Questions tagged [terminology]
For questions about the terms used to describe music or the language used within the musical field. Questions about symbols should use the "notation" tag.
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Intense hybrid music [closed]
I saw something the other day which caught my attention. I pondered it for awhile and did some research on it. I did get some idea but it never fully satisfied my curiosity. I came across this site ...
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Humming to Brian Eno's "Needles in the Camel's Eye"
The question I have is prompted by the song "Needles in the Camel's Eye" by Brian Eno, in particular the opening instrumental bars. (Though I think I've noticed the phenomenon I'm going to ...
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How are notes named in Japan?
We use A - G or tonic sol fa. Do the Japanese label notes differently? How was their music notated before western colonisation?
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Sad 70's "Wa-wa" electric guitar riff - What is it called?
The sound effect I am alluding to occurs near the end of the Stairway to Heaven guitar solo:
at timestamp 6:25; and also in the closing scene to the Rocky Horror Picture ...
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What's the purpose of annotating "colla parte" in the piano accompaniment of a solo instrument?
I came across 2 mentions of colla parte in Adolf Huber's Student Concertino Op. 6 No. 2 for violin and piano (see score here) in page 3:
According to Oxford Companion to Music the meaning is
"...
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What is the name of this "change" of notes?
Is there a name for when part of a song that is repeatedly sung with the same notes within the song is later sung with different notes?
For example, the notes that Hugh Jackman uses to sing the word &...
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Which word can be used to describe either the beat or the subdivision?
Say I have a metronome that plays a sound on the beat and no sound on any of the subdivisions.
Say my goal is to clap my hands whenever the beat sound is played AND whenever I feel the subdivision(s) ...
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Why is this image from pianochord.org for A11 labeled as an inversion, when its lowest pitch note is an A?
Backstory:
Programmer.
Teaching myself piano.
Programatically building sheet music that will comprehensively cover a great number of chords, as comprehensive as it is reasonably useful and can be ...
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Is "secco" really used in piano music?
Secco is Italian for dry. Many sources define the term within the context of recitativo secco, i.e. with sparse accompaniment. Wikipedia describes an appropriate realization for basso continuo.
Two ...
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What does this “Imo” sign mean?
In the bassoon part of Al fato dàn legge in Mozart’s Così fan tutte — Act I, Scene IV, No. 7, there is this Imo sign:
Can anyone explain its meaning?
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Inversion naming conventions
Does the name of the inversions (first, second, etc.) refer to a specific interval (3rd, 5th, etc.) or just the next chord tone?
For example, a Cmaj7 chord in first inversion starts with the 3rd, and ...
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What is it called when a melodic progression stays the same but the chord progression changes?
I hear this from time to time and love it, but I have no idea what this is called. The melody stays the same, the chord progression changes, and the whole feel of the song shifts. Here is an example.
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What are the terms figure, segment and cell?
According to the Wikipedia article on Cell, it "may be distinguished from the figure", however the definition that is later quoted as "the smallest indivisible unit" is very ...
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What does "prevailing harmony" mean?
While I was reading up on passing tones, I encountered this example:
Example 15–7 presents an expansion of a C-major chord over two beats: the lower voice leaps down from the third of the chord to ...
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scale degree notation question
While watching Seth Monahan's Youtube videos on Classical harmony and counterpoint,
I noticed that he used ^1 ^2 ^3 ^4 ^5 ^6 ^7 for minor scale.
I have read harmony books on different genres other ...
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What is the difference between a Musical Mashup and a DJ Mix?
The difference between them confuses me.
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Quantification of listed tempos
Where get definitive numbers for tempos in my music book, specifically Mel Bay's (Roger Filiberto's, New Sounds for Electric Bass and Guitar?
Specific examples include wanting BPM of the following ...
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What does Pedale ad lib mean?
I want to know what Pedale ad lib means. I have tried many ways to find out, but I still don’t understand what it means. Can anyone help me please?
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What is it called when the root is omitted from a chord?
I am learning chord notation and I noticed that the Wikipedia page does not mention any specific notation for a chord where the root is omitted.
Omitting the root note seems to be quite commonplace, ...
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Modes Scales and Keys
Is it correct to refer to modes as keys, or are they simply modes? If they're not keys, how come C Ionian is referred to as the major key, and its relative minor key, Am, (Aeolian), referred to as the ...
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Why is it called Camelot wheel? Why Camelot?
I read on https://dj.studio/blog/camelot-wheel:
The Camelot Wheel is a modern system to help DJs navigate the musical keys of their music.
It's based on the circle of fifths, with the only difference ...
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New tongue drum - no musical experience whatsoever - notes map? [duplicate]
I just purchased a new tongue drum off eBay. The listing title was: "BURNING&LIN Steel Tongue Drum" but under brand on the listing's details page, is: "Unbranded." It is 15&...
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Fuzzy notes or some clearer, well-known term out there for what I mean?
Pondering about a yet-to-implement feature in a DIY software tool, also to be yet well-documented for other computer musicians who might be interested in the future.
The tool is an interpreter or ...
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Is there a name to categorize instruments according to wether they can produce an infinity of F0 or not? [duplicate]
I'd like to know if there is a word, in English or any other language, that describe the category gathering the instruments able to play every frequency (tone, quarter tone, any arbitrary subdivision ...
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What are the most elementary techniques one can implement in a motif?
What are the most elementary techniques one can implement in a motif? Techniques for creating contrast, tension, ambiguity or some other "quirk" to make a motif more unique.
