GLOSSARY

A

a cappella: Unaccompanied vocal music; singing without instrumental accompaniment.
Accordion: A free-reed, bellows-driven instrument developed in the early nineteenth century. There are various forms of accordions; most common are the button accordion (with a keyboard made up of one or more rows of buttons) and the piano accordion (with a piano-style keyboard). See also Diatonic accordion.
Alabado: A free-form lament of Arab-Spanish origin that is heard in Texas-Mexican communities of the south-western United States.
Angular leap: An abrupt jump between two intervals in a melody.
Antiphony: See Call-and-response.
Ascending contour or melody: A melody that generally rises in pitch over its duration.
Autoharp: A musical instrument invented by C. F. Zimmerman in the late nineteenth century. It is tuned chromatically, covering about three and a half octaves. The strings are stopped by the player pressing down on "chord bars;" these bars automatically block all the notes except those found in a specific chord. Sold through mail-order catalogs and by traveling salesmen/teachers in the early twentieth century, the autoharp became a popular instrument for accompanying songs and ballads.

B

Bagpipe: A common musical instrument found throughout Europe. There are many varieties made in different sizes with different features. The basic bagpipe consists of a large bag (sometimes made of the body of a goat or another animal) that is pumped to provide the air supply for one or more pipes. In the top of each pipe is a single reed that produces the sounds. The chanter is a long pipe with holes in it that produces melody notes; the drone pipes are shorter and play only a single, continuous note. See also Uillean (bag)pipes.
Bajo sexto: A large-bodied, guitar-like instrument popularized in Mexico. It has a much deeper body than a standard guitar.
Ballad: A song that tells a story. Ballads are usually long, and their main subjects are love and death.
Banjo (five-string): An African American-derived instrument featuring a skin or plastic head stretched across a wooden or metal hoop, with four long strings and one short "drone" string. The banjo was originally used in African American dance music and in minstrel music and is now commonly played in old-time and bluegrass music. See also Tenor banjo.

Barbershop harmony: Traditional four-part harmonies developed by so-called barbershop quartets during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Barbershop quartets often featured an independent, and active, bass part. This style of singing was carried forward by gospel quartets and other popular harmony groups.
Barrel drum: A drum with a long body that is slightly flared at its center, like the shape of a barrel. These drums can have either one or two heads and may vary in size from small to very large. The Japanese taiko and Puerto Rican barile are examples of barrel drums.
Bass: An acoustic or electric four-string instrument used to play the bass harmony accompaniment to a melody.
Bass drum: A large cylindrical drum of indefinite pitch with heads on both sides.
Batá drums: Sacred drums (imported from Africa) that are played as part of Afro-Caribbean religious ceremonies. They have an hourglass shape with a head stretched across each end of the body. The drums are held vertically across the player's body, and each end is struck with one hand. Batá rhythms have been carried over into secular/popular musical styles from this region.
Bebop: A style of jazz involving new harmonic concepts, rapid tempos, and small ensembles. It was developed in the 1940s and is especially associated with saxophone player Charlie Parker.
Big band: The primary ensemble of the swing era of American jazz and popular music of the 1930s and 1940s. Big band music is scored for multiple trumpets, trombones, clarinets, and saxophones (melody group), while small groups usually employ, at most, one of each instrument. Usually the sections of the band perform alternately, in call-and-response style. In both big and small bands, the rhythm section is piano and/or guitar, drum kit, and double bass.
Big circle dance: An Appalachian dance performed in a large circle. Couples pair off in sets of two to perform figures similar to those in square dances, then fall back into a big circle to perform larger group figures.
Blue note: A note that is slightly flattened to give it a "bluesy" effect; often the third or seventh degree of the scale.
Bluegrass: A style of music invented by mandolinist Bill Monroe based on old-time string band music, blues, and Western swing. Monroe put together a band that included the rhythms of popular music, the bluesy inflected vocals of African American music, and the tight harmonies of gospel and old-time church singing. The typical bluegrass band is modeled on Monroe's original group that featured mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle, and bass.
Blues: A traditional African American musical genre. It is in 4/4 time, with a melody characterized by lowered third and seventh (blue notes), and has developed into a stereotyped, twelve-measure harmonic pattern. The term has also been used to describe any song that expresses "blue" or sad feelings.
Bodhrán: See Frame drum.
Bolero: Medium-tempoed dance in triple time, with intricate steps, popular in Spain, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Bongo drums/Bongos: Two small, shallow, single-headed drums that are played with the palms and fingers of the hands. Popular in Latin-Caribbean musical cultures.
Bottleneck: A style of playing the guitar in which the guitarist places a glass bottleneck around a finger on the noting hand and slides it over the strings of the instrument, creating a sliding or whining sound. This is a common technique among blues guitarists, who use either a glass bottleneck or a metal bar (called a slide).

