Glossary of Music Theory

Reference: http://solomonsmusic.net/glossary.htm

A
ambiance or ambience. the background noise or environmental sound.

arpeggio. a chord that is played one note at a time, rather than as simultaneous tones.

atonal. an apparent lack of key.

authentic cadence.  a cadence harmonic formula consisting of a stop on tonic chord preceded by a dominant function chord; e.g., V I, or vii6 I.
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B
bass. the lowest pitch, or the lowest note. Notice that bass is not the same as root, tonic, or fundamental, and that bass is a pitch, not a pitch class.

basso continuo. literally, continuous bass; a Baroque practice in which a bass line mechanically keeps the beat as well as supplying the foundation of the harmony.

beats.  a constant unit of time that forms a background clock in music

block chord.  an unbroken chord.

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C
cadence. a pause or stopping point. Often cadences are associated with harmonic or melodic formulae; e.g., an authentic cadence is a stop with the chords V to I. A "Landini cadence" is a melodic formula that proceeds as 8-7-7-6-8 (scale degrees).

chord progression. a series of chords that strengthens a key. The opposite is called a retrogression.

chord. three or more pitch classes considered simultaneously. A chord must have at least three pcs in it, but these may or may not sound simultaneously; e.g., in a "broken chord" or arpeggio. A broken chord is, nonetheless, a chord because its content is considered together as a group. Memory plays a part in the perception of arpeggiated chords.

chromatic. 1. pitches outside the prevailing key. 2. different notes with the same letter names, e.g. F and F#. Most scales contain all seven different letter names; thus, chromatic notes are those outside of the key. See also: chromatic semitone and chromatic scale.

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D
dominant. 1. the fifth degree of a scale, a perfect fifth above the tonic. 2. a chord built on the fifth scale degree.

dominant seventh chord. a seventh chord that is normally built on the fifth degree of a scale. Its structure always consists of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh, and any chord having this structure is called a dominant seventh, whether or not it is built on the fifth scale degree.

dynamics. 1.signs that indicate the loudness or softness of music; e.g. f = loud, p = soft, mf = medium loud. 2. the actual loudnesses and softnesses themselves.

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E
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F
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G
genre. classification of music by some combination of function, medium, form, or idiom; examples are: opera (voices, orchestra, dramatic action, staging), etude (an exercise composed for developing skills on an instrument), lullaby (song used to put one to sleep), dirge (a funeral music).

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H
half step. the smallest distance between notes in a chromatic scale; syn., semitone.

harmonic. an overtone whose frequency is equal to the fundamental frequency multiplied by an integer. A harmonic series consists of a number of harmonics ascending from the fundamental. Although all harmonics are overtones, the converse is not so.

harmonization.  the choice of chords to accompany a melodic line, chosen so that the melody notes are contained in the chords.

harmony. the sound of tones in combination. The study of harmony makes up a large part of theory courses due to its importance and complexity in our traditional music. It is sometimes considered synonymous with the study of chords and homophony.

homo-. (prefix) moving together.

homophony. a type of polyphony with a predominate melody accompanied by chords.

homorhythm. all voice parts moving together in the same rhythm.

Hz. Abbreviation for Hertz

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I
imitation. one or more voices answering an initial statement by repeating a line; often occurs in imitative counterpoint.

inharmonic. an overtone that does not correspond with an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency.

intensity. the perceived loudness and tension (subjective).

interval. the distance between two pitches or notes. Intervals may be measured in a number of ways; e.g., by counting the number of semitones, subtracting frequencies, etc. Counting semitones is used in set theory. However, the most common method is by counting letter names; e.g. C,D,E,F includes 4 letters--thus, C to F is called a fourth and is always a fourth, no matter how the notes may be altered by sharps or flats. This is called the "general size" of the interval. However, each general interval may have several "specific sizes"; e.g. a third could be major, minor, diminished, augmented, etc. The specific size is determined by 1. the general size, and 2. the number of semitones it contains.

