MelodyA melody (from Greek μελῳδία, melōidía, "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term can include other musical elements such as tonal color. It is the foreground to the background accompaniment. A line or part need not be a foreground melody. Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases or motifs, and are usually repeated throughout a composition in various forms.
Minor chordIn music theory, a minor chord is a chord that has a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a minor triad. For example, the minor triad built on C, called a C minor triad, has pitches C–E–G: { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 \key c \major 1 } } In harmonic analysis and on lead sheets, a C minor chord can be notated as Cm, C−, Cmin, or simply the lowercase "c".
Quarter toneA quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (orally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, and have 24 different pitches. Quarter tones have their roots in the music of the Middle East and more specifically in Persian traditional music. However, the first evidenced proposal of the equally-tempered quarter tone scale, or 24 equal temperament, was made by 19th-century music theorists Heinrich Richter in 1823 and Mikhail Mishaqa about 1840.
Transposition (music)In music, transposition refers to the process or operation of moving a collection of notes (pitches or pitch classes) up or down in pitch by a constant interval. The shifting of a melody, a harmonic progression or an entire musical piece to another key, while maintaining the same tone structure, i.e. the same succession of whole tones and semitones and remaining melodic intervals. For example, one might transpose an entire piece of music into another key.
12 equal temperament12 equal temperament (12-ET) is the musical system that divides the octave into 12 parts, all of which are equally tempered (equally spaced) on a logarithmic scale, with a ratio equal to the 12th root of 2 ( ≈ 1.05946). That resulting smallest interval, the width of an octave, is called a semitone or half step. Twelve-tone equal temperament is the most widespread system in music today. It has been the predominant tuning system of Western music, starting with classical music, since the 18th century, and Europe almost exclusively used approximations of it for millennia before that.
Set theory (music)Musical set theory provides concepts for categorizing musical objects and describing their relationships. Howard Hanson first elaborated many of the concepts for analyzing tonal music. Other theorists, such as Allen Forte, further developed the theory for analyzing atonal music, drawing on the twelve-tone theory of Milton Babbitt. The concepts of musical set theory are very general and can be applied to tonal and atonal styles in any equal temperament tuning system, and to some extent more generally than that.
Major seventh chordIn music, a major seventh chord is a seventh chord in which the third is a major third above the root and the seventh is a major seventh above the root. The major seventh chord, sometimes also called a Delta chord, can be written as maj7, M7, , 7, etc. The "7" does not have to be superscripted, but if it is, then any alterations, added tones, or omissions are usually also superscripted. For example, the major seventh chord built on C, commonly written as Cmaj7, has pitches C–E–G–B: { \override Score.
Minor seventh chordIn music, a minor seventh chord is a seventh chord composed of a root note, together with a minor third, a perfect fifth, and a minor seventh (1, 3, 5, 7). For example, the minor seventh chord built on C, commonly written as C–7, has pitches C–E–G–B: { \new Staff \with{ \magnifyStaff #1.5 } \relative c' { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f 1 } } A seventh chord with a minor third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh is commonly called a minor seventh chord, but also sometimes a minor/minor seventh chord to distinguish it from the minor/major seventh chord discussed below.
Augmented sixthIn music, an augmented sixth () is an interval produced by widening a major sixth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to A is a major sixth, nine semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to A, and from C to A are augmented sixths, spanning ten semitones. Being augmented, it is considered a dissonant interval. Its inversion is the diminished third, and its enharmonic equivalent is the minor seventh. In septimal meantone temperament, it is specifically equivalent to the harmonic seventh (a just interval of 7:4).
Augmentation (music)In Western music and music theory, augmentation (from Late Latin augmentare, to increase) is the lengthening of a note or the widening of an interval. Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used. Augmentation is also the term for the proportional lengthening of the value of individual note-shapes in older notation by coloration, by use of a sign of proportion, or by a notational symbol such as the modern dot.
