Being a good listener is important no matter what path in life you take.? One of the best ways to ‘study’ music is by repeated listening.? You probably have a favorite book, movie, or song

2. Genre is a classification system that places different instructional materials into neat categories that help choose what to use and when. (Classical, jazz, Rock, Opera, etc.)

Timbre/Tone Color: Refers to the “what” or “who” in music making

1. What kind of instruments do you hear?

2. What types of voices are there, if any?

3. What type of group or ensemble or orchestra is playing

 Melody:  Main the theme

1. Is it Stately, ascending lines with leaps, smooth lines?

2. an interesting melody, hard to hear?

3. Who had the melody?

Tempo/Rhythm: The pace of the music

1. How fast is the music moving? Does it change during the piece? (speed up or slow down?)

2. Students can say fast/ slow etc. , but eventually using music terms like Allegro (fast) Moderato (medium)  Andante (walking pace) Largo (very slow), Vivace (very fast) would be expected.

Dynamics: The intensity of the volume

1. What is the Dynamics/intensity of the volume /Dynamics (softness/loudness)?

2. Does the intensity ever change? (pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, fortissimo)

3. Does it change often or infrequently? Does dynamics become softer or louder, or change back and forth? Crescendo / Decrescendo

Tempo/Rhythm: The pace of the music

1. How fast is the music moving? Does it change during the piece? (speed up or slow down?)

2. Can say fast/ slow etc. , but eventually use music terms like Allegro (fast) Moderato (medium)  Andante (walking pace) Largo (very slow), Vivace (very fast) would be expected.

Music Vocabulary Words for Listening Journal

 Beat – the regular rhythmic pattern of a piece of music or a dance.

Chord - a combination of three or more tones played together at the same time.

Composer - a person who writes a piece of music.

contour - the melody of a piece of music as it turns upward or downward.

duration - the length of time that a note is sounded.

dynamics - an element of music – the loudness or softness of a piece of music (piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte)

elements - one of the simple, basic parts of something.

form - an element of music – the way the song is put together (AB, ABA, ABC, etc.)

forte - loud

harmony – an element of music – the simultaneous sounds or notes that result in a pleasing musical sound – more than one note played at a time.

measure - a unit of notes and rests in a piece of music, marked by a bar line on either side.

melody - an element of music – the shape, direction, and pitch (high vs. low notes) of a piece of music;  also a tune or a song.

meter - the rhythmic pattern made by grouping together strong and weak beats.

mezzo forte - medium loud

mezzo piano - medium soft

notation - visual symbols for sound such as the treble and bass clefs

Performer– the person/group actually playing/singing the music 

piano – soft (the piano is also a musical instrument)

pitch - the measure of how high or low a note, is, relative to other notes; pitch is determined by the frequency of vibrations per second.

range- A measure of the highest and lowest sounds used in a piece of music.

rhythm - an element of music – the meter, time signature, and rhythmic duration in a piece of music;  also the regular beat in music, poetry, or dance.  (eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes, dotted-half notes, whole notes)

signature - signs at the beginning of a musical work indicating its key and tempo (key signature and time signature)

style - a particular type of music or dance (examples: blues, rock, pop, folk, spirituals, etc.)

tempo - an element of music – the speed of a piece of music.

timbre - an element of music – the way a particular instrument sounds.

unison - when people say, sing or do something at the same time. One single part in music.