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Masterworks: A Musical Discovery - Holoman - Intro to Music All Vocab

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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Answer
Definition
show for. The indications a2 or a3 mean the line is to be played by both or all three members of the section.  
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a cappella   show
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absolute music   show
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show Growing faster; accelerating.  
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accent   show
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accidental   show
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accompagnato   show
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acoustics   show
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ad libitum   show
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show Slow. Also used generically to describe a slow movement.  
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Agnus Dei   show
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Alberti Bass   show
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alla breve   show
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allargando   show
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allegretto   show
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show Fast. Allegro assai = Quite fast. Allegro con brio = Fast and bright. Allegro ma non troppo = Not too fast. Allegro moderato = Moderately fast. Allegro molto = Quite fast. Allegro vivace = Fast and spirited.  
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show (1) The second highest of the four customary voice parts, below the soprano and above the tenor. (2) Singer with that vocal range. (3) [in scores] Viola. The term alto is also used to describe models of the flute and clarinet lower than the usual one.  
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show At moderate speed.  
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show Term that has come to mean a little faster than andante, but which once meant a little slower than andante.  
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animato   show
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answer   show
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antecedent   show
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show English sacred choral composition for the Anglican service, often accompanied by organ. Also, any solemn hymn.  
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antiphony   show
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show Florid turn of melody.  
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arco   show
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show Composition for solo voice, usually a movement of a larger work.  
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arioso   show
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show Chord where the pitches are played in succession rather than simultaneously.  
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show Very; as in Allegro assai (very fast).  
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atonality   show
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attacca   show
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augmentation   show
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augmented interval   show
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show Term that describes the most progressive or radical element of an artistic movement.  
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baguette   show
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ballad   show
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show Title given by Chopin to four major one-movement works for piano solo. Later composers, notably Brahms, also used the title.  
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show Same as measure; the basic unit of meter.  
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show Vertical line separating measures (or bars) of music in a score.  
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baritone   show
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bass   show
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show In Baroque music, a continuously sounding bass part over which the rest of the composition is built.  
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beat   show
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bebop   show
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show Prevailing vocal ideal in solo vocal music from the Baroque forward.  
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binary form   show
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bitonality   show
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show Flattened inflection of scale degrees 3 and/or 7 in a major key.  
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show Musical style at the heart of the music of black Americans and permeating jazz and popular forms.  
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show Fast jazz style that developed in the 1930s, featuring a driving ostinato bass.  
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show See bebop.  
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show Lively Baroque dance movement in duple meter, usually with prominent upbeat.  
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show (1) In sonata form, passage in the exposition that takes the harmony away from tonic and to dominant, arriving at the second group. Used interchangeably with, but more often than, the term transition. (2) Component of string instruments that raises the s  
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show Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, or index of Bach's works, organized by genre.  
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cadence   show
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show Passage of improvisatory display for the soloist, especially in a concerto.  
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canon   show
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show Singingly; in lyric fashion.  
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cantata   show
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cantus firmus   show
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cantus firmus mass   show
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capriccio   show
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show Keyboard instrument of the orchestral percussion section where metal plates are struck by hammers. Invented in the late nineteenth century.  
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chaconne   show
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chamber music   show
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chanson   show
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chant   show
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character piece   show
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show Congregational hymn of the Lutheran church.  
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show Work for organ based on a Protestant chorale and serving to introduce its singing.  
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chord   show
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show Scale that includes all 12 pitches.  
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chromaticism   show
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show Diagram in which the 12 pitches and associated keys are set around a circle where each member is a fifth higher.  
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show Keyboard. Often used as generic term to describe any keyboard instrument.  
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show Sign that associates a line on a staff with a particular pitch and thus serves as a "key" to the system.  
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show Theme that concludes the exposition in a sonata form.  
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show Closing section of a movement.  
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col legno   show
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collegium musicum   show
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coloratura   show
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show Meter containing triple (instead of duple) subdivisions of the beat (e.g., , , and ).  
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con brio   show
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show With fury, furiously; as in Allegro con fuoco.  
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con moto   show
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show With mute, muted. Cancelled by the indication "senza" (without).  
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concert overture   show
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concertante   show
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show Soloists in a concerto grosso (often two violins). See also ripieno.  
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show Principal first violinist in an orchestra.  
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concerto   show
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show Instrumental ritornello form from the Baroque, where a small group of solo players (the concertino) alternates with the large orchestra (ripieno).  
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show Musical material that follows the antecedent and gives it balance and closure.  
