BGCSE Music (0617) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Perfect cadence

A cadence moving from chord V to chord I, giving a strong sense of final resolution. It usually closes a phrase or a whole piece in major or minor keys.

Compound duple time

A metre with two main beats per bar, each divided into three, such as 6/8. It is counted in two, with a lilting feel common in jigs and lullabies.

Polyphonic texture

A texture in which two or more independent melodic lines sound at the same time. Each line has its own contour, as in fugues, canons and much Renaissance choral music.

Timbre

The tone colour of a sound that lets a listener tell a flute from a violin. It depends on the mixture of overtones and the way the sound is produced.

Crescendo

A gradual increase in loudness, shown by a hairpin opening to the right. The opposite marking, diminuendo or decrescendo, means gradually getting softer.

Call and response

A performance pattern where a leader sings or plays a phrase and a group answers with a contrasting phrase. It is central to African and African-American music.

Ensemble balance

The adjustment of volume so that melody, accompaniment and inner parts are heard in proportion. Accompaniment stays softer than the melody, and inner parts softer than outer.

Count-in

One full bar of beats given at the piece's tempo before performers enter. It establishes speed and pulse, and in 6/8 is counted as two dotted-crotchet pulses.

Staccato

A dot above or below a note head meaning the note is played short and detached. The written note value shows position in the bar, not the length sounded.

Fermata

A curved sign with a dot placed over a note or rest, meaning hold it longer than its written value. The conductor or leader signals when to release.

Intonation

Accuracy of pitch in performance. Players check it against tuning notes and adjust; a wide major third sounds sharp and a narrow one sounds flat.

Antecedent phrase

The first phrase of a period, usually four bars, ending on a half cadence on chord V. It creates a question that the consequent phrase answers.

Pivot chord

A chord shared by the old and new keys, used to move smoothly between them. It is heard in the first key then reinterpreted as a chord of the second.

Ostinato

A short rhythmic or melodic pattern repeated continuously while other parts change. It is common in African drumming, Baroque ground basses and modern popular music.

Transposition

Rewriting music at a different pitch level while keeping the same intervals. The key signature changes accordingly, and instruments such as the clarinet read transposed parts.

Harmonic minor scale

A minor scale with the seventh degree raised by a semitone, creating a strong leading note. The step pattern is tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, augmented second, semitone.

Ternary form

A three-part structure labelled ABA, where the opening section returns after a contrasting middle. The return may be varied but keeps the original character.

Syncopation

Accents placed on normally weak beats or between beats. It creates rhythmic tension and is a defining feature of jazz, kwaito and much African music.

Diminished triad

A chord of root, minor third and diminished fifth, built from two minor thirds (three then three semitones). It sounds tense and often resolves inward to a major or minor chord.

Dotted note

A note followed by a dot, which adds half of its original value. A dotted crotchet lasts one and a half beats in 4/4, and a dotted quaver lasts three semiquavers.

Six-eight time signature

A time signature showing six quavers per bar, grouped as two beats of three. The top number gives six beats and the bottom number shows the quaver as the beat unit.

Order of sharps

Sharps appear in key signatures in the fixed order F, C, G, D, A, E, B. The last sharp added is the leading note, so the key is a semitone above it.

Treble clef

A clef that curls around the second line from the bottom of the staff, fixing that line as G above middle C. It is used for high voices and most melodic instruments.

Enharmonic note

Two note names for the same pitch, such as F sharp and G flat. Composers choose sharps when rising and flats when falling for smoother melodic reading.

Mbira

A Southern and Central African lamellophone with metal keys fixed to a wooden board. It is plucked with the thumbs and often placed in a resonator with buzzing shells.

Kora

A West African stringed instrument with a large gourd body and around twenty-one strings. A griot plays it to accompany praise songs and storytelling.

Raga

The melodic framework of Indian classical music, specifying a scale, characteristic phrases and mood. Performers improvise within it over a rhythmic cycle called tala.

Gamelan

An Indonesian ensemble of tuned gongs, metallophones and drums. Its interlocking parts create a shimmering texture, and the music is passed on by oral tradition.

Dikoma

Tswana ceremonial songs associated with initiation and community rites. They are performed in groups, often with handclaps, call-and-response and rhythmic movement.

Basso continuo

A Baroque accompaniment of a keyboard instrument and a bass instrument playing from a figured bass. It supplies harmony and rhythm beneath the melody.

Sonata form

A Classical structure with exposition, development and recapitulation, often preceded by an introduction and followed by a coda. Themes are stated, transformed and restated in the tonic.

Kgotla

A traditional Tswana community meeting place and assembly. Praise poetry, speeches and communal songs are performed there, linking music to public and civic life.