This is an expanding list of musical and music-business related terms. It has brief, yet concise definitions of important words. Not everything will be here as we already have dictionaries for those terms.

There are often many definitions for a word and I will mainly list a musically-oriented, simple definition or two for each one. Sometimes simple is good! (As time goes on I will be adding more involved and more in-depth definitions that you can access by clicking on words that are hyper-linked.)

The main focus is musical terms that are commonly mis-understood, or should be known by anyone playing or studying music.

I just started this project in March or 2010 and it will be expanding over the next few months. If there is anything you need a definition for let me know.

These entries are all from my teaching materials. In a music lesson, everything in presented in context to what a student is learning. Since this is just a list of terms, you might want to read the “Preface” sections that accompany these terms in one of my lessons and it could give you a bigger picture of what this is all about. Just a suggestion.

Here are the links to the sections, as they are in the Expanded Glossary page:

Our System of Music

The Language of Music

 

 

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A

accompaniment: music and/or a rhythm that supports the main melody, such as a guitar being strummed while someone is singing, or the left hand on a piano playing certain notes over and over while the right hand plays a melody or improvises. Most accompaniments are grooves of one kind or another.

amplitude: (1) The volume of a sound, loud soft or in between. (2) The size of a vibration.

accompaniment: music that provides support for the melody.

arpeggio: the notes of a chord played one at a time.

B

bar: one group of beats. (See the “meter” illustration for an example.) Also called a “measure” — same thing.

bar line: the vertical line separating each group of beats. (See the “meter” illustration for an example.)

beat: the main measurement used in music. The pulse of music is made up on beats, and each “pulse” is a beat.

blues scale: a pentatonic scale with a “blues note” added to it.

bridge: a secondary part of a song if the song needs an additional section to make it complete. “Not all “pop” songs have abridge, but jazz
standards normally do.

C

chord: a group of three or more notes built from one specific note, going every other note. (Like C, E, G.)

chord changes: a series of chords. (Also see “chord progression.”

chord chart: written music containing only the chord symbols and form of the song.

chord progression: a sequence of chords. “Chord changes” is another term for this. it is common to refer to a short sequence of chords as “chord changes,” and a long sequence of chords, such as an entire song, as a “chord progression.” I’ve heard these terms used interchangeably, as well as just being called “changes.”

chord voicing: how the notes are placed in a chord.

chorus: the repeating part of a song that contains the main, catchy melody and lyric.

chromatic: all 1/2 steps.

chromatic scale: all the 1/2 steps within an octave played consecutively. E.g., C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C

D

dynamics: the expressive change of volume (amplitude). Having certain sections or passages vary between soft or loud, or anywhere in between for emotional expression. An example of no dynamics would be a monotone (unchanging).

E

ear training: training you to recognize notes and rhythms (mainly notes) using your ears–the perception of hearing. When you know what sounds are called, you can learn to identify them. It’s the same idea as identifying colors, for example. When you learn to identify sounds you can recognize them when someone else plays them, when you hear them on a recording or when you “hear” them in your imagination! There are many levels of ear training. (More will added to this as time goes on.)

enharmonic: two names for the same note. Each note has two names, most commonly the “black keys”. (There are also E sharp, B sharp and C flat. An example of this will be entered soon.)

 

 

F

flat: (1) A note that is slightly lower in pitch. (2) The b symbol meaning 1/2 step lower.

 

 

form: the order of sections in a song. E.G., verse, chorus, verse….

G

groove: a repetitive rhythm: the same rhythm played over and over. (See “accompaniment” for additional data.)

H

half-step: the distance from one note to the very next note, going up or down. Some examples are: F to F sharp, D to D flat. On a piano, this is going from one note to the very next closest note whether black key or white key. On a guitar, a half-step is from one fret to the next fret.

harmony: (1) Two or more notes played together. (2) Specific combinations of sounds whether played at the same time or not. Though the word often implies something “pleasing” to the ear, any combination of notes sounded together falls into the category of “harmony.”

I

improvise: to play and compose at the same time. To make it up as you sing or play.

interval: the distance between two notes. E.g., C up to E is a 3rd, as there are three notes involved: C,D,E. C up to G is a 5th, as there are five notes involved: C, D, E, F, G. (The topic of intervals has more information. This is just an entry level glossary-definition to give you the idea.)

instrument technique: (Commonly just called “technique”.) The physical part of playing. Good technique promotes fluid playing, whereas poor technique can create tension that can make you play sloppy, tire easily, sound stiff and in extreme cases damage your body.

inversion: (As in a “chord inversion”.) The position of the notes in a chord. A chord is made up of specific notes and it doesn’t matter what order the notes are in. A “C chord” is still a “C chord” whether you play it C, E, G, with C being the lowest note, or E, G, C, with the E being the the lowest note. (See “chord inversions” in the Expanded Glossary for more detail.)

 

 

invert: The change the position of notes by either taking the lower note and putting it on top or taking the highest note and putting it on the bottom. E.g., C up or E, leaving the E where it is and putting the C on top.

 

 

K

key: All the notes in a scale considered as a group. A “scale” are the notes in alphabetical order and a “key” are those same note, only as a group played however they are played.