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consonance   show
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continuo   show
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contralto   show
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show Adjectival form of counterpoint.  
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show Manner in which two or more melodic lines are combined and juxtaposed to produce pleasing and technically correct intermingling.  
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show In fugue, the melodic material that accompanies statements of the subject.  
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crescendo   show
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cyclicism   show
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da camera   show
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da capo   show
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show Type of Baroque sonata or concerto somewhat more rigorous than its counterpart, the sonata or concerto da camera, in that it emphasizes fugal counterpoint.  
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decrescendo   show
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development   show
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show (1) Succession of whole tones and half steps that make up a major or minor scale. (2) Interval drawn from that succession.  
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Dies irae   show
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show Interval a half step narrower than the corresponding minor or perfect interval .  
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show Growing softer; same as decrescendo. Abbr. dim.  
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diminution   show
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show Unpleasantness or instability perceived in certain intervals and chords. The opposite is consonance. In classical Western music dissonant intervals require resolution to consonance before closure.  
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divertimento   show
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divisi   show
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show New Orleans-style jazz for small combo; favored by white musicians.  
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show Sweet.  
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show Fifth scale degree and/or the triad or seventh chord built on it.  
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double fugue   show
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double stop   show
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downbeat   show
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drone   show
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show Degrees of loudness.  
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embouchure   show
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show Piece to be performed between the acts of an opera or play.  
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episode   show
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equal temperament   show
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show Expressive; expressively.  
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show Branch of study that treats musics of the world, particularly emphasizing music and culture, and music and oral transmission.  
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étude   show
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euphonium   show
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exposition   show
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show Term (borrowed from literary and art history) used rather loosely to describe the music of Schoenberg and his school. The artist portrays not simply an object but his or her internal reactions. What results is (in art) exaggerated, distorted, internalize  
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falsetto   show
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fantasia   show
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show Held out. At the fermata sign, the perfomer holds the pitch or chord at will (or at the will of the conductor).  
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figured bass   show
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finale   show
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show Marking in a score that shows where to stop after having made a da capo or dal segno repeat.  
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Five, the   show
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show Loud.  
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show Very loud.  
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show Common way of treating thematic material, esp. in the development.  
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show Baroque form favored by the French composers and their imitators; the kind of movement that begins stage works and instrumental suites of the period.  
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fret   show
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show The hair-tightening mechanism on a bow, and the portion of the bow the player holds in the hand.  
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fugato   show
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fugue   show
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show Everybody pauses. Abbreviaiton in orchestral scores for general pause.  
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gavotte   show
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genre   show
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Gesamtkunstwerk   show
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Gewandhaus   show
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glissando   show
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Gloria   show
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show Ornamental pitch, usually the upper neighbor, played rapidly and without fixed rhythmic value.  
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grave   show
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show Graceful, gracious.  
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Gregorian chant   show
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ground bass   show
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show (1) High, fluty sound produced on a string instrument by touching the string gently rather than fully stopping it, forcing it to vibrate at a higher position in the harmonic series. (2) Position in the harmonic series.  
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harmony   show
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show Rhythmic/metric device where two bars in triple meter are made to sound like three bars in duple, usually just before the cadence in Baroque dance music.  
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homophony   show
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show Strophic religious composition, generally for the congregation to sing.  
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idée fixe   show
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show Compositional practice where motives and melodies are taken up, once stated, by the other voices successively, while originating voices go on in counterpoint.  
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imitative counterpoint   show
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Impressionism   show
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improvisation   show
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incidental music   show
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intermezzo   show
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interval   show
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inversion   show
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show Use of a single, unvarying rhythmic module throughout a voice part, usually the tenor. Principle of construction in the 14th- and early 15th-century motet.  
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show Numbers attached to Mozart's works refer to a thematic catalog for Mozart written by Ludwig von Kšchel (1862; rev. through 1964).  
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show Chapelmaster, a court composer-conductor who would compose music for and lead the palace opera company, orchestra, and church services.  
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key   show
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keyboard   show
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Kyrie   show
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La Scala   show
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show Slow.  
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show Somewhat faster than largo.  
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show Quite slow. The slowest commonly specified tempo.  
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show Short lines that extend the staff.  
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legato   show
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show German for "leading motive," a compositional device developed by Wagner.  
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lento   show
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libretto   show
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Lied   show
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show First applied to Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte, then, in particular, to Schumann (Dichterliebe).  
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show The same tempo; keep the beat the same.  
