Music Vocabulary

Not clued up on the range of musical vocabulary your child is learning?

Below is a list of vocabulary to help you reinforce your child's musical knowledge at home;

Beat – This is the basic unit of time in music the pulse throughout

Pitch – Meaning whether a note is high or low

Tempo – How fast or slow the music is

Rhythm – The regular pattern in music

Ensemble – Playing in a group

Melody - Are a sequence of notes played to make a tune

Ostinato – Playing a repeated rhythm pattern

Dynamics: These are the alternations in the volume of a piece of music

• Crescendo – gradually getting louder
• Diminuendo – gradually getter quieter
• Piano – played quietly
• Forte – played loudly

Timbre – The sound quality of a musical note

Motif – a short musical idea that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition

Soundscape – sounds that create the sensation of experiencing a particular acoustic environment or compositions created using the found sounds of an acoustic environment.

Harmonies – different tones and pitches within the same melody

Coda: a section of music which brings the music to an end