Module 1 Key Terms

Question 1

what is a melody?

Answer 1

a sequence of single notes in a coherent unit; the tune.;

Question 2

what is unison?

Answer 2

when two or more voices or instruments sing or play the exact same notes at the same time

Question 3

what is harmony?

Answer 3

when two or more different notes are sung or played at the same time

Question 4

what is pitch?

Answer 4

how high or low a sound is; denotes special names for certain frequencies

Question 5

what are notes?

Answer 5

the smallest units of music, can indicate both pitch and duration. The first seven letters of the alphabet are used to indicate the names of notes, repeating as needed

Question 6

what is a staff?

Answer 6

a set of five horizontal lines on and between which notes are written to indicate pitch. Plural: staves.

Question 7

what is frequency?

Answer 7

the number of sound waves per second that define each exact pitch; measured in Hz;e.g. 440 Hz = 440 waves/second

Question 8

what is a clef?

Answer 8

signs placed at the beginning of a staff to better indicate the highness or lowness of a pitch.

Question 9

what is a treble clef?

Answer 9

also known as G clef, used to indicate notes of a higher pitch (usually notes above Middle C)

Question 10

what is a bass clef?

Answer 10

also known as F clef, used to indicate notes of a lower pitch (usually notes below Middle C)

Question 11

what is middle C?

Answer 11

the note that falls immediately between the bass and treble clefs

Question 12

what is grand staff?

Answer 12

the result of combining the treble and bass staves

Question 13

what are ledger lines?

Answer 13

lines used to indicate pitches that fall outside of the staves

Question 14

what is range?

Answer 14

how high or low an instrument or voice can sound

Question 15

what is duration?

Answer 15

the length of sounds and silences in music. Different note values (or durations) can be combined with pitches to create a melody

Question 16

what is rhythm?

Answer 16

the organization of music through time using note values or durations

Question 17

what is beat?

Answer 17

the regular, recurrent pulse that forms the background of the music

Question 18

what is a flag?

Answer 18

single notes that are shorter in duration than a quarter note have flags on their stems. An eighth note has one flag; a sixteenth note has two flags; and a thirty-second note has three flags

Question 19

what are beams?

Answer 19

groups of two or more notes that are shorter in duration than a quarter note are connected by beams. Two or more eighth notes are connected by one beam; two or more sixteenth notes are connected by two beams; and two or more thirty-second notes are connected by three beams

Question 20

how do dotted nots or rests affect their duration?

Answer 20

placing a dot after a note or rest increases the note by half its value. For example, a dotted quarter note is worth 1 ½ beats in 4/4 time

Question 21

what is a tie?

Answer 21

a curved line that joins two notes of the same pitch, in essence joining the duration of each into one combined duration. The second note does not sound