Elements and key terms

Question 1

Terms associated with melody

Answer 1

Direction
Type of movement (steps or leaps)
Range
Ornamentation
Repetition
Sequences
Ostinati
Inversion
Retrograde

Question 2

Terms associated with harmony

Answer 2

Functional
Non-functional
Cadences
Major
Minor
Modal
Consonant
Dissonant
Chromatic
Atonal
Bitonal

Question 3

Terms associated with texture

Answer 3

Monophonic/polyphonic/homophonic/ heterophonic
Dovetailing/layering/stretto
1, 2, 3, 4 etc. part textures
Imitation/call and response/dialogue
Pedal/drone
Instrument role; melody, doubling melody, accompaniment, ostinato or motor rhythm

Question 4

Terms associated with rhythm/metre

Answer 4

Crotchets, quavers etc.,
Cross rhythms
Polyrhythms
Dotted/swung rhythms
Hemiolas
Rhythmic augmentation/ diminution
Triplets etc.
Simple, compound, regular, irregular (metre)

Question 5

Terms associated with structure

Answer 5

Binary, ternary, rondo, sonata, coda, instrumental, verse-chorus, ritornello etc.

Question 6

Ways to describe a melody that you can’t describe an instrumental melody

Answer 6

Melismatic
Syllabic
Vocables/scat/nonsense syllables
Glottel stop

Question 7

Ways to describe a melody (not using musical key terms)

Answer 7

How virtuosic it is
How short/long/repetitive the phrases are
Are there repeated/varied pitches

Question 8

Ways to describe harmony (not using musical key terms)

Answer 8

Simple/complex
Repetitive/varied
Clashing/not clashing
Lots of/few notes heard simultaneously

Question 9

What is ‘harsh dissonance’?

Answer 9

Dissonance where notes are a semitone apart (or angular intervals such as major 7ths or tritones)

Question 10

What is ‘soft dissonance’?

Answer 10

Dissonance where the notes are a tone apart - there is a clash but less so than if by semitone