MATSEC AM Music flashcards

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

Perfect cadence

A V–I progression in which both chords are in root position and the tonic is in the soprano of the final chord; it sounds final and closes a phrase or movement.

Interrupted cadence

A cadence moving from V to vi (or another chord other than I), avoiding the expected tonic; also called a deceptive cadence and used to extend or surprise.

Plagal cadence

A IV–I progression, often called the Amen cadence, common in hymns and used for a soft, conclusive close without the strong leading-tone pull of V–I.

Figured bass 6/4

In Roman-numeral analysis, the figure 6/4 indicates a second-inversion triad with the fifth in the bass; it is not a time signature in this context.

Cadential 6/4

The progression I6/4–V–I, in which the 6/4 chord decorates and delays the dominant; the sixth and fourth resolve down by step to the fifth and third of V.

Secondary dominant

A chromatic chord that acts as the dominant of a diatonic chord other than the tonic, written V/V, V/ii and so on, and usually introducing one accidental.

Neapolitan sixth

A major triad on the flattened second degree, usually in first inversion (bII6), functioning as a pre-dominant and resolving to the dominant, common in minor keys.

German augmented sixth

An augmented sixth chord containing b6, 1, b3 and #4 above the bass; it resolves outward to the dominant and sounds like a dominant seventh of the flattened fifth.

Suspension

A non-chord tone held over from the previous chord, creating a dissonance that resolves downward by step; it is prepared, suspended and resolved.

Appoggiatura

A non-chord tone approached by leap and resolved by step in the opposite direction, usually on a strong beat, adding expressive emphasis to a melody.

Sonata form

A large-scale form with exposition (two subject groups), development (motivic working and modulation) and recapitulation (subjects return in the tonic), often with an introduction and coda.

Ritornello form

A Baroque form in which a recurring orchestral passage (the ritornello) alternates with contrasting solo episodes, typical of Vivaldi and Bach concertos.

Da capo aria

A Baroque aria in ternary form (A–B–A) in which the singer repeats the first section with added ornamentation after the contrasting middle section.

Fugue subject and answer

The subject is the opening theme of a fugue; the answer is its imitation at the fifth, either real (exact) or tonal (adjusted to stay in key).

Ground bass

A repeating bass pattern over which variations are built; it is the basis of the passacaglia and chaconne and common in Baroque instrumental music.

Hemiola

A rhythmic device in which the perceived grouping shifts from three to two or vice versa, often written as 3/4 felt against 6/8 or two bars felt as three.

Compound time

A metre in which each beat divides into three equal parts, notated with a dotted beat value, as in 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8.

Syncopation

An accent placed on a weak beat or between beats, displacing the expected metric stress and creating rhythmic tension, common in jazz and popular music.

Augmentation

A developmental technique in which a motif's note values are doubled, making it sound slower and broader; the opposite process is diminution.

Leitmotif

A short recurring musical idea associated with a character, object or concept, central to Wagner's music dramas and later film scoring.

Idée fixe

A recurring theme representing an obsession or beloved, used by Berlioz in the Symphonie fantastique and an early example of thematic transformation.

Through-composed

A song or movement with new music throughout and no large-scale repetition, in contrast to strophic settings where verses share the same music.

Transposing instrument

An instrument whose written pitch differs from its sounding pitch, such as the B-flat clarinet (sounds a major second lower) or the F horn (a perfect fifth lower).

Rondo form

A form built on a recurring principal theme alternating with contrasting episodes, typically ABACA or ABACABA, common in Classical final movements.

Tierce de Picardie

A convention in minor-key works, especially Baroque, of ending the final tonic chord as a major triad by raising the third degree.

Basso continuo

A Baroque accompaniment consisting of a bass line played by a bass instrument and chords realised by a keyboard or plucked instrument from figured bass.

Twelve-tone row

An ordered arrangement of all twelve pitch classes used as the basis of serial composition; its forms are prime, inversion, retrograde and retrograde inversion.

Pentatonic scale

A five-note scale, commonly the major pentatonic (scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, 6) or minor pentatonic (1, b3, 4, 5, b7), widespread in folk and non-Western music.

Whole-tone scale

A six-note scale built entirely of whole tones, with no leading tone or perfect fifth; it creates a floating, impressionistic sound, as in Debussy.

Octatonic scale

An eight-note scale alternating whole and half steps, used by Stravinsky, Bartók and Messiaen for its symmetrical, unstable harmonic colour.

Alberti bass

A broken-chord accompaniment pattern in the order low–high–middle–high, typical of Classical keyboard music and associated with Mozart and Haydn.

Tessitura

The prevailing range of a vocal or instrumental part, distinct from its absolute extremes; it determines how comfortable a part is to sing or play.

Għana

A traditional Maltese folk-song genre, performed by singers with guitar accompaniment and including improvised, competitive and narrative forms.