pornocore

[…]pornocore rap, a subgenre of hardcore rap that features only sexual graphic lyrics and themes[…]

2009, Ramona Demetriou, Programmatic Presentations in the Songs of African American Female Singers, page 91

(music) A style of hip-hop music with sexually explicit themes.


happycore

Shortening, equivalent to happy + -core.

In large part, happycore was the result of an exodus of white ravers from the jungle scene, in reaction to the influx of black youth and the attendant mood change from bonhomie to surliness.

2013, Simon Reynolds, Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, page 291


breakcore

The head-on collision between DJ Ricky Rabbit's fractured breakcore and MC Vulture Voltaire's fuming invective is a spectacle of almost physical impossibility, like trying to rap along to an earthquake while getting tased[…]

2008, SPIN, volume 24, number 2, page 93

Where breakcore picks up on rave's daftness, dubstep fixates on its darkness, sometimes to a shlocky degree[…]

2008, Marc Masters, Weasel Walter, Rob Young, No Wave

(music) A style of electronic music characterised by a high tempo, complex and intricate breakbeats, and a wide palette of samples from various sources, especially the "Amen break".


Nintendocore

From Nintendo (“Japanese multinational video game company”) + -core (suffix denoting a music genre, especially one influenced by hardcore music), with reference to the simplistic sound effects of early video game consoles. The word was coined by the American musician Nathan Winneke, the frontman of the metalcore band Horse the Band, as a joke; the band posted the word on the Internet and also printed it on a label on the compact disc of their first demo I Am a Small Wooden Statue on a Patch of Crabgrass Next to a Dried Up Riverbed (2001).

coinage

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to mix the theme song from the original Mario Bros. games with chugging guitars and the vocal stylings of someone who wasn't hugged enough as a child? You're not alone. In fact, there's an entire genre of music devoted to this sound – it's called nintendocore. Growing out of metalcore – a fusion of heavy metal and punk – nintendocore derives its distinctive sound from the use of synths reminiscent of mid-eighties video games.

2009 November 2, Amy Plachta, “You Never Knew You Loved … Nintendocore a Unique Sound Worth Exploring”, in Interrobang: Fanshawe College’s Student Voice, volume 42, number 11, London, Ont.: Fanshawe College Student Union, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-03-31

In the ever-changing landscape of music, that's given way to such genres as emo, screamo, nu metal and Nintendocore, one question remains! Does anyone play rock music anymore?

2010 May, Jake Brown, Alice in Chains: In the Studio, Nashville, Tenn.: Rock ’N’ Roll Books

At the time of writing, Spotify currently lists over 4,000 online categories and sub-categories of music ranging from Nintendocore – a genre delineated solely by the overlay of bludgeoning, bowel-stewing grunge riffs on old-school videogame soundtracks – to Pornogrind, a maximum security subgenre of Grindcore (a convulsing fusion of rawboned, buzz-sawing death metal and tightly coiled hardcore punk).

2020, Kevin Dutton, Black and White Thinking: The Burden of a Binary Brain in a Complex World, London: Bantam Press

In the US, a well-known Brooklyn music venue hosted a Minecraft concert featuring much loved bands[…]. The sprawling nightclub was painstakingly recreated and featured performances from the popular emo act American Football, "Nintendocore" videogame musicians Anamanaguchi and electronic artist Baths[…].

2020, Larissa Hjorth, Ingrid Richardson, Hugh Davies, William Balmford, “Playing during and post COVID-19 Pandemic”, in Exploring Minecraft: Ethnographies of Play and Creativity (Palgrave Games in Context), Cham, Zug, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, page 171

(music, video games) An aggressive genre of modern rock music influenced by chiptunes (“music that samples or emulates the audio capabilities of older sound chips”) and video game music.

Nintendocore

aggressive genre of modern rock music influenced by chiptunes and video game music


G-flat major

{\key ges \major ges'aes'bes'cesdeseesfges2}

(music) a major key with the notes G♭, A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, and F, the key signature of which has 6 flats.

(music) The major chord with a root of G.


F-sharp major

{\key fis\major fis'gis'ais'b'cisdiseisfis2}

(music) a musical key with the notes F♯, G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, and E♯, the key signature of which has 6 sharps

(music) a musical chord with the notes F♯, A♯, and C♯


C-flat major

{\key ces \major ces'des'es'fes'ges'aes'bes'ces2}

(music) a major key with the notes C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, G♭, A♭, B♭, the key signature of which has seven flats:

(music) a chord with the notes C♭, E♭, and G♭:


C-sharp major

{\key cis \major cis'dis'eis'fis'gis'ais'bis'cis2}

(music) a key with the notes C♯, D♯, E♯, F♯, G♯, A♯, and B♯, the key signature of which has seven sharps:

(music) a chord with the notes C♯, E♯, and G♯:


perfect interval

en-noun

perfect interval (plural perfect intervals)

(music) an interval that is either a unison, fourth, fifth, or an octave


major interval

(music) an interval that is either a major second, major third, major sixth, or a major seventh


diminished interval

diminished interval (plural diminished intervals)

(music) An interval that is decreased from either a minor interval or a perfect interval.


generic interval

generic interval (plural generic intervals)

(music) the distance between notes only regarding the distance on the staff


augmented interval

augmented interval (plural augmented intervals)

(music) An interval that is increased one half step from either a major interval or a perfect interval.


minor interval

(music) an interval that is either a minor second, minor third, minor sixth, or a minor seventh


minor second

(music) an interval that is equivalent to the difference between the third and fourth degrees of a diatonic major scale.


major second

(music) An interval in Western music that approximates a frequency ratio of 9/8 or 10/9, less commonly 8/7.


worldbeat

DJ King Scratch will spin worldbeat music all night, including Byron Lee's calypso, Machito's salsa, and Segun Adawale's African high-life.

1989 May 26, Achy Obejas, “Calendar”, in Chicago Reader

Diners sit amongst peaceful concrete trees and plastic leaves, listening to soothing worldbeat music; renderings of globes appear throughout, as do references to FoodlifeUs massive recycling program and the healthiness of the establishment's victuals.

1996 April 12, Tom Frank, “Capital Lies: Swallow it Whole”, in Chicago Reader

Sawt El Atlas delivers what the worldbeat bands of the 80s couldn't: instead of being grafted onto native forms, the Western elements are seamlessly incorporated.

2001 July 13, Peter Margasak, “Sawt El Atlas”, in Chicago Reader

(music) A music genre that blends Western pop music with traditional folk music or world music.


G-sharp minor

{\key gis\minor gis'ais'b'cisdisefisgis2}

(music) a minor key with the notes G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, E, F♯

(music) the minor chord with a root of G-sharp


E-flat minor

{\key es\minor es'f'ges'aes'bes'cesdeses2}

(music) a minor key with the notes E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭

(music) the minor chord with a root of E-flat


D-sharp minor

{\key dis\minor dis'eis'fis'gis'ais'b'cisdis2}

(music) a minor key with the notes D♯, E♯, F♯, G♯, A♯, B, C♯

(music) the minor chord with a root of D-sharp


F-sharp minor

{\key fis\minor fis'gis'a'b'cisdefis2}

(music) a minor key with the notes F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, E

(music) the minor chord with a root of F-sharp


C-sharp minor

{\key cis\minor cis'dis'e'fis'gis'a'b'cis2}

(music) a minor key with the notes C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, A, B

(music) the minor chord with a root of C-sharp


A-flat minor

{\key aes\minor aes bes ces'des'es'fes'ges'aes'2}

(music) a minor key with the notes A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, and G♭

(music) the minor chord with a root of A-flat


A-sharp minor

{\key ais\minor ais'bis'cisdiseisfisgisais2}

(music) a minor key with the notes A♯, B♯, C♯, D♯, E♯, F♯, G♯

(music) the minor chord with a root of A-sharp


B-flat minor

{\key bes\minor bes c'des'es'f'ges'aes'bes'2}

(music) a minor key with the notes B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, G♭, A♭

(music) a minor chord with a root of B♭.


F minor

{\key f\minor f'g'aes'bes'cdesesf2}

(music) a minor key with the notes F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭

(music) the minor chord with a root of F


G minor

{\key g\minor g'a'bes'cdesfg2}

(music) a minor key with the notes G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, F

(music) the minor chord with a root of G


D minor

{\key d\minor d'e'f'g'a'bes'cd2}

(music) A minor key with the notes D, E, F, G, A, B♭, C.

(music) The minor chord with a root of D.


relative key

(music, chiefly in the plural) A key with the same key signature as another key.


parallel key

(music, chiefly in the plural) A key with the same tonic as another key.


C minor

{\key c\minor c'd'es'f'g'aes'bes'c2}

(music) a minor key with the notes C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭/B

(music) the minor chord with a root of C


E minor

{\key e\minor e'fis'g'a'b'cde2}

(music) a minor key with the notes E, F♯, G, A, B, C, and D

(music) the minor chord with a root of E


B minor

{\key b\minor b'cisdefisgab2}

(music) a minor key with the notes B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, A

(music) the minor chord with a root of B


decad

Doublet of decade. By surface analysis, dec- + -ad.

(music) A group of ten notes from which the consonant triads may be constructed


hold the ring

en-verb

hold the ring (third-person singular simple present holds the ring, present participle holding the ring, simple past and past participle held the ring)

holds the ring (present singular third-person)
holding the ring (participle present)
held the ring (participle past)
held the ring (past)

/ˈhəʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

/ˈhɔʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

/ˈhoʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

Probably from keep the ring. In days past when spectators would encircle participants in a prizefight or a performance, people would be employed to maintain order among them and keep them from coming too near the participants.

(sports, theater, obsolete) To maintain order among spectators encircling participants in a prizefight or a performance and keep them from coming too near the participants.


Locrian mode

Starting on the note C, a Locrian mode produces a scale with the notes C, D♭, E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭, C

{c'des'es'f'ges'aes'bes'c}

(music) A mode whose scale is the same as a natural minor scale except with the second and fifth scale degrees lowered by one half step each, yielding the interval pattern (semitone - tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone - tone).


country rock

en-noun

country rock (countable and uncountable, plural country rocks)

(music, uncountable) A genre of music combining elements of country music and rock music.

xenolith

when present as an inclusion in igneous rock from a local magma source


diminished third

diminished third (plural diminished thirds)

(music) An interval that is equivalent to a minor third narrowed by one chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, this is equivalent to a major second.


diminished second

diminished second (plural diminished seconds)

(music) an interval that is equivalent to a major second lowered by two chromatic semitones, or a minor second narrowed by a chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, this interval is equal to a unison, but in most other tunings, it is a distinct interval.


diminished sixth

diminished sixth (plural diminished sixths)

(music) an interval that is formed by chromatically lowering the upper note of a minor sixth.


diminished ninth

diminished ninth (plural diminished ninths)

(music) an interval that is equivalent to narrowing a minor ninth by one chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, it is equivalent to an octave.


augmented third

augmented third (plural augmented thirds)

(music) an interval that is equivalent to a major third widened by one chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, this is equivalent to a perfect fourth.


perfect unison

(music) an interval that has no difference between two notes


augmented unison

augmented unison (plural augmented unisons)

(music) an interval that is equivalent to a unison with one of the two notes altered by a chromatic semitone


augmented seventh

augmented seventh (plural augmented sevenths)

(music) an interval that is equivalent to widening a major seventh by one chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, it is equivalent to an octave.


augmented sixth

augmented sixth (plural augmented sixths)

(music) an interval that is equivalent to a major sixth widened by one chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, this is equivalent to a minor seventh.


major ninth

(music) An interval that is one chromatic semitone wider than a minor ninth.


diminished triad

diminished triad (plural diminished triads)

(music) a triad that has a diminished fifth between the bottom note and the top note


major triad

(music) a triad that has a major third between the root and the third and a minor third between the third and the fifth


minor triad

(music) a triad with a minor third between the root and the third, and a major third between the third and the fifth


augmented triad

augmented triad (plural augmented triads)

(music) a triad with an augmented fifth between the bottom note and the top note


seventh chord

The interval between the tonic and the top note is a seventh.

