Melody

• Interval 


  distance between two different notes
• Conjunct 


  movement in step
• Disjunct 


  Movement in larger intervals (by a leap)
• Triadic 


  Centred around the notes of one or more triads
• Arpeggios or broken chords 


  notes of a chord heard one after the other
• Scalic


  Uses scale patterns
• Passing notes 


  a note that isn't part of the current chord and that comes between two notes a 3rd apart
• Diatonic 


  based entirely on the notes of the current key
• Chromatic 


  Music containing notes that dot belong to the current key of the music
• Pentatonic 


  A scale made up of only five notes
• whole tone 


  a six note scale in which there Is an interval of a tone between each note
• Modal 


  based on a type of seven note scale
• Sequence 


  A melodic idea that is immediately repeated at a different pitch
• Inversion


  a melodic idea that has even turned upside down
• Ostinato or riff 


  short melodic idea that is repeated continually
• Improvisation 


  making it up as you go
• Range 


  How high or low the melody is
• Leitmotif 


  a recurring musical idea - associated to a idea or character
• Imitation 


  copying or echoing a previously heard idea
• Syllabic 


  vocal melodies change note or rhythm with every syllable of the words
• Melismatic 


  vocal melodies use more than one note for a single syllable
• Word painting 


  music conveys the images the lyrics are describing