Musical Terms

Five Elements of Music:

  • Melody    
  • Harmony    
  • Rhythm    
  • Form    
  • Dynamics

Melody

A series of pitches
   

Harmony

Two or more notes sounding together
   

Rhythm

Duration of sound
   

Form

Organization of sound
   

Dynamics

Loudness and softness of sound
   
Under each of the five elements we find other musical terms important to know:
   
Under Melody:  
  • Pitch

highness or lowness of sound
  • Interval

the distance between two pitches

Examples of intervals:

  • Octave - eight notes apart
  • Half step - the shortest distance between two tones in western music
  • Whole step - two half steps
  • Scale
a series of whole and half steps
  • Chromatic scale
a scale composed of all half steps
Under Rhythm:  

Be able to identify kinds of notes:

  • Whole note
  • Half note
  • Dotted half note
  • Quarter note
  • Eighth note
  • Sixteenth note
Sometimes notes are beamed together as:
   
Two eighth notes look like this:
   
Four sixteenth notes are often beamed together:
   
Other terms under rhythm:
   

Tempo

 

having to do with speed, fast or slow

Many musical terms are in the Italian language.
The following are Italian words which have to do with tempo. Tempo markings are found on the upper left hand comer of the music
 

Allegro

fast

Allegretto

moderately fast

Adagio

slow

Andante

moderately slow

Presto

very fast

Prestissimo

as fast as possible
   
Under Dynamics:
   

Pianissimo

very soft

 pp

Piano

soft

 p

Mezzo piano

moderately soft

mp

Mezzo forte

moderately 1oud

Mf

Forte

loud

f

Fortissimo

very loud

ff
   
Be able to find and identify tempo and dynamic markings on the musical score.
   

Crescendo

getting gradually louder

Decrescendo

getting gradually softer
   
Under Harmony:  
   

Modulation

moving from one key to another within the piece of music

Texture

thickness or thinness of sound
 

Kinds of textures include:
 

Monophonic

a single melody line

Homophonic

harmony as in four parts,

Soprano, alto, tenor and bas

Polyphonic

many lines interweaving
 
Under Form:  

ABA Form

three main sections, the middle one contrasting
Minuet and Trio           a kind of ABA

Strophic form

as in a song with verses

Fugue

a polyphonic composition based on a single subject