MATSEC SEC Music key terms

A performance in which one player or singer carries the main musical line, usually with no other melodic part, either unaccompanied or with piano or another backing.

A group of two or more performers playing or singing together, from a duo to a full choir or orchestra, where each part must be balanced and coordinated with the others.

The skill of adjusting volume and tone so that no part dominates unfairly and the group's sound merges into one texture, with melody, inner parts and bass clearly in proportion.

How a note is begun, sustained and released, such as legato, staccato, accent or marcato, shown by signs above or below the notes and shaping the character of a phrase.

The shaping of a melodic line into meaningful musical sentences, using breathing, dynamics, rubato and articulation so the music sounds spoken rather than mechanical.

A flexible treatment of tempo in which the performer speeds up or slows down expressively, usually stealing time in one place and giving it back later while the underlying pulse stays felt.

A florid solo passage, often near the end of a concerto movement, where the accompaniment pauses and the soloist displays technique, sometimes improvising or playing a written-out version.

A large work for one or more solo instruments with orchestra, usually in three movements, built on a contrast between the soloist and the full ensemble.

A short, recognisable musical idea, usually a few notes with a distinctive rhythm or interval pattern, which is repeated, varied or developed to build a whole piece.

A melodic or harmonic figure repeated at a higher or lower pitch level, common in Baroque and Classical music and often used to build momentum towards a cadence.

The central section of sonata form where motifs are broken up, recombined and moved through different keys, creating tension before the return of the main material.

A large-scale structure with three main stages: exposition, presenting contrasting subjects in related keys; development, working the material; and recapitulation, returning it in the home key.

The final stage of sonata form in which the exposition's subjects return, now all in the tonic key, so the movement resolves and closes with a cadence.

A harmonic formula that closes a phrase or section. Perfect cadences move from dominant to tonic; imperfect, interrupted and plagal cadences give different degrees of finality.

The named closes: perfect (V–I with both chords in root position), imperfect (V–I with a different arrangement), interrupted (V–vi) and plagal (IV–I), each with a distinct effect.

A change of key within a piece, usually prepared by a pivot chord or dominant of the new key, giving the music a new colour and direction.

A chord shared by the old and new keys, used to move smoothly from one to the other because it belongs naturally to both.

A dominant seventh chord of a scale degree other than the tonic, labelled V7/x, which briefly tonicises a chord and adds colour without fully changing key.

A Baroque shorthand in which numbers under the bass line show the intervals to be played above it, allowing the keyboard player to realise the chords.

Decorative notes added to a melodic line, such as trills, mordents, turns and grace notes, either written in the score or added by the performer in period style.

The main theme of a fugue, stated alone at the opening and then imitated by each voice in turn, often returning in stretto or in a different key later.

A contrapuntal piece in which a subject is announced by one voice and then taken up by others in imitation, with episodes between the entries.

The art of combining two or more independent melodic lines so they sound well together, each keeping its own shape while obeying harmonic rules.

How many layers of sound are present and how they relate: monophonic (one line), homophonic (melody with chords), polyphonic (independent lines) or heterophonic.

The tone colour that lets a listener tell a flute from a violin playing the same note, produced by the instrument's overtones and playing technique.

The composer's choice of which instruments play which material, and how they are combined, doubled or contrasted to create colour and balance.

The span from the quietest to the loudest level in a piece or performance, shown by markings from pianissimo to fortissimo and by crescendo or diminuendo.

The speed of the music's pulse, given by a metronome mark or an Italian term such as allegro or andante, and sometimes changed by ritardando or accelerando.

The recurring pattern of strong and weak beats in a piece, shown by the time signature, such as simple duple, compound triple or irregular metre.

A rhythmic effect in which accents fall on normally weak beats or between beats, creating a sense of push and surprise against the regular pulse.

Instrumental music that follows an extra-musical story, scene or idea, often explained by a title or written programme, as in tone poems and many Romantic works.

Instrumental music written for its own sake, without a story or picture attached, relying on form, harmony and thematic working rather than narrative.

A short musical idea linked to a character, object or idea, heard in different forms through a work; strongly associated with Wagner's operas.

The five-line grid on which pitches are placed, read through clefs such as treble (G), bass (F), alto (C) and tenor (C), which fix the pitch of one line.

The sharps or flats placed after the clef that show the piece's key and apply to every octave unless cancelled by an accidental.

Two numbers at the start of a piece showing how many beats are in each bar and what note value counts as one beat.

The distance in pitch between two notes, measured in scale steps and described as major, minor, perfect, augmented or diminished, and as melodic or harmonic.

The system of chords built on scale degrees, with triads and sevenths and their inversions labelled by function (tonic, subdominant, dominant) and connected by conventions.

The order in which chords follow one another, often described by Roman numerals, and shaped by functions such as tonic–predominant–dominant–tonic.

Moving music up or down by a fixed interval so it sounds in a different key, needed for transposing instruments and for singers with a different range.

The ability to hear music accurately and identify or reproduce it, including recognising intervals, chords, cadences and rhythms, and writing down melodies by ear.

The overall plan of a piece, such as binary, ternary, rondo, theme and variations or sonata form, heard through the return, contrast and variation of material.

Music roughly from 1600 to 1750, marked by basso continuo, ornamented melodies, terraced dynamics and forms such as the fugue, concerto grosso and suite.

Music roughly from 1750 to 1820, with clear balanced phrases, homophonic texture, sonata form and the rise of the symphony and string quartet.

Nineteenth-century music emphasising personal expression, larger orchestras, richer harmony, programme music and freer forms and tempi.

Movements such as impressionism, expressionism, neoclassicism, nationalism and later serialism, minimalism and popular styles, each with distinctive harmonic and rhythmic language.

The island's musical life, including church and band-club traditions, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the national choir, folk song and annual festivals, which candidates should be able to place in context.