Glossary
A brief glossary of useful musical terms. For more definitions, consult The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music , London: MacMillan, 1988, or the multivolume Groves Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians . Hint: As a class exercise, why not encourage your students to create their own 'dictionaries', including terms and concepts relevant to music in their lives?
- aerophones
- In the Sachs-Hornbostel hierarchical scheme for classifying musical instruments, aerophones are wind instruments - air is the primary vibrating agent causing sound. These include such instruments bull roarers, flutes, trombones or accordions.
- chordophones
- In the Sachs-Hornbostel classification scheme, these instruments all have strings or stretched between fixed points; harps, guitars, pianos, violins all fall into this category.
- chromatic
- In Western music theory, this refers to a melody or scale that is based on the twelve semitones that divide an octave (for example, C to C' on a keyboard).
- crook
- A mechanical device, essentially a length of tube that can be inserted or removed from the body of a brass instrument (such as a trumpet or horn) to change the length of the airpassage - this enables you to change the range of pitch
es the instrument can produce.
- diatonic
- According to Western music theory, a diatonic scale divides an octave into a sequence of five wholetones and two semitones. For example: T-T-S-T-T-T-ST or C-D-E-F-G-A-B
- idiophones
- Like membranophones, idiophones are also part of the Sachs-Hornbostel family of percussion instruments; sound is produced from the substance of the instrument itself - you shake them; no strings or drum heads required. These include
rattles and bells, for example.
- glissando
- A glissando is a sliding musical sound, a smooth and seamless rising and falling of pitches; you can easily create this effect with your voice or on many other instruments such as the theremin, trombone or violin.
- membranophones
- Like idiophones, this is another family of percussion instruments categorized by the Sachs-Hornbostel system. You create sounds by striking or rubbing on the head , which is usually stretched hide or plastic. This family includes most drums.
- plectrum
- Also called a pick, this small thin wedge of wood, plastic or other material is used to play string instruments such as the guitar
- reeds, free and fixed
- Reeds are thin tongues or strips of metal, plastic or cane material which are set into vibration by a column of air from a players lungs (for example, an oboe) or from an instrument's bellows (for example,the accordion or organ.)
Fixed reeds beat against a fixed surface; as its name suggests, a free reed (attached at one end to the instrument) moves freely in the air .
- scale
- A scale is a sequence of notes that fall into a specific pattern,
either ascending or descending. In Western harmonic theory, the most familiar scales are
diatonic (major and minor) chromatic, and pentatonic (a five note scale), but the possibilities of scale patterns are infinite. Each musical culture establishes its own rules that determine how scales are made and used. For example, in India, scale patterns are called ragas; specific ragas may be associated with different times of the day, certain colours, or evocative moods.
- semitones
- The semitone is the smallest interval (or distance between pitches) that you can play on a piano keyboard; in equal temperment, each semitone equals exactly 100 cents. In Western harmony, an octave (for example, from C to C' ), can be divided into 12 semitones.
- valve, piston and rotary
- A valve is a mechanism which changes the length of the tube, or body of a wind instrument; it allows you to play a wider range of notes. A piston valve features a that moves up and down in a
casing; a rotary valve changes the air passage by means of a rotor activated by a lever.
- wholetones
- A wholetone is made up of two semitones.