Essentials of Music

ONLINE GLOSSARY

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

waltz Ballroom dance type in triple meter; in the Romantic era, a short, stylized piano piece.

West Coast jazz Jazz style developed in the 1950s, featuring small groups of mixed timbres playing contrapuntal improvisations; similar to cool jazz.

whole step Interval consisting of two half steps, or semitones.

whole-tone scale Scale pattern built entirely of whole step intervals, common in the music of the French Impressionists.

wind ensemble See concert band.

woodwind The woodwind family is less homogeneous in construction and sound production than the strings; it includes the piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet and bassoon. The saxophone is a more recent woodwind instrument that is frequently heard in jazz.

Example: Beethoven, Symphony No.9, fourth movement, "Turkish March"
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The woodwind family, including flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and contrabassoon, are featured in this march (along with percussion and with French horns, which blend well with woodwinds).

woodwind quintet Standard chamber ensemble consisting of one each of the following: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn (not a woodwind instrument).

word painting Musical pictorialization of words from the text as an expressive device; a prominent feature of the Renaissance madrigal.

work song Communal song that synchronized group tasks.

world beat Collective term for popular third-world musics, ethnic and traditional musics, and eclectic combinations of Western and non-Western musics. Also ethno-pop.

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