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HSC Musical Concepts

Quiz yourself by thinking what should be in each of the black spaces below before clicking on it to display the answer.
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Term
Definition
ascending   heading upwards  
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descending   heading downwards  
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steps   notes that are next to each other  
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leaps   notes that are not next to each other  
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repeated notes   a short series of notes that have the same pitch  
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range   the distance from the highest to the lowest note  
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register   the general area of pitch  
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arpeggio   the notes of a chord played one after another  
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broken chord   notes of a chord played played separately in various orders  
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counter melody   a second melody that is independant to another melody  
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ornamentation   decorating a melody  
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trill   rapidly playing a note and its neighbour  
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slide   moving between two pitches sounding all off the frequencies between  
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grace notes   short notes that decorate a single note  
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bend   slightly increasing or decreasing the pitch of a note after it has been sounded  
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improvisation   a melody that is freely created on the spot  
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call and response   two melodies that are heard after each other similar to question and answer  
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phrases   the divisions of melodies. these can be balanced or unbalanced  
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sequence   a chord progression or melody that repeats higher or lower in succession  
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imitation   an instrument copying parts of a previously heard melody  
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riff   a melodic idea that is heard in various points of a song  
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definite   pitch that can be found on the piano  
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indefinite   pitch that cant be found on the piano  
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octave   a jump if 8 notes  
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drone   a long sustained pitch  
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consonant   harmony that is agreeable and not clashing  
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dissonant   harmony that clashes  
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major   of the major scale  
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minor   of the minor scale  
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pentatonic   a scale of 5 notes  
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blues scale   a scale that is used in blues music  
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chromatic   a series of semitones or notes borrowed form other scales  
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diatonic   notes that are from the particular scale/key  
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atonal   a piece that does not have a key as it is not major or minor  
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modulation   a change in key  
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rate of chord change   describing the frequency of chordal movement  
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12 bar blues   a chord pattern that is used in blues and early rock music  
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pedal point   a constantly repeating pitch  
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omm-pah-pah   a bass note followed by the sounding of two chords  
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power chord   a chord that has no 3rd  
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major 7th   a chord that adds the 7th note  
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dominant 7th   a chord that adds the flattened 7th note  
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diminished   a chord that is based on minor thirds  
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parallel   a part that has a similar shape to another  
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contrary   when one part moves in an oppisite direction  
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oblique   then one part stays the same and another moves  
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primary triads   chords I IV V  
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walking bass line   a bass line that is based on an arpeggio of a dominant 7th chord  
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beat   the pulse of music  
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accent   a strong or emphasised note  
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backbeat   beats 2 and 4  
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offbeat   accuentating between beats  
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syncopation   notes that are off the beat  
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adagio   slowly  
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andante   At a walking pace  
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moderato   moderatly  
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allegro   fast  
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vivace   Lively and fast  
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presto   Very Fast  
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accelerando   gradually getting faster  
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ritardando   Gradually Slowing Down  
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pause   a held note held at the condutor or performers discression  
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rubato   a flexible tempo using slight variations of speed to enhance musical expression  
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simple   a time signature that has beats divided into two  
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compound   a time signature that has beats divided into 3  
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irregular   7/4 and 5/7 are examples  
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time signature   the number of beats in a bar  
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multimetre   quick numerous changes in time signatures  
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complex   a rhythm that uses a variety of notes  
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short   quavers and semiquavers  
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long   semibreves and minims  
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ostinato   a repeating musical patter  
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anacrusis   An Upbeat or a pickup note(s); a term used for unstressed notes at the beginning of a phrase of music.  
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swing rhythm   long short pattern oftern used in jazz music  
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augmentation   doubling the values of notes  
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diminution   halving the vlaues of notes  
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polyrhythm   one rhyhtmic part in 2 while another rhythmic part plays in 3  
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triplet   3 notes in the time of 2  
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duplet   2 notes in the time of 3  
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crotchet   a one beat note  
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quaver   a half beat note  
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dotted minim   a three beat note  
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semibreve   a four beat note  
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legato   smooth and connected  
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staccato   short and detached  
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melody   the main instrumental layer  
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accompaniment   instruments that support the melody  
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tutti   all or everyone  
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density   the number of instruemnts playing  
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homophonic   a melody with chords  
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polyphonic   having two or more independent but harmonically related melodic parts sounding together  
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monophonic   Consisting of a single unaccompanied MELODIC line.  
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heterophonic   Two melodies that are almost identical  
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unison   all parts playing the same thing  
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doubling   instruments playing the same thing as each other  
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binary   a structure of 2 contrasting sections  
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ternary   a structure of 3 sections where the first and the last are the same  
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verse   a part of a song that has the same tune but different words each time  
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chorus   a part of a song that has the same words and tune each time  
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bridge   a part of a song that has not been heard before and it has words  
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instrumental   a part of a song that has no voices (not at the start)  
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coda   the name for a final ending section of a piece of music  
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piano   soft  
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pianissimo   very soft  
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mezzo piano   moderately soft  
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forte   loud  
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mezzo forte   moderatly loud  
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fortissimo   very loud  
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crescendo   getting louder  
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decrescendo   gradually softer  
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arco   with the bow  
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pizzicato   pluck the strings  
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roll   a drum rapidly repeating a note  
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falsetto   a male singing in head voice  
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a cappella   sung without instrumental accompaniment  
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acoustic   non-electric sound  
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articulation   the way in which notes are to be played  
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virtuosic   extraordinarily talented playing  
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4/4   simple quadruple  
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3/4   simple triple  
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12/8   compound quadruple  
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9/8   compound triple  
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6/8   compound duple  
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2/4   simple duple  
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tenuto   give the note it's full length  
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fermata   musical term for a pause  
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dolce   sweetly  
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marcato   Marked; with emphasis  
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double sharp   a cross plased in front of a note  
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key signature   the sharps or flats at the front of a song  
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slur   line indicating notes are smooth and connected  
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glissando   Sliding from one note to another on an instrument such as a trombone or violin  
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chord   several notes sounded simultaneously  
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8va   play an octave higher  
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15ma   play two octaves higher  
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tremolo   a repidly repeated note  
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