Terms : Hide Images
| 685345971 | Cadence | Punctuation-like closure that dictates the form. | |
| 685345972 | Cadential extension | Delay of cadence by addition of material. | |
| 685345973 | contour | The shape of a musical line (as in an arc, or a straight line, or many bumps) | |
| 685345974 | codetta | A short coda that occurs at the end of the exposition in sonata form rather than at the end of the composition. | |
| 685345975 | Countermelody | An accompanying melody sounded against the principal melody. | |
| 685345976 | Phrase elision | An elision occurs if the closing note of one phrase coincides with the first down beat of the following phrase, an overlapping. | |
| 685345977 | motive | A theme that is elaborated on in a piece of music through different repetitions, sometimes in the background. | |
| 685345978 | Fragmented motive | A small but recognizable part of a motive. | |
| 685345979 | augmentation | The statement of a theme in notes of greater duration (usually twice the length of the original) | |
| 685345980 | conjunct | Smooth, connected melody that moves principally by small intervals. | |
| 685345981 | dimunation | The statement of a theme in notes of shorter duration. | |
| 685345982 | disjunct | Disjointed or disconnected melody with many leaps. | |
| 685345983 | phrase extension | A means of expanding a phrase by adding material to its beginning, middle, or end. | |
| 685345984 | internal expansion | The lengthening of a phrase between its beginning and end. Results from immediate repetitions of material, an elongation of one or more harmonies, or the addition of new material within the phrase. | |
| 685345985 | melodic inversion | each note in the repetition of the give melodic figure progresses to the next note by the same interval, but in the opposite direction (up a 3rd becomes down a 3rd.) | |
| 685345986 | literal repetition | Sequences are repeated, indicated by repeat sign, capo, or segno. | |
| 685345987 | motivic transformation | Change of a rhythmic motive (augmentation, diminution, retrograde, extension, truncation) | |
| 685345988 | octave displacement | Taking a melodic line and moving some of the notes into a different octave for more distant intervals. | |
| 685345989 | retrograde | Playing the music backwards, beginning with the last note and ending with the first. | |
| 685345990 | sequence | A melodic or chordal figure that is transposed and repeated at that new pitch level. | |
| 685345991 | sequential repetition | Transposing a longer sequence to a different scale degree; may be diatonic or intervalically exact. | |
| 685345992 | truncation | Cutting off melody or motive before it ends. | |
| 685345993 | period | A group of phrases consisting in an antecedent phrase and a consequent phrase (question and answer) usually lasting 8 bars. Can be extended for more than that. | |
| 685345994 | antecedent | A phrase within the period of a melodic line that ends on a note other than the tonic. | |
| 685345995 | consequent | A phrase within a period of music that comes after the antecedent phrase and ends on the tonic. | |
| 685345996 | contrasting period | A period consisting of two phrases not similar to one another with respect to surface design. Even though the two phrases of the theme are not similar, they do form a unit of musical meaning unified by harmonic structure; the contrasting surface design of the two phrases makes them complement each other. | |
| 685345997 | double period | A period that has two antecedent phrases and two consequent phrases. | |
| 685345998 | parallel period | A period in which the two phrases share the same beginning melodic material. | |
| 685345999 | phrase group | Three or more phrases with tonal and/or thematic design elements that group them together as a unit without forming a period. | |
| 685346000 | refrain | A line or lines that are repeated in a song (chorus.) | |
| 685346001 | binary form | a musical form consisting of two units (A and B) constructed to balance and complement each other, "AB form." | |
| 685346002 | rounded binary form | Form with two sections, in which the second ends with a return to material from the first, each section is usually repeated. A:||:B+A:|| | |
| 685346003 | simple binary form | ||: A :||: B :|| Has 2 distinct sections. No repetition of previous themes. | |
| 685346004 | ternary form | Three-part (A-B-A) form based on a statement (A), contrast or departure (B), and repetition (A). Also three-part form. | |
| 685346005 | stanza | Verse, a poem set with a recurring pattern of both rhyme and meter. | |
| 685346006 | strophic | A song with repeated music but changing text. | |
| 685346007 | theme | The melodic subject of a musical composition. | |
| 685346008 | thematic transformation | Alteration of the character of a theme by means of changes in dynamics, orchestration, or rhythm, when it returns in a later movement or section; often found in romantic music. | |
| 685346009 | through-composed | Song structure that is composed from beginning to end, without repetitions of large sections. | |
| 685346010 | variation | A technique where material is repeated in an altered form. | |
| 685346011 | verse | The main part of a song, identical music with different lyrics, comes before the refrain or chorus in pop music. | |
| 685346012 | retrograde inverse | First backwards, then turn the line upside-down. |
