Musical Terms and Techniques

Front

A musical ornament involving moving rapidly from one note, to another, then back again.

Back

Mordent

Front

Rapid alternation between two notes.

Back

Trill

Front

Music consisting of a single unaccompanied melody line.

Back

Monophonic

Front

A musical texture in which all parts move in a similar rhythm creating a chordal effect.

Back

Homophonic

Front

Extending a musical idea rhythmically, typically doubling the length of the notes.

Back

Augmentation

Front

When two different rhythms are heard together with different accented beats.

Back

Cross Rhythm

Front

A repeated rhythm or melodic pattern, often referred to in pop music as 'riffs'.

Back

Ostinato

Front

Six notes played in the time usually taken by four. The feeling is of two triplets rather than pairs of quavers or semiquavers.

Back

Sextuplets

Front

Particularly in jazz music, the first quaver of a pair will be played slightly longer than the second.

Back

Swung Rhythms

Front

A metre in which the main beat can be subdivided into two.

Back

Simple Time