AP Music Theory Vocabulary
Gradually accelerating or getting faster
A slow tempo marking between Largo and Andante; a composition written in a slow tempo, frequently the second movement of sonatas, symphonies
An accent created by duration, rather than loudness or metrical position
An accompaniment derived from broken chords.
a fast tempo marking between allegretto and vivace; a comp in fast tempo usually the first or last movement of a sonata or a symphony
Upbeat; a beat preceding beat one of a complete measure; a conductor's upward sweeping gesture prior to the downbeat
A moderate tempo marking between Largo and Moderato. This tempo typically has between 76 and 108 beats per minute.
A moderate tempo marking slightly faster than Andante and slower than Moderato.
A performance style in which an ensemble is divided into two or more groups, performing alternately as separate groups and in unison.
DirecGve for a musician to play a stringed instrument with a bow as opposed to plucked or pizzicato
The subject of a fugue or canon; the first phrase of a musical period. - Antecedent and consequent: A pair of musical statements that complement one another in rhythmic symmetry and harmonic balance
IntroducGon on a weak beat of one note of a new chord before the previous chord is resolved
A grace note performed before a note of the melody and falling on the beat
DirecGons to a performer typically through symbols and icons on a musical score that indicate characterisgcs of the aoack, duragon, and decay of a given note
Meters not evenly divisible by 2, 3, or 4
Statement of a melody in longer note values, oten twice as slow as the original
A chord progression where the dominant chord is followed by the tonic chord (V- I or V- i). The dominant to tonic progression (V- I) represents the strongest sound of all cadences.
Two- part (A - B) structure of music; usually each part is repeated. The term can also mean any form with two periods, or secgons
TransiGonal passage connecgng two secgons of a composigon
A stylized close in music which divides the music into periods or brings it to a full conclusion.
a I (6/4) preceding the dominant, oten at a cadence. Although it contains the notes of the tonic triad, it does not exercise a tonic funcgon but rather serves as an embellishment of the dominant.
The prolongagon (post- cadengal extension) or delay (pre- cadengal extension) of a cadence by the addigon of material beyond (i.e. before or ater) the point at which the cadence is expected
Strict counterpoint in which each voice exactly imitates the previous voice at a fixed distance.
Chordal texture is also known as homorhythmic texture. This texture is present when all parts have the exact same rhythmic material. This texture is widely used in church hymn music.
Any music or chord that contains notes not belonging to the diatonic scale. Music which proceeds in half steps.
Harmony wrioen so that the parts are as close together as possible, usually with the upper voices very Gght together, and the bass somewhat more distantly spaced.
The closing few measures of a composigon, usually not a part of the main theme groups of the standard form of a composigon, but a finishing theme added to the end to give the composigon closure; in sonata form, the coda is anything that occurs ater the recapitulagon.
A passage within a composigon of sonata form which resembles a coda, but occurs at the end of the exposigon rather than at the end of the composigon. In a fugue, a codeoa is the linking passage between the entries of the subject or theme.
A note that is the same between two chords
The nearest degree in the scale, whether the scale is chromagc or diatonic, to a given degree (stepwise movement).
The answer in a fugue, or point of imitagon. A musical phrase which follows another, similar phrase. In a musical period, the antecedent and consequent are two balancing halves, somewhat like a rhymed couplet in poegc verse, with the movement of the first half completed by the second.
Simultaneous musical mogon of at least two voices, one of which is in opposigon to the other, with one voice rising in pitch while another voice falls in pitch.
In the contrasgng period, the second phrase is comprised of different melodic material.
A second but subordinate melodic line somegmes found in music which has a melody and an accompaniment.
The art of combining two or more melodies to be performed simultaneously and musically. In counterpoint, the melody is supported by another melody rather than by chords.
using a simple rhythm in compound Gme or vice- versa
In music, voice crossing is the intersecgon of melodic lines in a composigon, leaving a lower voice on a higher pitch than a higher voice (and vice versa).
A chord progression where the dominant chord is followed by a chord other than the tonic chord, usually the sixth, or submediant chord (V- VI), but somegmes something else. Also called interrupted cadence
A melody played in such a way that the Gme value of every note is shortened, generally halved, in value. Its antonym is 'augmentagon'
MoGon or movement where the notes in a melody move in skips or leaps, rather than by step.
Having two voices on the same melodic line.
The shortening of a theme or phrase by removing pargcular notes; see also 'interpolagon'
An ornamentagon; notes, usually of short duragon, that are added to the main melody of a composigon to decorate or ornament the melody.
A nonharmonic tone approached by a step and then resolving by a skip in the opposite direcgon.
Breaking up a subject into small segments, any one of which may form the basis for further development
A direcgve to perform a certain passage of a composigon in a solemn, grave, or slow manner.
Also known as harmonic tempo, the rate at which the chords change
A rhythmic paoern of syncopated beats with two beats in the Gme of three or three beats in the Gme of two
The pracgce of two or more musicians simultaneously performing slightly different versions of the same melody. Each version would be characterized as improvised or ornamented versions of the melody as opposed to harmonized versions of a melody
A style of composigon in which there is one disgnct melody with accompanying harmony, and all the voices and accompaniments move together in the same rhythmic paoern.