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J
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K
key. a combination of a tonic and a mode. E.g. a piece that is in the key of G major has G as tonic and major as the mode.

key signature. sharps or flats that are placed at the beginning of a staff to indicate the pitch classes that are to be so altered on that staff. Notice that, contrary to common thought, a key signature (sic) does not specify key.

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L
leitmotif. a brief idea, such as a melodic line, that is used by a composer to symbolize a character, feeling, or thought, most often in a vocal genre, such as opera.

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M
major. a mode consisting of T-T-S-T-T-T-S.

major chord. a chord whose triad is major; see major triad.

major seventh chord. a chord consisting of a major triad with an added major seventh; e.g. C E G B.

major triad. a triad consisting of a root, major third, and perfect fifth.

mediant. the third degree of a scale or a chord built on that degree.

medium. the instrument/s that are intended to perform a piece of music.

melody. a combination of a pitch series and a rhythm having a clearly defined shape.

minor. A group of three modes, the most basic of which is the natural minor, or Aeolian, consisting of T-S-T-T-S-T-T. The harmonic minor consists of T-S-T-T-S-T+S-S. It may be derived from the natural minor by raising the subtonic by a semitone. The melodic minor mode differs as its direction changes. Ascending, it is T-S-T-T-T-T-S, but descending it is the same as the natural mode. The ascending form of the melodic minor scale may be derived from a natural minor scale by raising each of the sixth and seventh degrees by a semitone.

minor chord. a chord whose triad is minor (see minor triad).

minor seventh chord. a chord consisting of a minor triad with an added minor seventh; e.g. D F A C.

minor triad. a triad consisting of a root, minor third, and perfect fifth.

modulation. 1. a change of key. 2. a smooth, gradual change from one state to another, e.g., tempo, key, meter, timbre, etc.

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N
nonharmonic tone. a tone or note that is not a part of the sounding chord; syn. nonchord tone.

note. a written symbol for a pitch. A note does not sound.

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O
octave. two frequencies, or pitches, in the ratio of 2:1.

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P
parallel keys. keys having the same tonic; e.g., C major and c minor.

pedal tone. a nonharmonic tone that is stationary through a chord change, usually occurring in the bass

pentatonic. a common scale type consisting of five pitch classes. There are many types of pentatonic scales, but the so-called "black-key pentatonic" is actually a a set of modes.

pitch. the predominant frequency in a sound. Note the difference from tonic.

polyphony.  two or more melodic lines simultaneously.

primary chords. the most important chords in a key: I, IV, V.

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Q
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R
rhythm. any aspect of music having to do with time. Notice that since music must exist in time, all music is rhythmic.

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S
scale. a group of pitch classes arranged in ascending or descending order. E.g., take the pc set G, C#, A, F#, D, B, E and arrange it as E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D, E (with E as tonic) and you have an E Dorian scale.

semitone. the smallest interval in the chromatic scale.

seventh chord. a tertian chord consisting of a root, third, fifth and seventh. It is an extension of the basic triad by adding the seventh.

simple interval. an interval of an octave or less.

sound. audible vibration, i.e., any vibration that is capable of being heard, whether or not it actually is.

syncopation. any unexpected rhythm.

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T
tempo. the speed of music. Tempo marks are normally indicated in one of two ways: 1. as an Italian word, e.g. allegro=fast, lento=slow, or, 2. as a metronome mark, e.g. quarter note=144, meaning there are to be 144 quarter notes per minute.

third. an interval whose pitches encompass three consecutive letter names in the alphabet; e.g. C up to E encompasses C-D-E; A-flat to F is a third going down (A-G-F) but is a 6th going up (A-B-C-D-E-F).

timbre. the tone color of an instrument as determined by its overtone series or spectrum. It is timbre that makes possible the distinguishing of one instrument from another. syn., tone color, color.

time signature.(also: meter signature) two vertically aligned numbers normally appearing at the beginning of a score that give the number of rhythmic units (normally beats) per measure (top number), and the value of note in a rhythmic unit (bottom number).

tonality. conforming to a major or minor key and having tonicity. Tonal is the adjective.

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U
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V
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W
whole step. a distance or interval equal to two semitones.
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X-Z