(music) a chord that contains four notes that make three thirds


augmented ninth

augmented ninth (plural augmented ninths)

An augmented ninth on C
1

(music) an interval that is one octave wider than an augmented second


half cadence

(music) a cadence that moves up from a tonic, supertonic, mediant, or subdominant chord to a dominant triad


mopstick

(music, historical) In an old pianoforte movement, a rod that raises the damper as the key is depressed.


collectional

The "collectional information" one receives is ambiguous since the collection { C, E, F, G, A } occurs in the key of C and in the key of F

2005, Neil Minturn, The Last Waltz of The Band, page 112

The collectional reference typically consists of either the octatonic or diatonic collections, although a significant amount of the work can also be analyzed using the modes of non-diatonic minor scales.

2006, Daniel Chemistruck, Imposing Harmonic Restrictions on Symmetrical Scales, page 9

Not finding any overarching tonal organization to hold things together, whether in the form of a traditional key scheme or something more loosely (if still functionally) construed as tonal, music analysts may find their best alternative in a "collectional" approach, using pitch or pitch-class sets.

2012, Marguerite Boland, John Link, Elliott Carter Studies, page 22

Between sketches B and C, the contents of the highest and lowest lines have been exchanged, associating the different interval patterns of the outer voices with each other's collectional contents.

2014, Andrew Mead, An Introduction to the Music of Milton Babbitt, page 15

(music) Pertaining to a collection (set of pitch classes).


major seventh chord

major seventh chord (plural major seventh chords)

(music) a chord with the bass note and its major third, perfect fifth, and major seventh above it


diminished seventh chord

diminished seventh chord (plural diminished seventh chords)

(music) a chord with the bass note, minor third, diminished fifth, and diminished seventh above it


dominant seventh chord

dominant seventh chord (plural dominant seventh chords)

(music) a chord with the bass note and the major third, perfect fifth, and the minor seventh above it


minor seventh chord

minor seventh chord (plural minor seventh chords)

(music) a chord with the bass note, the minor third, perfect fifth, and the minor seventh above it


half-diminished seventh chord

half-diminished seventh chord (plural half-diminished seventh chords)

(music) a chord with the bass note and the minor third, diminished fifth, and minor seventh above it, often denoted with 𝆩.


ninth chord

(music) A chord with five notes that are thirds apart.


backfall

(music) A lever in the coupler of an organ.


programmist

the leit-motif, that much-vaunted invention of programmists

1916, Daniel Gregory Mason, The Art of Music: The Opera

Yet all the while I find myself seriously distrusting the psychological validity of the current classification of composers into absolutists and programmists or impressionists.

1999, Edward Sapir, Regna Darnell, Culture, page 901


demicadence

Borrowed from French demi-cadence, demi- + cadence.

(music) An imperfect or half cadence, falling on the dominant instead of on the keynote.


orchestra hit

(music) A sampled sound consisting of a number of different orchestral instruments playing a single staccato note or chord at the same time.


concert pitch

concert pitch (countable and uncountable, plural concert pitches)

(music) the reference pitch to which a group of musical instruments are tuned for a performance

normaalisävel

music: reference pitch to which a group of musical instruments are tuned for a performance

(music) the reference pitch using the standard of A440

normaalisävel

music: reference pitch using the standard of A440

(music) the pitch that is heard (usually as played by one or more transposing instruments or a combination of transposing and non-transposing instruments)


fidicinal

From Latin fidicen, fidicinis (“lute player”) + -al.

der

(music, archaic) stringed (of or pertaining to a stringed instrument).


serinette

(music) A small barrel organ once used to teach tunes to canaries


downslur

(music) A slur in which the pitch of the note descends.


upslur

(music) A slur in which the pitch of the note rises.


sticcado

Compare Italian steccato (“a palisade”).

(music) A musical instrument resembling a xylophone.


work blue

en-verb

work blue (third-person singular simple present works blue, present participle working blue, simple past and past participle worked blue)

works blue (present singular third-person)
working blue (participle present)
worked blue (participle past)
worked blue (past)

The comedian was well known for working blue, so she seemed like an odd choice for the boy's eighth birthday party.

(entertainment) To perform bawdy, profane or pornographic material.


sextolet

(music) A double triplet; a group of six equal notes played in the time of four.


first inversion

en-noun

first inversion (plural first inversions)

(music) a position of a chord when the third of the chord is the lowest note


second inversion

second inversion (plural second inversions)

(music) The position of a chord when the fifth of the chord is the lowest note.


third inversion

third inversion (plural third inversions)

(music) a position of a seventh chord when the seventh of the chord is the lowest note


root position

(music) a position of a chord when the root is the lowest note


isographic

isographic K-nets


overbend

en-verb

overbend (third-person singular simple present overbends, present participle overbending, simple past and past participle overbent)

overbends (present singular third-person)
overbending (participle present)
overbent (participle past)
overbent (past)

Try not to overbend that B flat.

1962, Artie Traum, Arti Funaro, The Legends of Rock Guitar

Try it very slowly and listen hard to the sound you make – don't 'overbend' the string as you move it as good vibrato begins with only a minor variation improvement.

However, they do require a lot of control – be careful here not to overbend and overshoot your target note.

2014, James Martin, Zero Point Guitar, page 74

(guitar) To increase the tension on a string at the fret, causing the note to sharpen.


overbend

Figure 32 is an example of an overbend on the G string: Note how my 2nd and 1st fingers are helping the 3rd finger to bend the string , while the index finger serves the added function of pushing the other strings out of the way .

1988, Helen Casabona, Basic Guitar, page 53

It perfectly embodies the idea of a "feel solo," with its brilliant excursion, rife with crying bends, overbends, and just the right amount of space to let the notes resonate.

2009, Bob Gulla, Guitar Gods: The 25 Players who Made Rock History, page 94

That said, Jimmy's taste was no less eclectic, the young guitarist already familiar with the wild overbends of Buddy Guy, the economical beauty of Howlin' Wolf's Hubert Sumlin and even the lush Indian sitar stylings of Ravi Shankar, of whom Page was an extremely early and vocal supporter.

2014, Martin Power, Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck

(guitar) A note that is played sharp due to overbending.


wrest block

(music) A wooden block in the pianoforte, often made of several pieces, into which the wrest-pins are driven.

pionnachlár

music: a wooden block in the pianoforte into which the wrest-pins are driven


superdominant

(music) The sixth tone of the scale, immediately above the dominant.


passing tone

(music) a non-harmonic tone that is a second lower than a note in one chord and a second higher than a note in the other chord


neighbor tone

(music) a non-harmonic tone that is a second either higher or lower than two notes that are unison in two chords


escape tone

(music) a non-harmonic tone that is a second from a note in the previous chord and more than a second from a note in the next chord


non-harmonic tone

en-noun

non-harmonic tone (plural non-harmonic tones)

(music) a note that is played or sung between two chords that is not a part of either chord


E-flat

The clarinet played a long E-flat.

(music) A tone one semitone lower than E, between D and E.

I had to take it to the shop because the E-flat was stuck.

(music) A key or other mechanism for producing an E-flat.

We will now hear the third sonata, in E-flat.


tendency tone

(music) a pitch that tends to move toward another pitch, usually the submediant or the leading tone


thumb position

(music) The position when the thumb is contacting the string or strings of a stringed instrument.


baritone horn

(music) A brass instrument in the baritone range that is similar to a euphonium.


whole-tone scale

whole-tone scale (plural whole-tone scales)

(music) a scale with intervals of only whole steps


timist

(obsolete, music) A performer who keeps good time.


9-8 suspension

(music) a suspension that consists of the ninth chord tone that resolves to the eighth (or the one).


lashline

(theater) A rope for tying pieces of scenery together.


ranz des vaches

ranz des vaches (plural ranz des vaches)

The herald cries his summons to the lists,
But no sound comes to these sequestered valleys;
I only hear the melancholy note

1972, Friedrich Schiller, translated by William F. Mainland, Wilhelm Tell, act II, scene i

Of cowbells and the dreary ranz des vaches.

(music) Any of numerous traditional Swiss melodies played on the alpenhorn, originally to call cows in from the mountains.


7-6 suspension

(music) a suspension that has the suspended note a seventh (plus any number that is a multiple of seven) from the bass move down a step to the note in the chord where the suspension is happening that is a sixth (plus any number that is a multiple of seven) above the bass note


unremixed

(music) Not remixed; not having been remixed.


semidemiquaver

(music) A demisemiquaver; a thirty-second note.


figurated

en-adj

figurated (comparative more figurated, superlative most figurated)

more figurated (comparative)
most figurated (superlative)

(music) Involving a consistent metrical transformation of simple chords.


chromatics

From chromatic + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum).


toe-tapper

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-toe-tapper.wav

Associated Press
FOX News
Larry Craig
Larry Craig scandal
The New York Times
The New York Times Company

From toe + tapper.
Sense 2 (“joke”) derives from the practice of tapping one’s toes to indicate pleasure; compare toe-tappingly. Sense 3 (“closeted homosexual, especially one who solicits gay sex”) derives from the 2007 Larry Craig scandal in which then-Senator Larry Craig (born 1945) of Idaho, USA, was arrested after tapping his right foot in a men’s restroom, an action seen as covert solicitation of sex.

"I'd Be Lost Without You" seems somewhat out of place from a vocal viewpoint — Lewis's slightly reedy middle soprano is very expressive and absolutely true, but doesn't have enough dark body to fully deal with the torchy melody. It fares better in the ballads and toe-tappers that comprise the rest of the album.

1989 August 12, Caroline Foty, “Hindsights”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 5, page 7

[Emily] Blunt, for one, knows exactly what she's doing. She glides through her scenes even when she's not literally aloft, offsetting her sterner side with prim but genuine affection in her dialogue, then grinning her way through the energetic toe-tappers.

