Music

• Syncopation - a rhythm with accents on weak beats (off beat) - it feels like the rhythm is played early or later than the pulse
• Dotted Rhythm - a rhythm with a longer note followed by a shorter note
• Triplet - 3 quaver-looking notes played in the space of one beat
• Ostinato (riff) - a short repeated rhythmic pattern
• Swing Rhythms - pairs of quavers played with unequal length (usually in Jazz music)
• Semibreve - 4 beats
• Minim - 2 beats
• Crotchet - 1 Beat
• Quaver - Half a beat
• Compound time - 6/8 9/8 and 12/8
• Simple time 2/4, 3/4 4/4
• Melody and accompaniment - a tune with accompaniment
• Stab chords - chords played short, punchy and accented that add a dramatic effect
• Canon - a melody repeated EXACTLY in different parts but start at different times, meaning the parts overlap each other
• solo - 1 performer
• duet - two performers
• trio - 3 performers
• quartet - 4 performers
• quintet - 5 performers
• Countermelody - A new melody combined with the main theme
• Chordal - music moves in chords (like a hymn)
• Monophonic - A single melody line
• Homophonic - A chordal style or melody and accompaniment moving together
• Polyphonic - a more complex (contrapuntal) texture with a number of different melody lines
• Unison - All parts play/sing the same music at the same time
• (Mainly) Conjunct - stepwise movement
• (Mainly) disjunct - moves in leaps
• Interval - the distance between two notes e.g major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th ect
• Pitch - how high or low the notes are played
• Sequence (ascending or descending) - the repetition of a melodic pattern at a higher or lower pitch
• Imitation - the repetition of a melody in a different part or different pitch
• Leitmotif - a melodic theme representing a character/place/emotion
• Ascending/Descending - pitches that mainly move in one direction
• Fanfare - Usually played by brass instruments. It is a triumphant musical announcement
• Octave - The eight notes between a pitch (F#) and a higher or lower pitch of the same name (F#)
• Pentatonic - a musical scale based on five notes(1,2,3,5 and 6 degrees of the scale)
• Anacrusis - an upbeat before the first downbeat of a scale
• Chromatic movement - use of notes outside of the scale (movements in semitones e.g C, C#, D, D#, E, F, Ect.)
• Range (wide or narrow) - The distance from the lowest note the the highest note
• Largo - slow and broad (40-60 BPM)