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In music, C is the keynote of the normal or natural scale, which has neither flats nor sharps in its signature. It is also, the third note of the relative minor scale of the same. C after the clef is the mark of common time, in which each measure is a semi-breve.
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Ca-ira was the burden or refrain of a French revolutionary song of 1790. The air was a favourite one with Marie Antoinette.
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The caballero is a Spanish dance, grave and stately. It is named after the ballad-music to which it was danced.
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The cabasa (cabaza) is a South American rattle made from a metal cylinder with metal beads around it which are scraped against it. It is related to the African gourd rattles with beads from which it evolved.
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A cabinet organ is a small organ designed for use in a chapel or for domestic use.
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The cabrette is a type of French bagpipe.
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The cachuca is a graceful Spanish dance performed by a man and a woman to a lively, graceful air in triple time and with a strongly marked accent marked by movements of the head and shoulders.
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In music, a cacophony is a combination of discordant sounds. It was a style very popular during the punk rock era of the 1970s as a reaction to the long drawn-out, rather self-congratulatory style of popular music which had become prevalent.
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In music, cadence is the name given to the closing - usually last two - chords of a phrase. The varieties of cadence may be grouped as perfect, imperfect and interrupted. The perfect must have its last chord on the tonic. When the penultimate chord is on the subdominant it is called an 'authentic'; when on the dominant, a 'plagal' cadence. The harmony of the imperfect is often that of the perfect reversed. The interrupted is a progression of chords leading the ear to expect a tonic chord, but another is substituted for the latter; the effect is often as charming as it is unexpected.
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In music, a cadenza is an ornamental passage sometimes introduced before the close of a section of a musical composition. At one time they were left to the improvisation of the performer, but since the end of the 19th century they have been written out in full by the composer.
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The cajon is a Cuban box drum, made from a wooden vox.
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The cakewalk is an American dance which originated amongst the blacks.
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Calandro is a musical term meaning gradually diminishing in rapidity and loudness.
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In ballet, a cambre is a bend from the waist.
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The cancan is a soft-porn, high kicking dance which originated during the 19th century in the polka grdens of the Rue de la Grande-Chaumiere, in the Montmart region of Paris, France, but which became famous after being staged in the Moulin Rouge dance hall. Tame by today's standards, at the end of the 19th century the sight of lady dancers revealing their frilly underwear was a shocking and exciting spectacle to the spectators.
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A canon is a musical composition in which the voices begin one after another, at regular intervals, successively taking up the same subject. It either winds up with a coda (tailpiece), or, as each voice finishes, commences anew, thus forming a perpetual fugue or round. It is the strictest form of imitation.
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In music, cantabile is a term applied to movements intended to be performed in a graceful, elegant and melodious style as opposed to bravura, recitativo, or parlando. The term is also used to describe a piece or passage, whether vocal or instrumental, peculiarly adapted to singing.
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A cantata is a poem set to music. The term also describes a musical composition comprising choruses, solos, interludes, etc., arranged in a somewhat dramatic manner. It was originally, a composition for a single noise, consisting of both recitative and melody.
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A cantatrice is a female professional singer.
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In music, canto describes the highest vocal part, the air or melody in choral music. It was anciently the tenor, now it is the soprano.
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Canto fermo is the plain ecclesiastical chant in cathedral service; the plain song.
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Canto Figurato is a term applied by the old ecclesiastics to the chant in its more florid forms, in which more than one note was sung to a syllable.
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A canzone is a song or air for one or more voices, of Provencal origin, resembling, though not strictly, the madrigal.
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A canzonet is a short song, in one or more parts.
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A capelle is the private orchestra or band of a prince or of a church.
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A capriccio is a musical piece in a free form, with frequent digressions from the theme - a fantasia.
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A carillon is a musical instrument comprised of bells diatonically tuned, played by clockwork or by finger keys. The name is also given to a tune adapted to be played by musical bells.
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Carmen is an opera written by Bizet and released shortly before his death.
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Originally a carol was a song associated with a round dance, the term came later to be applied to popular songs (as distinct from hymns) associated with the great annual festivals, such as May Day, the New Year, Easter, and Christmas. Christmas Carols were popular as early as the 15th century. The custom of singing Carols from house to house, collecting gifts, was associated with ' wassailing'. Many of the best- known Carols such as 'God rest you merry' and 'Noel' date back as least as far as the 16th century. Other such as 'Good King Wenceslas' have modern words but an ancient tune, and yet others are completely modern.