Brass band: A band made up entirely of brass and wind instruments, popularized by bandleader/composer John Philip Sousa at the turn of the twentieth century.
Break dancing/Breaking: A solo, urban dance style featuring elaborate athletic moves, including spinning, moon-walking, flipping, and popping (isolating certain parts of the body to mimic robot-like movement).
Broadsheet/Broadside ballad: A single sheet of paper on which the text (and sometimes music) of a song was printed. Beginning in the seventeenth century, broadsides were popular as a means of spreading new and traditional songs.
Buck dancing: See Clogging.
Button accordion: See Accordion.

C

Cajun music: A style of music that originated among natives of southeastern Louisiana of French descent. It often consists of dance music or lyrical songs sung in the local dialect (which is itself a mixture of English and French dialects). Typical Cajun bands feature fiddle, accordion, triangle, and guitar.
Call-and-response: A vocal or instrumental style in which a short melodic line (the "call") is sung (often by a song leader) and then a second, "responding" phrase follows it (often sung by a group). In European and American classical music, the style is called "antiphony."
Caller: A dance leader who "prompts" the dancers by calling out the figures before they are to be performed. Common today among square, contra, and big circle dances.
Calypso: A Caribbean song form popularized in the United States during the 1930s featuring improvised songs of topical or humorous content with a syncopated beat.
Camp-meeting song: A religious song associated with large nineteenth-century camp meetings, the purpose of which was to convert people to Christianity. Hundreds of congregants converged on a single spot to spend several days praying, sermonizing, witnessing, and exchanging and learning simple songs that were easy to sing by ear.
Canción: A traditional love song of the Latino communities of the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Latin America.
Ceili: Gaelic for "dance." Thus, any gathering where Irish dancing is performed.
Ceili or Ceilidh band: An Irish dance band that combines traditional Irish melody instruments—fiddle, flute, bagpipe, and accordion—with a regular, heavy rhythmic accompaniment provided by piano, bass, and military-style drumming.
Celtic music: Music of the Celts, the original inhabitants of Ireland and Wales; often used to describe Irish traditional music in general.
Chanson: A short lyric song in the French language.
Chanter: (1) A song leader. In the Native American tradition, the chanter (usually male) may also serve as the drummer who accompanies dancers. (2) The melody pipe of the bagpipe.
Chantey: See Shanty.
Chanteymen: Sailors who sing traditional shantys; also used to describe any sailors who work on a boat.
Chicago blues: A style of urban blues that emerged on the South Side of Chicago after World War II, centering around performers such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Generally, Chicago blues is performed by a combo featuring electric guitar, piano, harmonica, and drums.
Chicken scratch music: A common name (regarded by some as disparaging) for a type of dance music played by Native American and Tex-Mex bands that is derived from European styles such as quadrilles, waltzes, and polkas.

