musical terms are words and phrases that are specific to reading, writing, and playing music.
720 Questions
A minim worth two beats. The dot to a note worth half of the note value. Hence the dotted minim has three beats.
Are crescendos and decrescendos very important when sight reading?
If you are sight reading in a music competition, following the crescendos and decrescendos may gain you extra points, although they are usually not required. If you are sight reading to learn a piece, you should start with the rhythm and the notes, and then add on the dynamics when you are comfortable with the basics of the piece.
What does attack and delay mean in music terms?
Attack is the way that a note is started, varying by the method of tonguing (wind instruments), bowing (string instruments), striking (percussion instruments). Decay is the way a note fades away after it is played. Wind and string instruments have a quick decay, but certain percussion instruments such as the cymbals and vibraphone have an extremely long decay.
A breve is a musical note lasting eight times as long as a quarter note (crotchet) in music, a semi-circular diacritical mark placed above a vowel to represent a short sound, or the common name for the great ant thrush, Latin name Pitta gigas, with a very short tail.
Would you call someone who you play music with a co-player or is there another word?
If you are playing a piece with that person and you both have major parts, then it would be a duet.
If you are playing a piece and only one person has a major part, then the other person would be an accompanist.
How many semiquavers make two crochets?
There are eight semiquavers in a minim, which is also equivalent to two crotchets.
What property of sound affects consonance and dissonance in music?
Every pitch has frequency. Frequency is actually an exponential function, meaning that for every octave the pitch increases, the frequency of the sound wave doubles, so A4 = 440 htz, A5 = 880 htz, A6 = 1760 htz, etc. The human ear finds consonance when the ratio of the two notes in the interval is simple, such as 1:2, 3:4, or 2:3. When the ratio is not simple, such as __, the interval is dissonant. Two notes in unison, the most consonant, have ratio 1:1 (same pitch). Then the order goes: octave (2:1), perfect fifth(3:2), perfect fourth (4:3), and so on, each interval more dissonant than the last, ending on the augmented fourth (45:32)
What does pitch and tone mean?
In music:
Pitch is the position of a sound in a range of sounds. Pitch is determined by the frequency of the sound, high pitch sounds have a higher frequency and low pitch sounds have a lower frequency. You can think of frequency as vibrations. Tone is determined by the regularity of a sound's frequency. A simple tone has only one frequency and complex tones are more than one frequency similar to layers.
If you want to read more about pitch and tone, you can look at the Encyclopedia Brittannica online or the Oxford Dictionary online. This is where I found the answers. Or contact your local librarian, many library web sites have a link where you can chat online with a librarian 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Sara P
MSIS student
Librarians--Ask Us, We Answer!
What does the top number in the time signature mean if its a 3?
It means that each measure contains three beats.
What does opera mean in the musical terms?
An opera is a dramatic work in one or more acts, which is set to music for singers and instrumentalists.
What do you mean by transpose with reference to a synthesizer?
Transposing cannot be pinned down to one instrument as transposing is the process of moving a Set of notes up or down in pitch (how low or a sound is). In your case a synthesiser or keyboard can allow you to change the number of steps the pitch is changed by.
What does compose mean in musical terms?
Compose in music terms means to wright a song for instance if you wrote a song and possibly called it Save or Cancel or Full befits or whatever then you are a composer you composed a song and that definition only takes place in music.
What does aggregate audio device mean?
An aggregate audio device can be created in OS X that combines the inputs and outputs of different audio hardware to appear as one device. Most software is only compatible with one device at a time, and the Aggregate Device editor will allow you to combine hardware inputs and outputs to access all the connections.
What does texture mean in music terms?
Texture referrs to the "feel" of the music. (aka. dark and foreboding, bouncy, light, etc.)
What does a 3 below three crotchets mean?
It means a triplet of a crotchet. Descriptively, the particular three crotchets should be played in the time of two.