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show Formalized order of church services. The Catholic liturgy, divided into Mass (Eucharist celebration of the Last Supper) and Divine Office (Matins, Vespers, etc.), specifies certain texts common to each service type (the Ordinary), as well as texts specif  
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ma   show
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madrigal   show
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show Majestic.  
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maestro di capella   show
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show In tonality, the brighter and more open of the two modes of scales, characterized by half steps between scale degrees 3 and 4 and 7 and 8.  
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Mannheim School   show
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marcato   show
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show Central public service of the Catholic liturgy, a celebration of the Last Supper. Same as Eucharist. Mass is celebrated by a cantor and the choir. For musical purposes, the most important parts are the choral components of the Ordinary Kyrie eleison, Glo  
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show Polish country dance in triple meter, often with accentuation of the second beat.  
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show Basic unit of meter, i.e., one complete metric unit, delineated by the bar line. Measure and bar are interchangeable.  
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melisma   show
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show Coherent, pleasing horizontal succession of pitches a tune.  
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show Less; as in meno mosso.  
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show Organization of rhythmic pulses or beats into hierarchies of weak and strong.  
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mezzo   show
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Mighty Handful, the   show
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show Little pieces; commonly in the Romantic piano and song literature.  
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show In tonality, the darker and more enigmatic of the two modes of scales, characterized particularly by the half step between scale degrees 2 and 3.  
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show Dance form in common to the Baroque and Classical periods.  
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M.M.   show
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show (1) One of the two subdivisions of tonal scales major or minor. (2) One of the white-note scales, or church modes of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. (3) One of the medieval rhythmic modes.  
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moderato   show
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show Process of moving from one key area to another.  
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moguchaya kuchka   show
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moll   show
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show Very; as in Molto allegro.  
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monody   show
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monophonic   show
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monothematic   show
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show Moving, lively; as in pi mosso.  
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show In its most general sense, texted vocal polyphony; the term describes highly significant genres from the Middle Ages through the high Baroque.  
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motive   show
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show Self-contained component of a larger work.  
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music drama   show
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show Scholarly study of music, particularly the history of music.  
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musique concrète   show
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mute   show
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show Groups of several notes per syllable of chanted text.  
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nocturne   show
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show Not too much; as in Allegro non troppo.  
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obbligato   show
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octave   show
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show Work of music theater (music, drama, spectacle) where much or all of the text is sung and music plays the most significant part.  
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show Used with a number, typically assigned by the publisher, to identify a work in a composer's output.  
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show Multi-movement setting of a sacred text, usually with emphasis on choral movements.  
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show The way music is scored for the orchestra.  
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show Portion of the liturgy (Mass and Office) that remains the same from day to day.  
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show Alternative version of a reading; usually simpler.  
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ostinato   show
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show Work built on an ostinato bass (or ground bass), often a descending chromatic bass.  
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Passion   show
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show Movement that expresses a rural atmosphere or describes country characters and scenes.  
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pedal point   show
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pentatonic   show
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show Heavily.  
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phrase   show
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show Very soft.  
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show Soft.  
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piece   show
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show Discrete, identifiable musical sound of a fixed number of vibrations per second.  
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pi   show
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pizzicato   show
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show Term used for the monophonic liturgical repertoire of the Catholic church. Used interchangeably with chant, plainsong, and Gregorian chant.  
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plainsong   show
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poco   show
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point of imitation   show
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polka   show
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show Aristocratic Polish dance in triple time.  
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polyphonic   show
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show Superposition of different rhythms and/or meters.  
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show Use of several keys at once.  
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show Bridge of a stringed instrument. Sul ponticello = at the bridge, a thin, nasal, or whiny sound.  
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portamento   show
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show Instrumental opening movement, often improvisational in character, that precedes a fugue or, sometimes, a group of movements.  
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presto   show
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program   show
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progressive jazz   show
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show Portion of the liturgy (Mass and Office) that contains texts specific to the feast day or occasion.  
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quarter tone   show
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ragtime   show
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rallentando   show
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show Compass of a musical instrument or voice part, from its lowest note to its highest. See also register.  
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recapitulation   show
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recitative   show
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show Division of the range (e.g., high, middle, low) of a voice or musical instrument. Roughly synonymous with tessitura.  
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Requiem   show
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show In reverse order. Common procedure in certain kinds of counterpoint and in twentieth-century serial music.  
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réunion des thèmes, grande   show
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show Free-form instrumental work, generally carefree and episodic.  
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show Subdivision of time, principally by establishing length of notes.  
