Elson's Pocket Music Dictionary: The Important Terms Used in Music with Pronunciation and Concise Definition, Together with the Elements of Notation and a Biographical List of Over Five Hundred Noted Names in Music |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accent Allegro Alto appoggiatura bass bassoon bell brass brass instruments cadence called chant character choir chord Chromatic chromatic scale church clarinet clef compass composition concert Conductor consisting Cor Anglais cornet counterpoint Dal Segno dance degrees diapason diatonic diatonic scale dominant double drum Elson's Music fifth finger flat flute fugue German grace half-steps harmony harp horn hymn instru London lower major Mass melody ment Minor modern mouth-piece movement notation oboe octave Opera composer orchestra organ organ-stop Organist Organist and composer Paris passage pedal performer Pianist Pianist and composer piano pianoforte piece pipes pitch played poser reed reed-stop rhythm scale sharp singing soft solo song soprano sound species staff stop stringed instrument struments style sung syllables symphony tempo tenor tion tone tonic treble trombone trumpet tube tuned vibration Vienna violin Violinist vocal voice wind instrument wind-instrument word
Popular passages
Page 35 - J The harpsichord. Clavichord. A small, keyed instrument, like the spinet, and the forerunner of the pianoforte. The tone of the clavichord was agreeable and impressive, but very weak. Its mechanism pushed a sharp edge, like the point of a chisel, against the wire, and this point remained, pressing the wire while the key was held, forming a bridge. It may be well, in playing clavichord music, to remember that the clavichord could shade and play very expressively, which the spinet and harpsichord...
Page 59 - Episode. An incidental narrative or digression. A portion of a composition not founded upon the principal subject or theme.
Page 15 - In C major the attendant keys are : its relative minor A, the dominant G, and its relative minor E, the sub-dominant F, and its relative minor D.
Page 48 - Diapason (Eng.) (dï-a-/<f-son.) \ whole octave. 2. Among musical instrument makers, a rule or scale by which they adjust the pipes of organs, the holes of flutes, etc., in order to give the proper proportion for expressing the tones and semi-tones. 3. The two foundation stops in an organ (sometimes called Principal) — the open diapason and the stopped diapason. Open diapasons on the manuals are nearly always of metal, but on the pedals are often of wood. Stopped diapasons were formerly, in most...
Page 45 - From the beginning; an expression placed at the end of a movement to indicate that the performer must return to the first strain. In such a case...
Page 30 - Catalectic verses. Verses that want either feet or syllables. Catch. A humorous composition for three or four voices, supposed to be of English invention and dating back to the Tudors. The parts are so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words, thus giving them a different sense from that of the original reading. The oldest catches were...
Page 68 - Free reed. A reed-stop in an organ, in which the tongue by a rapid vibratory motion to and fro produces the sound. The tone of a free reed is smooth and free from rattling, but n* >t usually, so strong as that of the striking reed.
Page 28 - The melody, air, or principal part in any composition ; generally the highest vocal part ; it is also applied to any light and simple song, or in instrumental music a piece of song-like character. It sometimes indicates a smooth, cantabile style of playing. Cantilene (It.) (kan-te-/Jy-ne.) A cantilena.
Page 99 - Metronome (Gr.) (mä-rö-nö-me.) \ machine invented by John Maelzel (in 1815), for measuring the time or duration of notes by means of a graduated scale and pendulum, which may be shortened or lengthened at pleasure. It is a pendulum with a movable counterweight which can be...
Page 123 - Related. A term applied to those chords, modes or keys, which, by reason of their affinity and close relation of some of their component sounds, admit of an easy and natural transition from one to the other. Relation. That connection which any two sounds have with one another in respect of the interval which they form, Relatio non harmonica (Lat.) (re-/a'-shl5 non har-»<¿uI-ka.) False relation.