Here is a listing of musical terms used within this text, simply defined and linked back into the text. Many of the hyperlinks from within the text come to this page. The one / two / three / four choices to the right of each word entry are links back into the text where the term is used. If there is a page titled by the term, choosing choice one will take the reader there. The two choice tries to link the vocabulary term to a melodic application if applicable. The three choice will link the term to a harmonic application of the term. The four choice to an artistic concept or technique where the theory of the term is applied or to a hyperlink to a www. site of the topic. Perhaps use this page as a search engine for finding discussions regarding a particular musical term of interest. Oh, the definitions of the numerous slang terms included here are of course debatable based on your own locale and degree of hipness.
| accidental | a symbol used to alter a pitch, usually by half step. accidentals include the sharp ( # ) and flat ( b ) and others. |
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| altered | when pitches of a scale or chord are changed from their diatonic identities, generally refers to upper structure configurations of dominant seventh chords, could be used to describe any non diatonic pitches. |
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| ambiance | musical atmosphere, environment. |
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| amen effect | my term, describes moving from the One chord to the Four back to One, generally associated with gospel music. |
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| antecedent | the "question" or first part of a musical phrase. |
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| arpeggiating the harmony | common with non chordal instruments whereby the artist simply arpeggiates each chord in the progression, usually an easy way to clearly outline the chords / harmonic progression of a song. |
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| arpeggio | "harplike", "broken chord." a musical phrase comprised of chord tones. |
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| arrangements | the format that the performance of composition will follow, a "map" of the tune, i.e., intro, head, solos, head, tag etc. |
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| arrangements while you wait | slang for working out the arrangement the band will play immediately preceding the performance of the tune, generally done while on the bandstand, although greatly increasing the risk of a train wreak, seasoned players do this all the time, especially on "casuals" or pick up gigs. |
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| artistic filters | to pass an motif through an existing structure, style or concept. |
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| artistic license | artistically fitting round pegs in square holes, what an artist might want to have when their ideas are a bit ahead of their time etc., allows an artist to "stretch" conventional guidelines, norms and standards. |
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| artistic signature | aurally recognizable components of a particular players artistic statement, i.e., tone, articulation, phrasing etc. |
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| atonality | music having no tonal center or sense of tonic. |
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| augment (ed) | to enlarge or supplement, usually associated with musical intervals, melodically often associated with the whole tone scale, chordally we find the augmented term associated with the 4th and 5th degrees of the dominant seventh chord. |
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| augmented 6th chords | more found in traditional or classical music, so named by the interval between the root and one of the upper voices, which forms the interval of an augmented 6th. |
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| aurally | to hear through listening with one's ears, to recognize theoretical musical elements by ear. |
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| authentic | a type of chord cadencing using tonic and dominant chords. |
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| ax | slang term for instrument. |
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| backpedaling | root motion counterclockwise to the cycle of fifths. |
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| backpocket | slang for something easily done. |
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| bag of licks | collection of your own favorite musical phrases or chord changes. |
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| ballad | a style of song characterized by a slower, stately tempo with an emotional content usually centered on the topic of love. |
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| Baroque | a style or period of European music and architecture characterized by it's emphasis on ornamentation of line, historically spanning the years of 1600 to 1750's. |
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| barre | a chord shape on stringed instruments whereby the index finger of the fretting hand perpendicularly covers all of the strings, in effect replacing the nut of the instrument. |
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| bass | lowest vocal register, lowest pitch of a chord, foundation of the music. |
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| bebop | a rather complex style of American jazz historically from the late 1930's to the 40's, pioneered by Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach and many others, characterized by bright tempos, intricate melodies, polyrhythms, extensive modulation and tremendous excitement for the players and listeners alike. |
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| bending pitches | the fine art of changing pitch by physically altering the creation of the pitch, i.e., pushing or pulling a string, using a slide on the strings, tightening the embouchure for horn players, bending pitches is often essential in delivering the more elementary blues styles. |
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| binary | usually associated with form in music, basically meaning two parts making up the whole, as in the number 25 is a binary number. |
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| birds' eye | slang for fermata, a symbol for suspending the forward motion / time of the music. |
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| bitonal | two distinctly different aural colors used together. |
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| blowing | slang for soloing. |
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| blue notes | the third, augmented fourth and minor seventh pitches of the blues scale. |
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| blueprint | in this text used to describe basic harmonic formulas or key musical elements that are often associated with or define a popular musical style. |
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| blues | the core of American music styles. |
