Essentials of Music

ONLINE GLOSSARY

Click on a letter above to look up terms in the online glossary

falsetto Vocal technique whereby men can sing above their normal range, producing a lighter sound.

fantasia Free instrumental piece of fairly large dimensions, in an improvisational style; in the Baroque, it often served as an introductory piece to a fugue.

fiddle Colloquial term for violin; often used in traditional music.

figured bass Baroque practice consisting of an independent bass line that often includes numerals indicating the harmony to be supplied by the performer. Also thorough-bass.

film music Music that serves either as background or foreground for a film.

first-movement concerto form See concerto form.

first-movement form See sonata-allegro form.

fixed forms Group of forms, especially in medieval France, in which the poetic structure determines musical repetitions. See also ballade, rondeau, virelai.

flat sign Musical symbol (b) that indicates lowering a pitch by a semitone.

fluegelhorn Valved brass instrument resembling a bugle with a wide bell, used in jazz and commercial music.

flute The flute is a cylindrical metal tube closed at one end that is held horizontally and blown across the mouth hole.

Example: Ravel, Bolèro
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In this example, its timbre is cool and velvety in the low range.

flutter tonguing Wind instrument technique in which the tongue is fluttered or trilled against the roof of the mouth.

folk music See traditional music.

folk rock Popular music style that combines folk music with amplified instruments of rock.

form The structure or shape of a musical work, based on repetition, contrast and variation; the organizing principle in music. Binary and ternary are basic forms, while more complex forms include sonata-allegro, rondo, minuet and trio, theme and variations, ritornello, and fugue.

formalism Tendency to elevate formal above expressive value in music, as in Neoclassical music.

forte The Italian term for "loud", indicated in the musical score by the marking "f".

Example: Ravel, Bolèro
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In this example, the woodwind section plays the melody loudly (marked forte).

fortissimo The Italian term for "very loud", indicated in the musical score by the marking "ff".

Example: Ravel, Bolèro
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At the close of this work, the dynamic level is very loud (fortissimo) in the full orchestra.

four-hand piano music Chamber music genre for two performers playing at one or occasionally two pianos, allowing home or salon performances of orchestral arrangements.

free-verse rhythm A free-flowing, nonmetric line in which movement is linked to the text inflections, as in Gregorian chant.

French horn The solo instrument featured here is the French horn, a mellow brass instrument that descended from the ancient hunting horn. Also horn.

Example: Mozart, Horn Concerto K.447, third movement
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French overture Baroque instrumental introduction to an opera, ballet or suite, in two sections: a slow opening followed by an allegro, often with a brief return to the opening.

frequency Rate of vibration of a string or column of air, which determines pitch.

fugato A fugal passage in a nonfugal piece, such as in the development section of a sonata-allegro form.

fuging tone Polyphonic, imitative setting of a hymn or psalm, popular in Great Britain and the United States from the eighteenth century.

fugue Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which one or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint.

Example: Bach, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, Fugue
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A fugue is a complex composition in which the theme (called the subject) is developed by imitative counterpoint. In this example, the first imitation of the subject is heard overlapping the initial idea.

fusion Style that combines jazz improvisation with amplified instruments of rock.

Click on a letter above to look up terms in the online glossary