Questions tagged [terminology]
For questions about musical terms. Questions about symbols should use the "notation" tag.
5
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2answers
92 views
What are Antecedent & Consequent Phrases in Music?
I've never heard the terms before:
Antecedent and consequent phrases
they seem to be elements of a period. It seems to be evident that I am not the only one ...
3
votes
1answer
28 views
Pentatonic Terminology Box versus Position Requesting Feedback [on hold]
All comments appreciated. I created an app for learning the pentatonic scale on guitar. On the app, I used the word ‘Position’ to indicate ‘Box’. When I requested feedback from fellow guitarists, I ...
3
votes
1answer
74 views
Pentatonic Terminology Box versus Position
I'm late to the party. Is it incorrect to refer to "Box 2 of the Am pentatonic scale" as "Position 2 of the Am pentatonic scale"? I am aware of a classical guitarist would say position 1 if the root ...
6
votes
4answers
703 views
Usefulness of complex chord names?
We get many questions about chord names for various odd bunches of notes. I often wonder whether they have much value.
Obviously, the common simple chord names are useful. E.g. you might ask a ...
3
votes
4answers
1k views
What word describes the sound of an instrument based on the shape of the waveform of its sound?
I'm interested in learning about how human beings perceive qualities of sound.
We know that the human ear hears sound when air vibrates against the eardrums at different frequencies and amplitudes. ...
2
votes
2answers
72 views
What does ben tenuto il basso mean?
In the second theme of the recapitulation of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata where the bass line goes into the treble clef and the bass register becomes part of the melody, I see the marking ben tenuto ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
What does “function” actually mean in music?
I remember when the term function was introduced in math - y=f(x) - the teacher was a substitution and still himself a student. He used the term function as if we already knew of what he was talking ...
6
votes
3answers
152 views
Pentatonic, hexatonic, heptatonic, octatonic… what is a 12 tone scale called?
Pentatonic, hexatonic, heptatonic, octatonic... what is a 12 tone scale called?
This seems like a dumb question. I know it's just called the chromatic scale, but isn't there a ______-tonic name?
I ...
3
votes
3answers
72 views
Is there a term that define the number of notes in a chord?
There are triads (3 notes), 7th chords (4 notes), 9th chords (5 notes), 11th chords (6 notes), 13 chords (seven notes).
Is there some commonly used term that is used only to describe the quantitative ...
4
votes
2answers
116 views
Identifying “Drop chords” from a given voicing
I'm new to this concept of "drop chords" for guitar, and apparently other instruments as well. Well, I know about chord voicings in general, but not necessarily how the drop-n voicing system works.
...
2
votes
2answers
76 views
What is chord melody?
I've heard the term "chord melody" used by a jazz player acquaintance of mine, but I'm not really certain what he is describing or how it works. Would someone please give me a definition in easy to ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
What is the musical term for a note that continuously plays through a melody?
I have been wanting to know this for a long time. It is when a note stays on while some other notes are being played at the same time, it is kind of like a Pedal Point from research. Here are some ...
1
vote
0answers
23 views
What does it mean to rework or remodel an existing composition?
I was looking at the contributing artists for Ryuichi Sakamoto's album ASYNC-REMODELS, where on the back cover are some terms I wasn't so sure what they meant:
You can see that the first track is ...
5
votes
1answer
80 views
What would this chord progression be called?
There's a section of the melody of Kyari Pamyu Pamyu's song ふりそで〜しょん, specifically the part preceding the chorus, where the composition shifts from a relatively straightforward A mixolydian melody to ...
5
votes
3answers
133 views
Why is it called Mixolydian #11 and not Mixolydian #4?
I was watching an instructional video and the guy's talking about Mixolydian #11 being one of the modes of the melodic minor.
The regular G mixolydian looks like:
G A B C D E F G
And the G ...
2
votes
1answer
68 views
What is the name of the practice of rhythm being written as series of 2's and 3's?
I remember some time ago learning about traditional Irish music and how a lot of the music wasn't written with our modern time signature structure, but was instead written as a series of 2 beat / 3 ...
