| I |
(Italian) the (masculine plural) |
| Iambic |
a poetic and musical foot consisting of two
syllables, the first short, the second long
rhythmic modes |
| Icheche |
Igede shakers made from woven straw and leather that
are filled with pebbles |
| Ichigenkin |
smallest of the Japanese kotos, it has one
string stretched over a slender plank of wood acting as
a soundboard
more... |
| Idée fixe |
(French, meaning 'obsession') a recurring theme,
with or without variations, that appears throughout a
composition, a phrase first applied by Berlioz to
describe the theme in his Symphonie fantastique |
| Ideh |
large seeds attached to a grass band. They are used
as an arm or leg rattle (Nigeria) |
| Ideophone, Idiophone |
term of classification applied to instruments that
produce sounds from the material of the instrument
itself without the assistance of reeds, strings or other
externally applied resonator. An idiophone produces
sounds by one of the following methods:
| Concussion Idiophone |
striking together two objects capable of
vibration |
claves, cymbals, etc |
| Friction Idiophones |
rubbing the vibrating object |
glass armonica, musical saw, etc. |
| Percussion Idiophones |
striking the vibrating object with a mallet,
hammer, stick or other non-vibrating object |
wood block, bell, gong, etc. |
| Plucked Idiophone |
plucking a flexible tongue |
Jew's harp, thumb piano, music box, etc. |
| Rattle Idiophone |
shaking the vibrating object |
maracas, pellet bells, etc. |
| Scraped Idiophone |
scraping the vibrating object with a stick
or other non-vibrating object
|
ratchet, güiro, washboard, etc. |
|
| Idi |
see ideh |
| Idyll |
a musical composition of peaceful pastoral
character, for example Siegfried Idyll by Ricard
Wagner |
| Ieta |
a small 7-stringed harp of the Baka forest people
from southeast Cameroon |
| Ievina |
Latvian accordion |
| Igba |
short Nigerian peg-tuned drum with the head made out
of antelope skin. It is slung from the shoulder and
played with a curved stick |
| Igil |
two-stringed fiddle from Tuva with a carved wooden
horses' head attached to the top of the neck. Modern
versions feature three strings. It is played vertically,
while sitting on the ground or on a chair |
| Ijachi |
an Igede iron spear identified with warrior musical
groups. Clappers attached to the spear vibrate as it is
plunged repeatedly into the ground (Nigeria) |
| Ikko |
a highly decorated goblet shaped Japanese drum |
| Il |
(Italian) the (masculine singular) |
| Il faut |
(French) there is needed, there are needed |
| Illustrative music |
music that evokes a poem, scene, mood, idea or
experience |
| Il pin |
(Italian) the most |
| Im Bedarfsfalle |
(German) in case of need |
| Imbongi |
Zulu musician storytellers |
| Im Falle |
(German) in case |
| Imitando |
(Italian) imitating |
| Imitation, Imitative |
the repetition of a phrase, usually at a different
pitch, by another voice or part, i.e. fugal writing |
| Immer |
(German) ever, always, still |
| Impair |
(French) odd (numbers) |
| Impaziente, Impazientemente |
(Italian) impatient, hurried, impatiently, hurriedly |
| Imperfect cadence |
see
imperfect cadence |
| Imperioso |
(Italian) imperious, pompous |
| Impeto |
(Italian) impetus, impetuosity |
| Impétueux (Fr.), Impetuoso (It.), Impetuosamente
(It.), Impetuosità (It.) |
impetuous, impetuously, impetuosity |
| Imponente (It.), Imponierend (Ger.) |
imposing in style, haughtily |
| Imponenza |
(Italian) an imposing style, haughty |
| Impressionism |
an idea borrowed from art, where a work's 'colour'
describes, or gives an impression of an experience |
| Impromptu |
an instrumental piece giving the impression of
having been improvised |
| Improvisation |
compose or perform (music, verse, etc.) extempore |
| In Alt |
(German) see 'alt' |
| Incalcando |
