Major | Minor | Modulation | Vamp | Drone | Down beat | Up beat | Anacrusis |Compound time | Syncopation | Accelerando | Rallentando | Rubato
Chord progressions |
Chord progressions using chords 1, 4 and 5 in C major.
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Tonality Bright sounding quality to the music. Below is the scale of C major. |
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Plaintive, sad quality to the music. Below is the scale of C melodic minor.  |
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Change of key |
The music changes from one key to another. | |
When improvising an accompaniment at the piano the left hand plays the bass note followed by the right hand playing the notes of the chord. |
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| A continuous note above which a melody is usually heard. This term is often associated with bagpipe music.
Listen to the background sound. |
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Rhythmic When a note is played on the first beat of the bar. A conductor might show this with an downward stroke. |
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| The last beat in the bar. A conductor might show this with an upward stroke | ||
| When a piece of music begins with an up beat. | ||
| When the beat can be divided into three quavers giving the following time signatures.
Listen to an excerpt. 3 6 9 12 8 8 8 8 |
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When a weak part of the bar is accented by placing a rest on the strong beat or by tying a note to obscure the strong beat. |
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Speed Changes Gradually getting faster. |
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| Gradually slowing down | ||
Elasticity of tempo which follows the natural ebb and flow of the music. Listen to an excerpt. |