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Castanets are small concave shells of ivory or hard wood used by the Spaniards and Moors to make a rattling sound to accompany dancing. A pair of castanets are held in the palm of the hand and struck with the middle finger.
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In music, a catch is a humorous canon or round, so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words.
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The caval is a Bulgarian wind instrument of some antiquity, varying from 50 to 80 cm long. They are used especially in Thrace and Dobrudja.
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In music, a cavatina is a melody of simpler character than the aria, and without a second part and a dacapo or return part.
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The cervelat was an ancient musical wind instrument, resembling the bassoon in tone.
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The chaconne is an old Spanish dance in moderate three-four measure, like the Passacaglia, which is slower. Both are used by classical composers as themes for variations.
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In music, a change is any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale.
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In ballet, a changement is a jump where the position of the feet is changed.
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A chant is a short and simple musical melody, divided into two parts by double bars, to which unmetrical psalms, etc., are sung or recited. It is the most ancient form of choral music.
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In music, chantant describes music composed in a melodious and singing style.
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The cheng is a Chinese musical instrument. It is comprised of a series of tubes with free reeds. Its introduction into Europe led to the development of the accordion and harmonium.
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Chimes are a species of music, mechanically produced by the strokes of hammers against a series of bells, tuned agreeably to a given musical scale. The hammers are lifted by levers acted upon by metallic pins, or wooden pegs, stuck into a large barrel, which is made to revolve by clock-work, and is so connected with the striking part of the clock mechanism that it is set in motion by it at certain intervals of time, usually every hour, or every quarter of an hour. The chime mechanism is sometimes so constructed that it may be played like a piano, but with the fist instead of the fingers.
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A Chinese pavilion is a musical instrument composed of a pole with several transverse crescent-shaped or otherwise shaped brass plates, generally terminating at the top with a conical pavilion or hat. On all the small parts are hung small bells, which the performer causes to jingle by shaking the instrument held vertically up and down.
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A chiroplast is an instrument used to guide the hands and fingers of pupils in playing on the piano, etc.
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The chitarrone was a long double-necked stringed musical instrument of the lute family, popular in Italy during the 16th century. It had wire strings and two sets of tuning pegs, the lower set having twelve and the higher eight strings attached.
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In music, a choir organ is one of the three or five distinct organs included in the full organ, each separable from the rest, but all controlled by one performer; a portion of the full organ, complete in itself, and more practicable for ordinary service and in the accompanying of the vocal choir.
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A choral is a hymn tune. Usually a simple sacred tune, sung in unison by the congregation; as for example the Lutheran chorals.
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Choral Music is vocal music in parts, usually music written or arranged for a choir or chorus, and including oratorios, cantatas, masses, anthems, etc.
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A chorale is a melody to which hymns are sung in church, usually in unison. The name is generally applied to those in the style introduced by Martin Luther into the German Protestant church in the 16th century. He realised the great power of music to awaken religious emotion and determined to carry his reforms into the music of the church service. Selecting simple tunes from many sources, sacred and secular, he arranged them to fit the hymns and psalms used in the service. Some were ancient Latin hymns; German folk songs furnished material for many others. The most important of the early collections of chorales was that published in 1524 by Luther and his friend the German composer Johann Walther. Chorales were intended to have an organ accompaniment, which was usually contrapuntal, and as time went on these accompaniments were made more and more elaborate by the organists. In the 17th century the church cantata developed; it used the words and tunes of chorales as a foundation.
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A choralist is a singer or composer of chorals.
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In music, chorally describes a piece in the manner of a chorus or adapted to be sung by a choir.
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In music, a chord is the simultaneous combination of different sounds, consonant or dissonant. The common chord consists of a fundamental or bass note with its third and fifth. When the interval between the bass note and its third is two full tones the combination is a major chord; when the interval is a tone and a half the combination is termed a minor chord; when the intervals between the bass note and its third and the third and the fifth are each a tone and a half, the chord is called diminished. The tonic chord is made up of the key-note and its third and fifth; the dominant chord consists of the dominant or fifth of the scale accompanied by its third and fifth; the subdominant chord has for its root or bass the subdominant or fourth of the scale, accompanied with its third and fifth.
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The chordophones are the group of musical instruments in which sound is generated by vibrating strings stretched between fixed points.
