Pancyprian Music Studies key terms

A closing melodic and harmonic formula that ends a phrase. It may be perfect, imperfect, interrupted (deceptive) or half, depending on the degrees and chords used and on the position of the final note.

A second-inversion tonic chord placed immediately before the dominant at a cadence, written as I6/4–V. Its sixth and fourth above the bass resolve down to the fifth and third of the dominant.

A shorthand system of numbers written under a bass line that tells the player which intervals to sound above it. The figures imply a chord and show its inversion without naming the chord.

A major chord or dominant seventh built on a degree other than the tonic that resolves to a diatonic chord acting temporarily as tonic. It is labelled V/x or V7/x, where x is the chord it tonicises.

A brief, local treatment of a chord other than the tonic as if it were the tonic, usually by placing its dominant before it. Unlike modulation it does not change the prevailing key.

A chord shared by the old and the new key that is heard first in the old key and then reinterpreted in the new one. It makes a smooth, diatonic transition between keys.

A major triad built on the lowered second degree, normally heard in first inversion before the dominant. It is labelled N6 or bII6 and most often appears in minor keys.

A chromatic chord containing an augmented sixth interval that resolves outward to an octave on the dominant. The Italian, French and German forms differ in the extra notes added between the two outer intervals.

A graded teaching method in which a student writes one to four added voices against a given plainchant melody. Each species fixes the rhythm of the counterpoint, from whole notes in the first to mixed values in the fifth.

A pre-existing melody, often plainchant, used as the structural voice of a polyphonic composition. Other voices are composed against it, and it may be presented in long notes, paraphrased or repeated.

Counterpoint in which two or more voices may exchange their vertical positions, so that the lower voice becomes the upper and vice versa. The interval limits chosen at the outset keep the result consonant after inversion.

The main melodic idea of a fugue, stated alone at the opening and then recurring throughout the piece. Its shape and intervals determine the answer, the countersubject and the possible stretto entries.

The second entry of a fugue subject, usually in the dominant. A tonal answer adjusts the intervals so that the music stays in the home key; a real answer reproduces the subject exactly.

A secondary melodic line that accompanies the subject or answer and returns with it in later entries. It is usually written in invertible counterpoint so that it works above or below the subject.

A passage in a fugue where subject entries overlap, each voice entering before the previous one has finished. It increases tension and is common in the final section of a fugue.

The opening section of a fugue, in which each voice states the subject or answer in turn. It ends once all voices have entered, usually closing on a cadence in the tonic or dominant.

An aural exercise in which a melody is played and the listener writes it down in staff notation. It tests pitch memory, interval recognition, rhythm and the ability to infer metre and key.

The skill of identifying the distance in pitch between two notes, whether sounded together or one after the other. Candidates usually name the interval and its quality, such as major sixth or perfect fourth.

A singing system in which the syllable do marks the tonic of whatever key is being sung, so the syllables show scale degrees rather than fixed pitches. It is widely used for sight-singing and dictation.

The family to which a chord belongs according to the intervals between its notes, such as major, minor, diminished, augmented, or dominant seventh. Quality is heard independently of the chord's root or inversion.

An aural exercise in which a chord progression is played and the listener writes it down, often as Roman numerals or figured bass. It requires hearing roots, qualities, inversions and cadences by ear.

An aural exercise in which a rhythm is played and the listener notates it, deciding the metre, the bar lines and the note values. It tests pulse, subdivision and the recognition of syncopation and ties.

The ability to follow and interpret a full score, locating each instrument's line, transposing where necessary and reducing several staves mentally. It supports analysis, rehearsal preparation and the study of orchestration.

A labelling system that names each chord by the scale degree of its root, written in Roman numerals, with case showing quality and figures showing inversion. It reveals harmonic function and key relationships within a passage.

An analytical method that strips a tonal work down to its essential voice-leading layers, from the foreground surface to the deep background Ursatz. It shows how a whole piece prolongs a single tonic harmony.

The process of taking a short musical idea and reshaping it through transposition, inversion, augmentation, diminution or fragmentation. It gives a movement unity while generating new material from limited means.

The technique of altering a theme's character, rhythm, harmony or orchestration so that it recurs in a new guise, often to mark a dramatic change. It is closely associated with Romantic programme music and opera.

A short, recognisable musical idea associated with a person, object, place or emotion, which recurs and develops through a dramatic work. The device is especially associated with the operas of Richard Wagner.

Instrumental music that follows an extra-musical story, scene or idea, often described in a printed programme. It contrasts with absolute music, which is presented without such a narrative frame.