Chinese opera: An elaborately staged and costumed musical theater tradition of China. Different Chinese regions have their own operatic styles, which are referred to as Peking opera, Cantonese opera, and so on.
Chorus: (1) See Refrain. (2) A large vocal group made up of voices of different vocal ranges.
Chromatic scale: All twelve divisions of the octave (not just the eight of the do-remi scale.) On a piano, for instance, the chromatic scale includes all of the white and black keys within the span of an octave.
Cittern: A Renaissance-era string instrument similar to a guitar.
Clave rhythm: The defining rhythm of much Latin-Caribbean music. It is a repeated two-bar pattern around which all other rhythmic patterns are organized. It goes "123–123–12 34–12–12–34," keeping an even pulse and stressing "1."
Claves: Two sticks that are beat rhythmically together in Latin-Caribbean musical styles. See also Rhythm sticks.
Clog: (1) See Clogging. (2) A dance tune to accompany clogging or step dancing, usually in 2/4 or 4/4 time.
Clogging: Complicated step dances often performed by a solo dancer, with movement restricted to the lower legs and feet, while the remainder of the body is held straight. Similar to Irish step dancing and perhaps derived from it. Styles that involve keeping the feet close to the ground are known as "flat-foot clogging" or "flatfooting." Also called "buck dancing."
Coda: An ending passage of a musical composition.
Combo: A small instrumental ensemble.
Concertina: A name loosely given to a wide variety of free-reed, bellows-driven instruments. The concertina played by German, Polish, and other immigrants in the American Midwest is really a form of button accordion. The Irish concertina is much smaller and plays a different note on the push and pull.
Conga drums: See Tumbadoras.
Conjunto: (1) A small ensemble, usually led by an accordion, popular in the southwestern United States and Mexico. (2) The type of music played by such an ensemble. See also Norteño music/La música norteña.
Contour: Literally, "shape." The shape of a melody—whether it moves up or down gradually or in leaps—is called its contour.
Contra dance: A New England form of couple dance, danced in two facing lines. The figures are performed by two couples and are similar to those found in square dancing. Chorus figures are performed by the entire line. Couples progress up or down the line as they become "active" (initiators of a figure) or "inactive."
Contradanza: See Contra dance.
Contredanse: See Contra dance.
Corrido: A narrative folk song or ballad (often tragic and with elements of social protest) found among both Native American and Tex-Mex traditions in the southwestern United States and Mexico, its country of origin.
Cotillion: A French ballroom dance of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that was popular in the American colonies as well as in England. It involved couples in square formations performing repeated figures and was a predecessor of the quadrille and square dance.
Cotillo: See Cotillion.
Countermelody: A contrasting second melody played simultaneously with the principal melody.
Counterrhythm: A second rhythmic line played in contrast with the principal rhythmic line.

Couplet: Two lines of a song's lyric that form a complete thought.
Cowbell: A small, hollow metal bell—similar to those placed around the necks of cows—that is struck with a metal stick.
Csárdás: A stylized Hungarian folk dance in 2/4 time that became popular in the first half of the nineteenth century. The melodies are noted for their minor keys and dramatic changes in tempo.
Cuatro: A Puerto Rican guitar-like instrument, but with a smaller body and five pairs of strings.
Cubop: A blend of Cuban rhythms and drums with bebop-style music. Pioneered by Dizzy Gillespie's bands of the 1950s.
Cycle: (1) A group of songs or instrumental compositions that are usually performed together. (2) In square dancing, a group of four couples who form a single square. Also called set.
Cymbals: Paired percussion instruments consisting of two brass discs that are struck together. They can be very small (for example, finger cymbals) or quite large.

D

Deejay: See Disc jockey.
Descending contour or melody: A melody that generally falls in pitch over its duration.
Diatonic accordion: An accordion with buttons that play different notes when the bellows are opened (pulled) or closed (pushed). Sometimes called "push-pull accordions" for this reason.
Diatonic scale: The eight-tone scale from octave to octave; the do-re-mi scale without chromatic tones.
Diddley bow: Traditional African American one-stringed instrument. The string is made of hay baling wire stretched over two cans or jars and fastened horizontally to a wall or a board at each end. It is plucked with the fingers of one hand. Different tones are produced by stopping the string with a small bottle or other slide.
Disc jockey: An announcer who selects, introduces, and plays records, either "live" or on the radio. Commonly called a "deejay" or "DJ."
Disco: Dance music of the 1970s noted for its loud, regular beat.
Dissonance: In Western classical music, any harmony part that is based on seconds, sevenths, augmented, or diminished intervals. More generally, a harmony part that sounds unpleasant to the ear. "Consonance" is the term used to describe simultaneously played tones that are pleasant to the ear.
DJ: See Disc jockey.
Dominant: The fifth degree in the Western major or minor scale. Also, the chord built on this note.
Dorian mode: A sequence of tones from one octave to the next, neither major nor minor, which can be sounded by the eight white keys of the piano starting and ending on "D."
Drone: A continuous, unchanging tone that sounds throughout a musical composition or a portion of it.
Drop-thumb/double-thumbing (banjo): See Frailing.
Drum-rattle: A skin-headed drum that features small rattles, either mounted on the outside of the instrument or along the rim of the drumhead itself, so that it can create both percussive and rattling sounds.
Dulcimer (Appalachian dulcimer or lap dulcimer): A three- or four-stringed instrument held on the lap. The strings run the length of the instrument over a fretted fingerboard, and the player frets the notes either with a small stick or the fingers while strumming the strings with a feather quill or pick. Not related to the hammer/hammered dulcimer.

