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B: The
key of B, or in the
German musical system, B-flat.
Baby grand: A
small Grand
Piano.
Backbeat: In
jazz and
pop music it's the
term for the heavy continuous
accent on beats 2
and 4.
Bagatelle: A short
light or whimsical piece, usually written for
Piano.
Bagpipe: The bagpipe is the national
instrument
of Ireland and Scotland. It is made out of a leather air bag and
three sounding pipes. The player fills the bag through a mouthpiece and presses
the air out the sounding pipes. Two of the sounding pipes produce fixed
tones,
called the bass or
key
tone, and the drone. The third pipe, the chanter,
produces the
melody.
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While on a recent train
journey I noticed the person sitting opposite me appeared to be
playing an imaginary musical instrument. I guessed it was the
Sax but he
told he was a Piper
and was trying to learn a new piece. I asked that as he performed this
exercise did he actually hear the
notes in his head. He said he did.
It occurred to me that when you are able do this is this when you know
that you truly are a
musician? What do you think?
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Balalaika: A Russian
instrument that
sounds like a Mandolin. It looks like a triangular
Guitar but has only three
strings stretched across a long neck.
Balance: The harmonious adjustment of volume and
timbre between
instruments or voices; it can be between players or vocalists or
electronically while recording or mixing.
Ballad: 1. A simple
song. 2. A song that tells a story.
Ballade: In the
medieval period a form of trouvere
music and poetry. In later time, German poetry set as a
through-composed
song.
Ballet: A theatrical
dance form with a story, sets, and music.
Band: An instrumental
ensemble, usually consisting of
percussion, woodwind,
and brass
instruments, and
excluding strings.
Bandoneon: Heinrich Band invented this
square Concertina
instrument
in the 1840's. Used today in South American tango
music.
Bandora: Also referred to as
Pandora. It
may be the earliest Guitar. A version dates back to antiquity. In the
Baroque
period there was a demand for lower sounding
chords than the small
Cittern. For
these lower sounding
tone the
bass
Cittern was created and
from there the Bandora. It stands four feet high with seven courses of metal
strings going as low as G.
Banjo: The first documentation of the
banjo was found in the 17th century. It looks like a
Guitar with a long, narrow,
fretted neck and a
Tambourine like body. It is play by plucking or strumming the
strings. A shorter necked version of Banjo, without the thumb-string, is called
the tenor Banjo.
Baritone: A low
male singing voice between tenor and
bass.
Baritone Horn: This valved
brass
wind
instrument has a range similar to the
Trombone.
Bar line:
The vertical line placed on the
staff
to divide the music into
measures. Often abbreviated to just "bar"
and commonly used today to mean the
measure itself.
Baroque Period: The
musical era from roughly 1600 to 1750 A.D., characterized by the establishment
of major
and minor
tonality, rather than
modes, and the
introduction of opera.
Barrel Organ: The barrel
organ
was an
affordable alternative to pipe organs and organists. It was built out of a
wooden barrel mounted on a metal spindle and attached to a board. A manually
operated bellows filled the barrel with air and a
tone was created when pegs
opened and allowed air to flow into a pipe valve.
Baryton: The baryton was developed from
the Viola Bastarda and was made into a heavy,
Guitar-like shape. It was
difficult to play, as it had not only sixty-seven strings, but up to 20 strings
that the player could pluck with the thumb of his left hand through a hole
gouged out at the back of the neck.
Bass: "Low." 1.
The lowest male singing voice, below baritone. 2.
The lowest part in a piece of music. 3. The lowest
instrument
in a
musical
work.
4. In the Violin family, the lowest
instrument.
Bass Baritone: A high
bass voice.
Bass Clarinet: The
tone of the B-flat
bass
clarinet is an octave below the
soprano
clarinet. Bass clarinets are known to have existed back to
1772. When Aldolphe Sax remodelled it with the metallic upturned bell, it too
gained popularity in 1839.
Bass Clef: The
F
clef indicating the fourth line of the
staff. Used in combination with the
treble
clef to make the grand staff.
Bass Drum: This
large, cylindrical, percussion
instrument
is typically 32 inches in diameter.
Bass Dulcian: The
Dulcian was a forerunner of the
Bassoon made of wood. Two conical channels bored longitudinally through the wood meet at
the lower end. The player blew into a double reed attached to an "S"-shaped
brass tube. Also called Curtal
in England. Made in five sizes.