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Chorus was originally an ancient Greek term for a troop of singers and dancers, intended to heighten the pomp and solemnity of festivals. During the most flourishing period of ancient tragedy the Greek chorus was a troop of males and females, who, during the whole representation, were spectators of the action, never quitting the stage. In the intervals of the action the chorus chanted songs, which related to the subject of the performance. Sometimes it even took part in the performance, by observations on the conduct of the personages, by advice, consolation, exhortation, or dissuasion. In the beginning it consisted of a great number of persons, sometimes as many as fifty; but the number was afterwards limited to fifteen. The exhibition of a chorus was in Athens an honourable civil charge, and was called choragy.
Sometimes the chorus was divided into two parts, who sung alternately. The divisions of the chorus were not stationary, but moved from one side of the stage to the other; from which circumstance the names of the portions of verse which they recited, strophe, antistrophe, and epode, are derived.
Now, in music, the chorus is that part of a composite vocal performance which is executed by the whole body of the singers, in contradistinction to the solo airs, and concerted pieces for selected voices. The singers who join in the chorus are also called the chorus. The term is also applied to the verses of a song in which the company join the singer, or the union of a company with a singer in repeating certain couplets or verses at certain periods in a song.
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In music, the term chromatic means proceeding by the smaller intervals (half steps or semitones) of the scale, instead of the regular intervals of the diatonic scale. The intermediate tones were formerly written and printed in colours.
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In music, a chromatic scale is a scale consisting of thirteen tones, including the eight scale tones and the five intermediate tones.
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The church modes were the modes or scales used in ancient church music.
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The cimbasso is an Italian valved, brass instrument, similar to the trombone - some might say it is a contrabass trombone - but angled.
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The cimpoi is a Romanian Bagpipe, usually with a single drone.
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The cithara was an ancient musical instrument resembling the harp.
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The citole was a musical instrument, a kind of dulcimer.
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The cittern or cithern was a musical instrument shaped like a lute, but strung with wire instead of gut and played with a quill or plectrum. Its eight strings were tuned to four notes, G, B, D, and E. It was frequently to be found in barbers' shops for the amusement of the waiting customers.
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In music, clang describes the quality of tone.
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A claribella is a soft, sweet stop, or set of open wood pipes in an organ.
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The clarichord (manichord or clavichord) was a musical instrument in the form of a spinet.
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A clarinet (clarionet) is a single-reed woodwind musical instrument of the reed kind invented by Johann Denner in Nuremberg around 1690, and perfected and installed within the symphony orchestra during the late 18th century by the work of Ludwig van Beethoven. The clarinet is comprised of five parts making up a cylindrical tube which ends in a flared bell at the lower part, and at the upper part terminates in a cone-shaped, tapering mouthpiece, which is bevelled to a thin edge on one side, and has a flattened longitudinal portion on the other, upon which the reed is laid and kept in position by a ligature containing two screws. Clarinets are made in various ranges including the small soprano clarinet, the bass clarinet and the largest, rare, contrabass clarinet.
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A clarino is a reed stop in an organ.
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A clarion is a kind of trumpet, with a narrower tube, and whose note is clear and shrill.
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The clarsach is a Scottish folk harp usually of between 25 and 34 strings.
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A clavier is the keyboard of an organ, pianoforte, or harmonium.
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In music, a clef is a sign placed at the beginning of a stave to indicate the pitch and name of notes. There are now only three clefs in use: the treble or G clef; the base or F clef; and the C clef. The G clef consists of the five highest lines, the F clef of the five lowest lines, of the great stave. The C clef may have three positions. It may be placed upon the first or lower line of the staff, in which case it is called soprano clef, upon the third line, in which case it called alto clef, or upon the fourth line, in which case tenor clef. It rarely or never is placed upon the second line, except in ancient music.
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In music, a close is a double bar marking the end.
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In music a close harmony is a compact harmony, in which the tones composing each chord are not widely distributed over several octaves.
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The cobza is a traditional Romanian folk instrument, being a kind of lute.
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In music a coda is a few measures added beyond the natural termination of a composition.
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In music a codetta is a short passage connecting two sections, but not forming part of either; a short coda.
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Colourature is vocal music coloured, as it were, by florid ornaments, runs, or rapid passages.
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In music a comes is the answer to the theme (dux) in a fugue.
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In music a comma is a small interval (the difference between a major and minor half step). It is seldom used except by tuners.
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In music a common chord is a chord consisting of the fundamental tone, with its third and fifth.
