IB Music Grand Vocabulary List

Musical Elements:

  • tone color
  • melody
  • harmony
  • rhythm
  • structure
  • (context)
  • Scale Tones:

  • tonic
  • supertonic
  • mediant
  • subdominant
  • dominant
  • submediant
  • subtonic
  • leading tone
  • Intervals:

  • perfect unison
  • minor second (semitone/half-step)
  • major second (whole tone/whole step)
  • minor third
  • major third
  • perfect fourth
  • tritone
  • perfect fifth
  • minor sixth
  • major sixth
  • minor (dominant) seventh
  • major seventh
  • perfect octave
  • Tonality:

  • diatonic
  • major
  • minor (natural, harmonic, melodic)
  • anhemitonic pentatonic
  • hemitonic pentatonic
  • octatonic
  • whole tone
  • modal (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian)
  • Meter:

  • simple
  • compound
  • duple
  • triple
  • compound/complex
  • mixed
  • Tempo:

  • grave
  • largo
  • adagio
  • andante
  • moderato
  • allegro
  • vivo
  • vivace
  • presto
  • Tempo Changes:

  • accelerando
  • allargando
  • cadenza
  • decelerando
  • l'istesso
  • rallentando
  • ritardando
  • rubato
  • Dynamics:

  • niente
  • piano
  • forte
  • crescendo
  • decrescendo
  • diminuendo
  • Opera:

  • overture
  • entr'act
  • intermezzo
  • aria
  • recitative
  • chorus
  • libretto
  • Techniques and Ornamentation:

  • arco
  • col legno
  • con sordino
  • glissando
  • (gran) martelé
  • spiccato
  • tremolo
  • trill
  • pizzicato
  • Genres:

  • chant
  • polyphony
  • madrigal
  • mass
  • requiem
  • motet
  • opera
  • operetta
  • minuet
  • scherzo
  • allemande
  • sarabande
  • gigue
  • galliard
  • chaconne
  • saltarello
  • bourrée
  • cantata
  • oratorio
  • hymn
  • chorale
  • ballet
  • symphony
  • concerto
  • sonata
  • Lied
  • tone poem
  • nocturne
  • mazurka
  • waltz
  • polka
  • impressionism
  • expressionism
  • serialism
  • minimalism
  • World Music Genres:

  • jig
  • hornpipe
  • slip-jig
  • reel
  • strathspey
  • samba
  • bossa nova
  • salsa
  • mariachi
  • ranchera
  • reggae
  • calypso
  • tala
  • raga
  • gagaku
  • hogaku
  • enka
  • gamelan
  • wangga
  • Popular Music:

  • spiritual
  • ragtime
  • blues
  • swing
  • big band
  • rock & roll
  • fusion
  • Latin
  • Forms:

  • strophic
  • ritornello
  • rondo
  • binary
  • ternary
  • sonata-allegro
  • theme and variations
  • double variation
  • 12-bar blues
  • song form
  • Expression:

  • cantabile
  • giocoso
  • legato
  • staccato
  • leggiero
  • sostenuto
  • stretto
  • maestoso
  • a capella
  • a piacere
  • ad libitum
  • affrettando
  • agitato
  • appassionato
  • con mosso
  • deciso
  • dolce
  • doloroso
  • con fuoco
  • grandioso
  • grazioso
  • lacrimoso
  • marziale
  • pesante
  • risoluto
  • religioso
  • scherzando
  • simile
  • Road Map:

  • da capo
  • da segno
  • al finé
  • al coda
  • attaca
  • volti subito (V.S.)
  • World Instruments:

  • zither
  • fiddle
  • dulcimer
  • tin whistle
  • bagpipes
  • pan flute
  • shaker
  • berimbau
  • steel drums
  • djembe
  • mbira
  • kalimba
  • enanga
  • oud
  • duduk
  • doumbek
  • zildjian
  • sitar
  • tambura
  • tablas
  • bansuri
  • dizi
  • erhu
  • guzheng
  • hichiriki
  • koto
  • shamisen
  • sho
  • ryuteki
  • didgeridoo
  • rebab
  • Vocal Types

  • bass
  • baritone
  • tenor
  • countertenor
  • contralto
  • alto
  • mezzo-soprano
  • soprano
  • Music Vocabulary:

  • dominant
  • secondary dominant
  • basso continuo
  • concertino
  • -etto
  • -issimo
  • meno
  • mosso
  • ripieno
  • tutti
  • virtuoso
  • ostinatto
  • piú
  • poco a poco
  • tessitura
  • dissonance (suspension, tone cluster, non-chord tone, polychord)
  • tritone substitution