Definition (verb): make sharp or sharper Example: sharpen the knives Definition (verb): make crisp or more crisp and precise Example: We had to sharpen our arguments Definition (verb): become sharp or sharper Example: The debate sharpened Definition (verb): put (an image) into focus Example: Please focus the image; we cannot enjoy the movie Definition (verb): […]
Definition (verb): make something new, such as a product or a mental or artistic creation Example: Her company developed a new kind of building material that withstands all kinds of weather Definition (verb): make something new, such as a product or a mental or artistic creation Example: They developed a new technique Definition (verb): work […]
R&B stands for “Rhythm & Blues”. It’s a loosely-defined genre of music, and can refer to a number of different genres that are musically very different from each other. All of these artists have at one time or another been referred to as “R&B”: Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, Mariah Carey, Prince, the O’Jays, the […]
Definition (noun): the quality of a person’s voice Example: he began in a conversational tone Definition (noun): the quality of a person’s voice Example: he spoke in a nervous tone of voice Definition (noun): (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages Example: the Beijing […]
Definition (verb): make an inversion (in a musical composition) Example: here the theme is inverted Definition (verb): reverse the position, order, relation, or condition of Example: when forming a question, invert the subject and the verb Definition (verb): turn inside out or upside down
Definition (noun): (music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written Definition (noun): one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket Definition (noun): a crosspiece between the legs of a chair Definition (verb): furnish with staves Example: stave a ladder Definition (verb): burst […]
In music, the beat is the basic unit of time. It’s a way that musicians count the notes being played to stay in synch with each other, and is often associated with the pulse that listeners tend to feel in the music. That is to say, when one is to clap along or dance with […]
In a simple sense, chords are constructed by combining every other note in a music scale. For example, the C major scale looks like this: C – D – E – F – G – A – B All basic major chords have three notes, the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes in the scale with […]
Once you’re familiar with the basics of reading a score, the best way to learn is to practice. You can start with this simple line from a nursery rhyme. Imagine that you were looking at the score for a full orchestral arrangement of ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep.’ You look down the different parts, find your […]
Chords provide harmony, and usually rhythm, that both support the melody and also contribute their own dimension to music. Chords normally express the feeling of the music and the changes in feeling that form the overall arc of a piece of music. Certain chords are usually pleasing, disturbing, happy, or sad, but their feelings also […]
In musical notation, the “staff” is a set of five lines and four spaces. Each line and space corresponds to one of the white keys on the piano, so staffs are usually easiest to read on pianos and other keyboard-based instruments. But this kind of musical notation is used for many other instruments as well. […]
“Meter” is the underlying structure of a musical beat. It refers to the “count” of a song, or how many individual beats you would count out if you were tapping your foot to the beat. Most commonly, the meter will be a 4-count, meaning it has a pattern in which you count 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4. However, […]
Tempo is the pace or speed of the music. Higher tempo means a faster song, whereas a lower tempo means a slower song. Tempo is flexible in classical music — many pieces have parts that speed up or slow down expressively, which is known as rubato. This is much less common in popular music, which […]
A chord is a combination of three or more notes played together at the same time. A basic chord has three notes. Complex chords have 4 or 5 different notes; beyond that, larger chords usually use some of the same notes more than once, in multiple octaves (because much more than five different notes in […]