Musical Periods Research

(Chris Norman)

Renaissance Period
1. A mode is a type of scale which uses all of the white notes when played on a
keyboard, from one note to the same note an octave above. Besides the C major
scale, the most common mode is the A minor Aeolian mode. Modes can be
transposed to other keys.
2. Homophonic texture is when all of the music is based on chords.
3. Polyphonic texture is when two or more melodies are playing at once, interweaving
with each other and having no similar rhythms.
4. Imitation is when musical material that has been played is repeated by another voice
or instrument.
5. A mass is a Roman Catholic religious piece usually sung at church services consisting
of five sections, the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus + Benedictus and the Agnus Dei.
6. ‘A capella’ means unaccompanied singing.
7. Polychoral music is written for more than one choir to sing, which is often used for
antiphonic effect.
8. Antiphony is call and response between two voices or instruments.
9. A motet is a small scale a capella sacred Latin work.
10. An anthem is a religious work to be sung in church. It is different from a Motet
because it is sung in English and is of the Protestant church.
11. Secular music is non-religious music.
12. A madrigal is a secular a capella work often about love. They often contain both
polyphonic and homophonic textures.
13. A ballett is a humorous madrigal with the words ‘fa-la-la’ usually sung in the chorus.
14. An ‘Ayre’ is a strophic piece written for lute and voice which is also often about love.
Dowland wrote many of these.
15. A pavane (slow dance piece) and a Galliard (lively dance piece) would usually be
played as a pair.
16. Word painting is the use of dynamics and performance techniques to support the
lyrics of a piece.
17. A set of variations may be based on a musical theme.
18. The viol is a predecessor of the violin.
19. The Renaissance equivalent of the guitar was the lute.

Baroque Period
1. The Baroque period lasted approximately between 1600 and 1750.
2. ‘Basso continuo’ is the use of a bass instrument to play the bass line which supports
most Baroque ensemble music.
3. Figured bass is a bass line indicated by numbers below the bass stave of the
keyboard part in Baroque ensemble music.
4. A walking bass line uses a regular quaver rhythm with mostly stepwise movement,
like a person walking.
5. The orchestra began to form in the Baroque period, particularly with the string
section.
6. Major and minor scale replaced the church modes of the Renaissance period.
7. An Aria is a song in ternary form where a soloist sings accompanied by an orchestra.
8. A ground bass is a bass line which repeated as the basis of a piece, underneath
variations.
9. Ritornello form is a structure which uses a returning orchestral section which occurs
between the solo parts of a concerto.
10. A fugue is a contrapuntal piece which has a main subject which is introduced by one
voice and is imitated in other voices gradually, creating imitative counterpoint.
11. A corale is sung in German.
12. Opera music is written to accompany acted parts on stage, whereas an oratorio is
music which represents a biblical story, not accompanied by drama.
13. A recitative is speech-like singing in free rhythm with very little accompaniment and
it can occur in an oratorio, a cantata or an opera.
14. An overture is an instrumental introduction to a piece.
15. A keyboard player may worry about playing a toccata as they are difficult virtuosic
pieces.
16. A chorale prelude would be played on an organ.
17. A trio sonata is written for 4 musicians, which includes 2 soloists, a harpsichord or
organ and a cello or bassoon accompaniment.
18. Some names of dances in a dance suite are the allemande, bourree and courante.
19. A concerto grosso is a piece in three movements written for an orchestra and a group
of soloists, whilst a solo concerto is a piece in three movements written for an
orchestra and one soloist.
20. A key feature of music from the Baroque period is that the music usually keeps the
same mood throughout the piece. Another is the favouring of a light, homophonic
texture with a simple chordal accompaniment, but often returning to a polyphonic
texture.

Classical Period
1. The texture of most music from the Classical period is homophonic, which differs
from the Baroque period in that there was a lot more polyphony before.
2. A balance between expressiveness and formal structure was important for Classical
composers to achieve.
3. Greater variety and contrast was introduced into music through the changing of keys,
rhythms and dynamics.
4. The keyboard continuo dropped out of use from the orchestra.
5. The harpsichord was replaced by the piano because of it’s increased capabilities of
expression through giving the musician more control over features like
staccato/legato and dynamics.
6. A sonata is a piece which is built with several movements. Each movement is in
sonata form.
7. A symphony is a work in several movements which is written for an orchestra alone.
8. A piano trio is a piece written for piano, cello and violin.
9. A string quartet is a piece which is written for two violins, a viola and a cello.
10. A divertimento is a piece written for a summer outdoor performance to be played by
a small ensemble.
11. A serenade is another type of work for a small ensemble to play at an outdoor
summer event.
12. Mozart wrote the opera ‘The Marriage of Figaro’.
13. Sonata form is a structure which starts with an exposition based on two subjects,
which is followed by a development section which explores other keys and finally the
piece ends with a recapitulation.
14. Towards the end of his life, Beethoven became deaf, however this still did not have
an effect on his composing.

Romantic Period
1. Music started to incorporate more interesting harmonies and melody in the Romantic
period as a result of the music starting to become more expressive.
2. The time scale of music increased.
3. Lyrical refers to a piece which has lyrics to accompany it.
4. Chromatic notes are notes which are not in the same key as the rest of the passage
of music.
5. Modulation is a change of key.
6. Musical textures became bolder and denser, often with dramatic contrasts.
7. The flexibility of the brass section increased to the invention of the valve system.
8. Composers often linked their music to poems and other literature.
9. Music that is based on literature is called programme music.
10.A symphonic poem is a large scale work based on a piece of literature.
11.A concert overture is an orchestral piece which is written to celebrate an event or to
describe something.
12.An ‘idee fixe’ is a recurring musical idea or an idea dominating the mind.
13.A ‘leitmotif’ is a leading motif.
14.A virtuoso is someone who is very skilled in what they do.
15.Chopin was most famous for performing on and writing for piano.
16.Nationalism is when musical ideas are identified with a certain country. A famous
Russian Nationalist composer was Tchaikovsky.

20th Century Classical Music

1. Most melodies in the 20th Century were short and fragmentary rather than long and
winding.
2. Dissonance is when notes which aren’t in the same key as the rest of the music are
played.
3. A glissando is a slide down to a certain note.
4. Microtones are intervals which are smaller than a semitone.
5. Dissonant notes are known as discord, whereas other notes are known as concord.
6. A note cluster is when two or more notes which are directly next to each other are
played at the same time.
7. Polytonal music is music in which voices play in more than one key at the same time.
8. Atonal music does not have a key.
9. Syncopation is a rhythmic device where an instrument plays offbeat or accents on
the upbeats.
10. Polyrhythm is when each voice is playing in a different rhythm.
11. An ostinato is a repeating bass melody.
12. Timbre is such a major feature of interest in 20th century music because it varies so
much, and because of the introduction of electronic instruments.
13. Sprechstimme is a vocal style which where the lyrics are half sung and half spoken.
14. Prepared piano is a piano which has been modified by placing objects on the strings
to alter the sound.
15. Impressionism is the use of tone colour and harmony to give an outline rather than a
tight structure, Debussy was a French impressionist composer.
16. Expressionist music uses extremes in features like dynamics and harmonies to
maximise the expression of emotion through the music.
17.