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In music, common time is that in which every bar contains an even number of subdivisions, such as two minims, four quavers, or their equivalents. It is of two kinds, simple and compound. Simple common time is that which includes four beats in a bar, or any division of that number, or square of the number or its divisions. Compound common time includes two or four beats of three crochets or quavers to each beat.
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In music a compass is the range of notes, or tones, within the capacity of a voice or instrument.
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In music a complement is the interval wanting to complete the octave. For example the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third.
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In music, compound time is that in which two or more simple measures are combined in one; as, 6-8 time is the joining of two measures of 3-8 time.
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In music the term con desiderio implies that a piece should be played 'longingly', with desire.
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A concertante is a musical concert for two or more principal instruments, with orchestral accompaniment.
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In music, a concerted piece is a composition in parts for several voices or instrument, such as a trio, a quartet, etc.
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A concertina is a musical instrument invented by Professor Wheatstone, the principle of which is similar to that of the accordion. It is composed of a bellows, with two faces or ends, generally polygonal in shape, on which are placed the various stops or studs, by the action of which air is admitted to the free metallic reeds which produce the sounds. In the English concertina the compass is three octaves and three notes. The German concertina is generally considered an inferior instrument,
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In music, a concertino is a piece for one or more solo instruments with orchestra. It is more concise than the concerto.
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A concertmeister (concert master) is the head violinist or leader of the strings in an orchestra; the sub- leader of the orchestra.
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A concerto is a musical composition (usually in symphonic form with three movements) in which one instrument (or two or three) stands out in bold relief against the orchestra, or accompaniment, so as to display its qualities or the performer's skill.
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In music, a concord is an agreeable combination of tones heard simultaneously, a consonant chord or consonance or harmony.
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A conductor is the leader or director of an orchestra or chorus.
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The conga is an Afro-Cuban dance usually performed in a long line using simple repetitive steps.
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Conjoint degrees are two notes which follow each other immediately in the order of the scale, as ut and re. Johnson.
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In music, conjoint tetrachords (conjunct) are two tetrachords or fourths, where the same note is the highest of one and the lowest of the other.
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In music, the term consecutive describes music having a similarity of sequence;. It is said of certain parallel progressions of two parts in a piece of harmony, for example consecutive fifths, or consecutive octaves, which are forbidden.
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In music consecutive chords are chords of the same kind succeeding one another without interruption.
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In music consonance is accord or agreement of sounds produced simultaneously, as a note with its third, fifth, and eighth.
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In music the term consonant describes notes harmonising together for example
consonant tones or consonant chords.
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In music a continued bass (basso continuo) is a bass continued through an entire piece of music, while the other parts of the harmony are indicated by figures beneath the bass; the same as thorough bass or figured bass.
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In music contrabass or double bass is a term applied to any instrument of the same deep range as the stringed double bass; such as, the contrabass ophicleide; the contrabass tuba or bombardon.
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The contrabasso is the largest kind of bass viol.
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The contrafagetto is the double bassoon. It is an octave deeper than the bassoon.
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In music, contralto is the highest voice of a male adult, or the lowest of a woman or boy. It is also known as Alto or counter-tenor. The usual range of the contralto voice is from G, below middle C, to the C above that; though exceptionally it embraces two octaves.
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In music, a contrapuntist is one skilled in counterpoint.
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In music, a contrary motion is the progression of parts in opposite directions, one ascending, the other descending.
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The copophone is a musical instrument consisting of a series of glass tumblers connected with a sounding board. The sounds are produced by moving wet fingers around the edge of the glasses. It was invented by Chevalier Coelho who first demonstrated it at parties in London in 1875.
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The Cor Anglais (English Horn) is a musical instrument. It is really a tenor oboe.
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The cornet is a treble wind instrument made of brass, the modern cornet being of comparatively recent origin.Originally the cornet was curvilinear or serpentine in form and increasing in diameter from the mouthpiece to the lower end. The modern form of cornet, formerly called a cornet-a-pistons or cornopean, is a form of keyed bugle and is played with a cupped mouthpiece, and possesses a quality of tone which comes between those of the trumpet and the bugle, the size of its tube being intermediate to those used for these instruments. Three slides are employed which lengthen the tube to produce intermediate tones.
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A Coronach, or cornach is a dirge or lamentation for the dead formerly customary amongst the Celts of Scotland and Ireland.
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The Corroboree or Corrobory is an Australian war-dance in which the the performers, with shields in their hands, circle round a fire.