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ripieno   show
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ritard   show
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ritenuto   show
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ritornello   show
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show Term used to describe the style in art during the reign of Louis XV of France (1715-74) and by extension to gracefully ornamented music.  
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Romanticism   show
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show Songful or ballad-like movement, often the second in a solo concerto.  
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show Musical form in which the main section recurs between subsidiary episodes, often in an overall sonata pattern (the sonata-rondo).  
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round   show
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row   show
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show Literally, robbed time (tempo rubato) the improvisatory adjustment of strict meter.  
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scale   show
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show Operatic scene for one character, generally embracing a recitative, aria, and finale close.  
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show Playful. Abbr. scherz.  
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scherzetto   show
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show Movement type directly descended from the minuet and trio and, like the minuet, usually appearing as the third movement of a four-movement instrumental work.  
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show Notation for an ensemble where a staff is given to each part or section.  
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show Dry. Recitativo secco is recitative delivered rapidly in speech rhythms and accompanied by the continuo force or a keyboard instrument.  
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secular   show
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show Go on, usually to the next movement.  
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semitone   show
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show Simply.  
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sempre   show
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senza   show
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show (1) Series of motives restated at ascending or descending pitch levels. (2) The medieval sequence is an important category of Gregorian chant where a series of text couplets, eventually rhymed poetry, was set syllabically.  
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show Compositional technique in which elements have been prearranged in a fixed series.  
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series   show
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show Interval bw a pitch & another 6 diatonic steps apart. A semitone less than an octave is a major seventh; a semitone less than that is a minor seventh. Both are strongly dissonant intervals, the major seventh pulling upward, the minor seventh downward  
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show Common enhancement to triadic harmony wherein a fourth pitch is added to the triad, up another third, thus root + 3rd + 5th + 7th.  
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sforzando, sforzato   show
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show Instrumental composition, usually for soloist or soloist and keyboard. Originally the term sonata (played music) was used as opposed to cantata (sung music) and toccata (keyboard music).  
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show Group of songs, generally with texts by the same poet, unified by a story line or literary theme.  
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show Highest voice part.  
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show Mute. Abbr. sord. Con sordino = with mute. Senza sordino = without mute.  
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sostenuto   show
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show In an undertone; barely heard.  
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show Spirited.  
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show Speaking voice. Abbr. Sprechst. and notated with X's through the note stems.  
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show Separated; short and sharp.  
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stretto   show
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stringendo   show
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show Having the same music for all the units (or strophes) of the text, as in a hymn.  
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show Literary movement in eighteenth-century Germany and Austria, applied to stormy, emotional, minor-keyed symphonies of the Classical period.  
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show Suddenly; as in subito forte. Abbr. sub.  
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subject   show
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suite   show
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show Pitch held over from a previous chord, becoming dissonant in the new chord, and resolving downward.  
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show One-movement work for orchestra with narrative or descriptive intent. See tone poem.  
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show Extended work for orchestra, usually in four movements (fast, slow, dance form, fast), the principal form of orchestral composition.  
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syncopation   show
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tempo   show
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tenor   show
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show Held, sustained. Abbr. ten.  
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tessitura   show
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texture   show
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thematic transformation   show
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show A principal melody, a basic point of melodic reference in a movement.  
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show Movement type where the given theme is modified in a series of variations.  
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show Music composed from beginning to end without internal repetitions. In general, the opposite of strophic.  
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tie   show
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timbre   show
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toccata   show
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show System of music composition that establishes relationships through use of a tonal center (the tonic) and a major or minor key built from it.  
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tone poem   show
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tonic   show
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tranquillo   show
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transposition   show
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show With tremolo.  
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tremolo   show
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triad   show
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show Fast alternating between a main pitch and the diatonic pitch above it.  
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show (1) Music for three performers; in music that descends from Baroque practice, this implies two treble instruments and basso continuo. (2) The center section of form in the minuet and trio family, generally in somewhat reduced orchestration  
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Tristan chord   show
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troppo   show
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tutti   show
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show Name given by Schoenberg to his system of composition using a row or series as the basis of a composition.  
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show Interval (that is, non-interval) that exists between two notes of identical pitch. A chorus of equal voices might well, for example, sing a hymn in unison; choral chant is sung in unison. Abbr. unis.  
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upbeat   show
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vibrato   show
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vivace   show
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show Alive, vigorous.  
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show Voice.  
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show Dance in time that developed in the late eighteenth century and became the ballroom rage of the nineteenth.  
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whole-tone scale   show
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