Duple time/beat: A rhythm that is divisible by two or with two primary accents.

E

Electric guitar: An amplified guitar; the guitar's sound is enhanced through pickups that translate the sound into electrical energy that is amplified and broadcast over speakers. Amplification further allows changing the guitar's timbre.
Ethnography: The systematic description of human culture.
Ethnology: The scientific comparison of human cultures.
Ethnomusicology: The study of people making music, all over the globe.

F

Fa-sol-la singers: See Shape-note.
Falsetto: An artificially high voice; often a male singer singing well above his normal range.
Feis: An Irish competition/festival in which musicians and dancers compete for prizes.
Fiddle: A bowed lute with four strings, ordinarily tuned GDAE like the European violin. Although fiddles and violins are now structurally more or less identical, fiddle players use different techniques and sometimes modify their instruments (flattening the arc of the bridge, for example) and play in nonstandard tunings.
Field holler: An a cappella, African American work song.
Fiesta: A religious celebration popular in Latino communities and among some Native Americans.
Fife: A short, open-holed, transverse flute with six to eight holes.
Fifth: The fifth scale degree; the related interval between the tonic and the fifth scale degree.
Fill: An embellishing musical phrase, often improvised by an ensemble musician not responsible for carrying the main melody.
Finger cymbals: Tiny paired cymbals that are attached to the fingers with small leather straps.
Finger pick: To play a banjo or guitar with the tips of the finger or finger picks (metal or plastic extensions attached to the thumb or fingers to enable the player to produce a louder sound) rather than strumming across the strings with a flat pick held between the thumb and first finger.
Fipple flute: A flute with a mouthpiece that has a plug with a notch at one end, such as that found on the recorder.
Flageolet: A simple flute, often made from a reed or bone, that is blown from one end. It features four fingering holes and two thumb holes to vary the tones produced.
Flatfooting: See Clogging.
Floating stanza or verse: A common set of lyrics that moves from one song to another.
Folklife: Study of the day-to-day lives of ordinary people in close-knit communities, with special attention to traditional ways of thinking and doing.
Folklore: The oral and customary traditions of a group of people, including their stories, songs, recipes, clothing, holidays, architecture and use of space, and so on.
Foodways: The traditional eating habits and cooking practices of a specific cultural group.
Form: Musical structure; the way the musical design coheres as a whole.
Fox-trot: Popular dance form of the 1920s and 1930s in duple time that has survived as one of the standard couple dances.
Frailing (banjo): The old-time style of playing the banjo that involves brushing the back of the nail of the second or third finger across the strings while "catching" the thumb on the short drone string in a rhythmic pattern. Also called clawhammer, rapping, banging, thumping, or drop-thumb (a more melodic variation of frailing, where the thumb is used to pick notes as well as to hit the drone string). See also three-finger style (banjo) and two-finger (up-picking) style (banjo).

Frame drum: A round drum with a shallow body. The rim of the drum is often made from a single bent piece of wood. Examples of frame drums are the bodhrán, which is used in Irish traditional music, and the tambourine.
Free reed: A small, single reed—made of metal, bamboo, or some other material—that is held firmly at one end, usually in a frame. A Jew's harp is a simple free-reed instrument. Accordions, concertinas, the Japanese shō, and harmonicas are also free-reed instruments.
Freedom song: Song performed during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s expressing the message of the movement.
Frolic: An older term for a dance, often held at a private home, that might last all night long.
Funk: (1) An African American popular music that developed in the 1960s from African polyrhythms and call-and-response textures. Funk music often uses a single chord or a few alternating, sometimes complex harmonies, through which clipped, syncopated lines emerge in the electric guitar and bass parts, drums and percussion, keyboards, winds (saxophones, trumpets), and vocal parts. Interjections by different instruments and voices, often repeated, is another typical element. Funk has been able to blend into successive styles, exerting influence on reggae, disco, hip-hop, and rap. (2) A roots movement in jazz during the 1950s that drew on blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel music in a reaction against increasingly abstract bebop and cool jazz styles.

