Musical Terminology
Music is a global language. Worldwide people can feel the meaning of the music created in any language without understanding the meaning of that language. As a language, music can express any feelings that we feel in our life, e.g. joy, sorrow etc. Like other languages, music has it’s own grammar. Not only that, music stands on a firm base of the relations among the notes.
Here I’ve tried to describe some important key terms of music those are frequently used in Staff. I think, It’ll be helpful to the learners.
- Charles B. Gomes
Dhaka, 27.02.11.
KEY TERMS
STAFF: A set of horizontal lines, now five in number, with the corresponding four spaces between them, on which music is written.
CLEF: Symbol placed upon a staff to indicate the name and pitch of the notes corresponding to it’s lines and spaces. ( G clef / F clef)
KEY SIGNATURE: The group of sharps or flats placed after the clef to indicate the tonality of the music following.
TIME SIGNATURE: A numerical or other indication at the beginning of a pieces showing the meter. (Two numbers place at the beginning of a piece of music. The upper number indicates which note gets beat.)
BAR: A vertical line that divides the staff into measures.
MEASURE: A group of beats or pulses between two bar lines.
NOTE: A written symbol used to indicate sound in music.
REST: A written symbol used to indicate silence in music.
LEDGER LINES: The short lines used for notes that are above or below the staff.
LEGATO: Smoth and connected : Without breaks between the successive tones.
SLURE: To sing to a single syllable or play without a break. (Two or more tones of different pitch)
TIE: A curved line that connects two notes of the same pitch. (The first note is played and the sound is held for the value of both notes.)
TEMPO: Relative rapidly or rate of movement, usually indicated by such terms are (adagio, allegro, etc…) or by reference to the metronome.
TEMPO SIGNATURE:
Largo – very slow and broad
Andante – moderately slow; at a walking pace
Moderato – at a moderate tempo
Allegro – fast
RHYTHM: The pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of strong and weak melodic and harmonic beats.
DIANAMIC SIGNATURE:
mp (mezzo piano) – moderately soft
mf (mezzo forte) – moderately loud
f (forte) – loud
Dynamics in time:
Time – Dynamics
2/4 – forte – piano
3/4 – forte – piano – piano
4/4 – forte – piano – mezzo forte – piano
6/8 – forte – piano – piano – mezzo forte – piano – piano
INCOMPLETE MEASURE: Some pieces begin with an “Incomplete measure”. The 1st measure in this pieces has only one count. The two missing counts are found in the last measure.
Music Theory: By Charles B. Gomes © www.cbgomes.com