2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-05-24

(music) A piece of music with a prominent beat, to which one feels compelled to tap their toes.


tracklist

(music) A tracklisting; a list of tracks appearing on an album, EP, LP etc.


semidiatessaron

(music) An imperfect or diminished fourth.


tridiapason

(music, historical) A triple octave, or twenty-second.


villotta

(music) A form of popular song from Friuli


consequent phrase

en-noun

consequent phrase (plural consequent phrases)


antecedent phrase

antecedent phrase (plural antecedent phrases)


hemiditone

(music, Ancient Greece) The lesser third.


zanza

Idealized membranes, plates and bars are clearly inadequate and give way to the reality of tablas, gongs and zanzas.

2013, Simon Emmerson, Living Electronic Music, page 20

(music) A kind of thumb piano from Africa.


carnyx

Learned borrowing from Late Latin carnyx, from Byzantine Greek κάρνυξ (kárnux, “carnyx”), from κάρνον (kárnon, “carnyx”) (both translating Galatian words into Greek), from Gaulish carno- (“horn of an animal”) (used in names), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn of an animal”).

der

(music, historical) A bronze wind instrument used by Iron Age Celts (c. 200 B.C.E. – 200 C.E.) as a type of battle trumpet; held vertically when played, it was shaped like an elongated S with a mouthpiece at the lower end and a bell (often resembling an animal with an open mouth) at the upper end.

карникс

bronze wind instrument used by Iron Age Celts as a type of battle trumpet


circle progression

en-noun

circle progression (plural circle progressions)

\relative c' {1 }

The circle progression I–IV–viiᵒ-iii-vi-ii-V-I moves counterclockwise around the circle of fifths

(music) a chord progression with ascending fourths and/or descending fifths.


chord progression

chord progression (plural chord progressions)

You don’t have to start with a melody; you can base your tune on a specific chord progression and compose a melody that best fits the chords.

2005, Michael Miller, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory, 2nd edition, Alpha, page 142

(music) A pattern of two or more chords, often chords diatonic to a particular key.


ripienist

(music) A musician in the ripieno portion of an orchestra, especially as opposed to a soloist or concertino section.


glitchcore

Herbert is a former piano prodigy and Exeter drama student who went from touring with UK big bands to freaking clubbers with samplers and kitchen utensils, and his cozy records merge glitchcore buzz and tech-house heat […]

2001 March, SPIN, volume 17, number 3, page 150

Rather than UR-styled militant Techno, the first two singles, sleeved in exploding vector designs, showcase the glitchcore sounds of code warriors like Richard Devine, Kero and Mode Selektor.


double-dotted

(music, of a note or rest) Followed by two dots, increasing its note value by three-quarters of the base note.


harmonist

From harmony + -ist. Compare French harmoniste.

(music) One who understands the principles of harmony or is skillful in applying them in composition; a composer.


meantone

meantone (countable and uncountable, plural meantones)

(music) A musical temperament that generates all non-octave intervals from a stack of identical perfect fifths all tuned flat from their just ratio of 3/2. When the amount of flattening makes the major and minor thirds appropriate sizes, the syntonic comma is tempered out to a unison.


whole tone

(music) The musical interval equal (exactly or approximately) to a frequency ratio of 8/7, 9/8, or 10/9, depending on the tuning system used. In meantone tunings (including twelve-tone equal temperament), there is only one whole tone, though tuning systems that are not meantone have a "major tone" of 9/8 and a "minor tone" of 10/9.


tonal center

(music) The final, resolving note of a scale.


sev

One-two-three-four-five-six-sev-one.

(music) the seventh beat or pulse of a measure, spoken.


monophony

(music) The characteristic of a piece that has only a primary melody and no secondary melody or accompaniment.


contrapuntist

Now Counterpoint is certainly so much an Art , that to be , what they call , a learned Contrapuntist , is with Harmonists a title of no small excellence

a. 1797, William Mason, Essays on Church Music


euphonon

(music) A musical instrument resembling the organ in tone and the upright piano in form.


heptachord

From Ancient Greek ἑπτάχορδος (heptákhordos, “seven-stringed”), from ἑπτά (heptá, “seven”) + χορδή (khordḗ, “chord”). Compare French heptacorde.


isography

strong isographies of trichords

(music) The relationship between two pitch class sets that can be arranged into K-nets that are isographic (in the mathematical sense).


ecbole

en-noun

ecbole (countable and uncountable, plural ecboles)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐκβολή (ekbolḗ, “a digression”), from ἐκβάλλω (ekbállō, “to throw out”).

bor

Ecbole: a […] change in the enharmonic genus, by the accidental elevation of a chord, or string, five dieses above its ordinary pitch.

1813, J.M. Good & al., Pantologia, s.v. "Ecbole"

(music) The raising or sharping of a tone, especially (historical) in relation to Ancient Greek music.


E-la

(obsolete, music) The highest note in the scale proposed by Guido of Arezzo.


tonicize

en-verb

tonicize (third-person singular simple present tonicizes, present participle tonicizing, simple past and past participle tonicized)

tonicizes (present singular third-person)
tonicizing (participle present)
tonicized (participle past)
tonicized (past)

(music) To make (a tone) temporarily become tonic.


tonicization

en-noun

tonicization (countable and uncountable, plural tonicizations)

(music) The temporary change of an originally non-tonic tone to tonic.


consecution

consecution (countable and uncountable, plural consecutions)

From Middle English consecucioun (“attainment”), from Latin cōnsecūtiō (“effect, proper sequence, attainment”), from past participle of cōnsequor (“to follow, result, reach”).

der

(music) A succession of similar intervals in harmony.


cuarteto

Borrowed from Spanish cuarteto (“quartet”), because the early dance-hall numbers were invariably four-piece bands (violin, piano, accordion, bass). Doublet of quartet.

(music) An upbeat genre of music from Argentina, descended from Italian and Spanish dance ensembles.


liedertafel

Borrowed from German Liedertafel (literally “song table”).


simple meter

en-noun

simple meter (countable and uncountable, plural simple meters)

(music) meter with two subdivisions for every pulse


compound meter

(music) A meter with three subdivisions for every pulse.


asymmetric meter

asymmetric meter (plural asymmetric meters)

(music) meter with an irregular pulse (usually with the top number of the time signature being 5, 7, 11, etc.).


polyphonist

(music) A master of polyphony; a contrapuntist.


septimole

(music) A group of seven notes to be played in the time of four or six.


method acting

(acting) An acting technique in which the actor fully immerses themselves into the character they are playing.


pegbox

(music, lutherie) The part of a violin or similar stringed instrument that holds the tuning pegs.


hyperbeat

(music) One unit of hypermeter, generally a measure.


hypermeasure

(music) A unit in which each regular measure is one beat (actually hyperbeat) of a larger meter.


triole

A very able pianist might shift the phase of the trioles in such a way that their first stroke falls between two 3x8 = 4x6 strokes of a quartole.


claribella

From Latin clarus (“clear”) + bellus (“fine”).

(music) An organ stop with a soft, fluty sound.


semichorus

(music) A half chorus; a passage to be sung by a selected portion of the voices, rather than the full choir.


F instrument

(music) an instrument that produces a concert pitch of F when a C is written in the music


C instrument

(music) an instrument that either does not transpose, or transposes by an octave or multiple octaves.


E♭ instrument

(music) an instrument that produces the concert pitch of E♭ when a C is written in the music


equisonance

equisonance (usually uncountable, plural equisonances)

From equi- + Latin sonans, present participle of sonare (“to sound”). Compare French équisonnance. See sonant.

(music) An equal and undistinguishable unison of voices; a perfect consonance.


B♭ instrument

(music) an instrument that produces a concert pitch of B♭ when a C is written in the music


sightsman

[…] indeed the lessons are evidently the production of a man who either never knew, or has forgotten, the elementary steps and helps necessary to make the future sightsman.

1842, The Musical World, volume 17, page 268


chiroplast

From Ancient Greek χείρ (kheír, “hand”) + πλάσσω (plássō, “to shape”).

(music, historical) A sliding wooden frame clamped above the keys of the piano, into which the hands and fingers of a pianist are placed. It was used for learners of the piano in the early 19th century.


double stop

(music, stringed instruments) An instance of two notes being played simultaneously.


corypheus

corypheus (plural corypheuses or coryphei)

From Latin coryphaeus, from Ancient Greek κορυφαῖος (koruphaîos, “leader”), from κορυφή (koruphḗ, “head”).

uder

In this work Homer and Virgil already appear beside Cicero and Plato as doctrinal authorities. The four corypheuses are infallible; any contradiction between them is wholly out of the question.

1953, Ernst Robert Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, page 443

(drama, historical) The conductor or leader of the dramatic chorus in Ancient Greece.


disquaire

Borrowed, with a change in meaning, from French disquaire (“record dealer; record shop”).

bor

Some discothèques allow their patrons to suggest tunes to the disquaire, but at many such an impertinence would be unthinkable—like asking Pablo Casals to play Melancholy Baby.

1963 July 5, “The Compleat Virtuosi”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2008-12-22

In fact, [Harry] Meyerson had Slim Hyatt, the "disquaire" (disk jockey) at Shepheards, assist him in programming the album.

1964 May 30, Mike Gross, “Deccareques Put Out for Discothequeniks”, in Billboard: The International Music-record Newsweekly, Cincinnati, Oh.: The Billboard Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 1, column 3

In France, clubs found they didn't need live musicians to get people to dance – just a disquaire who "programmed" dance records and moods for the evening. Such a place had a name too, a discotheque.

2010, Robert Milliken, “Lillian Roxon: Selected Writings”, in Mother of Rock: The Lillian Roxon Story, 2nd edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant.com, pages 408–409

He'd given the albums to the disquaire affiliated with Chez Castel, the popular Parisian discotheque.

2012, William J. Mann, “Spring 1964”, in Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand, New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, section 7, page 487

(dance, music, dated) A disc jockey, especially one in a French-speaking country.


stasimon

From Ancient Greek στάσιμον (stásimon, “stationary”); compare stasis.

uder

the lively measures of the Hyporcheme which holds the place of THIRD STASIMON ( V ) speak for themselves

1883, Richard Claverhouse Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments

1950, Amy Marjorie Dale, Stasimon and Hyporcheme, Eranos, XLVIII, pages 14-20, reprinted in 1969, Collected Papers of A. M. Dale, Volume 2, page 34,
In the Parados the chorus is 'coming on', and has to move on to and across the orchestra to take its place in the middle; in all the stasima, however active and lively the dance, its evolutions are performed from that middle position (a choro tenente stationes suas, as Hermann said in 1844), and do no involve processional movement.

It is interesting to consider the treatment of the stasima in relation to their context. Especially remarkable is the way in which the first stasimon (224 ff.), a hymn to Apollo praying for the success of Dolon's enterprise, is largely composed of sentiments repeated, with many verbal echoes, from the preceding dialogue[…].

