Second Grade

  Music Vocabulary Words

Sixteenth notes - Four equal sounds on a beat

Conductor - The person who directs or leads the ensemble

Half note - A note that lasts 2 beats

Tie - A line that links tow notes of the same pitch causing them to sound as one note

Do - The tonal center in major, a major 3rd lower than mi

Re - A pitch between do and mi

Pentatonic - A scale using five pitches, usually drm sl

Notation - Written music

Tempo - The speed of the beat

Allegro - Fast tempo

Andante - Slow (walking tempo)

Dynamics - The level of loud and soft of pitches

Crescendo - To gradually get louder

Decrescendo - To gradually get softer

Fortissimo - Very loud

Pianissimo - Very soft

Meter - The pattern of strong and weak beats in music

Meter in 2 - Beat pattern in sets of two (strong, weak, strong, weak)

Bar line - Vertical line which divides the staff into measures

Double Bar - Two vertical lines at the end of a piece of  music

Measure - The space between two bar lines which contains a set of beats according to the  time signature (meter signature)

Time signature - (meter signature) The numbers at the beginning of a song that indicate how many beats are in each measure (top #) and what kind of note gets 1 beat

Repeat sign - A symbol made of two vertical lines and two dots, indicating that the music in between should be performed once more if there are two facing each other. One repeat sign indicates to repeat from the beginning

Call & Response - A type of song in which a phrase is performed by a soloist followed by a response by a group. The response is usually repetitive. Sea shanties, field hollers and work songs include many examples of call and response form

Brass - Family of instruments played by buzzing the lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece

Strings - Family of orchestral instruments played by bowing or plucking strings

Woodwinds - Family of orchestral instruments played with a single or double reed, or by blowing across a mouthpiece

Percussion - Family of orchestral instruments played by shaking or striking

Band - Performance group including percussion, brass and woodwinds only

Orchestra - Performance group including percussion, brass, woodwinds and strings

Style/Genre - The type of musk characterized by its melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre and performance practices, often originating from a specific time in history, in a specific place on earth, or by a specific culture or group of people

Patriotic - Music that is about and/or supportive of one's country

Classical - Music, usually performed by instrumental or vocal  of the Baroque through late-Romantic eras

Folk - Music created in non-formal setting often by non-musicians passed down through generations by rote. Music indigenous to a certain country or people

Posture - Sitting or standing tall, relaxed shoulders and neck free of tension

Head voice - The higher register of the voice (as opposed to the chest voice)

Improvise - To make up music as one is playing or singing it