About
Chapter 2 introduces the basic terminology associated with the study of world music. While many of these music terms are familiar in other disciplines, e.g., melody or harmony, others are more particular to the discipline of ethnomusicology, e.g., heterophony or rhythmic density. The chapter covers the four main elements of musical sound: timbre, pitch, rhythm, and dynamics, as well as other important features, such as phonic structure and form.
Key Terms
- Accent
- Aerophone
- Beat
- Chordophone
- Crescendo
- Decrescendo
- Definite pitch
- Drone
- Dynamics
- Electrophone
- Fiddle
- Form
- Free rhythm
- Fret
- Heterophony
- Homophony
- Idiophone
- Indefinite pitch
- Independent polyphony
- Interval
- Lamellophone
- Lute
- Medium
- Melisma
- Melodic contour
- Melody
- Membranophone
- Meter
- Monophony
- Organology
- Ornamentation
- Pentatonic scale
- Phonic structure
- Pitch
- Polyphony
- Range
- Reeds
- Rhythm
- Rhythmic density
- Ritard
- Sachs-Hornbostel System
- Syllabic
- Syncopation
- Tempo
- Text Setting
- Timbre
- Trumpet
- Tuning system
- Zither
Flashcards
Practice Quiz
Audio Book
Coming soon...
On Your Own Time
Links and further resources
- Book:
- Kartomi, Margaret. On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990.
- http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo3774458.html
- Website:
- Wesleyan University Virtual Instrument Museum
- http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/vim/
- Website:
- Comprehensive Table of Musical Instrument Classifications
- http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/instruments/instrumentmain.html
- Website:
- The American Musical Instrument Society
- http://www.amis.org/
- Website:
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Musical Instruments
- http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/museum-departments/curatorial-departments/musicalinstruments
- Book:
- Sethares, William A. Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale. London: Springer-Verlag, 2005.
- http://www.springer.com/engineering/book/978-1-85233-797-1
- Website:
- San Francisco Symphony Kids Site (Fundamentals of Music)
- http://www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1
- Website:
- Musipedia — The Open Music Encyclopedia
- http://www.musipedia.org/
- Book:
- Nettl, Bruno. Heartland Excursions: Ethnomusicological Reflections on Schools of Music. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1995.
- http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/67rdq6mq9780252064685.html