1964, William Ritchie, The Authenticity of the Rhesus of Euripides, page 338

The first stasimon sings of the wonders of man, which culminates in man's city-building and his ethical community.[…]Episodes can be interpreted in the light of the choral stasima.

2013, Jonathan N. Badger, Sophocles and the Politics of Tragedy: Cities and Transcendence, page 78

(drama, Ancient Greek drama) A song of the chorus during a tragedy, continued without the interruption of dialogue or anapaestics.


disdiapason

(music, Ancient Greece) An interval of two octaves, or a fifteenth.


nuncius

Borrowed from Latin nūncius, medieval form of nūntius (“messenger”).


mixmaster

And though self-styled Scratch protege Fraser, who will also be on hand for this concert, is competent, he isn't half the mixmaster Perry once was.

1997 November 7, John Corbett, “Lee "Scratch" Perry”, in Chicago Reader


xenharmonic

Coined by Ivor Darreg, from xen- + harmonic

The back cover lists "Materials and Services", including Xenharmonikon (cooperation prevails in the xenharmonic world), and persons cooperating in a tape exchange--meaning that if you send a tape of your music, to someone on the list, you get back a tape of their music.

1978 September 30, Ivor Darreg, “A Xenharmonist's Message to the Computer Musicians”, in Computer Music Journal, volume 2, number 2, The MIT Press

Dissonance scores can also be applied in situations where no musical score exists, and two examples are given: a xenharmonic piece by Carlos, and a Balinese gamelan performance.

2013, William A. Sethares, Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale, page 189

Microtonal music is sometimes referred to as xenharmonic music, the term deriving from the Greek xenia (hospitable) and xenos (foreign or strange) (Chalmers 1974; Darreg 1977; Wilson 2014).

2015, Curtis Roads, Composing Electronic Music: A New Aesthetic, page 219

(music) Not conforming to the common 12-tone equal temperament.


sesquialter

From Latin sēsquialter, from sēsqui- (“a half and a”) + alter (“another, a second”).

(music, obsolete) Synonym of sesquialteral, of or relating to 1½ notes.


sesquialter

(music, obsolete) Synonym of sesquialtera, a 1½ note.

(music, obsolete) Synonym of sesquialtera, an organ stop.


augmented sixth chord

en-noun

augmented sixth chord (plural augmented sixth chords)

(music) a chord that contains a lowered submediant scale degree and a raised subdominant scale degree


Italian augmented sixth chord

Italian augmented sixth chord (plural Italian augmented sixth chords)

(music) a chord with the tonic, lowered submediant, and raised subdominant scale degrees


German augmented sixth chord

German augmented sixth chord (plural German augmented sixth chords)

(music) a chord with the tonic, lowered submediant, lowered mediant, and raised subdominant scale degrees


French augmented sixth chord

French augmented sixth chord (plural French augmented sixth chords)

(music) a chord with the tonic, supertonic, lowered submediant, and raised subdominant scale degrees


Neapolitan chord

Neapolitan chord (plural Neapolitan chords)

(music) A major chord with the lowered supertonic scale degree as the root, denoted by ♭II in Roman numeral notation.


It⁺⁶

Italian augmented sixth chord
Italian augmented sixth chord


Fr⁺⁶

French augmented sixth chord
French augmented sixth chord


German augmented sixth chord
German augmented sixth chord


tripodian

(music) An ancient stringed instrument, resembling the Delphic tripod in form.


sesquitone

(music) A minor third, or interval of three semitones.


jump blues

(music) A type of boogie-woogie blues music influenced by big band swing, typically performed by a seven-piece combo and characterized by use of horns, shuffle rhythm, group singing during the choruses and raunchy lyrics.


avant-metal

(music) A genre of heavy metal music characterized by experimental and unconventional elements.


lentando

From Italian [Term?], present participle of lentare (“to make slow”).


systaltic

From Latin systalticus (“drawing together”), from Ancient Greek συσταλτικός (sustaltikós), from συστέλλω (sustéllō). Compare systole.

(music) Of Ancient Greek music: having a depressing influence.


faburden

From French faux bourdon. See false, and burden (“a verse”).

(music) A kind of counterpoint with a drone bass.

(music) A succession of chords of the sixth.


cornettino

cornettino (plural cornettinos or cornettini)

cornettinos (plural)
cornettini (plural)

(music) The descant instrument of the cornetto family.


compound interval

compound interval (plural compound intervals)

(music) An interval that is greater than an octave.


false harmonic

(music, stringed instruments) a harmonic produced by lightly touching the string at the point where the notated pitch is played, but producing a different pitch


semiditone

(music) The lesser third, having its terms as 6 to 5; a hemiditone.


foldback

foldback (countable and uncountable, plural foldbacks)

(music) The use of rear-facing heavy-duty loudspeakers on stage during live music performances, to improve sound for the audience or to allow performers to hear and monitor themselves.


natural harmonic

natural harmonic (plural natural harmonics)

(music) a sound produced by lightly touching the string as opposed to pressing it against the fingerboard, usually with the actual pitch notated

Although stopping may have served to produce some chromatic sounds, and partially filled up some of the smaller gaps in the natural harmonic series, the characteristic clearness of trumpet-tone was largely lost when the instrument was thus muted by having the passage through the bell closed by the hand.

1939, Adam Carse, Musical Wind Instruments, pages 235–236

Desirably, a tuner gives the separate Larigot 1 1/3' rank the same perfect pitch as the natural harmonic.

1970, Thomas Scott Godfrey Burhrman, The American Organist - Volume 53, page 11

Each valve or valve combination forms its own natural harmonic series; however, every valve instrument is by nature out of tune with the equal tempered scale. That is, certain pitches within the natural harmonic series are out of tune relative to the pitches used in equal temperament.

2009, Mark C. Ely, Amy E. Van Deuren, Wind Talk for Brass, page 65

(music) The series of pitches produced by a wind instrument without modulation by a mute, valves, or keys.


a capriccio

From Italian capriccio (“sudden start or motion”).

bor

(music) At whatever tempo and with whatever expression the conductor or performer desires.


accent mark

(music) A mark used to represent specific stress on a note.

(music) A mark placed after a letter designating a note of music to indicate the octave in which it occurs.


thoroughbass

en-noun

thoroughbass (countable and uncountable, plural thoroughbasses)


noises off

A separate section is given to this subject because as a rule the importance of noises off is badly underestimated in the amateur theatre.

1934, Alfred Kenneth Boyd, The Technique of Play Production

(theater) Sound effects produced offstage.


snap pizzicato

snap pizzicato (countable and uncountable, plural snap pizzicatos)

(uncountable, music, stringed instruments) The act of plucking a string in a way that makes it hit the fingerboard.

(countable, music, stringed instruments) A note played in such a way.


castworthy

en-adj

castworthy (comparative castworthier or more castworthy, superlative castworthiest or most castworthy)

castworthier (comparative)
more castworthy (comparative)
castworthiest (superlative)
most castworthy (superlative)

As had Wilfrid Lawson and it is pleasant to record that, after The Devil's General, he was once again considered castworthy and went on to play several other roles.

1987, Vivienne Knight, Trevor Howard: a gentleman and a player: the authorized biography

That's what we're promoting here, the more he's in the casts, the more castworthy he is.

2001, Gardner Dozois, The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection

(entertainment, films, theatre) Worthy or fit for being part of a cast or of being casted.


Poochie-fication

From Poochie, a character added to boost the ratings of the fictional Itchy and Scratchy Show in The Simpsons episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", + -fication.

In case you're wondering, that extra, 3rd dimension they're going to be adding to the bears is going to be made entirely out of neon, sunglasses, and highlights for the fur of Mama and Sister. Basically, it's Poochie-fication of the Berenstain Bears.

2009 November 3, Amelie Gillette, “Berenstain Bears Movie To Change The Way You Think About Anthropomorphic Bears”, in The Onion AV Club

In the 90s, this Poochie-fication of comics — wherein many titles grew consistently and thoroughly EXTREEEEME — reached its zenith.

2010 September 29, Glen Weldon, “In Praise of M.O.D.O.K: Why Gleefully Goofy Beats Broodingly Brutal”, in National Public Radio

It’s rare when the Poochie-fication of a character actually works, but it totally did with Kyle Rayner. Rather than the earnest, Silver Age Hal Jordan, backed up by thousands of Corps members, and knowing what his job and destiny was, Rayner was given a ring by a dying Guardian, left alone as the last Green Lantern.

2011 June 16, Alex Zalban, “The 10 Best Green Lanterns Of All Time”, in MTV, archived from the original on 2011-12-26

(entertainment, derogatory, uncommon) The process of adding a new character to a work of fiction, or altering characters already present, in a bid to make the work cooler or more extreme.


double-tonguing

en-noun

double-tonguing (countable and uncountable, plural double-tonguings)

(music) A peculiar action of the tongue by flute players in articulating staccato notes.

(music) The rapid repetition of notes in cornet or trumpet playing.


street organ

(music) A type of mechanically-played barrel organ designed to be played in the street.


a bene placito

Borrowed from Italian a bene placito (“at pleasure”).


mezza voce

From Italian mezza voce, from mezza (feminine of from mezzo (“middle, half”)) + voce (“voice”).


two-hander

In May 2011, Chéreau came to the Young Vic theatre in London to direct I Am the Wind, a 70-minute two-hander written by the Norwegian Jon Fosse, which Michael Billington in the Guardian found "hypnotic", admiring the production's "visual bravura".

2013 October 8, Ronald Bergan, “Patrice Chéreau obituary”, in The Guardian

With a screenplay by Carax and Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks (who also wrote the music and lyrics), the film is largely a two-hander about a famous couple and their talented daughter — the title character.

(theater, film) A play, film, or television programme with only two main characters.


techstep

(music) A subgenre of drum and bass music heavily influenced by techno and industrial music.


gobo

Uncertain; possibly from go-b(etween) (“intermediary, middleman”) + -o (suffix forming informal terms).

suffix

(theater) A template inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light.


orchestrelle

He had the orchestrelle moved to Dublin, although it was no small undertaking, for he needed the solace of its harmonies; […]

1912, Albert Bigelow Paine, chapter CCXXXV, in Mark Twain, A Biography: Volume III, Part 1: 1900-1907

(historical, music) A player organ designed to mimic the sound of an orchestra, manufactured and used from the late 19th century to early 20th century.


dital

From Italian [Term?], from Latin digitus (“finger”).

(music) A finger-operated key for raising the pitch of a guitar by a semitone.


new jill swing

(music) New jack swing music performed by female musicians.


kerfing

Do you prefer bent solid linings or kerfings in your guitar? If kerfings, would you like regular or reversed kerfing?

(music, chiefly lutherie) A thin strip of wood kerfed to allow easy bending and then glued inside the body of a string instrument along the rim between its two abutting sides to reinforce the joint.