(Italian) getting louder and faster |
| Incalzando |
(Italian) hastening, pressing forward |
| Incidental music |
music composed for the production of a predominantly
spoken play
more... |
| Incipit |
the first line, or first few works, of a work, often
used to identify it |
| Inciso |
(Italian) incisive |
| Incominciando |
(Italian) commencing |
| Inconsolato |
(Italian) in a mournful style |
| Inconsonant |
see 'dissonant' |
| Indebolendo |
(Italian) becoming weaker |
| Indeciso |
(Italian) undecided, capricious |
| Indefinite pitch clef |
see
indefinite pitch clef |
| Indeterminacy |
where the composer leaves sections or elements in a
performance to the discretion of the performer |
| Indicato |
(Italian) prominent |
| Infra |
(Italian) below |
| Infinite canon |
a round, a canon which can go on forever, for
example, three blind mice |
| Inflection |
any change or modification of pitch or note |
| Infra |
(Italian) below |
| Infrasonic |
generating or using waves or vibrations with
frequencies below that of audible sound (sometimes
'subsonic' is used when what is meant is 'infrasonic') |
| Inglese |
(Italian) English |
| In modo di |
(Italian) in the style or manner of |
| Ingoma |
word for drum in Burundi |
| Inharmonic |
containing frequencies that are not whole-number
multiples of the fundamental |
| Inkiranya |
large ceremonial drum from Burundi |
| Innig |
(German) heartfelt, intimate |
| Inno |
(Italian) Hymn |
| Innocenza |
(Italian) innocence |
| In nomine |
an instrumental fancy based on the plainsong
Gloria Tibi Trinitas Aequalis |
| Inquiet (Fr.), Inquieto (It.) |
restless |
| Insensible |
imperceptible |
| Insieme |
(Italian) together, ensemble |
| Inständig |
(German) urgent |
| Instante, Instanteniente |
(Italian) urgent, urgently |
| Instrumental |
describes music written for instruments but not for
the voice - music for the voice is termed vocal |
| Instrumentation |
the disposition of instruments in a musical work, in
other words, which instruments plays what lines in the
score |
| Instruments |
devices used to create music, classified as
woodwinds, brass, percussion and stringed instruments,
where keyboard instruments are sometimes given a
separate category, although they produce sounds either
by vibrating strings (as in the case of the piano,
harpsichord, virginal, etc.) or by the flow of air (as
in the organ); electronic instruments, developed in the
twentieth-century, form a new classification |
| Instruments à percussion |
(French) percussion instruments |
| Intabulation |
the arrangement of vocal music for keyboard or
plucked stringed instrument, a term most often applied
to music of the Renaissance |
| Intavolatura |
a term used in Elizabethan times for the arrangement
of madrigals |
| Interlude |
a short piece played between two larger ones, or
between two acts of a play |
| Intermède (Fr.), Intermezzo (It.) |
a smaller piece placed between others, a small
independent piece |
| Intermedio |
(Italian) short, musical, dramatic items performed
between acts of a theatrical performance |
| Intermedium |
see 'intermezzo' |
| Interpolation |
the lengthening of the repetition of a phrase by the
insertion of material not heard in the original phrase |
| Interpretation |
the artistic communication by the performer of the
music to the audience, in particular how a performer
will present the material to the listeners and how
emotions are communicated through the performance,
applicable mainly to music that is ambiguous as to
tempo, dynamics, etc. |
| Interrupted cadence |
see
interrupted cadence |
| Interval |
the distance between two pitches described in terms
of two variables, the numerical value (for
example, second, fourth, eleventh, etc. ), and the
quality (for example, perfect, major, minor,
augmented, diminished, etc.)
