Music Appreciation
Study Guide for Exam #1
Define the following terms:
1. Harmony- the process by which individual sounds are joined together
2. Melody- the recognizable tune
3. Rhythm- the organization of notes (sound) and rests (silence) in time
4. Meter- the organizing of beats in music
5. Dynamics- the loudness of music
6. Tone quality- the character of musical tones with reference to their richness or
perfection.
7. Chord- 3 or more pitches played simultaneously
8. Triad- 3 note chord, tonic triad, dominant triad, subdominant traid
9. Syncopation- the concept of playing rhythms that accent or emphasize the offbeats.
10. Melisma- the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different
notes in succession
11. Scale- any graduated sequence of notes, tones, or intervals dividing what is called an
octave