G

Gaelic: The family of traditional languages of Ireland and Scotland.
Genre: A named type of musical composition and performance, such as jazz, blues, bluegrass, zydeco, and so on.
Gesangverein ("Singing society"): A private, German American social club dedicated to choral singing, often of patriotic and sentimental songs, traditionally sung in German.
Gigue: Originally a popular Baroque dance in a rapid tempo that was performed by men. In the Franco-American tradition, the gigue has evolved into a virtuosic solo step dance performed by both men and women. See also Jig.
Glide: A smooth, rapid movement from one note to another, slurring over the intermediate pitches. In classical music, called "portamento" or "glissando."
Glissando: See Glide.
Glottal stop: An abrupt interruption of the breath by rapidly closing the glottis (the elongated open space between the vocal cords).
Gong: A large, round, metal plate that is often suspended in a frame. It plays a single note when it is struck with a metal stick or mallet.
Gospel music: Modern Protestant religious music that is more personal and informal than the traditional Christian hymn.
Gospel quartet: A small ensemble of four or more singers who sing religious-themed songs in four-part harmony.
Gourd rattle: A dried gourd that has been hollowed out and filled with seeds or small pebbles. When shaken, it makes a rattling sound.

Grace note: An ornamenting or embellishing note, usually performed before the primary tone.
Griot: An African storyteller; specifically applied to the master harpists of the Gambia who accompany themselves on a harp known as the kora while relating their political and cultural history.
Guitar: A six-stringed instrument of seventeenth-century Spanish origin, successor to the lute. It was popularized among folk and amateur musicians in the United States in the late nineteenth century as an accompaniment for songs.

H

Habanera: A traditional Latin-Caribbean dance form with a 3+3+2 rhythmic structure.
Half-tone or half-step: The smallest interval in the Western scale; also called a semitone. For example, the interval C-C# is a half-step.
Hammer/hammered dulcimer: A traditional instrument found in many regions of the world. It consists of a square or trapezoidal-shaped body with strings running across the length of the box. The strings are usually paired (i.e., each note is produced by two strings). The player strikes the strings with two small "hammers" made of wood (sometimes covered with felt). Unrelated to the Appalachian lap dulcimer, despite the shared name.
Hammond organ: An electronic organ developed in the late 1940s that was far less expensive and much smaller and lighter than a conventional pipe organ and therefore appealed to smaller churches and home organists. Besides organ sounds, this instrument was also capable of producing some "special effects" electronically.
Harmonica: A small, free-reed instrument. A series of reeds are mounted in small air chambers that are open at one end. The player either sucks or blows into these openings to make the reeds sound. By cupping their hands over the harmonica and opening or closing them while playing and by playing in keys other than what the harmonica is meant for, blues musicians have created many different timbres and effects. Also called a "mouth harp," "harp," or "mouth organ."
Harmonium: A small reed organ. The reeds are set in motion by air from a bellows pumped by the player's feet.
Harmony: Musical tones sounded at the same time. See also Melody.
Heterophony: Two or more slightly different vocal or instrumental parts played simultaneously. Slight intentional variations in ornamentation and attack may account for some of the differences.
Hexatonic: A six-note scale.
Highland fling: The Irish name for traditional Scottish tunes played briskly in 4/4 time.
Hillbilly music: The recording industry's pejorative, in-house name for early country music (c. 1923–1930).
Hip-hop: African American popular dance music of the last two decades of the twentieth century that became the underlying musical basis for rap. While inheriting the strong beat of disco, hip-hop re-emphasized the backbeat of 1960s popular music and also drew upon house music of the late 1970s. It developed as sampling technology evolved, allowing musicians and producers to "sample" or record small excerpts from earlier popular songs. These small pieces were then electronically treated, looped (or repeated), and put one on top of another to form a dense musical texture.
Hoedown: A community dancing party, originally in the rural American South and West, featuring square dances with calling and old-time music.

