JC Music flashcards

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

Harmonic minor scale

A natural minor scale with scale degree 7 raised by one semitone, creating a leading tone and an augmented second between degrees 6 and 7.

Deceptive cadence

A cadential motion from V to vi instead of V to I, delaying tonic resolution and often extending a phrase.

Secondary dominant

A major triad or dominant seventh built a perfect fifth above a diatonic chord, tonicizing that chord temporarily within the prevailing key.

Pivot chord modulation

A modulation in which a chord diatonic to both the old and new keys is reinterpreted, smoothing the transition between tonal centers.

Figured bass 6/4

Shorthand for a second-inversion triad, where the fifth of the chord sounds in the bass and the intervals above it are a sixth and a fourth.

Ritornello form

A Baroque concerto structure in which a recurring orchestral passage alternates with contrasting solo episodes, typical of Vivaldi and Bach.

Basso continuo

A Baroque accompaniment of a bass line played by a chordal instrument realizing figures, supported by a bass instrument doubling the line.

Ars Nova

Fourteenth-century French notational revolution enabling duple and complex rhythms, associated with Philippe de Vitry and Machaut's polyphonic settings.

Tristan chord

The opening harmony of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, a half-diminished sonority whose unresolved ambiguity became emblematic of Romantic chromaticism.

Twelve-tone method

Schoenberg's technique ordering all twelve pitch classes in a row used in original, inversion, retrograde, and retrograde-inversion forms.

Leitmotif

A recurring musical idea associated with a character, object, or idea, developed and transformed across a dramatic work, notably in Wagner's operas.

Perfect authentic cadence

A V to I progression with both chords in root position and the soprano moving to scale degree 1, giving the strongest closure.

Movable-do solfège

A system assigning do to the tonic of whichever key is active, so syllables denote scale degrees rather than fixed pitches.

Diminished triad sound

Two stacked minor thirds producing an unstable, tense sonority that typically resolves inward to a third or outward to a fifth.

Melodic dictation strategy

Identify tonic and mode from the final pitch and key intervals, map the contour in scale degrees, then notate rhythm against a steady beat.

Parallel fifths

Two voices moving in the same direction while retaining a perfect fifth, prohibited in strict tonal voice leading because it weakens independence.

Transposing instruments

Instruments whose written pitch differs from sounding pitch, such as B-flat trumpet sounding a major second below written.

Homophonic texture

A texture with one dominant melody supported by chordal accompaniment moving largely in the same rhythm, as in most hymn settings.

Sequence

Immediate restatement of a melodic or harmonic pattern at a higher or lower pitch level, a common device for building momentum.

Appoggio breathing

An Italian vocal technique maintaining inspiratory posture and rib expansion during exhalation, giving steady breath support without throat tension.

Spiccato bowing

A short, bouncing string bow stroke produced by letting the bow rebound off the string, controlled by wrist and fingers.

Passaggio

The transition zone between vocal registers, smoothed by vowel modification and breath management rather than increased pressure.

Una corda pedal

The piano's soft pedal, which shifts the action so hammers strike fewer strings, producing a quieter and timbrally altered sound.

Nyquist theorem

A digital system can capture frequencies up to half its sample rate; 44.1 kHz therefore captures content up to about 22.05 kHz.

Bit depth dynamic range

Each additional bit adds roughly six decibels of dynamic range, so 16-bit audio spans about 96 dB and 24-bit about 144 dB.

Buffer size and latency

Round-trip latency approximates buffer size divided by sample rate, so halving the buffer halves latency while raising CPU demand.

MIDI velocity

A value from 0 to 127 sent with each note message that conveys attack strength and typically controls loudness or timbre in a virtual instrument.

Compressor threshold

The level above which a compressor begins attenuating the signal, working with ratio, attack, and release to shape dynamics.

Sound recording copyright

A separate copyright covering a specific recorded performance, usually owned by the label or artist, distinct from the underlying composition.

Synchronization license

Permission from a composition's publisher to pair that music with visual media, negotiated separately from the recording's master-use license.

Mechanical license

A license to reproduce and distribute a composition, for example on a recording or download, with rates set by statute or negotiation.