1
vote
4answers
284 views
Music terminology - why are seven letters used to name scale tones [duplicate]
Since the scale is logarithmic with each interval (half-step) being a constant multiple of the previous frequency, why didn't they just name the pitches A to F with each note having a half-step #/b in ...
11
votes
4answers
5k views
What is the term when two people sing in harmony, but they aren't singing the same notes?
I'm not a musician, and I know basically nothing about music, and music theory and what-not. (I basically just know a few common terms, and how to play chords)
In most songs with two or more people ...
1
vote
1answer
63 views
What do you call a lightwheight version of chorus inside a verse or in between them?
If you have two different choruses, where one is a more mellow version of the "real" chorus. What do you call it? For instance on this form: Verse, X, Verse, Chorus. What do you call X?
It's not a ...
4
votes
4answers
644 views
Slur or Tie when they are mixed?
For my understanding, the top notes D and F are slurs, the bottom notes G and C, what are they? Please help! Thanks!
6
votes
1answer
100 views
Is there a name for songs whose lyrics are sung through twice?
Some songs just have their lyrics sung through from beginning to end twice - usually with a key change for the second time through. Is there a name for that?
I am thinking of "The Impossible Dream" (...
1
vote
5answers
377 views
Is A♭ major a closely related key to C♯ major?
I'm trying to list the closely related keys to C♯ major, and here is what I get:
C♯ major, the original key
D♯ minor
(???)
F♯ major
(???)
A♯ minor
x (B♯ diminished is not a key!)
For the points that ...
8
votes
2answers
114 views
What's the musical term for a repeated phrase with shifting emphasis?
For example, a riff/pattern that's three beats long played over 4/4 so that a different part of the phrase is emphasized on each repetition.
This happens briefly in The Killers "Somebody told me", ...
3
votes
2answers
191 views
What does “con piu fuoco possibile” mean?
Towards the end of Chopin's Etude No. 4 in C# minor, Op. 10 No. 4, it says "con più fuoco possibile." What does this mean?
4
votes
2answers
100 views
Musicians' jargon, on-stage communication
I’m translating a documentary about a Hungarian folk-jazz musician into English and there are a few words, which I am sure are very simple, yet which I simply cannot find a solution for anywhere on ...
2
votes
0answers
40 views
What is the term for the sung voice found especially in Bach's chorale music (eg. Jesu Joy of Man's Desire BWV147)?
I have wondered what the correct musical term for the voiced melody overlaid in a piece like Jesu Joy of Man's Desire BWV147, or Sleepers Awake BWV645 is. In this piece of music (and other likes it, ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Are the terms “stab” and “staccato” synonyms?
When I look up the term "stab" in Wikipedia it says: "In music, a stab is a single staccato note or chord that adds dramatic punctuation to a composition."
So I was wondering, are stab and staccato ...
4
votes
3answers
488 views
When to use the term transposed instead of modulation?
I was playing 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' and noticed it modulates from B minor to a fifth above, F-sharp major.
I looked on wikipedia and found it says:
"...
10
votes
5answers
901 views
Must a tritone substitution use a dominant functioning seventh chord?
The tritone substitution has been discussed in several questions here, perhaps most notably What is tritone substitution? and Why is bII 7(b5) considered a dominant? (I believe my question is ...
0
votes
2answers
82 views
Is there a more specific term for this sound? (5 and ♯4)
I like the crunchy, janky texture of playing a note with the note a semitone under it in a melodic voice, usually on the dominant scale degree. For example, in the original Thomas the Tank Engine TV ...
6
votes
1answer
235 views
Is there a name for the progression ♭VI–♭VII–I?
The so-called Andalusian cadence occurs when one harmonizes the descending tetrachord from tonic down to dominant with I–♭VII–♭VI–V.
Yet the progression ♭VI–♭VII–I seems just as common. It's ...
4
votes
1answer
94 views
What is a “Slovenian Cadence”?
I recently acquired a large collection of music theory review materials. In it, I came across the term "Slovenian cadence." Does anyone know what this might be?
Unfortunately, the review materials ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
What's the relationship between the chords Cmaj Dmaj Emaj?
If I play the chords: C major, D major, then E major. I'm wondering what their relationship is called.