Honky-tonk: A small bar or club featuring country music. Marked by the sound of electric guitars and pedal steel guitars, honky-tonk music emerged as a popular style in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Hornpipe: Since the sixteenth century, a dance and tune in 4/4 or 2/4 time. Originally played slowly to accompany step dancing, hornpipes are now often played as quickly as reels.
Hula: Originally a form of religious dance from Hawaii; subsequently popularized as a show dance style.
Hurdy-gurdy: A stringed instrument most commonly found in Eastern Europe and France (Brittany). The fret board is covered with an elaborate mechanism that allows the player to fret the strings by pushing down on a key (like the keyboard of a piano). The notes are sounded by turning a crank that activates a rosin-covered wheel that rubs up against the strings from underneath.
Hymn: A religious song praising God.

I

Idiophones: Musical instruments whose sounds are produced by striking or shaking a metallic, wooden, or other surface directly. Thus, idiophones produce their sound by the substance of the instrument itself. Cymbals, rattles, rhythm sticks, and triangles are examples of idiophones.
Improvisation: The creation of new melody, lyrics, or harmony parts in the midst of performance.
Instrument: A device that produces musical sounds.
Interval: The distance in pitch between two notes. Intervals are usually measured from the lower tone to the higher. In the C major scale, the interval C-E is a major third.

J

Jam/jamming: A dance competition held on the street; "jamming" is to compete with other dancers. See also Street dancing; break dancing/breaking.
Jam session: An informal gathering of musicians to play tunes.
Jazz: A number of popular musical styles invented by African Americans beginning around the turn of the twentieth century based on improvised melodies and syncopated rhythms.
Jew's harp: A small musical instrument consisting of a metal tongue (or reed) mounted in a frame. The player holds it up against his or her open teeth, and, while vigorously plucking the instrument's tongue, breathes in and out to create a whirring sound. Also called "jaw harp."
Jig: An Irish dance tune in triple time; also the rapid movement of the feet in a "jig" step.
Jubilee: An African American religious song that has had different meanings over time and that may refer to (1) songs sung during the emancipation celebrations of 1862 and that refer to a liberation, (2) songs that are uptempo and rhythmic (such as "When the Saints Go Marching In"), and (3) the Fisk Jubilee Singers and their strong influence on a new singing style and songs written during Reconstruction. The Fisk singers and these new songs were important in the development of gospel quartets. Written in the context of freedom, not slavery, this music exhibited a different attitude and style.
Jug band: An informal jazz group, often featuring homemade or inexpensive musical instruments, including the kazoo, washboard, washtub bass, and a large, empty jug. The jug player either blows or sings into its opening in a rhythmic fashion to create a bass harmony part.
Junkanoo music: A style of vibrant, Bahamian percussion music performed by costumed marchers (Junkanooers) at special parades and festivals that were originally held during the Christmas season but now occur at other times of the year as well.

K

Kazoo: A small wind instrument featuring a thin membrane that is set into vibration when the player hums or speaks into one end of the instrument. A simple version can be made by placing a piece of tissue paper over a comb and humming through it.
Kitchen racket or kitchen junket: An informal dance held in the home; the term was most commonly used in New York and New England for informal contra dances.
Klezmer: A Yiddish term literally meaning "vessel of melody," it was the name given to Jewish American dance bands of the 1920s and 1930s who played a mixture of traditional and jazz influenced music. Klezmer music has enjoyed a strong revival since the mid-1970s.
Konpas: Haitian small-band music that incorporates elements of rock, jazz, disco, soul, and funk.

