Music Terms

2. A rhythmic unit that can be discerned by dance steps or claps
5. Determining factor of a sound's decibel level, or loudness
6. Organization of sound in time
7. Interlocking musical technique; used by xylophone players and Banda-Linda animal horn orchestras
12. Significant creative decisions are made while the performaing
13. Frequencies above the fundamental frequency; Tuning system of the donso ngoni and amadinda
15. beats Beats divided into two or four pulses
17. Can be rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic.
19. Arabic for "enchantment"; Umm Kulthum's goal in her music
20. Rhythmic divisions that can be marked off with feet, arms, or hips in dance
23. or call and response
27. The structure of a cycle
29. The interaction of musical layers within a musical piece
30. Two or more meters present in a musical piece
32. Accentuation of the pulses in between beats or on even-numbered beats. Driving force behind African music
34. Two or more melodic lines played simultaneously
35. Material is repeated but altered
36. Used to define pitches when music is played; no single standard of this form exists across Africa, like language dialects.
37. Single melodic line played in unison with no accompaniment;
38. Amount of cycles present per second

1. Two or more pitches occurring simultaneously
3. Tuning system of the simbi ; 7 notes
4. involves many instruments playing a single melodic line; featured in "El Ward Gamil"; unison playing
8. Beats divided into three pulses; Type of beat played by the hosho in "Nhemamusasa"
9. subdivided into two or four pulses
10. The attribution of sounds to notation
11. Distance between two frequencies of pitches
14. Person who studied music outside the Western classical tradition and music in its cultural context
16. Attribution of multiple pitches to a single syllable; Egypt: Umm Kulthum
18. Notes are standardized to a certain frequency; this does not exist in African traditional music
21. Speed of the musical piece
22. Quality or color of sound that makes it distinguishable
24. Rhythm that appears through the interaction of different rhythms
25. Sequence of single pitches or tones that forms a coherent whole
26. or cross rhythm Two or more different rhythms played or sung simultaneously
28. Melodic lines moving in a similar rhythmic fashion
31. Variance of the same melodic line by multiple performers
33. The organization of beats and pulses into measures or cycles