JC Music key terms

A closing melodic and harmonic formula that ends a phrase. Types include authentic, half, plagal, and deceptive, each creating a different degree of finality or surprise.

A system that explains chord progressions through the roles chords play (tonic, predominant, dominant) within a key, rather than as isolated vertical sonorities.

A chord that acts as the dominant of a scale degree other than the tonic, typically written V/V or V7/vi, used to intensify motion toward a target chord.

A change of prevailing key within a piece, accomplished through pivot chords, chromatic alteration, or direct juxtaposition, and confirmed by a cadence in the new key.

The organisation of melody into coherent units such as motives, phrases, periods, and sentences, often defined by cadences and patterns of repetition and contrast.

The technique of transforming a short musical idea through transposition, inversion, retrograde, rhythmic change, or fragmentation to generate larger spans of music.

The art of combining two or more independent melodic lines so they remain distinct yet harmonically coherent, governed by rules of consonance, motion, and voice leading.

The way individual melodic lines move from chord to chord, favouring smooth steps, controlled leaps, and resolution of tendency tones such as leading notes and sevenths.

A large-scale structure common in first movements, comprising an exposition presenting contrasting themes, a development transforming them, and a recapitulation resolving them in the tonic.

The recomposition of a theme's character through changes of rhythm, harmony, orchestration, or mode while retaining its identifying contour, often used to unify multi-movement works.

A Baroque accompaniment practice in which a keyboard or plucked instrument realises chords above a figured bass line, usually supported by a bass melodic instrument.

A shorthand notation of numerals and accidentals placed under a bass line to specify the intervals and chord quality a continuo player should realise above each note.

Describes a vocal or instrumental work whose music is newly composed for each successive section rather than repeating a strophic pattern, often following a narrative text.

A song structure in which the same music is repeated for each verse of text, providing unity at the cost of close text-music matching in later stanzas.

A short, recognisable musical idea associated with a character, object, place, or idea, developed and combined throughout a work to carry dramatic meaning.

Instrumental music that depicts or follows an extra-musical narrative, scene, or idea, often explained by a printed programme or descriptive title.

The aural skill of identifying the distance in pitch between two notes, by number and quality, whether played melodically in succession or harmonically together.

The ability to identify or reproduce pitches and intervals by relating them to a known reference note, rather than by recognising absolute frequencies.

A system of vocal syllables (do, re, mi and so on) used to sing pitches, either in fixed relation to the key (movable do) or to absolute pitch (fixed do).

The aural discrimination of chord types such as major, minor, diminished, augmented, and their sevenths, including recognition of inversions and extensions by ear.

The aural exercise of writing down music heard, in notation, including melody, rhythm, harmony, or bass lines, testing the link between hearing and accurate transcription.

The craft of assigning musical material to instruments and combining them for balance, colour, clarity, and dramatic effect within an ensemble.

Range is the full span of pitches an instrument or voice can produce; tessitura is the narrower band where a part mostly sits, affecting stamina and tone quality.

The way melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic layers are combined and perceived, described as monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic, or heterophonic, and by density and spacing.

The practice of moving inner parts and chord voicings smoothly between chords so each line remains singable and the harmony stays clear without parallel errors.

The coordination of the voice into registers such as chest, mixed, and head voice, involving changes in vocal-fold vibration and resonance as pitch rises.

The way notes are attacked, sustained, and released, described by terms such as legato, staccato, marcato, and accent, shaping phrasing and character in performance.

The control of speed, pressure, and contact point of the bow on a string instrument to govern tone, dynamics, articulation, and bowing patterns such as détaché and spiccato.

The accuracy of pitch in performance, requiring continuous adjustment of finger placement, breath support, or embouchure to stay in tune with the ensemble.

The ordered path a signal travels from source through processing devices to recording or amplification, where each stage affects level, tone, and noise.

Setting levels at each stage of a signal chain so the signal stays above noise but below clipping, preserving headroom and a consistent, clean recording.

The choice of microphone position and distance relative to an instrument or voice, controlling balance, room sound, proximity effect, and phase relationships.

The difference between the quietest and loudest levels a system or recording can handle, expressed in decibels and central to compression and mastering decisions.

The perceived placement of sounds across the left-right field, created through panning, microphone technique, reverb, and delay during mixing and mastering.

The legal framework granting creators rights over reproduction, distribution, and performance of works, and the licences others need to use that material lawfully.

Payments for reproducing a composition (mechanical) and for publicly performing or broadcasting it (performance), typically collected through collective management organisations.

The business of administering a songwriter's copyrights, including registration, licensing, royalty collection, and promotion of the catalogue to users of music.

Permission to pair a musical composition with moving images in film, television, advertising, or games, negotiated separately from the recording's own licence.