Canary PAU Music & Dance flashcards

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

Order of sharps

F, C, G, D, A, E, B. Each new sharp is a perfect fifth above the previous one. The last sharp in the key signature is the leading tone, a semitone below the major tonic.

Relative minor relationship

A relative minor shares the key signature of its major and starts a minor third (three semitones) below the major tonic. For example, A minor is relative to C major.

Perfect authentic cadence

A cadence moving from V to I, both chords in root position, with the soprano voice ending on the tonic scale degree. It gives the strongest sense of final closure.

Secondary dominant

A major triad or dominant seventh that resolves down a fifth to a diatonic chord other than the tonic. V/V is written as II and resolves to V.

Sonata form sections

Exposition presenting theme one in the tonic and theme two in the dominant or relative major; development modulating and fragmenting themes; recapitulation returning both themes in the tonic; optional coda.

Figured bass inversions

Root position triads use 5/3, first inversion uses 6, second inversion uses 6/4. Seventh chords use 7, 6/5, 4/3 and 4/2 for root through third inversion.

Basso continuo

A Baroque practice in which a keyboard or plucked instrument realises chords above a written bass line, usually supported by a cello or bassoon. It underpins Baroque texture and harmony.

Ars nova

Fourteenth-century French musical style associated with Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut, introducing mensural notation and greater rhythmic independence and complexity in polyphonic motets.

Timple canario

A small five-string Canarian plucked instrument with a bright sound, central to traditional genres such as the isa and folía. It is a symbol of Canarian musical identity.

Teobaldo Power

Canarian composer and pianist born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1848, died 1884. He is best known for the Cantos Canarios, which draw on traditional Canarian melodies.

Canarian folklore genres

The isa, folía and seguidilla form the core of Canarian traditional music and dance, usually accompanied by guitar, timple and chácaras, and performed in traditional costume.

Twelve-tone method

Arnold Schoenberg's technique in which a fixed ordering of the twelve pitch classes, the tone row, generates melody and harmony. Forms include prime, inversion, retrograde and retrograde inversion.

Ritornello form

A Baroque form, common in Vivaldi's concertos, where a recurring orchestral refrain alternates with contrasting solo episodes. The refrain returns in related keys before the final tonic statement.

Movable-do solfège

A system in which do is assigned to the tonic of the prevailing key. Syllables are do re mi fa sol la ti, with chromatic alterations di, ri, fi, si, li and ra, me, se, le, te.

Compound metre division

In compound metres such as 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8, each beat divides into three equal parts. Simple metres such as 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 divide each beat into two.

Interval anchor: perfect fifth

The ascending perfect fifth matches the opening interval of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Its inversion, a perfect fourth, matches the first two notes of a major scale.

Equal temperament

A tuning system dividing the octave into twelve equal semitones of one hundred cents each. It allows free modulation at the cost of pure thirds and fifths.

Melodic dictation strategy

First establish the tonic by singing the final note against a reference chord, then notate the rhythm on a beat grid before fixing scale degrees and accidentals.

Benesh Movement Notation

A dance notation system devised by Rudolf and Joan Benesh in the 1940s, using a five-line staff read from left to right. It is used by the Royal Ballet.

Labanotation

Rudolf Laban's 1928 movement notation system recording body part, direction, level and timing on a vertical staff. It underlies Laban movement analysis.

Escuela bolera

An eighteenth-century Spanish dance school blending classical ballet technique with Spanish popular dance, performed with castanets. Its characteristic form is the bolero.

Flamenco palos

Flamenco song and dance forms, each with its own compás and character. Common palos include soleá, seguiriya, alegrías and bulerías, grouped by rhythmic cycle and mood.

Danza de los Enanos

A ritual dance performed in La Palma during the Bajada de la Virgen festivities, in which dancers wear dwarf costumes. It is one of the Canary Islands' best-known traditional dances.

Laban Effort qualities

Effort describes how movement is performed through weight, time, space and flow. Combinations of these factors produce qualities such as punch, float, glide and wring.

Ballet stage directions

Downstage is toward the audience, upstage is away from it. Stage left and right are taken from the performer's viewpoint facing the audience, not the spectator's.

Diaphragmatic support

Breathing driven by the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, maintaining steady subglottic pressure. Singers and wind players call this appoggio when the throat stays relaxed.

Distributed practice

Spreading practice over several short daily sessions rather than one long session. Research on motor learning shows it produces stronger retention of instrumental and dance skills.

Spotting during turns

Fixing the gaze on one point for as long as possible during a turn, then whipping the head around to refocus. It prevents dizziness and maintains spatial orientation.

String tuning intervals

Violin, viola and cello strings are tuned in perfect fifths; the double bass in perfect fourths. Players tune by comparing pure fifths, adjusting with the tuning pegs and fine tuners.

Conducting beat patterns

The right hand traces standard patterns: two beats down-up, three down-out-up, four down-left-right-up, six with subdivided beats. The left hand cues entries and controls dynamics.

Sight-reading scan

Before playing, check key signature, time signature, tempo marking and accidentals. During the reading, maintain the pulse and continue through errors rather than stopping.