more... |
| Intime (Fr.), Intimo (It.) |
intimate |
| Intonation |
the degree to which the pitch of a note heard is
what is correct but not to the degree that the note
heard is the wrong note |
| Intonazione |
a term used by Italian Renaissance composers when
referring to a toccata-like composition, designed to
introduce vocal music used in church services, and to
set the proper key and tempo for the ensuing vocal
composition |
| Intoning |
chanting on a single note |
| Intrada |
(Italian) entrée |
| Intrepido, Intrepidezza, Intrepidamente |
(Italian) bold, boldness, boldly |
| Intro |
an abbreviation of the word 'introduction',
generally referring to the opening bars of a piece of
music played before the main theme |
| Introduction |
the opening part of a piece of music, which may be
no more than a chord or a lengthly prepation for the
introduction of the main theme |
| Introduzione |
(Italian) introduction |
| Introit |
(from Latin introitus meaning 'entrance') in
the Roman Catholic Mass, it is the first item, the chant
sung as the priest enters and approaches the altar; in
the Anglican service, it is a short anthem, hymn, or
psalm sung as the minister prepares to administer
communion |
| Invention |
a two-art contrapuntal work for keyboard, the term
originally applied by Bach; today, Bach's three part
contrapuntal keyboard works are also called inventions
today although he originally called them sinfonie |
| Inversion |
where the notes in a chord or triad do not follow
their standard order, for example, a triad which read
from the bottom note up root - third -
fifth, is used with the third (called 'first
inversion') or fifth (called 'second inversion') in the
lowest position; turning a melody upside down |
| Invertible counterpoint |
counterpoint in which two or more voices can be
interchanged, one for another |
| Ionian mode |
see
modes |
| Ipu |
a single gourd drum made in two sizes for dancers of
both the ancient and modern hulas (Hawaii) |
| Ipu heke |
a drum made of two gourds of unequal size which are
attached at the necks. A hole is left in open on the top
of the upper gourd, and the two are joined by breadfruit
gum. The musician sits on the ground, hold the ipu in
his left hand and with a kapa or twine loop and plays
rhythms on it with his right hand |
| Irato |
(Italian) angrily |
| Irish harp |
see cláirseach |
| Ironico, Ironicamente |
(Italian) ironic, ironically |
| Irresulto |
(Italian) indecided in style |
| Iscathamiya |
traditional Zulu call-and-response a capella choral
music sung by men from South Africa. In the mines of
South Africa, black workers would entertain themselves
after a six-day week by singing songs into the night,
and choreographing dance steps on 'tip toe' so as not to
disturb the camp security guards. When the miners
returned to the homelands, the tradition returned with
them |
| Ishaka |
Ibo gourd shaker with three different types of
natural seed nets (Nigeria) |
| Islancio |
(Italian) impetuosity |
| Isomelos |
in which a figure is repeated using the same notes
but employing a different rhythm; a technique used
constantly in dodecaphony |
| Isometric |
where the rhythm in each part exactly matches that
in the other(s) so the structure is chordal rather than
contrapuntal |
| Isorhythm |
a technique for musical organisation, where repeated
rhythmic pattern (called the talea), usually
occurring in the tenor line, are set against a pattern
of notes or pitches (called the 'colour') - the talea
and colour may be different in length; a feature found
in motets, and therefore called isorhythmic motets, and
some mass settings from the early fourteenth- and
mid-fifteenth-centuries
more... |
| Istesso |
(Italian) same |
| Istesso tempo |
(Italian) the same speed |
| Istrumento d'acciaio |
glockenspiel |
| Italian overture |
a work for orchestra, originating from the
seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries, in three
movements arranged quick - slow - quick,
from which the symphony evolved |
| Italian sixth chord |
an augmented sixth chord, which contains only three
tones, as opposed to a German sixth chord, or a French
sixth chord
see
sixth chords |
| Ita, missa est |
(Latin, literally 'Go, the mass is ended') The
dismissal from the Mass, sung by the priest at the very
end of the service, from which phrase the name Missa
or "Mass" has come to mean the entire service |
| Itótele |
the middle drum in the set of three Cuban batá
drums |
| Iworo |
Igede leg rattles worn by dancers. They are made
from the large seeds of the ochichingbo vine |
| Iyá |
the largest of the set of three Cuban batá
drums. It is believed to communicate directly with the
orishas during sacred ceremonies |
| Iyailu |
see batá drums |
| Iyesá |
a set of four sacred two-headed drums made of
hand-carved cedar and played with sticks |