Bartók pizzicato

en-noun

Bartók pizzicato (countable and uncountable, plural Bartók pizzicatos)

From the name of composer Béla Bartók. There is an indication for the Celli and Double Basses in the 3rd mvt. of Gustave Mahler's 7th Symphony: which states: "so stark anreissen, das die saiten an das holz schlagen" (Pull so hard that the strings hit the wood). Mahler lived before Bartok, so this snap effect is falsely attributed to Bartok.


interversion

interversion (countable and uncountable, plural interversions)

Reti's explanation that interversion is sometimes responsible for thematic unity, while without academic precedent, is based upon an acute perception of musical structure.

1963, Alan Walker, A Study in Musical Analysis, page 74

Repeated permutation according to this reading order, which Messiaen explores in full in "Île de Feu," results in ten different interversions (as the last column in the table shows, the tenth interversion restores the chromatic pitches in their order from 1 to 12).

2008, Siglind Bruhn, Messiaen's Interpretations of Holiness and Trinity

But the two are not just related. They are the same! Inversion, retrogradation, retrograe, inversion, augmentation, diminution, partition, interversion, exclusion, inclusion, and textural change -- these composing operations are the very ones described by Holywelkin's equations!

2014, Kim Stanley Robinson, The Memory of Whiteness: A Scientific Romance

Theree is a clear distinction between the type of interversion utilised in the 'Experimental period' (1949-51) and the compositions of the early 1960s.

2016, Gareth Healey, Messiaen's Musical Techniques: The Composer's View and Beyond

(music) A composition technique in which a sequence of elements composed of notes or rhythms is repeated in permuted orders.


tremulant

From Italian tremolante (“trembling, shaking”).

bor

The tremulant is a small apparatus that gives to the tone of any department of an organ to which it may be applied a waving or undulating effect.

1855, Edward J. Hopkins, “XVI: The Tremulant”, in The Organ: Its History and Construction, page 70

The tremulant intentionally disturbs the stability of the wind in order to produce a desirable musical oscillation.

2009, John R. Shanon, Understanding the Pipe Organ, page 22

(music) A mechanical component of a musical organ, designed to add vibration to the sounds produced by the instrument.


rosalia

Compare French rosalie. Doublet of rusalka.

(music) A form of melody in which a phrase or passage is successively repeated, each time a tone or semi-tone higher or lower


additional accompaniment

en-noun

additional accompaniment (countable and uncountable, plural additional accompaniments)

(music) The practice of enlarging and revising the orchestration of an earlier work, usually a Baroque piece, to accommodate the larger contemporary orchestras and tastes of the time.


colotomy

(music) The rhythmic and metric patterns of gamelan music, involving the use of specific instruments to mark off nested time intervals.


chironomy

chironomy (usually uncountable, plural chironomies)

From French chironomie and directly from Latin chīronomia, from Ancient Greek χειρονομία (kheironomía, “gesturing, gesticulation”), from χειρονόμος (kheironómos, “mime, skilled gesturer”), from χειρο- (kheiro-, “hand-”) + νόμος (nómos, “controller, manager”), from νέμω (némō, “to control, to manage”).

der

(music) The skill of conducting music with hand gestures.


semidiapente

It will have its true ratio from the tritone and the major semitone, but not from that of the semidiapente and the minor semitone, as the next calculation shows.

2003, Vincenzo Galilei, Dialogue on Ancient and Modern Music (translated from Italian by Claude V. Palisca)


apotome

Apotome
Euclid's Elements
Pythagoreanism#Music

Borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀποτομή (apotomḗ, “cutting off”). The musical sense originates from the Pythagorean tradition. The mathematical sense is attested in Euclid's Elements (Book X, proposition 73, et seq.).

bor

1813, Music, article in John Mason Good, Olinthus Gregory, Newton Bosworth, Pantologia: A New Cyclopaedia, Volume 8: MID—OZO, unnumbered page,
This semitone was termed by the Pythagoreans apotome, and the diatonic semitone was termed limma. They contended, that the apotome, or distance from B flat to B natural, was larger than the limma, or distance from A to B flat.

For the ratio of the excess of the apotome, above that which is truly a semitone, and which cannot be obtained in numbers, is thus called. This then is demonstrated. To what has been said however, it must be added, that we have called the ratio of d b a semitone, not that a sesquioctave is divided into two equal ratios; for no superparticular ratio is capable of being so divided; but because the followers of Aristoxenus assume a semitone after two sesquioctaves, the ratio of a semitone is assumed, as we have said, according to their position, in order to discover what the ratio is of the comma and apotome to the ratio of the leimma.

1820, Proclus, translated by Thomas Taylor, The Commentaries of Proclus on the Timæus of Plato, Volume 2, Facsimile edition, published 1967, pages 66–67

The traditional term, from ancient Greek theory, for the diatonic pythagorean semitone is 'limma'; and for the larger, chromatic semitone, ‘apotome’.
The oldest extant fretting formula, that of the ninth-century theorist Al-Kindi for the ud (the Arabic lute), is pythagorean. It calls for five frets, to make the following succession of semitones down from nut: limma, apotome, limma, apotome', limma.

1984, Mark Lindley, Lutes, Viols, Temperaments, Cambridge University Press, page 9

(music) The remaining part of a whole tone after a minor second has been deducted from it; an augmented unison. Most commonly used to refer to the Pythagorean chromatic semitone, which has a ratio of 2187/2048.


diazeuctic

Ancient Greek διαζευκτικός (diazeuktikós, “disjunctive”).

uder

διαζευκτικός

the diazeutic tone, which, like that from F to G in modern music, lay between two fourths, and, being joined to either, made a fifth

(music, obsolete) Disjoining two fourths.


bariolage

(music) A rapid alternation of two notes on two strings of a violin etc


portative organ

en-noun

portative organ (plural portative organs)

(music) A small pipe organ with one rank of flue pipes, sometimes arranged in two rows, to be played while strapped to the performer at a right angle.


pandura

From Late Latin pandura, from Ancient Greek πανδοῦρα (pandoûra), a Pre-Greek/substrate loan. Doublet of mandola.

(music) An Ancient Greek stringed instrument, a kind of lute with three strings that were stopped with a fingerboard to alter the tone, and with either a mandolin- or banjo-like shape.


sesquialteral

From Latin sesquialter + English -al, from sesqui (“a half and a”) + alter (“another, a second”).

(music) Of or related to sesquialtera, 1½ notes.


cornopean

From Latin cornus (“horn”) + English paean (“song of praise”).

[…]outside the school-gates were drawn up several chaises […] and a cornopean player, hired for the occasion, blowing away "A southerly wind and a cloudy sky," waking all peaceful inhabitants half-way down the High Street.

1857, Thomas Hughes, chapter 7, in Tom Brown's School Days, part I

(music, obsolete) A large valved horn or trumpet, similar to the orchestral cornet (cornet-à-piston).


slow march

Germany's newest song hit was hummed in streetcars, in movie theaters and at political meetings. . . . Its slow march tune was catchy, and its lyrics fitted Berlin's melancholy mood.

1946 January 21, “Music: Berlin Hit”, in Time

(music) A march with a relatively slow tempo.


choogle

Coined by John Fogerty of the band Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Hawkins was the king of the choogle, a southern guitarist from Louisiana who played with the down home swamp funk sound that characterized his greatest hit, the 1957 smash "Suzie Q," a tremendous inspiration on bayou rocker John Fogerty, who used it to get Creedence Clearwater Revival their first hit in the 70's.

1980, Ronald Zalkind, Contemporary Music Almanac, page 234

Their sound was a collision of glam rock strut, Stooges thuggery, and pub rock choogle.

2013, Chris Handyside, Fell in Love with a Band: The Story of The White Stripes, page 85

Highlights include the voodoo-choogle swamp rock of It's A Cold Night For Alligators and the driving, bubbling groove of Sputnik, driven along by Jeff Sutton's disco-tight, Clem Burke-like drumming, which Billy Miller claims is Roky's answer song to Joe Meek's Telstar.

2015, Ben Graham, A Gathering of Promises

In fact, it might be a stretch to call R.E.O. Speedwagon prog at all, if they didn't temper the riverboat-pianoed bonfire-in-the-woods choogle of their first two albums with occasional outrageously ambitious, amp-cranking, Hammond-pumping gloom monsters that, like sundry early Kansas/ Head East / Styx tracks, seemed to owe more than a bit to the majestic post-psychedelic organ-metal funderals of the UK's Uriah Heep.

2016, Chuck Eddy, Terminated for Reasons of Taste


decameride

(music, obsolete) An interval of pitch equal to 1/10 of a heptameride, or 1/3010 of an octave.


eptameride

1963, Scripta Mathematica, vol. 1, page 296, ISSN 0036-9713.
Later he spoke of "subdividing each Eptameride into ten parts, called Decamerides." But he did not use this more subtle division in practice.

The second contribution of Sauveur is the development of a more exact method of computing intervals based upon logarithmic numbers which he terms merides, eptamerides and decamerides.

1964, James Woodrow Krehbiel, “Harmonic Principles of Jean-Philippe Rameau and his Contemporaries”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), →OCLC, page 9

1991, Theoria, vol. 5-6, page 26, ISSN 1554-1312.
The interval of the fifth, it will be recalled, contains 176 eptamerides or 25 merides (plus 1 eptameride).

The Merides were divided into seven parts called Eptamerides. For more subtle distinctions, Sauveur suggested using Decamerides, 10 of which comprised one Eptameride.

2004, J. Murray Barbour, Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey, page 122

(music, obsolete) Alternative spelling of heptameride


heptameride

From French heptaméride, from Ancient Greek ἑπτά (heptá, “seven”) + French méride (compare meridian).

Sauveur divided the heptameride into two demi-heptamerides. One demi-heptameride is 1/602 of an octave, with frequency ratio 1:2 = 1.001 154 or 1.993 cents, very nearly 1/12 of a ditonic comma.

1984, Joseph Sauveur (trans. Rudolf Rasch), Collected Writings on Musical Acoustics: (Paris 1700-1713), page 28

As 301 = 7 × 43, he called each degree a heptameride, which he made = .03987 of an (equal) Semitone.

2007, Translator's notes in: Hermann von Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone, page 437

Sauveur stresses that the difference between the pure 5th (176 heptamerides) and the tempered 5th (175) is equal to 1: so the temperaments of all the other intervals will also be multiples of 1:

2008, Patrizio Barbieri, Enharmonic: Instruments and Music 1470-1900, page 378

(music, obsolete) An interval of pitch equal to 1/7 of a meride, or 1/301 of an octave.


savart

(music, obsolete) An interval of pitch equal to 1/1000 of a decade, practically identical to a heptameride.


meride

(music, obsolete) An interval of pitch equal to 1/43 of an octave.


whammy bar

(music) A lever at the bridge or tailpiece of an electric guitar, used to add vibrato to the sound by changing the tension of the strings.


abeng

Borrowed from Jamaican Creole abeng, from Akan abɛŋ (“animal horn; wind instrument”) (Twi).

der

(Jamaica, music) An animal (usually bull) horn used by the Maroon people of Jamaica as a musical instrument; and also (historical) formerly by slaveholders to summon slaves to canefields and by the Maroon army to communicate cryptic messages over great distances.

abɛŋ

animal horn used by the Maroon people of Jamaica as a musical instrument, etc.


furniture music

Calque of French musique d’ameublement (literally “furnishing music”), coined by Erik Satie in 1917.

cal

Furniture music is thus more like a chair than a painting in a gallery. One sits in rather than contemplates the chair. So too furniture music: “it creates vibration; it has no other purpose; it fills the same role as light, warmth and comfort in all its forms.”

