Canary PAU Music Analysis II flashcards

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

Alto clef

C clef placed on the third line of the staff, fixing C4 there. Used by viola and sometimes by trombone; reading a fifth below treble clef.

Compound metre

Metre in which each beat divides into three equal parts, notated with upper numerals 6, 9 or 12 and lower numeral 8 or 16, as in 6/8 and 12/8.

Hemiola

Rhythmic device regrouping two bars of triple metre as three units of two, or the reverse, producing a 3:2 conflict between written metre and perceived stress.

Figured bass inversions

Bass figures identifying chord position: 7 for root-position seventh, 6/5 for first inversion, 4/3 for second inversion, 4/2 for third inversion; triads use 5/3, 6 and 6/4.

Heterophony

Texture in which two or more parts simultaneously present variants of the same melodic line, differing in ornamentation or rhythm rather than in independent counterpoint.

Ambitus and tessitura

Ambitus is the total range from lowest to highest pitch of a line or work; tessitura is the register in which a part mostly lies, which shapes its perceived difficulty and colour.

Perfect authentic cadence

Cadence from dominant to tonic with both chords in root position and the highest voice moving to the tonic pitch, giving the strongest close in tonal music.

Deceptive cadence

Dominant resolving to a chord other than tonic, most often V–vi in major or V–VI in minor, which delays rather than confirms the tonic.

Pivot chord modulation

Change of key introduced by a chord diatonic in both the old and the new key; the pivot is usually a pre-dominant, after which the new dominant is confirmed by cadence.

Sentence structure

Phrase design with a presentation of a basic idea and its repetition, followed by a continuation using fragmentation, increased harmonic rhythm and a closing cadence.

Liquidation

Developmental process in which motivic material loses its distinctive profile through fragmentation and simplification, preparing a cadence or the return of the main theme.

Neapolitan sixth

Major triad on the lowered second degree, usually in first inversion, functioning as a pre-dominant colouring, most common in minor keys before the dominant.

Sonata second group

The contrasting theme group of a sonata movement, stated in the dominant in major keys or the relative major in minor keys, then transposed to tonic in recapitulation.

Octatonic scale

Eight-note scale alternating semitone and tone steps; only three distinct transpositions exist, and it supplies both diminished-seventh and dominant-quality chords.

Whole-tone scale

Six-note scale built entirely of whole tones, symmetrical and lacking a leading note, so it cannot produce functional dominant–tonic resolution in the traditional sense.

Prime form

Most compact ordering of a pitch-class set, transposed and often inverted to begin on zero; it labels sets independently of the specific transposition used in a work.

Interval vector

Six-number array counting occurrences of interval classes one to six within a pitch-class set; sets sharing a vector are Z-related when their content differs.

Retrograde inversion

Serial operation combining reversal of the row's order with inversion of every interval, conventionally written RI followed by the transposition level.

Klangfarbenmelodie

Technique in which a melodic line is distributed across changing instruments, so that timbre itself becomes the parameter carrying the melodic succession.

Metric modulation

Change of tempo in which a subdivision of the old beat becomes the new beat, so the pulse is redefined rather than simply made faster or slower.

Micropolyphony

Dense texture of many closely spaced canonic lines moving at different speeds, so individual voices fuse into a slowly changing sound mass.

Pandiatonicism

Use of diatonic pitches freely in any combination, including added seconds and sevenths, without functional chord progression or a governing dominant–tonic syntax.

Basso continuo

Baroque practice of an accompanying bass line with figures, realised by a keyboard or plucked instrument that improvises chords above the written bass.

Ritornello form

Baroque design, typical of the concerto, in which a recurring orchestral refrain alternates with contrasting solo episodes, the refrain returning in related keys.

Dance suite movements

Standard Baroque set of allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue, often preceded by a prelude; each dance has characteristic metre, tempo and rhythmic figure.

Symphonic poem

Single-movement orchestral work of the nineteenth century shaped by a literary or pictorial programme, associated with Liszt and the New German School.

Socialist realism

Soviet cultural doctrine requiring accessible, optimistic and nationally grounded art; it constrained composers from the 1930s and prompted official censure of modernist works.

Second Viennese School

Circle around Schoenberg, Berg and Webern that moved from expanded tonality through free atonality to twelve-tone composition in the early twentieth century.

Analytical locator

Reference to bar numbers, rehearsal marks or named sections that anchors a claim in the score, making the observation verifiable by another reader.

Tonicisation versus modulation

Tonicisation briefly emphasises a degree through its own dominant without cadential confirmation; modulation establishes a new key through a confirming cadence and sustained dominant.

Evidence-based judgement

Evaluative statement structured as observation, quoted musical evidence with locator, and claimed expressive effect, so the personal view is argued rather than asserted.

Parameter-based comparison

Comparative commentary organised by musical parameter such as melody, harmony, rhythm, texture and timbre, so that contrasts between works are explicit and parallel.