Glossary

Added Value	A process by which rhythmic irregularity is created through the addition of a note value or rest to a rhythmic figure.



Additive Rhythm	A process that has the effect on the listener of unequal groupings of subdivisions being added together.



Ametric Music	Music that lacks an aurally perceivable meter.



Asymmetrical Meter	Meter that contains an odd number of beats, with the exception of triple meter.



Bitonality	Two tonal centers heard simultaneously.



Black-Key Pentatonic	The pentatonic collection formed by the five black keys on the keyboard.



Chordal Units	The individual chords that are the components of polychords.



Composite Meter	Meter that is made up of recurring irregular subdivisions.



Cross Rhythm	The simultaneous presentation of two or more aurally contrasting rhythmic streams.



Diatonic Modes	The seven scales or modes that can be formed by building a scale using each of the tones of a major scale as a different tone center.



Diatonic Planing	Parallel movement of vertical sonorities whose quality is determined by the prevailing diatonic scale; the numerical value of the intervals will remain constant, but their quality will change as the voices move throughout the diatonic scale.



Displaced Accent	A technique that intentionally violates the normal metric accent pattern implied by the meter, shifting the accent to a relatively weak beat.



Dotted Bar Line	Symbol used to show how long measures are subdivided into shorter segments.



Extended Tertian Sonorities	Ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords used as an extension of traditional tertian harmony, both in functional and nonfunctional settings. Also called tall chords.



Fibonacci Sequence	An infinite sequence of numbers in which each number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two numbers, used by many twentieth-century composers to determine a variety of musical information.



Golden Ratio	1.618:1. This proportion is found throughout nature and has been associated with proportional balance in art and architecture.



Hemiola	An interaction between rhythm and meter that implies a 3:2 ratio.



Hexatonic Scale	A six-note collection derived from the juxtaposition of two augmented triads at the interval of a half step.



Hirajoshi Scale	Pentatonic collection that can be thought of as being built on ———— of a natural minor scale.



Impressionism	A term originally applied to a style of painting that began in France in the late nineteenth century, the concept was reflected in music by a turning away from more orderly formal procedures of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and a fascination with color, as expressed through new uses of harmony, instrumentation, and rhythm.



Isorhythm	In twentieth-century music, refers to a rhythmic technique (associated with Medieval motets and masses) that typically consists of a repeated rhythmic figure called the talea (after Medieval theory) in combination with a repeated pitch sequence of a different length called the color.



Lydian-Mixolydian Scale	A seven-note scale with and .



Major Pentatonic Scale	Pentatonic collection that can be thought of as being built on ———— of a major scale.



Mechanical Rhythm	Rhythm that requires a machine for precise execution.



Minor Pentatonic Scale	Pentatonic collection that can be thought of as being built on ———— of a natural minor scale.



Mixed Meter	The use of rapidly changing meter signatures.



Mixed Planing	Parallel voice motion that can be explained neither by consistency of chord type nor by the limitations of a single scale.



Nonfunctional Harmonic Progressions	Successions of chords that do not follow traditional or functional patterns or progressions.



Nonretrogradable Rhythms	Rhythms that are the same whether played forward or backward.



Octatonic Scale	An eight-note scale composed of a repeated series of half-whole or whole-half successions.



Ostinato	A musical pattern that is repeated many times in succession.



Pandiatonicism	The attempt to equalize the seven tones of the diatonic scale so that no single pitch is heard as a tone center. Some identifying characteristics include use of a key signature, absence of accidentals, free use of the seven (or fewer, in some cases) tones of the major scale associated with that key signature, and the absence of functional harmonic movement.



Pentatonic Scale	Literally denotes any five-note scale, but typically refers to the major pentatonic C-D-E-G-A and its transpositions.



Planing	The use of chords moving in parallel motion.



Polychord	Consists of two or more chords sounded simultaneously.



Polymeter	The simultaneous presentation of two or meters.



Polyrhythm	The simultaneous presentation of two or more aurally contrasting rhythmic streams.



Polytempo	The simultaneous presentation of two or more contrasting tempos.



Polytonality	Two or more tonal centers heard simultaneously.



Quartal Harmony	A sonority derived from stacked 4ths.



Quintal Harmony	A sonority derived from stacked 5ths.



Real Planing	Parallel movement of vertical sonorities whose construction remains unchanged; both the numerical value and quality of the intervals will remain constant.



Secundal Harmony	A chordal sonority derived from stacked 2nds.



Split-Third Chord	The sonority that results when both the major and minor triad built on the same root are used simultaneously.



Symmetrical Meter	Meter based on regularly recurring pulses subdivided into groups of two or three.



Synthetic Scale	Any scale that does not bear a clear resemblance to a scale or fragment of a scale associated with the diatonic system.



Tempo Canon	Canon in which the individual voices are presented at different tempos.



Tempo Modulation (Metric Modulation)	Method of changing tempo by equating a particular note value to another note value (a proportional note value), usually located in the next bar.



Tone Cluster	Any collection of three or more adjacent pitches in secundal relationship (can also be called a cluster chord).



Whole-Tone Chords	Vertical sonorities that can be derived from a whole-tone scale.



Whole-Tone Scale	A six-note scale composed entirely of adjacent major 2nds (or their enharmonic equivalents).

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Home > Chapter 26 > Glossary

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