2018, John T. Lysaker, Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music for Airports, Oxford University Press, page 84

(music) Background music originally played by live performers.


homorhythmically

(music) With the same rhythm throughout.


superoctave

Succeeding superoctaves are pitches found at frequencies four, eight, sixteen times, and so on, of the fundamental frequency.

(music) A coupler in the organ by means of which is sounded an octave higher than the one struck.

(music) An organ stop two octaves above the principal.


hypophrygian

/ˌhaɪpəʊˈfɹɪd͡ʒi.ən/

(music) Of or relating to a musical mode or diatonic scale in medieval chant theory, the fourth mode of church music and the plagal counterpart of the authentic third mode, or Phrygian.


hypophrygian

/ˌhaɪpəʊˈfɹɪd͡ʒi.ən/


terzet

His poem also consists of 50 terzets, after the model of Sarteano, and like his, it is clear but lacking in vigor.

1911, A. B. Rhine, “Secular Hebrew Poetry of Italy”, in The Jewish Quarterly Review, volume 1, page 353

(music) A terzetto; a composition in three voice parts.


contrabasso

en-noun

contrabasso (plural contrabassos or contrabassi)

contrabassos (plural)
contrabassi (plural)


mandolin-banjo

(music) A hybrid string instrument (chordophone), combining the membrane-soundboard body of a banjo and the neck of a mandolin or violin.


banjo-mandolin

(music) A four-stringed instrument with the body of a mandolin and the neck of a banjo.


manjo

(music, Ireland, informal) A mandolin-banjo


waveshaping

(music) A type of distortion synthesis in which complex spectra are produced from simple tones by altering the shape of the waveform.


waveshaper

(music) An audio effect that performs waveshaping.


krar

(music) A five-stringed, bowl-shaped lyre of Eritrea and Ethiopia.


supersaw

From super- + saw. Derived from the name of this sound as it was featured on the Roland JP-8000 synthesizer.

(music) A synthesized sound created by mixing several sawtooth waves, slightly detuned to one another.


Ratnangi

Meaning “gem-bodied one”, from Sanskrit रत्न (rátna, “gem”) + Telugu అంగి (aṅgi, “bodied”)

(music) A raga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the second melakarta raga in the 72 melakarta raga system of Carnatic music.


Kanakangi

“Golden-bodied one”, from Sanskrit कनक (kanaka, “gold”) + Telugu అంగి (aṅgi, “bodied”).

(music) Name of a raga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the first melakarta raga in the 72 melakarta raga system of Carnatic music.


B-flat

(music) The note one semitone below B, notated B♭.


Ganamurti

(music) Name of a rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 3rd Melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


melakarta

(music) A collection of fundamental ragas (scales) in Carnatic music (South Indian classical music).


villancico

From Spanish villancico, from villano (“peasant”), from Medieval Latin vīllānus (“villager”).

The villancicos are strophic, but they tend not to extend to the many strophes of narration that were typical of the romance. A standard form for a villancico strophe is ABBA, in which the first A is called the estribillo (refrain), the Bs represent the statement of the music for the copla (stanza) twice (as copla and mudanza), and the return of the estribillo as the vuelta.

2014, James Haar, editor, European Music, 1520–1640, Boydell & Brewer, page 447

(music, poetry) A traditional Spanish (or Portuguese) folk song with short stanzas and a refrain; now especially common as a Christmas carol.

gabon-kanta

traditional Spanish or Portuguese folk song


shadjam

(music) The first of the seven swaras, or primary musical notes.


limma

(music) Any of several small musical intervals, such as the semitone. Most commonly referrs to the diatonic semitone or minor second, which has a ratio of approximately 16/15 or 27/25 in meantone temperaments or 256/243 in Pythagorean tuning.


Vanaspati

Borrowed from Sanskrit वनस्पति (vanaspati).

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the fourth melakarta rāgam of the 72 melakarta rāgams of Carnatic music.


Manavati

(music) A rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the fifth melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Hanumatodi

(music) name of a rāgam in Carnatic music, the eighth melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system


Tanarupi

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the sixth melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Senavati

(music) A rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the seventh melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Dhenuka

(music) A rāgam (musical scale) in Carnatic music. It is the ninth melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Natakapriya

From Sanskrit नाटक (nāṭaka) + प्रिया (priyā).

(music) A rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the tenth melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system.


Kokilapriya

Borrowed from Telugu కోకిలప్రియ (kōkilapriya), from Sanskrit कोकिल (kokila) + प्रिया (priyā).

bor+

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the eleventh melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Rupavati

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the twelfth melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Gayakapriya

From Sanskrit गायक (gāyak) + प्रिया (priyā).

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the thirteenth melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Vakulabharanam

(music) A rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the fourteenth melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Mayamalavagowla

(music) A raga of Carnatic music. It is classified as the 15th melakarta raga.


Chakravakam

Borrowed from Sanskrit चक्रवाक (cakravāka).

(music) A rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 16th melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system.


Hatakambari

(music) Name of a rāga in Carnatic music. It is the eighteenth melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


Suryakantam

Borrowed from Sanskrit सूर्यकान्त (sūryakānta).

(music) A rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 17th melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system.


Natabhairavi

* From Sanskrit नट (naṭa) + भैरवी (bhairavī)

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the 20th melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system.


Keeravani

Borrowed from Sanskrit कीरवाणि (kīravāṇi, literally “parrot's voice”), from कीर (kīra) + वाणि (vāṇi).

compound

कीर (kīra) + वाणि (vāṇi)

(music) Name of a rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 21st melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


Kharaharapriya

Borrowed from Sanskrit खरहरप्रिया (kharaharapriyā, literally “loved by the slayer of demon Khara”), from खर (khara) + हर (hara) + प्रिया (priyā).

bor+

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the 22nd melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system.


Gourimanohari

Transliteration of Sanskrit गौरीमनोहारी (gaurīmanohārī).

translit

(music) Name of a rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 23rd melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


Mararanjani

From Sanskrit मार (māra) + रन्जनि (ranjani).

(music) A rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 25th melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


Varunapriya

Borrowed from Sanskrit वरुणप्रिया (varuṇapriyā), from वरुण (váruṇa) + प्रिया (priyā).

(music) A rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 24th melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


Sarasangi

From Sanskrit सरस (sarasa) + Telugu అంగి (aṅgi).

(music) A rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 27th melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


Harikambhoji

From Sanskrit हरि (hari) + काम्बोज (kāmboja).

(music) Name of a rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 28th melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system.


Dheerasankarabharanam

From Sanskrit धीर (dhīra) + शंकराभरण (śaṃkarābharaṇa).

(music) A rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 29th melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


Naganandini

From Sanskrit नाग (nāgá, “serpent, snake”) + नन्दिनी (nandinī).

(music) Name of a rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 30th melakarta rāga in the 72 melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music.


seraphine

(music) An early wind instrument with a keyboard, resembling a cross between a reed organ and an accordion, which makes its sound by the action of air being blown across metallic reeds.


white note

(music) Any of the notes (the naturals) produced by the white keys on a piano or similar keyed instrument.


black note

(music) Any of the notes (flats and sharps) produced by the black keys on a piano or similar keyed instrument.


(theater) Initialism of Henry IV, Part 1, by William Shakespeare.


(theater) Initialism of Henry VI, Part 1, by William Shakespeare.


decachord

From Ancient Greek δεκάχορδος (dekákhordos, “ten-stringed”), from δέκα (déka, “ten”) + χορδή (khordḗ, “guts, string of a musical instrument”).

compound

Using the logic employed by many subset-based similarity measures, the chromatic trichord apparently has twice the affinity to this decachord as it does to the chromatic pentachord, despite the fact that the trichord could be seen as the progenitor of the pentachord but not of the decachord.

1999, George Eric Lasker, James Rhodes, Systems Research in the Arts, page 2

The reduced span of the system either indicates that the system was devised for the octochord or the decachord, or for the octochord with different tunings, in respect of UET VII 74.

2005, Richard J. Dumbrill, The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East, page 100

Two pentachords can be combined to create the decachord discussed by Carpenter.

2016, Andrew Kirkman, Alexander Ivashkin, Contemplating Shostakovich, page 22

With a slightly different line of reasoning, yet reaching a similar conclusion, Guy d'Eu, the monk who was put in charge of the Cistercians' chant reform in the twelfth century, explained the expansion of the octave, or diapason, into the decachord.

2016, Nigel Hiscock, The Symbol at Your Door

(music) A set of ten pitches used to create a musical mode.


flautando

en-adv

flautando (comparative more flautando, superlative most flautando)

more flautando (comparative)
most flautando (superlative)


funeral march

(music) A slow march in a "simple duple" meter, often played at funerals.


burladero

(bullfighting) A protective barrier behind which people in the bullring protect themselves from the bull.


stageworthy

en-adj

stageworthy (comparative stageworthier or more stageworthy, superlative stageworthiest or most stageworthy)

stageworthier (comparative)
more stageworthy (comparative)
stageworthiest (superlative)
most stageworthy (superlative)

In spite of his parsonical black, and that other well-known clerical disguise, a bad case of Pulpit's Disease, the "king of tears" cuts a more dashing figure than the Rake, and the role is by a long shot the stageworthiest in the opera.

1969, Igor Stravinsky, Robert Craft, Retrospectives and conclusions

By this we mean each song first must be stageworthy and then must add to the picture of yourself which you are trying to paint for your audience.

1982, John Davidson, Cort Casady, The Singing Entertainer

(theater) Worthy, fit, or deserving of stage presentation; stageable.


danzón

He draws from modernism and its malcontents: Morton Feldman, Olivier Messaien, Thelonious Monk. He pulls heavily from Cuban folk traditions: Changüi, Abakuá, danzón.

2022 November 30, Giovanni Russonello, “Best Jazz Albums of 2022”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

She leads the Ballet Theater orchestra throughout the run and lends vivid delicacy to the cinematic music, which incorporates traditional instruments and forms like danzón.