M

major scale: a specific sequence of notes in alphabetical order.

melody: (1) Notes played or sung one at a time in succession. (2) A series of single notes that are the main and most recognizable part of a song or piece of music.

measure: one group of beats. Same definition as “bar”.

meter: groups of beats into bars. The most common groupings are three groups of beats and four groups of beats. Most “pop” music is in a meter of four.

 

 

metronome: A mechanical or digital device that clicks “beats” at a certain amount per minute: beats per minute. (BPM) The more beats per minute, the faster the tempo. The fewer beats per minute, the slower the tempo.

minor scale: a specific sequence of notes in alphabetical order.

music: (1) A language of specific sounds. (2) A creation with these sounds. (3) Communicating with sounds that could be considered artistic or pleasing.

musicianship: skill and ability with rhythm, melody and harmony.

the musical alphabet: Western music uses the seven alphabet letters, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, which are the white keys on the piano. There are five other notes as well, the black keys. The letter “C” is the main reference point in music, so I’ve used it as the starting note in the following example on a piano keyboard. Notice that the black keys are in a group of two and a group of three, with the “C” being at the left of the grouping of two black keys. All “Western” instruments use these same notes. (I.e., guitar, bass, flute, violin, etc.)

 

 

music theory: what the words and symbols mean and how they relate to each other; what various sounds and groups of sounds are called. The purpose of knowing theory is to have a clear idea of what you are doing so you can do it without any confusions or unneeded barriers to your understanding which could hinder how you play.

N

note: (1) A sound of a definite pitch. (2) A symbol that represents a musical sound and/or rhythm.

O

octave: The same note name eight note names higher or lower. Any two notes with the same name that are eight notes a part.

 

P

passing tone: There are many technical definitions for a “passing tone”. To keep things simple, a “passing tone” is a less predominant tone between two dominant, or main, tones used to add color or interest. (Same as a passing note.)

pentatonic scale: a five-note scale.

phrase: a specific melodic or rhythmic statement.

pitch: (1) A sound at a specific frequency (how fast or slow something is vibrating). A vibration at a certain speed determines how high or low a pitch is. The faster the vibration the higher the pitch, the slower the vibration the lower the pitch.

R

relative scales: two scales that have the same notes, but different starting points. For example, C Major and A Minor have the same notes. They start on different tonics, (the 1 of a scale), but have the same notes: that is their relationship. C Major is the “relative major” to A Minor. A Minor is the “relative minor” to C Major.

rhythm: the placement of sounds through time: when the sounds are made.

root: The note a chord is built from and named after. The “root” of a C chord is C, the root of an F chord is F. Clarification: The first note of a scale is called a “tonic”. The first note of a chord is called a “root”. So in the “Key of C,” C is the tonic and each chord in that key has its own root. On a C chord in the key of C, the C note is both the tonic of the key and the root of the chord.

S

scale: A specific series of notes used to create music with. Our most commonly used scales are defined as: a series of notes going up and down in alphabetical order. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, (C) and A, B, C, D, E, F, G, (A) are examples of scales. Most of our scales have eight notes in them: seven notes plus the octave–the letter in parenthesis. (Refer to the “Musical Alphabet.”)

scale degree: the number of each note in a scale showing its order. A “C Scale” is C D E F G A B C, and the scale degrees are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. C is the 1st note, D is the 2nd note, etc. The purpose of the numbers is to understand how the notes relate to each other. One of the main functions of scale degrees is ear training. When you “understand” what 1 2 3 sounds like, for example, when you hear it you’ll recognize that relationship. This functions the same way that “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do” does, only I find the number system easier to get one’s wits around. (Also called scale numbers, universal scale.)

 

 

sharp: (1) A note that is slightly higher in pitch. (2) the # symbol meaning one half-step higher.

 

 

sight-read: to play written music while seeing it for the first time.

sound: (1) Something that can be heard. (2) Vibrations of air, water or wood/metal that can be sensed by the ear.

sub-beats: even divisions of a beat. The most common divisions are 2, 3, and 4 parts for each beat.

 

 

(Different teaching methods use various “syllables” for counting sub-beats. I have seen many of them and find these to be the most useful.)

T

technique: the physical aspects of playing.

tempo: How fast or slow the pulse is. Slow song? Fast song? Whether slow or fast, there is usually a steady pulse you can feel, and the speed of that pulse is the tempo.

 

 

timbre: (Pronounced “tamber”) (1) The quality of a sound. The same note played on a guitar or a piano will have a different “timbre” to it. Commonly called “tone.” (Pitch, amplitude and timbre are the three components of a sound. Any sound you hear will have these three elements within it.) (2) The combination of qualities of a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds of the same pitch and volume.

time: the even flow of beats in music. When you tap your hand or foot to a song you are most likely tapping to the “time”.

 

 

transcribe: to listen to music and notate it on music paper.

tonic:The note a scale is built from. “C” is the tonic of a C scale. “A” is the tonic of an A scale.

U

unison: Two notes at the same pitch: matching pitches. Play a note on an instrument and sing the exact same note and that’s a unison. Two different instruments or voices playing or singing the same pitch is also an example of a unison.

V

verse: A main section of a song. When having lyrics, this section normally tells the story.

W

whole step: the distance of two 1/2 steps. Some examples are: C to D, F to G, G to A and A to B. Some whole step examples using the sharps and flats are: Db to Eb, A# to G# and E to F#.