(Chinese) one of the oldest and most sophisticated
instruments of China, it is a seven string fretless
zither often referred to in the West as 'The Scholar's
Lute'
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Qin pipa
see ruan
Quadreble
see quatreble
Quadrat
(German) natural sign
Quadrille, Quadriglia (It.)
Quadrille de Contre Danse was named after a
card game for four players that appeared about 1740.
Quadrilles were first introduced in France about 1760.
The word Quadrille means literally, to assemble
four or more ladies and the same number of gentlemen to
make a set. The dance became a popular feature of
parties and celebrations hosted at the courts of Europe.
In Italy, the dance moved into the regions, went through
many changes and simplifications, before becoming a
popular folk dance. Almost every village in Italy
developed its own version of La Quadriglia, used
to celebrate marriages, family events and victories.
Quadrivium
one of the divisions of the seven liberal arts
studied in medieval times; the seven were divided into
the mathematical four, the quadrivium, which
included arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music, and
rhetorical three, the trivium, which included
grammar, logic, and rhetoric
Quadruple
a prefix indicating four elements, for example,
'quadruple counterpoint' (counterpoint with four
melodies), 'quadruple fugue' (a fugue with four
subjects), 'quadruple stop' (a chord of four notes on a
bowed stringed instrument, 'quadruple time' (the time
signatures 4/4 or C)
a group of four notes to be played in the time of
three
Quadruplum (s.), Quadrupla (pl.)
the fourth voice; in quadruplum organum, the top
line above the triplum (the second line from the top),
duplum/motetus (the third line from the top) and tenor
(the bottom line).
Quail
a wind-instrument that mimics the sound of the bird
of the same name
Qual, Qualvoll
(German) agony, agonized
Quanoon
see kanun
Quanto
(Italian) as much, so much
Quartal or quintal chords
chords built of the interval of a fourth or fifth;
the fourth or fifth does not have to be perfect in
quality; notation: 3x4 on B = 3 note quartal chord
starting on B
Quartal harmony
in organum, or in any harmonic system, quartal
harmony is that based upon the interval of a fourth
although most Western music is based on the interval of
a third (tertian harmony); quartal harmony has
been used in some twentieth-century music
Quart de soupir
a sixteenth rest; a demisemiquaver rest
Quarter note
a crotchet, a note one quarter the time
value of a whole note or semibreve
Quarter rest
or
a crotchet rest, a rest one quarter the time
value of a whole rest or semibreve rest
a work for four independent parts, a body of players
who would perform such a work
Quarto
(Italian) fourth
Quasi
(Italian) as if, almost, in the manner of
Quatre, Quatrième
(French) four, fourth
Quatreble
a voice pitched a fifth above the treble, a term
associeted with music of the Medieval and Renaissance
periods
Quattro
(Italian) four
Quaver
a eighth note, one eighth the time value of
a whole note or semibreve
Quaver rest
a eighth rest, a rest one eighth the time
value of a whole rest or semibreve rest
Que
(French) that, as
Quebecois
music from the French-speaking Canadian province of
Quebec
Quejios
see quejumbre
Quejumbre
cry of anguish in flamenco singing
Quelque, Quelques
(French) some
Quena
a South American folk instrument from the Andes
mountains (Bolivia and Peru), similar to a flute, made
out of cane, 25 to 50 cm. long with five or six finger
holes and a thumb hole. The player produces a sound by
blowing across a sharp notch in the upper rim, It is
commonly heard as a solo instrument and in ensembles.
Pre-Columbian versions have been found dating back to
900 BC and were made of bone and clay.
Quenacho
large Quena
Querflöte
(German) transvere flute
Questo, Questa
(Italian) this
Quest opera
an opera in which the characters take part in a test
or a difficult journey
Queue
(French) grand piano
Quica
Brazilian friction drum
Quickstep
a dance popular in the 1920's in duple meter, a
version of the foxtrot; a fast march
Quieto
(Italian) quiet, calm, serene
Quietissimo
(Italian) quietest
Quijada de burro
the dried jawbone of a dead donkey ornamented with
bells used as a percussion instrument in Spanish
America, especially in Peru. It is struck with the palm
for a soft sound or scraped with a stick
Quilisma
this is one of the very special neumes, sometimes
referred to as 'serrated' note. It mainly features in
rising melodies, such as the pes or scandicus.
It is generally interpreted as a transition note, which
means that it has to be performed quickly and smoothly.
According to recent findings, though, there is a melodic
consequence as well: the quilisma neum mostly
appears on semitone intervals
Quill
the plectrum of a harpsichord jack that actually
plucks the string, traditionally made from the hard stem
from a feather, but today more often made from a
synthetic material such as nylon (Delrin)
Quindecima, Quintadecima
(Italian) a double octave or a 15th, for example
a la quindecima meaning 'at the double octave'; an
organ stop sounding two octaves above the unison stops
Quint
the interval of a fifth; a prefix to the name of
some instruments indicating that they sound a fifth
above or below the standard instrument, for example,
quintfagott; an organ stop sounding a fifth above
the written note, that is the second overtone
Quintal chords
see 'quartal or quintal chords'
Quintal harmony
harmony based on the interval of a fifth, rather
than thirds.
a work for five independent parts, a body of players
who would perform such a work
Quintfagott
(German) a seventeenth-century bassoon sounding a
fifth below the standard bassoon; an eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century bassoon sounding a fifth above the
standard bassoon
Quinto, Quinta
(Italian) fifth
Quinto
the smallest of the conga drums
Quinton
a hybrid instrument in use during the
eighteenth-century, a cross between the violin and the
viol, with the body of a violin, but the sloping
shoulders of the viol, and bearing five strings tuned,
from lowest to highest, g, d', a', d'', g''
Quintsaite
(German) E string of a violin
Quintuple
a prefix indicating five elements, for example,
quintuple time (the time signature 5/4, 5/8, and so on)
Quintuplet
five notes played in the time of four or six,
according to the time signature
Quintus
(Latin, literally 'fifth') the fifth voice in a
sixteenth-century composition having five or more vocal
parts, sometimes a 'descant' or 'countermelody' added
above the usual four voices
Quiribillos
Colombian bamboo rattle
Quitiplás
Venezuelan percussion instrument made from bamboo.
Bamboo tubes of various lengths are struck against the
ground crating a unique sound that in Spanish sounds
like Qui-ti-plá
Quitter
(French) to quit, to leave
Quodlibet
(Latin: what pleases) has two meanings. In
philosophy or theology a quodlibet was an
exercise in argument or disputation, a scholastic
debate, a term in use between about 1377 and 1868. In
music, a quodlibet is a fanciful combination of
airs, a fantasia, a medley, a collection of different
tunes or fragments of composition brought together as a
joke
Quotation music
music that parodies another work or works,
presenting them in a new style or guise