A single-movement orchestral work that illustrates a story, landscape or idea through music. The form is free rather than fixed, and the genre flourished in the later nineteenth century.

One of the eight echoi (or glichoi) used in Orthodox chant, each with its own characteristic melodic formulas, final notes and cadences. The system governs how a chant melody is built and how it is transposed.

A sustained drone note sung beneath a melody in Greek Orthodox and Cypriot church music. It anchors the mode and, in traditional Cypriot singing, may be held by a group of singers.

A form of Cypriot folk poetry in rhyming couplets, often improvised and sung in dialogue. Singers alternate verses, and the metre of the lines shapes the rhythm of the melody.

A slow, improvised solo dance in a nine-beat metre, danced by one person in a circular space. It appears in Greek and Cypriot popular and rebetiko traditions and is often performed to a song or instrumental melody.

A modal system used in Arabic, Turkish and related traditions, defined by a scale, characteristic melodic patterns and a hierarchy of resting notes. Improvisation and composition both move through its phrases and cadences.

A melodic framework in Indian classical music, with a defined ascending and descending scale, characteristic phrases and an associated mood. It guides improvisation and composition without fixing a single melody.

A pitch interval smaller than a semitone, used in many non-Western traditions and in some twentieth-century Western music. Microtones allow scales and inflections that equal-tempered twelve-note tuning cannot represent.

A short musical pattern repeated persistently, usually in the bass, while other parts change above it. It is a basic means of building form in traditional, popular and art music alike.

A repeated bass line that forms the harmonic foundation of a piece while the upper voices vary over it. It was a common device in Baroque vocal and instrumental music, especially in England.

A large-scale structure built on the opposition and later reconciliation of two key areas. It typically presents an exposition, a development and a recapitulation, often preceded by a slow introduction and followed by a coda.

A concluding passage that rounds off a movement after its main structural sections have finished. It may restate the tonic, extend the final cadence or, in a fugue, add further entries.

A form in which a theme is stated and then repeated in successive altered versions. The changes may affect melody, harmony, rhythm, texture or instrumentation, and the theme's outline usually stays recognisable.

Describing a song or movement in which the music is newly composed for each successive section rather than repeating a fixed stanza. It allows the music to follow changing words or dramatic action closely.

Describing a song in which the same music is repeated for each stanza of text. The melody stays constant while the words change, a common design in folk song and in many art songs.

A digital protocol that carries performance data such as pitch, velocity, timing and controller values between instruments and computers. It transmits instructions, not audio, so the sound depends on the receiving device.

A digital audio workstation: software for recording, editing, arranging and mixing audio and MIDI. It combines a multitrack timeline with virtual instruments, effects and export tools used in composition and production.

A device or software instrument that plays back recorded sounds, mapped across the keyboard and triggered by MIDI. It can imitate acoustic instruments or create new textures from captured audio.

The process of moving recorded or programmed notes to the nearest rhythmic grid position. It corrects timing errors but can remove expressive timing if applied too strictly.

The relationship between notes that sound the same in equal temperament but are written differently, such as F sharp and G flat. The choice of spelling depends on harmonic context and key.

The placement of rhythmic stress on a weak beat or between beats, so that the expected accent is displaced. It is central to jazz, ragtime and many traditional dance musics.

One or more notes that begin a phrase before its first full bar, sometimes called an upbeat. The opening bar is then incomplete, and the final bar is shortened to balance it.

A coherent musical unit, roughly comparable to a sentence in speech, that ends with a cadence or a clear resting point. Phrases combine into periods and larger sections.

A flexible treatment of tempo in which the performer speeds up or slows down expressively, often while keeping the underlying pulse. The term literally means 'stolen' time.

An instrument whose written notes sound at a different pitch from those printed, such as the clarinet in B flat or the horn in F. Scores must be read with the correct transposition in mind.

A sign used in medieval and Byzantine chant notation to indicate one or more melodic notes and their movement. Neumes originally showed contour rather than exact pitch, and later systems fixed their meaning.

In Byzantine chant theory, the concluding formula that closes a melodic phrase on the mode's final note. It confirms the mode and gives the singer a clear resting point.

The rules governing how dissonant intervals are approached, sounded and resolved in counterpoint. Suspensions, passing notes and prepared discords each follow conventions that keep the texture coherent.

A change from one key to another that is confirmed by a cadence in the new key. It differs from tonicisation in lasting long enough to establish a new tonal centre.