It almost sounds like chromatic mediants but I can't call it that since it doesn't move by a ...
0
votes
2answers
43 views
Is a doubly augmented seventh a compound interval?
I'm reading about the theory behind intervals, and Wikipedia says:
A compound interval is an interval spanning more than one octave.
Does "spanning" in this case refer to the number of staff ...
3
votes
4answers
102 views
Term for distinguishing dim/perfect/aug intervals from dim/min/maj/aug ones
There are two types of intervals, distinguished by their possible qualities:
Unisons, fourths, fifths, and octaves (and their compound variants) may be of perfect or (multiply) diminished/augmented ...
1
vote
3answers
129 views
Terminology for 3 beats per measure
What terms do people use to refer to music with 3 beats per measure? I have heard the term "waltz beat" and "triple meter" but are there other (not necessarily professional) terms?
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votes
6answers
2k views
What's the difference between “con brio” and “con fuoco”?
Do they just have different names but are meant to be played the same? Also, it seems like if "con fuoco" never appears in major keys, except for Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18.
1
vote
1answer
41 views
Is there a specific name or descriptive term for happy, productive melodies/tunes that you see on ads? [closed]
Example
Feel free to include some of your favorite ones also!
2
votes
3answers
199 views
Does it exist some kind of “1-bit” / “binary” / “one note only” musical notation?
Disclaimer: I'm a programmer and I know nothing about music.
I connected a small electronic component to my computer, and I'm able to control it using a software I developed.
This electronic ...
6
votes
8answers
228 views
What is the 'and' called in 4/4 time?
"1 and 2 and 3 and 4."
If beats 1 and 3 are strong (aka on-beat) and 2 and 4 are weak (aka off-beat). What is the 'and' called? I'm wondering about the terminology.
5
votes
3answers
569 views
Chromatic vs Non-diatonic vs Accidental
I was wondering if all three of these terms: chromatic, non-diatonic, accidental, all mean the same thing?
4
votes
5answers
2k views
If parallel keys aren't closely related, then why are they so easy to get to?
I got this comment on an answer of mine:
Parallel major/minor keys are not closely related. They are easy to
get to, but not closely related. It's like you might live by a subway
that make it ...
1
vote
3answers
93 views
Classification of 9th, 11th, and 13th intervals by consonance and dissonance
An interval is classified by its consonance or dissonance: as an open consonance (unison, perfect fifth, octave), a soft consonance (major and minor third and sixth), mild dissonance (major second ...
0
votes
3answers
77 views
Usage of “to paraphrase” in music
The term paraphrase in music seems quite clearly defined.
Right coming from searching another term for the fill-ins, echo-ing, answering in a musical dialog of 2 instruments, a singer and piano or ...
4
votes
1answer
95 views
what is a “leitmotif” and by whom has it been introduced into music language?
after debating about Paraphrase in music and whether "paraphrasing" could mind something different I came to the question, that someone has been used the first time the German term of "leitmotif" ...
2
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2answers
40 views
How to name short phrases played to make “frame” for e.g. vocal solo?
How to name short phrases played to make "frame" for vocal solo?
For example "Cambio Dolor" (original, performed by Natalia Oreiro) song, there are two guitars playing in verse: rythm & the ...
2
votes
1answer
113 views
What is the difference between accented and unaccented notes?
how can I tell the difference between an accented and unaccented note?
(I am doing grade 8 ABRSM & Trinity theory, any tips?)
1
vote
1answer
81 views
Naming of common Instrumental groupings [closed]
I am aware that I cannot expect absolute, definitive answers but there appears to be some common patterns. Are the following reasonably reliable and what can be added?
Clarification: I am primarily ...
1
vote
1answer
58 views
Is there a formal name for tones occurring at the same instant?
I am not talking about chords. Imagine a score with two staffs (e.g. for piano) and let's say 2 voices. In the first measure on the upper staff we have some chord (let's say it consists of 4 notes) ...
6
votes
6answers
2k views
Which 'Scale' A Song is In
A month or two ago, I participated in a school music programme, where I was playing guitar. The chord progression I was playing was in the key of C. Then our music teacher comes, and asks in which ...