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| blues anchor | my term for a musical device that can quickly retonally center our improvisations, regardless of how "outside" the tonality we have ventured, in this case a blues lick. |
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| blurring | my term to obscure the clarity, in this text usually to obscure the tonal direction and defy the tonal gravity of a musical phrase. |
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| block | refers to voicing each melody note with it's own chord / harmony. |
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| borrow | a slang term to describe the concept of how non diatonic elements are sifted into the major and minor tonalities. |
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| bridge | slang for the "B" section of the A / A / B / A and A / B form. |
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| broken chord | sounding the notes of a chord in succession as opposed to being struck together, slang for arpeggio. |
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| cacophony | seemingly unrelated combinations of sounds, oftentimes using multiple tonal centers simultaneously. |
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| cadence | Two or more chords ending an event of musical tension, commonly V 7 to I. |
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| cadenza | an open section where a player gets to play solo and unaccompanied, usually found at the end of a song. |
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| call and response | perhaps developed from religious services, whereby the leader sings a phrase to which the congregation responds. |
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| called | slang for choosing a tune while on the bandstand. A callable tune (standard) is one usually familiar to most players in the group. |
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| capo | a device used by guitar players that "clamps" all the strings, allowing open position chords to create other keys. |
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| career musician | describes in this text a learner who has determined that music will be their life work, to become a professional musician, thus perhaps welcome a more demanding curriculum from this text. |
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| casual | a gig characterized as the name implies, casual, maybe once in a while as opposed to steady, which happens on a regular basis. |
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| cats | slang for musician / player / artist. |
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| cell | a term that describes a musical idea that is the core idea for expansion and development in musical composition / artistic work. |
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| changes | slang for the chords of a song. |
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| chart | slang for a written musical score. |
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| chops | slang for a players ability to execute musical phrases. |
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| chord | different pitches struck and sounded together. |
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| chord degree | numerical label for pitches within a chord or arpeggio, i.e., 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th etc. |
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| chord family | viewing any chord or harmony in one of three families in relation to the major tonality, chords in each of the families provide one of three basic artistic elements, these are stability (tonic), passing chord (two) and tension (five). |
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| chord progression | specific cycles of chords. |
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| chord substitution | replacing one chord with another, generally of the same chord type. |
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| chord tone(s) | refers to a pitch used in the creation of a chord, the pitches used to create a particular chord, chord tones also create arpeggios. |
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| chord type | placing any chord or harmony in one of three categories, i.e., tonic ( I ), Two ( ii ) or Five ( V ) in relation to the major tonality, chords in each of the categories provide one of three basic artistic elements, these are stability ( tonic ), passing chord ( Two ) and tension ( Five ). |
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| chorus | one complete cycle of the entire form of a piece of music. |
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| chromatic | melodic or harmonic motion of consecutive half steps in either direction. |
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| chromatic enhancement | simply to approach each of the pitches of a musical idea by half step above or below. |
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| chromatic helmet | safety device worn by musically adventurous folks. |
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| chromatic scale | group of pitches created exclusively with the interval of a half step, containing 12 pitches with one octave. |
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| chronologically | in historical order, to understand a series events in the historical sequence in which they occurred. |
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| church modes | a collection of scales from antiquity which were incorporated into the system of equal temper. |
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| classical literature | a term used to describe the entire body of European music based on the equal temperament system, dating from the 12 century or so. |
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| cliché | stereotypical musical phrase spanning generations of players. |
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| click track | recording studio term for a metronomical beat usually delivered via headphones to the recording players to help solidify the groove. |
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| climax | high point of solo, release of music tension. |
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| closure | to bring a sequential group of elements back to it's starting point creating a closed loop, also used pedagogically within the text to bring a theoretical concept to a conclusion as part of the learning process. |
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| clusters | usually a group of 3 to 5 pitches or so that are sequenced into a cool idea, then rapidly articulated. oftentimes they are then pushed through a larger cycle, i.e., chromatic, fifths, fourths, minor third / fourths etc. |
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| coda | Italian for "tail", a section of music added on to common musical forms to provide perfect closure to the artistic idea of the piece. |
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| color | my term for describing a musical sound, like using the color terms red or blue to describe the major or minor tonalities. |
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| color tones | any pitch used in a chord that is not part of the 3 note triad, common slang term for upper structure chord tones of diatonic harmony, i.e., 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th etc. and all their alterations. |