2023 June 23, Gia Kourlas, “Review: In ‘Like Water for Chocolate,’ Plot Overtakes Ballet”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(music) A Latin-American musical genre originating from Cuba, evolved from contradanza.


ecomusicology

en-noun

ecomusicology (usually uncountable, plural ecomusicologies)

(music) The study of music, culture, and nature, related to ecology and the natural environment. A mixture of the fields of ecocriticism and musicology.


mizmar

(music) A traditional Arabic wind instrument with a double or single reed.


overscore

en-verb

overscore (third-person singular simple present overscores, present participle overscoring, simple past and past participle overscored)

overscores (present singular third-person)
overscoring (participle present)
overscored (participle past)
overscored (past)

(transitive, intransitive, music) To score (a piece of music) for too many instruments.


zygonic

Introduced by Adam Ockelford, from Ancient Greek ζυγός (zugós, “yoke”) + -ic.

The following account of the first movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata K.333, which focuses largely on the opening bars, is intended to demonstrate zygonic theory in action in a music-analytical context.

2005, Adam Ockelford, Repetition in music: theoretical and metatheoretical perspectives, page 35

Half arrowheads are indicative of difference and are used in a zygonic context to show approximate imitation.

2006, Neil Lerner, Joseph Straus, Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music, page 143

This research showed that a zygonic approach could provide an intuitively persuasive metric for the fluctuating patterns of musical influence as they unfolded, event by event.

2012, Raymond MacDonald, Gunter Kreutz, Laura Mitchell, Music, Health, and Wellbeing, page 290

(music) Of or relating to the theory that imitation is the ultimate organising force in music.


rhythmicon

(music) An early transposable keyboard instrument capable of playing notes in periodic rhythms proportional to the overtone series of a chosen fundamental pitch.


ghettotech

The second album features a 38-track mix featuring many of the "booty" or "ghettotech" anthems produced by the popular Detroit duo.

2001, Vladimir Bogdanov, All Music Guide to Electronica

The club benefits from crowd-pleasing regular appearances from the Party and the occasional drop-in from ghettotech MC Prince William.

2008 January, SPIN, volume 24, number 1, page 110

Ghettotech consists largely of four-on-the-floor dance beats at a faster tempo with lyrics that are sexually explicit and derogatory in nature.

2010, Emmett George Price, Encyclopedia of African American Music, volume 3, page 942

electronic dance music
electronic dance music

(music) A form of electronic dance music from Chicago, combining elements of house music with electro, hip-hop, and techno.


pakhavaj

/pəˈkɑːwʌdʒ/

We are all season clappers and along with the pakhawaj, we give the beat.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 181

(music) An Indian barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, a variant and descendant of the mridang.


methexis

(theater) An originally Ancient Greek form of theatre in which the audience participates and improvises.


zeloso

Borrowed from Italian zeloso, from zelo.

Because Steve's attitude had always been co-operative and zeloso, Mr. Brisk had appointed him part leader for the bassi.

1973, Clavier: A Magazine for Pianists & Organists, Volume 12, Instrumentalist Company, page 35

(music, of play) Zealous, energetic, enthusiastic; typically an annotation to direct the style of play.


zeloso

(music) (Played) zealously, energetically, with enthusiasm.


illbient

Blend of ill + ambient; coinage attributed to DJ Olive (Gregor Asch). See hip-hop slang sense of ill.

This describes the sound of what is known as illbient, a genre of electronic music that arose in New York in the mid-1990s. The first illbient compilations were released by the Asphodel label—Crooklyn Dub Consortium Vol. 1 in 1995 and Incursions in Illbient in 1996—and Olive was involved with both projects.

2012, Mark Katz, Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ, Oxford University Press

(music) A music genre with layered soundscapes, dub and hip-hop influences (including the use of samples), and a progressive approach to beat programming.


well-tempered

(music) Having twelve notes per octave of the standard instrument tuned in such a way that it is possible to play music in any major or minor key and the resulting sound will not sound perceptibly too far out of tune.


wedding march

"Oh, there isn't much danger, as long as I have got breath in my nostrils," said Peik, and took a ram's horn, which he began blowing; and when he had blown a wedding march on it he put the horn to his sister's nostrils and blew life into her again and she rose up as if nothing had been the matter with her.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 197

The musicians had been quietly singing some familiar Christian songs but then the singing stopped and the music turned into a wedding march as the procession started down the small hallway. First, Sandra, in her yellow bridesmaid dress and carrying a small bouquet of yellow roses […]

2009, Jim Hayden, The Year of God's Promise, page 325

(music) A slow-tempo march played during a wedding.


secundal

(music) Relating to seconds (intervals between pairs of adjacent notes in a diatonic scale).


UST

en-noun

UST (countable and uncountable, plural USTs)

Coordinate term: OST

(music) Acronym of unofficial soundtrack.


svirel

(music) An old folk Russian wind instrument of the end-blown flute type.


zarbi

(Persian, music) A rhythmic realization of a gushe.


volti subito

Borrowed from Italian volti subito (literally “turn quickly”).

bor

(music) A direction to turn the page quickly.


water organ

(music) A form of pipe organ in which the air is generated by moving water.


click track

(music) A series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes to a moving image.


tritave

(music) An interval with a frequency ratio of 3:1, usually in the context of the Bohlen–Pierce scale where it replaces the octave.


pseudo-octave

(music) An interval whose frequency ratio is not 2:1 (that of the octave), but is perceived or treated as equivalent to this ratio, and whose pitches are considered equivalent to each other as with octave equivalency.


Burzumesque

en-adj

Burzumesque (comparative more Burzumesque, superlative most Burzumesque)

more Burzumesque (comparative)
most Burzumesque (superlative)

Burzum + -esque, after the band Burzum, named for the Black Speech word burzum (“darkness”), from J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional language.

But if, like me, you think the Mayhemesque 'Under A Funeral Moon' and Burzumesque 'Transilvanian Hunger' are Darkthrone's finest moments […]

1997, Richard Stuart, “Review of Isvind - 'Dark Waters Stir'”, in alt.rock-n-roll.metal.death (Usenet)

Two of the old ones are slow and atmospheric (one is pure acoustic "ballad", other is truly amazing burzumesque piece) […]

1998, ghaa...@geocities.com, “HELP ME WITH THESE BANDS.......”, in alt.music.black-metal (Usenet)

They used to play Burzumesque BM, but moved on to a Doomy sound.

2000, NivendE, “black doom hybrids”, in alt.music.black-metal (Usenet)

(music) similar in style to the black metal band Burzum


accidental chord

en-noun

accidental chord (plural accidental chords)

(music) A chord containing one or more tones foreign to its proper harmony.


bio box

From biograph, as the rooms were originally set aside to provide space for film projectors at theatres.

(theater, Australia) A room, overlooking the theatre from the back, from which projection, lighting and sound are controlled.


dead march

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they're flooding,
As with voices and with tears.
. . .
Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

1892, Walt Whitman, “Dirge for Two Veterans”, in Leaves of Grass

A captain's guard marched before the corpse, the captain of it in the rear, the firelocks reversed, the drums beating the dead march.

1859, Washington Irving, chapter 15, in Life of George Washington

Lord Cramer . . . described the burying of his company's colonel after it—the open grave in a cleft of hills dark with pines, the solemn dead march, the noble words spoken as they left their leader forever.

1914, Amelia E. Barr, chapter 2, in Playing With Fire

At the end, the orchestra played a somber dead march that was punctuated by harsh, chilling blows on the timpani.

1983 November 22, Donal Henahan, “Musica: Sacra at Fisher Hall”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-10

(music) A mournful, deliberately-paced musical work suitable for a funeral or remembrance ceremony.


UK garage

(music) A genre of electronic music descended from house music, originating from England in the early 1990s, typically featuring a syncopated 4/4 percussive rhythm with "shuffling" hi-hats and beat-skipping kick drums.


cheat out

en-verb

cheat out (third-person singular simple present cheats out, present participle cheating out, simple past and past participle cheated out)

cheats out (present singular third-person)
cheating out (participle present)
cheated out (participle past)
cheated out (past)

In stage acting, we are frequently asked to cheat out to the audience by opening up our body positions so that we are something halfway between facing them and our partner.

2015, Robert Barton, Acting: Onstage and Off, page 184

(theater) To face or turn toward the audience more than would be natural, for instance in a staged conversation.


gothabilly

en-noun

gothabilly (countable and uncountable, plural gothabillies)

(music, uncountable) A musical genre combining rockabilly and gothic rock, and its associated subculture (style of clothing, etc).


quarter tone

(music) The musical interval equal to one quarter of a tone or 1/24 of an octave; half a semitone.


crosslight

crosslight (usually uncountable, plural crosslights)

Again, the crosslight is best designed to angle slightly upstage taking care not to produce shadows on backings.

1967, Jerry J. Lewis, An Approach to Lighting Design from Modern Dance, page 11

Quick buffo comedy requires the clarity of the straight play, while sustained romantic anguish flourishes in atmospheric backlights and crosslight.

2013, Francis Reid, Stage Lighting Handbook, page 154

(uncountable, theater) Illumination directed at the performers or subject matter from opposite sides of the set.


bélé

Possibly from French belle aire, though African origins have been suggested.

(music, dance, Caribbean) A genre of music and group dance from the Creole cultures of Dominica and other Caribbean islands, in modern times mostly performed to celebrate holidays and special occasions.

(music, Caribbean) A type of folk drum found on Dominica, Martinique and Saint Lucia.


splatstick

(film, comedy, horror, gore) A genre of film which blends slapstick style comedy with splatfest blood and gore splatter filled horror.


hauntological

en-adj

hauntological (comparative more hauntological, superlative most hauntological)

more hauntological (comparative)
most hauntological (superlative)

Boards of Canada also pioneered the hauntological approach to creating old-timey and elegiac atmospheres through the use of sound treatments suggestive of decay and wear-and-tear.

2011, Simon Reynolds, Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past, Faber & Faber, page 331

In that spirit, some young musicians now are creating music that has been described as “hypnagogic” or “hauntological.” The melodies and rhythms are reminiscent of catchy pop songs of previous decades, but recorded in a way that simulates the effects of age — fuzzy and staticky — as if worn out or heard at a great distance through a grimy haze.]

[2011 August 4, Carl Wilson, “‘My So-Called Adulthood’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Vaporwave and its more developed form, Simpsonwave, are of course concerned with an entirely different set of tropes–but they are no less hauntological for it. Both are recognizably hauntological by virtue of the techniques they employ—VHS crackle, Windows start-up sounds, etc.

2019, Tom Whyman, “Oh, They Have the Internet on Computers Now?”, in Alfie Bown, Dan Bristow, editors, Post Memes: Seizing the Memes of Production, punctum books, page 212

(music, art) Using digital effects that simulate the effects of aging; reminiscent and nostalgic of obsolete media.


