RHYTHM

BEAT

The underlying pulse of music.  When most people say a piece of music has a good beat, they mean that there is a strong pattern of accented and accented beats.  See RHYTHM and METER.
 

BRASS

BRASS instruments include trumpets, horns, trombones and tubas.
 

CHORD

Two or more PITCHES sounded together simultaneously.  (Pitches sounded in succession make a MELODY). 
Chords can be DISSONANT or CONSONANT; dissonant chords are grating to the ear and consonant chords have a settled, sweet sound.
 

CONSONANCE

See CHORDS.

CRESCENDO

See DYNAMICS

DECRESCENDO

See DYNAMICS.

DISSONANCE

See CHORDS.

DYNAMICS

This terms refers to the relative loudness or softness of the music or its volume.  Some of you have been describing soft music as having a “low tone”—this is technically not a good description; a low tone refers to a low-frequency PITCH, not the dynamics.  A gradual increase of loudness is called a CRESCENDO; a gradual decrease in volume is a DECRESCENDO.

METER

See RHYTHM.

MOTIVE

This is a short, recurring snatch of melody.  A full-fledged melody ordinarily consists of many pitches; a motive consists of only 2-6 pitches. 

NOTE

See PITCH.

ORCHESTRATOR

The person who arranges the film music for the orchestra.  Sometimes the film score’s composer does his/her own orchestration but, because of tight deadlines, often this job is delegated to another musician.

PERCUSSION

PERCUSSION instruments include drums, cymbals, xylophones, clappers and all other instruments that are struck or beaten upon.

PITCH

RHYTHM

This term refers to the movement and duration of a succession of PITCHES.  Every musical work has rhythm.  Most works have a pattern of rhythm that repeats, i.e. rhythm that has a specific sequence of stressed (S) and unstressed (U) BEATS.    E.g. a waltz rhythm is perceived as a S-U-U pattern; a march has a pattern of S-U-S-U.  Some pieces, however, have a free rhythm in which no pattern is immediately apparent (New Age music is often of this type, as is plainchant).  The rhythm itself can be performed quickly or slowly—see TEMPO.

SONG

This term refers to a vocal work.  It is a piece that is literally sung by voices and usually has lyrics.  Do not refer to an instrumental melody as a song—instruments can neither sing nor deliver lyrics!  If a piece is played on instruments, its main melody is usually referred to as a THEME.

STRINGS

STRINGS include violins, violas and cellos.
 

TEMPO

This refers to how fast or how slow the rhythm is.  We ordinarily speak of a quick tempo or a slow tempo—tempo is NOT described as lower or higher; these terms are used to describe DYNAMICS OR PITCH.

THEME

The term used to signify a recurring melody of significance in a musical work.  A LEITMOTIF is a specific kind of THEME, a melody or motive associated throughout an opera (or a modern film) with a given character, place, object or event.  There is, e.g., a leitmotif for Darth Vader in the Star Wars films.  Most themes are instrumental although occasionally a theme is sung. 
 

TONALITY

Tonal music is constructed so that certain types of chords always follow others in a pattern of tension followed by resolution.  ATONAL music is usually unremittingly tense without resolution.

TONE

TONE is another word for PITCH or NOTE.  .

TUNE

A type of melody that is relatively simple and folk-like in nature so that it can be easily remembered and sung by an ordinary person.  For example, most opera arias are not tunes that a layman can sing—they have complicated, virtuosic melodies; “Row, row, row your boat” however, is a tune anyone can reproduce.

WOODWINDS

WOODWINDS include flutes, oboes, clarinets, piccolos, etc.