Every music class, new music vocabulary words are introduced to the students. Here are the words we have learned so far, with their definitions:

musician: a person who makes music by singing or playing an instrument

choir: a group of singers who sing together

singer: a musician who uses his or her voice to make musical sounds

solfege: a musical scale that uses do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do

melody: the top musical line of a song

harmony: the second musical line of a song, below the melody

call and response: when one person/group has the first part of a musical line, and another person/group responds with the second part of the musical line (also known as “question and answer”)

diction: using clear words and voices to sing

head voice: the voice you use to sing high notes, usually light and airy

chest voice: the voice you use to speak and sing low notes

__________

Parts of a Song

chorus: the repeated section of a song

verse: the section of the song that tells the story

bridge: the section of the song that connects the verse with the chorus

hook: the section of the song that connects a middle chorus to the last chorus of the song

reprise: when a previous section of a song repeats later on

__________

instrument: an object which makes musical sounds when played

orchestra: a group of musicians who play instruments together to make music

__________

Tempo: the speed of the music

adagio: slow

allegro: fast

__________

Dynamics: the volume of the music

forte: loud
f

fortissimo: very strong and loud
ff

piano: quiet
p

pianissimo: very quiet
pp

__________

Music Literacy and Notation

note: a sign used in music to represent the pitch and length of sound

rhythm: a sound pattern

staff: the five lines and four spaces we draw notes on

treble clef: the spiral sign that is used for high musical pitches (also known as the G clef because the spiral is around the note “G”)

musical alphabet: the pitches of music – the 7 letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G

space notes: the notes that take up the spaces on the staff

line notes: the notes that are on the lines on the staff (there are 5 lines)

sharp: raises a pitch up by a half step (sharp sign: ♯)

flat: lowers a pitch down by a half step (flat sign:♭)

Examples of sharps and flats:

composing: writing and making your own music