A8 GLOSSARY
monophony. A musical texture consisting of a single,
unaccompanied melodic line.
motive. A brief thematic element.
Motown sound. A style of 1960s soul music, associ-
ated with Motown Records, that resembles main-
stream pop in its use of smooth vocals and string
sections.
MP3. A compressed digital audio fi le format that takes
relatively little computer memory to store and trav-
els easily across the Internet.
music video. A short video designed to accompany a
popular record.
musical. See musical comedy.
musical comedy. A spoken play with songs and dances
in a popular style.
mute. Any object that reduces the volume and alters
the timbre of an instrument.
Nashville sound. A 1960s popular style featuring
country-style vocals, polished instrumental and
vocal backings, and the downplaying of traditional
instruments such as fi ddle and banjo in favor of
electric guitar, piano, and string sections.
New Romanticism. A postmodern style of composi-
tion that incorporates modernist and premodern-
ist elements, often making use of quotation.
New Wave. A late-1970s offshoot of pun k music empha-
sizing ironic distance.
nondiegetic music. In fi lm, music that heightens the
mood or clarifi es plot or character and is inaudible
to the characters; also called underscoring.
nortec. Mexican American electronic dance music that
samples norteño and banda.
norteño. Musical style of northern Mexico and Texas
combining Mexican and German elements.
note. The musical notation for a tone; informally, syn-
onymous with tone.
novelty song. A comic popular song, often topical in
subject matter.
octave. The interval between a pitch and one with
exactly twice (or half) its frequency.
old-time music. String band style typical of pre–World
War II country music.
Old Way. The style of lining-out favored by New
England congregations before the rise of Regular
Singing.
open. Unmuted (for a trumpet or other brass
instrument).
opera. A theatrical genre in which all, or nearly all,
of the words are sung instead of spoken; cf. comic
opera and operetta.operetta. A form of musical theater similar to opera
but lighter in theme and musical style, with spoken
dialogue.
ophicleide. Any member of a now-obsolete family of
keyed brass instruments.
oratorio. A large-scale religious work for chorus, solo
singers, and orchestra.
ostinato. A repeating melody, rhythm, or chord pro-
gression used as a structural element.
out chorus. The fi nal chorus in a jazz performance.
outlaw country. Austin-based 1970s country music
that appropriated the countercultural stance, if not
the sounds, of rock.
overdubbing. A recording studio practice in which
instrumental and vocal parts are recorded sepa-
rately and then superimposed.
overtone. A note of the overtone series higher than the
fundamental.
overtone series. T he complement of pa r tia ls that ma ke
up the sound of any single tone, heard as timbre.
p2p. See peer-to-peer.
palm muting, A technique in both acoustic and elec-
tric guitar playing in which the side or palm of the
right hand mutes the strings, creating a staccato
effect.
pandiatonicism. Musical effect or style in which all
the notes of the diatonic scale are sounded together.
parlor song. Nineteenth-century song intended for
home music making.
partial. Any constituent element of the overtone
series.
pasticcio. A theater work whose songs consist of bor-
rowings from other stage works.
patting juba. A transformation of African drumming
practice, using the human body as a substitute for
percussion instruments.
pedal point. A long-held note with changing harmo-
nies over or around it.
pedal steel guitar. An amplifi ed steel guitar equipped
with pedals that allow rapid changes of tuning.
peer-to-peer (p2p). Any communications system that
allows users equal access, facilitating the creation
of a fi le-sharing network.
pentatonic scale. A scale of fi ve pitches; most fre-
quently, a fi ve-pitch scale that corresponds to fi ve of
seven notes of a diatonic scale and avoids half steps
(and thus can be produced by the black notes of the
piano).
performance art. An artwork consisting of a perfor-
mance that typically combines multiple means of172028_99a_A1-A13_GLO_r1_ka.indd A8 23/01/13 11:22 AM