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| common practice | as the term implies what everybody does, oftentimes defined by an era of history whereby folks basically used the same artistic elements to create their sounds thus creating and defining a style of music. |
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| common tone | two musical components sharing a common pitch / pitches. |
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| comping | providing harmonic background for soloist, vocalist. |
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| composing | in this text, creating music, both spontaneously improvised within musical time or written out. |
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| compound intervals | intervals that exceed the span of one octave. |
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| connection | as the term implies, in joining all of the creative and emotional aspects of artistic performers and their audience and the exchange of energies on so many different levels that happens between them, i.e., the dynamics of a rewarding and fulfilling performance for all involved. |
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| consequent | the "answer" to the question or first part of a musical phrase, see antecedent. |
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| consonant | the opposite of dissonant, describes a harmonious relationship between pitches. |
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| constant structure | simply moving the same chord voicing up or down in pitch. |
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| contrary motion | implies when two voices, as say within a chord, move in opposite directions in regards to pitch, motion of chord voices in opposite directions, opposite of parallel motion, which implies voices moving directionally together either up or down. |
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| contrasting theme | in a musical composition containing two themes, the most important theme is termed the principle theme, while the second theme is said to be in "contrast", thus the contrasting theme. |
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| convergence | to arrive at a destination or resolution, the morphing of one tonal color to another, the theory which creates labels of the colors as referred to in this text as "lines of tonal convergence." |
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| cool jazz | style of American jazz that evolved in the 50's characterized by more relaxed tempos, sparser harmonies and more languid melodic lines, in part inspired from the M. Davis recording "Kind of Blue", the emergence of "cool jazz", notably on the West Coast as pioneered by locals C. Baker, J. Mulligan, and many others, today, late 90's and onward, also used to define some contemporary and new age jazz. |
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| could be | really means that I personally think so, my opinion in favor of the idea postulated in the text, prompting the "could be." |
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| counterpoint | in the music world, literally point versus point, where the points are pitches, the theoretical study of the evolution of voice leading between two or more melodic lines, a style of composing popular during the Baroque period. |
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| cover tunes | slang term for popular songs, many of which are often top 40, often found in dance band repertoires in any of the American styles of music. |
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| cycles per second | the frequency that a pitch vibrates at, i.e., the tuning pitch A a minor 3rd below middle C on the piano vibrates at 440 cycles per second. |
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| cycle of fifths / fourths | a pictorial "clocklike" representation and way to organize the 12 tonal or key centers of the equal temperament system, based on the root motion of perfect fifths, usually clockwise, or it's inverse, the perfect fourth (counterclockwise). |
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| dc / da capo | Italien for "head", denoting the start of the musical form or song. |
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| deceptive cadence | harmonic motion of the Five chord moving to Six in the major tonality. |
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| default | in computer lingo, the original settings of the software, in this text the "default" becomes various mainstays in American music, it's performance and theories of organization. |
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| delta changes | my slang term for downright basic, simple in the mud blues chord changes, to "play primitive" as i've heard it been described, derived from the style Delta Blues. |
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| diatonic | using only pitches within the key signature. |
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| diatonic harmony | building chords using only the notes contained within a given key signature. |
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| digitron | Euro slang for a mathematical calculator? |
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| diminished | to make smaller, reducing an interval by half step. |
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| diminished chord | stacking intervals of a minor third, i.e., C, Eb, G, A etc. |
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| diminished interval | usually associated with reducing the size of the perfect intervals by half step, also reducing the size of minor intervals by half step. |
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| diminished scale | adding neighbor tones to the diminished chord to create a symmetrical scale group such as the whole step / half step configuration of C, D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, A, B, C etc. |
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| discern | to figure out by inductive reasoning. |
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| disguise | to mask or obscure one's appearance or intent. |
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| dissonant | combining aural sounds creating an unpleasant effect. |
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| divine | from the heavens above. |
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| dominant | term used to designate the pitch which is a perfect fifth interval above the fundamental, as say in the major / relative minor scales, chords built on this 5th scale degree are termed dominant chords. |
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| dominant harmony | chords built on the 5th scale degree of the major / relative minor scales ( and other scales that contain a pitch a perfect 5th above the root ), also used to describe the tonal environment generally associated with American blues music. |
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| dominant seventh | in this text refers to any chordal color that incorporates a tritone interval between the third and the seventh degrees of the chord, |