Basset Clarinet: Dating to 1789, Anton Stadler developed this type of
Clarinet to reach four
semitones below the
standard Clarinet.
Basset Horn: A Basset
Horn sounds like Alto Clarinet in the
key of
F. It has had a variety of shapes since its
invention in Bavaria in about 1770. Today the
Alto Clarinet plays its part.
Bass Flute: A member of the
Flute family.
It requires a lot of lungpower to blow and excellent lip technique to articulate
sounds.
Bass Guitar: An
Electric Guitar with four
strings the
tone of the
Double Bass.
Bass Rebec: The
Rebec originated in
Islamic Asian regions. The Arabic name is
Rabab. It was a precursor to the
Violin, having only three strings but was pear shaped and long necked.
Basso Continuo:
"Continuous Bass", sometimes referred to as "thoroughbass".
Used in Baroque
music, A continuo is a
bass
line that repeats throughout an entire work, or
sections of a work. Played by the
lowest instrument, a continuo usually consisted of a
bass line, and a series of
figures.
Bassoon: A
bass reed
wind instrument
developed in 17th century from the
Curtal or
Dulcian.
In about 1695, the joined bassoon came into use. The Denners of Nuremberg built
the first three- then four-keyed Bassoons. The Bassoons range and
tonality has
been refined over its history to become an integral part of orchestral sound.
Battaglia:
"Battle". A composition that imitates the sounds and feel of battle,
and martial music.
Baton:
Conductor's stick.
Battuto: Beat, bar, or
measure.
A due or a tre battuta, the
musical
rhythm in groups of
two or three respectively.
Bayan: The bayan is a
percussive
instrument. Of the
tabla, which is the Indian double
drum, the lower
drum is the bayan. The
tone and
pitch can vary depending on how
and where the player hits the drum.
Beat:
The regularity of
music
which can be indicated to the musician by the
conductor's hand or
baton.
Or by the
composer
in the
accents in sheet
music.
A
metronome can also be used.
Bells: This term refers to a grouping of bells such as church bells,
Tubular,
Chimes or
Hand Bells. Bells come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and sounds.
Ben: Well. Used with other words, e.g. ben
marcato, well
accented, emphasized.
Bendir:
A bendir is a
drum of western North Africa, which is round and 20 inches in
diameter. Two snares are connected underneath.
Bequadro: A
natural sign.
Berceuse: A
lullaby.
Binary Form: A
two-part song form consisting of an initial
sections, which is then followed by a
contrasting sections. (AB), see
song forms.
Bis: Repeated twice.
Encore!
Bitonal: The use of
two different keys, or
tonic centres at the same time.
Biwa: Japanese plucked stringed
instrument; like a
lute.
Blues:
Simple American folk music
often related to jazz with
a repetitive musical
structure.
Blues-scale:
Normally C,
D,
E-flat, E,
F,
F#, G,
A,
B-flat,
C. This
scale is very common in
jazz.
Bodnran: A
drum which is circular and
shallow. Traditionally Irish, it has a goat hide covering and mainly carries the
beat in up-tempo dance composition.
Bombard: An obsolete low
tone
instrument.
The bombard is in the shawm
family.
Bongos: Small vellum headed
drum. Often
paired together, they are played with the fingertips and held on the knees.
Borrowed Chord:
Use of a
chord in a
key in which it is not
diatonic, or
the substitution of a
chord from a different
key into a work.
Bouts: In the
Violin
and Guitar families, the curves in the sides of the
instrument, especially the C-shaped inward curves that form the
waist.
Bourree: A French dance from the 17th
century in brisk duple time starting with a pickup.
Bow: The device used in
the string instrument families, such as the
Violin family, consisting of a wooden stick, pointed at one end, and strung with
horsehair. The bow is drawn across the strings to generate a
tone.
Boy Soprano: Prepubescent male singing in
the upper register. Typical of religious choir
music from the
Renaissance,
Baroque and early
classical
periods. The boys quit once their voice broke.
Brass family:
Wind instruments made out
of metal with either a cup- or funnel-shaped mouthpiece, such as
Trumpet,
cornet, bugle, Flugelhorn,
Trombone,
Tuba,
baritone horn,
Euphonium, saxhorn,
and French Horn.
Bridge: Transitional
passage connecting two sections of a
composition.
Part of a
stringed instrument which supports the
strings.
Broken chord:
Notes of a
chord played in succession rather than simultaneously.
| Please
send me any additional words together with the
definition.
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