Choir Vocab

In preparation for successful and healthy singing, inhalation occurs below the ribcage, with the abdominal muscles relaxing while the diaphragm lowers, allowing the lungs to fill with air.

• Free Tone

• Tall Vowel

• Low Breathing

• Sight Reading

The style or way a note or set of notes is played or sung (examples: legato, staccato, accented)

• Accent

• Dynamic

• Articulation

• Polyphonic

A combination of sounds that produce harsh or discordant sounds, or that increase the desire for resolution.

• Consonance

• Dynamics

• Melody

• Dissonance

No individual singer or player stands out; one unified sound is heard.

• Blend

• Balance

• Harmony

• Melody

Singing with your true voice; not manipulating or changing your voice to sound a certain way. To sing without feeling any strain on your voice.

• Free Tone

• Low Breathing

• Tall Vowel

• Unison

A vowel that is sung with a free, relaxed jaw, creating space for a clear and resonant tone to be produced without any manipulation to the pure vowel.

• Tall Vowel

• Free Tone

• Polyphonic

• Low Breathing

To emphasize a note.

• Staccato

• Accent

• Legato

• Forte

When two or more melodic lines are combined.

• Monophonic

• Polyphonic

• Homophonic

• Unison

A sequence of tones that make up a main idea or theme.

• Harmony

• Rhythm

• Melody

• Phrase

The organization of music in time using long and short note values.

• Rhythm

• Melody

• Tempo

• Balance