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MEdium
What are the forces making
the music? Instruments?
Voices? Group names (SATB
Choir; Orchestra; Concert
Band; Rock Band?)
MElody
What is the shape of the
melody? Jumpy (disjunct)? By
step (conjunct)? Range?
Phrasing? Repetitions? Canon?
Texture? Call and Response?
Polyphonic? Monophonic?
Homophonic?
HArmony
Major/minor key? Tonal?
Consonant/Dissonant?
Dominant chords? Surprise
cadence?
MEter
What is the time signature?
Does it change? Simple (x2) or
compound (x3)?Any
syncopation?
FOrm
How are the melodies put
together?
Binary/Ternary/Rondo/Sonata?
Repetitions? Patterns? Melodic
form vs. overall form?
STYle
Descriptive words. Jazz? World
Music? Pop? Classical?
COntext
Background information. Time
period? Intention of the piece?
Where is it from? Function of
the piece?
Vocabulary
Range (melody): distance between lowest and highest notes. Can be described as “big” (8 notes
(octave) or more) or “small” (less than an octave)
Phrase: a complete musical idea with a beginning and end. Usually between 4-8 measures.
Texture: how the different melodies are put together. Can be described as “thick” (lots of notes on top
of each other) or “thin” (unison (all doing the same thing) or solo line.
Monophonic: unison – all forces playing or singing the same pitch/note at the same time
Homophonic: chordal. All parts moving at the same time, but on different pitches.
Polyphonic: each part having its own line of music; independent melodies.
Key: the name of the scale that is being used for the basis of a song. Can be Major (happy) or minor
(sad). This can change throughout a piece.
Consonant: notes that sound “good” together; notes that don’t clash with each other.
Dissonant: notes that sound “bad” together; notes that clash with each other.
Cadence: an ending to a phrase or a song; consists of 2 chords, one right after another.
Time Signature: tells you how to count throughout a piece. Examples are 4/4, 3/4, 6/8. Most music is
in either 4/4 (4 beats every bar) or 3/4 (3 beats every bar) time.
Syncopation: when there are accented off beats. Usually strong beats happen on 1; if something is
syncopated, then the strong beat might be on 2, or even 1 ½ !
Form: how the melodies of a song are put together in repeated patterns. Examples include;
Binary Form: A – B (two melodies, one after another)
Ternary Form: A – B – A (two melodies, one after another, then repeat the first melody)
Canon: one group starts, then the others follow with the same melody.
Context: The situation in which a piece of music was written.