By a "motif&...
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Ice-cream chords- where does the name come from?
Recently, a question was asked here and the term 'ice-cream chords' was mentioned. A bit of research finds they're also known (but not to me) as the vanilla changes.
Basically, it's a 1, 6, 4, 5 ...
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What is this vocal ornament called?
There is a vocal technique used in this audio clip that sounds Arabic and melismatic on the lyric “smile”. The notes go up from G3 to G#3 and back to G3 again. Some say it is a mordent but I think the ...
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Turkish and German names for quarter tones
I am interested in Turkish music and stumbled over quarter tones. Now I would love to be able to name those notes in Turkish and German but didn't find the respective ways to name those notes.
However,...
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"Structureless" description of music
Imagine some structureless music. Music without meter, free improvisation or just a series of random sounds.
What concepts of music theory could we still apply to describe the progression of such ...
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Term for notation with right-hand-chords and melody simultaneously
I found a kind of notation in a solo piano book I'm not familiar with (see image below).
As I understand it, I’m supposed to play every note and the ones in between the brackets only if possible. Is ...
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What is it called when the same melody is played at different speeds by voices with different timbre?
I'm imagining this situation:
A melody is played by a voice (by a "voice" I mean an instrument or an actual human voice).
The same melody or a very similar melody is played by another voice,...
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What's it called when harmony moves in the same intervals as the melody?
What's it called when the harmony moves in the exact same intervals as a melody, even if it is chromatic? Here's an example:
My apologies, I would do actual notation but I am not currently able to.
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Are there widely accepted names for 31edo modes?
I am looking for scales and modes in 31edo, and I found this page:
https://en.xen.wiki/w/31edo_modes
It's overall a nice library of scales. The issue is, the namings are too unique that I cannot find ...
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I'm blanking on a word regarding rhythmic interpretation (making 4/4 sound like 3/4 and vice versa)
I know it's not polyrhythm or anything along poly-whatever lines (I could be wrong, but nothing's ringing a bell) and the only results I'm getting are either like that or not related to my question to ...
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Are bells the only instrument whose second harmonic forms a minor interval with its fundamental?
I heard (from a Paccard church bells rep) that bells are the only instrument whose second harmonic forms a minor interval with its fundamental. Is this true?
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What is the definition of 909/808/707/etc. percussion?
I would think that these sounds would be the sounds made by the classic drum machines. But I see many samples advertised as being "909 kick" for example, and these may be different than ...
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What does "gets the beat" mean?
When learning music theory, I keep hearing the terminology of, for example, a quarter note in a piece of music in 4/4 time "getting the beat". What exactly does this mean?
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What is the technical term for this type of singing?
You have two vocalists and the first vocalist sings a verse and as he begins the second verse, your second vocalist begins to sing the first verse. The two verses are then sung together.
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What is the word for the feeling when the piano key catches at the bottom of a press. The word for when the jack slips
I apologize I’m not a musician, I’m writing poetry and I heard someone talk about that click a little over 3/4s of the way down a piano key, when the jack catches and the hammer is launched. It ...
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What is the term for the act of breaking up one long drawn out note into multiple beats?
I’m slowly learning music terminology and I’m trying to have a discussion with a musician friend about something but I’m not sure what you call this.
My initial thought was an arpeggio but that’s ...
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Is there a term for having a sequence of notes that then change key while modulating?
Here's an example of what I mean.
It is a melody that is transposed down 1 whole tone every 4 measures.
I am wondering if there is a term for this transposing of a melody in music?
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What's this vertical dash called and what does it mean?
I found this vertical dash on some sheet music and I can't figure out what it is or what does it mean. I've tried looking through Wikipedia's list of symbols, but I couldn't find it there and me ...
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What are the most common kick-snare patterns?
Problem
I use LilyPond to write notation for drums, and because the coding behind the typesetting is complex I've integrated the use of vim's "Ultisnips" plugin to help write out bits of ...
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Any idea what "[Instrument] colle Parti" means?
I'm trying to figure out what "[Previous instrument] colle Parti" means when changing instrument, but I found no information about it. Translation is "[Previous instrument] with parts&...
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Term for a harmony that's always above the melody, but just enough to be in chord?
Is there a term for a harmony that always resembles the next-closest note above the melody that is in chord (not just in key)?
A friend of mine always does that when improvising a harmony and she ...
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Definition of Chromatic and Diatonic Semitone in 31 TET
I am trying to learn about music theories in 31 TET, I learned that 2 fifthtones are a chromatic semitone, 3 fifthtones are a diatonic semitone, 4 fifthtones are a neutral semitone, five fifthtones ...
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Performance directions for a vocal technique
I'm in the process of transcribing
Just Like Heaven by The Cure from audio to notation.
The lead singer Robert Smith has a vocal style where he doesn't seem to hold a pitch for long before sliding to ...
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What does the s number mean in the title of the piece?
For example, the transcendental etudes by Liszt are labeled "S. 139." What does this mean? If it's related to the piece's release date, what's the difference between it and opus # (e.g the ...
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Why do we call Bb tubas BBb?
Why do we refer to Bb tubas as "BBb", C tubas as "CC" and Eb tubas as "Eb"?
I have parts of this answer, but not the full story. Looking to fill in some gaps.
Before we ...
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Nomenclature for pipe organ keyboard compass
When going through pipe organ specifications (such as this historic Arp Schnitger's organ in St. Jacobi), I came across a peculiar nomenclature for the manual / pedal compass (as of 1693):
I ...
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