counterpointRelated word or term.contrapuntalRelated word or term.
Part (music)A part in music refers to a component of a musical composition. Because there are multiple ways to separate these components, there are several contradictory senses in which the word "part" is used: any individual melody (or voice), whether vocal or instrumental, that can be abstracted as continuous and independent from other notes being performed simultaneously in polyphony. Within the music played by a single pianist, one can often identify outer parts (the top and bottom parts) or an inner part (those in betw...
Music theoryMusic theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. The Oxford Companion to Music describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first refers to the "rudiments" needed to understand music notation such as key signatures, time signatures, and rhythmic notation; the second is a study of scholars' views on music from antiquity to the present; the third is a sub-topic of musicology that "seeks to define processes and general principles in...
RhythmRhythm (from Greekῥυθμός, rhythmos, "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time can apply to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or frequency of anything from microseconds to several seconds (as with the riff in a rock music song); to several minutes or hours, or, at the most extreme, e...
Common practice periodIn Western classical music, the common practice period was the period of about 250 years during which the tonal system was regarded as the only basis for composition. It began when composers' use of the tonal system had clearly superseded earlier systems and ended when some composers began using significantly modified versions of the tonal system and developing other systems as well. Most features of the common practice (the accepted concepts of composition during this time) persisted from the mid-Baroque period...
Pitch contourIn linguistics, speech synthesis, and music, the pitch contour of a sound is a function or curve that tracks the perceived pitch of the sound over time. Pitch contour may include multiple sounds utilizing many pitches, and can relate the frequency function at one point in time to the frequency function at a later point. It is fundamental to the linguistic concept of tone, where the pitch or change in pitch of a speech unit over time affects the semantic meaning of a sound. It also indicates intonation in pitch a...
Classical musicClassical music is a tradition of art music in the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" can also be applied to non-Western art musics. Classical music is often characterized by formality and complexity in its musical form and harmonic organization, particularly with the use of polyphony. Since at least the ninth century, it has been primarily a written tradition, spawning a sophis...
HarmonyIn music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harmonic objects such as chords, textures and tonalities are identified, defined, and categorized in the development of these theories. Harmony is broadly understood to involve both a "vertical" dimension (frequency-space) and a "horizontal" dimension (time-space), and often over...
Renaissance musicRenaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century ars nova, the Trecento music was treated by musicology as a coda to medieval music and the new era dated from the rise of triadic harmony and the spread of the contenance angloise style from the British Isles to the Burgundian School. A convenient watershed for its end is the adoption of bass...
Baroque musicBaroque music (UK: or US: ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transition (the galant style). Baroque music forms a major portion of the "classical music" canon, and continues to be widely studied, performed, and listened to. Key composers of the Baroque era include Jacopo Peri, who wrote the first operas; Alessandro Stradella, who orig...
Music educationField of study associated with the teaching and learning of musicA German kindergarten teacher instructs her pupils in singingMusic education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original research on ways of teaching and learningmusic. Music education scholars publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, and teach undergraduate ...
LatinIndo-European language of the Italic branchFor other uses, see Latin (other).Latin (lingua Latina or Latinum) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. It has greatly influenced many languages, including Engli...
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