Peking opera

en-noun

Peking opera (countable and uncountable, plural Peking operas)

(music) A form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics.


centonate

(music) A piece composed according to the rules of centonization.


centonization

centonization (countable and uncountable, plural centonizations)

(music) A theory about the composition of a melody or piece based on pre-existing melodic figures and formulas.


cleffer

Indications that the top tunesmiths are rewriting their version of the music publishers pot o' gold role in the tune biz can be found in reports here that Edwin H. (Buddy) Morris's relations with film cleffers Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen will be changed shortly from a "pub affiliate" structure to a "writer participation" basis.


superfluous interval

superfluous interval (plural superfluous intervals)

(music) An interval that exceeds a major or perfect interval by a semitone.


holding note

(music) A note sustained in one part, while the other parts move.


just intonation

(music) The correct sounding of notes or intervals; true pitch.

(music) The giving all chords and intervals in their purity or their exact mathematical ratio, or without temperament; a process in which the number of notes and intervals required in the various keys is much greater than the twelve to the octave used in systems of temperament.


dragadiddle

(music) In drumming, a paradiddle where the first note is a drag.


free jazz

(music, jazz) A form of jazz music of the 1950s and 1960s that attempted to overcome existing limitations and conventions, often by discarding features such as fixed chord changes or tempos.


skatepunk

skatepunk (countable and uncountable, plural skatepunks)

From skate + punk, from its popularity among skateboarders.

Similar to how Green Day, The Offspring, and Rancid brought the early 90s punk revival to the top of alternative rock, blink-182 took skate-punk to the masses in 1999 with Enema of the State.

2021, Mike Damante, Hey Suburbia: A Guide to the Emo/Pop-Punk Rise, Di Angelo Publications

(uncountable, music) A fast, intense, melodic form of hardcore punk music, associated with skateboarding culture.


frame drum

(music) An early form of drum with a drumhead width greater than its depth.

tambourine

both a synonym, and specific type, of frame drum


wub

For the uninitiated, a wub (or wobble bass, its technical name) is that distinctive long bass note that is “torn” or “bent” rhythmically or…wubbed, and is one of the distinctive features of dubstep music.

2012 February 2, Jimbo Ivy, “Lucky's Live!”, in The Hype Weekly, number 23, page 5

Though the audience wasn’t instantly sold on Datsik’s opening wubs, the cheer that erupted when the DJ segued into Skrillex’s remix of “Levels” further shook the already-vibrating venue.

2012 February 24, Allegra Dimperio, “Grimy chills, champagne thrills on Deadmeat Tour”, in The Badger Herald, volume 43, number 93, University of Wisconsin, page 5

It's an impressive, almost overwhelming synthesis of commercial influences, including, in their monster hit Radioactive, some rather mannered dubstep wubs.

2013 April 9, Graeme Virtue, “Imagine Dragons – review”, in The Guardian

(music) wobble bass, a style of bass synthesizer heavily deployed by dubstep and drum and bass artists


popular beat combo

popular beat combo (plural popular beat combos)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-popular beat combo.wav

From popular + beat + combo (“small musical group”).

compound

I thought it was a bit odd that the world's most popular beat combo should choose a golf tournament at Waldviertel for their reunion concert.

1999 June 12, Lawrence Donegan, Maybe It Should Have Been a Three Iron: My Year as Caddie for the World's 438th Best Golfer, Macmillan, page 199

An early indication of crabbitness can be identified in teenage years by an inability to move either hips or shoulders no matter what popular beat combo are playing.

2006 October 5, John K. V. Eunson, Crabbit Old Buggers!, Black & White Publishing

When I was younger, I was quite an adherent of the popular beat combo known as The Moody Blues.

2020 April 10, Brian Taylor, “Coronavirus: 'A question of balance' over lockdown exit”, in BBC News

(British, music, humorous or ironic) A pop group.


compound duple

(music) A metre with two beats, each divided into three.


goombay

en-noun

goombay (countable and uncountable, plural goombays)

Afro-Caribbean dialects; compare Kongo nkombi, a type of drum.

(music, dance, Bahamas, countable) A type of traditional Bahamian drum.

(music, dance, Bahamas, uncountable) A genre of folk music played with this drum.

(music, dance, Bahamas) A dance associated with this music genre.


tailgut

(music, lutherie) A cord which loops through the tailpiece and around the endpin of stringed musical instruments, and which is held at tension by a knot to secure the tailpiece to the body, traditionally made only of gut but now also made of nylon, wire and other synthetic materials.


harmonic series

harmonic series (plural harmonic series)

(music, physics) The sequence of all positive integer multiples of a base frequency.


moombahton

Blend of Moombah (the name of a track by Dutch house DJ Chuckie) + reggaeton

blend

(music) A fusion genre of house music and reggaeton.


pornogrind

"Are you fucking with me?"
"No. It's screamo, blended in with some kawaii metal, with a touch of pornogrind."

(music) A musical subgenre of grindcore and death metal that deals with sexual themes.


lead sheet

A lead sheet is often the only form of written music used by a small jazz ensemble. One or more musicians will play the melody while the rest of the group improvises an appropriate accompaniment.

(music) A form of written music that specifies the melody, lyrics, and harmony.


polychoral

(music) Featuring multiple choirs, or a choir that has been divided into different groups (so as to effect antiphonal exchange)


mandolute

Not content with flailing at the playwright and the movement that had nurtured him ("the little theater of cheesecloth and mandolutes"), De Voto attacked the Theater Guild, charging that its resources and prestige, its "power to compel the admiration of multitudes," where chiefly responsible for elevating O'Neill to "a grandeur" he did not deserve.

2002, Louis Sheaffer, O'Neill: Son and Artist, page 460

(music) A musical instrument similar to a mandolin, but larger.


cantus firmus

Unadapted borrowing from Latin cantus firmus (literally “fixed chant”).

ubor

(music) A preexisting melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.


gravicembalo

/ˌɡɹævɪˈtʃɛmbələʊ/

(music) An early form of piano derived from the harpsichord


hypomixolydian

(music) Describing a mode of church music represented by a major scale from D to G


hypolydian

(music) Describing a mode of church music represented by a major scale from C to F.


hypodorian

/ˌhaɪpəʊˈdɔːɹi.ən/

(music) Describing a mode of church music represented by a major scale from A to D.


melopiano

(music, historical) A type of piano in which a system of hammers allows a note to be prolonged indefinitely


polytextual

(music) Set to two or more texts simultaneously


triplophonia

(music) The production, by the voice, of sounds of three different pitches simultaneously


diplophonia

(music) The production, by the voice, of sounds of two different pitches simultaneously


SATB

(music) Initialism of soprano, alto, tenor, bass.


upright bass

(music) A double bass. (lowest-pitched of instruments of violin family)


doghouse bass

(music) A double bass (lowest-pitched of instruments of violin family).


bass violin

(music) double bass (lowest-pitched of instruments of violin family)


tartold

Supposedly from Italian torto and German Kortholt.

(music) a low-pitched double reed musical instrument of the European Renaissance, similar to a rackett, with a bore formed from cylindrical metal tubing bent into a spiral


kortholt

(music) a low-pitched capped double reed instrument of the European Renaissance


octave clef

(music) a symbol showing that the pitch of a note is to be raised by one or two octaves.


quadruple whole

en-noun

quadruple whole (plural quadruple wholes)

(music) A musical note equal to two or three breves, i.e. four or six whole notes; a longa.


cover band

(music) A band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs.


key up

en-verb

key up (third-person singular simple present keys up, present participle keying up, simple past and past participle keyed up)

keys up (present singular third-person)
keying up (participle present)
keyed up (participle past)
keyed up (past)

(music, transitive) To raise the pitch of.


tear a cat

tear a cat (third-person singular simple present tears a cat, present participle tearing a cat, simple past tore a cat, past participle torn a cat)

tears a cat (present singular third-person)
tearing a cat (participle present)
tore a cat (past)
torn a cat (participle past)

Yet my chief humour is for a tyrant. I could play / Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.

c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 1, scene 2

Sirha is this you would rend and teare the Cat / Upon a Stage, and now march like drown'd rat?

c. 1599, John Marston, Histriomastix, act 5, scene 1, page [53]

Till, in his periwig combustion / Will. Shakespeare sounds like Irish fustian, / In which Macready tears a cat, / And Shiel, the patriot, writes so pat;

1835, George Daniel, “The Conversazione”, in The Modern Dunciad, William Pickering, page 224

From this performance there is no doubt in anyone's mind that Hamlet is an amateur actor having a fling at histrionics, or as Guthrie might say, "tearing a cat."

1970, Alfred Rossi, Minneapolis Rehearsals: Tyrone Guthrie Directs Hamlet, University of California Press, page 21

(obsolete, idiomatic, acting) To overact; to violently rant and rave on stage.


rubboard

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music) A scraped percussion instrument used in zydeco music, resembling a washboard but without a frame, generally hung around the neck.


nu jazz

(music, jazz) Any music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, soul, or electronic dance music.


double note

It is double the length of the semibreve.


semiacoustic

(music, of a guitar) Having a soundbox as well as one or more electric pickups.


open diapason

(music) A certain stop in an organ, in which the pipes or tubes are formed like the mouthpiece of a flageolet at the end where the wind enters, and are open at the other end.


grand action

(music) A pianoforte action, used in grand pianos, in which special devices are employed to obtain perfect action of the hammer in striking and leaving the string.


beat time

beat time (third-person singular simple present beats time, present participle beating time, simple past beat time, past participle beaten time or beat time)

beats time (present singular third-person)
beating time (participle present)
beat time (past)
beaten time (participle past)
beat time (participle past)

(music) To measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot.


walking gentleman

en-noun

walking gentleman (plural walking gentlemen)

(theater, slang, dated) A male actor who usually fills subordinate parts which require a gentlemanly appearance but few words.


rare groove

The brainchild of DJ Gilles Peterson, it specializes in a dance-oriented fusion of rap, rare groove and jazz, combined with 'motivational' lyrics.

2011, Simon Reynolds, Bring the Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip Hop

(music) Soul or jazz music that is very hard to source or relatively obscure.


filksing

Welcome to the Boskone Filksing!

1972, Karen Blank, The Boskone 9 Filk-Song Song Book, Table of Contents

The next LA filksing will be February 21st in Garden Grove.

2004 February 1, Lee Gold, “Re: work-related ABEND till sometime after 8-February-2004”, in rec.music.filk (Usenet), message-ID <401D226F.5B501A45@comcast.net>

(fandom slang, music) A gathering of filkers; a filk-music performance.


Lovatic

Her performances on this tour have been affirming but unpredictable, and the Lovatics — the name for her throngs of fans — totally relate.

2011 November 23, Kent Szlauderbach, “Teenage Dream”, in The Pitch, volume 31, number 20, page 17

While making small talk with the audience, Demi's greetings were reciprocated with loud screams from the Lovatics.

2013, oan Kwek, “A Special Night with Demi Lovato”, in ArtJam, number 33, Nanyang Technological University Cultural Activities Club, page 31

This is the fourth album for Demi, which she has dedicated to all her Lovatics.

2013 August, “Demi - Demi Lovato”, in TeenZone Magazine, number 117, page 48

(music slang) A fan of American actress and singer Demi Lovato.