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The cotillion is a French dance for four couples in square formation, in which the ladies held up their gowns and showed their under-petticoats. It is a form of contredanse that originated about 1700. By about 1800, it had spread to England and North America and elsewhere. One variety of the cotillion developed three to five complex figures, each with its own tune; known as the quadrille, and this was the direct ancestor of the American square dance. In the late 19th century the remaining varieties of the cotillion developed into flirting game-dances with prizes, forfeits, and frequent exchanges of partners.
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In music, counter tenor or countertenor is one of the middle parts between the tenor and the treble, that is a high tenor. It is the highest male adult voice, having its easy compass from tenor G to treble C, and music for it is written on the alto or C clef on the middle line of the staff. The lowest voices of females and boys have about the same register, and are sometimes inaccurately called counter tenor. The correct term is alto or contralto.
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In music, counterpoint is the simultaneous combination of two or more melodies. Although counterpoint is nearly synonymous with polyphony (a musical texture containing two or more melodies simultaneously), the two words differ slightly in common usage. Polyphony refers to textures in general (polyphonic versus homophonic) and to early music (medieval polyphony), whereas counterpoint commonly refers to texture in later music (Johann Sebastian Bach's counterpoint) or to the techniques of composing polyphony (16th century. counterpoint) .
One familiar instance of counterpoint is the round, a simple kind of canon. In a round each part (or voice) has the same melody, but the second and succeeding parts begin one after another, as in 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat.' In a homophonic texture, which has a melody with choral accompaniment, the listener focuses on the melody in the highest voice; in a round, the listener follows the melodic activity from one voice to another.
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Country dance is a traditional form of British folk and aristocratic dance, from which many variations developed. Flirtatious and social, it is danced by a 'set', or group of couples, who execute various patterns or figures with one another. A set can have various formations. In a longways set, for example, partners face each other in parallel lines of men and women, while in a Sicilian circle couple faces couple. Sets are generally divided into ' minor sets' of two or three couples. By the end of the overall pattern, each leading couple has exchanged places with another couple, and the dance repeats until all couples have had a chance to be leaders. Country dances, although known earlier, were first printed in 'The English Dancing Master' published in 1650 by the English musician John Playford. By 1700 English dancing had become a European fashion, and continental forms acquired a French name, contredanse, and more intricate footwork. One French dance in square formation, the cotillion, gave rise to the quadrille, which, like other contredanses, became the vogue in England and the USA. The quadrille absorbed other influences in North America and evolved into the square dance. A popular form of country dance is the Virginia Reel, an American version of an English dance called the Sir Roger de Coverley, which was one of the few older English dances to survive the onslaught of the contredanse.
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The courante is a dance of French origin, popular between 1600 and 1800. In music, the term is given to a movement usually forming part of a suite, and following the Allemande.
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The cracovienne is a Polish national dance, originally a favourite among the peasantry, with strongly marked rhythm in 2 4 time. It frequently has lyrics sung to the tune.
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In music a crescendo is a gradual increase in the strength and fullness of tone with which a passage is performed. The term also describes a passage to be performed with constantly increasing volume of tone.
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A cromorna is a certain reed stop in the organ, of a quality of tone resembling that of the oboe.
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A crook is a small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.
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The crotalum was a kind of ancient Greek castanet, rattle or clapper used to mark the rhythm of dance in the worship of Cybele. It was generally made of wood, having a loose piece hinged midway, so that when shaken in the hand a clattering noise was produced.
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In music, a crotchet is a time note, with a stem, having one quarter the value of a semi-breve, one half that of a minim, and twice that of a quaver.
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The crwth was a Welsh and Irish form of violin originally with three strings and later with six strings. Four of the strings were played with a bow, the other two being plucked by the fingers.
Crwth were mentioned in the early 7th century and were being used in Wales, Ireland and Brittany until the 19th century.
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The csardas (or czardasch) is a Hungarian national dance executed by one or any number of couples, beginning with slow movements, but gradually becoming extremely rapid, the movements and 'steps' being largely left to the performers' own choice. There are various gipsy melodies that accompany it.
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The cymbal is a brass musical instrument, and the oldest recorded known musical instrument. Generally it consists of a suspended brass disk or shallow bowl which is struck with a stick. In Britain, the cymbal was originally a military musical instrument, before becoming adopted as part of the orchestra and later becoming an integral part of the drum kit of popular music bands.
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