L

Ländler: A couple dance in 3/4 time that originated in alpine central Europe in the early nineteenth century.
Leader: See Song leader.
Lining out: A term used to describe a style of hymn singing in which a group leader first sings a line of music and the leader and congregation then repeat the words to a different but related melody. The hymn continues in this way line by line.
Long bow style: A fiddle technique in which several notes are played on a single bowstroke; smoother than playing "short bow" style, in which the direction of the bow is changed with the majority of notes.
Longways: Dances performed in two long lines. See also Contra dance.
Lulus: See Vocables.
Lute: A generic name for a variety of plucked string instruments, most popular from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. The body of the lute is shaped like half of a pear, with its neck turned back at a right angle. It usually has five sets of double strings, plus a single string for the highest sound, and they are plucked with the fingers. The mandolin is of the lute family, as are the Chinese pipa and the Japanese biwa. See also Guitar.
Lyric song: A song that primarily expresses an emotion (e.g., love, loneliness, or anger). Lyric songs are shorter than narrative ballads. Usually in a verse-refrain format, a common structure in which one melodic part (a verse whose lyrics often change) is alternated with a repeated chorus or refrain.

M

Major: The primary Western classical scale since the eighteenth century. A major chord consists of a first, major third, and fifth intervals.
Mambo: A ballroom dance derived from the rumba. It appeared in Cuba during the 1940s and by the 1950s had spread to non-Hispanic audiences in the United States. The mambo uses forward and backward steps (beginning on the upbeat) to percussive polyrhythmic accompaniment.
Mandolin: An eight-string, guitar-like instrument. The mandolin's strings are paired in four and tuned like those of a violin. Mandolin orchestras were popular in the early twentieth century. Today they have largely disappeared, but the instrument is featured in bluegrass music.
Maracas: Popular Latin-Caribbean gourd rattles.

Mariachi: A modern musical ensemble—often heard along the border between Texas and Mexico—consisting of vocalists accompanied by various stringed instruments, including guitars and violins and usually brass (trumpets) as well.
Marimba: A wooden-keyed instrument with small resonators placed below the bars. It is played with a stick or a pair of sticks. A type of xylophone.
Matachina and Matachines: Matachina are dances of conquest, originally Spanish in origin but later adapted by the Pueblo Indians; matachines are the male dancers who perform them. The matachines dance in two lines facing each other, often wearing elaborate crowns featuring long ribbons and carrying rattles. They may also perform circular dances around a maypole.
Mazurka: A Polish dance style in triple time brought to the United States by immigrants beginning in the mid-nineteenth century.
Mele: Chanted poetic texts that express the relationship of Hawaiians to everything around them (the land, the ocean, their gods, and all living things) and also serve as orally transmitted records of the legends and lore of the Hawaiian people, including family histories, plant names, place names, and medical practices.
Melisma: Characterized by singing three or more tones per syllable of text.
Melody: A succession of musical tones. See also Harmony.
Membranophones: Musical instruments that produce a sound through a vibrating membrane, or skin head. Drums are the most common membranophones.
Merengue or meringue: Characteristic Afro-Cubanesque song dance of Venezuela, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. It uses four-line stanzas and refrain verse forms. Responsorial singing, polyrhythms, and 5/8 effects are layered over the basic 2/4 beat.
Metallophone: Similar to a xylophone, but with metal keys instead of wooden ones.
Microtone: Any interval smaller than the half-tone; often used to describe tiny divisions of a tone (such as 1/4 of a tone).
Minor: The second most common Western classical scale, also known as the Aeolian mode.
Minstrel show: A nineteenth-century American amusement in which actors and musicians mimicked African American dialect, music, and dance.
Mixolydian: One of the Greek modes, rarely heard today in classical music, although still common in some folk traditions. Neither major nor minor, it is a sequence of tones that can be achieved by playing the eight white keys of the piano starting and ending on G.
Monochord: A single-stringed instrument, such as the diddley bow.
Montuno: The call-and-response section of Cuban son. It features a short, simple harmonic ostinato that forms the basis for call-and-response passages and solo instrumental improvisation.
Motown: A type of African American popular music (created specifically to appeal to teenagers of all races) that was produced by the Detroit-based record label of the same name during the 1960s.
Music notation: Any system of symbols for writing down music.

N

Narrative song: A song that tells a story or relates history; a ballad.
Norteño music/La mùsica norteña: Contemporary accordion-based folk music of Tex-Mex origin characterized by stylistic simplicity and working-class themes. The style is known inside Texas as conjunto.

Note value: The length of time or duration that a specific note is sounded. Also called "time value."

O

Octave: The eighth or final scale step; the interval whose distance is eight diatonic tones, as from middle C to C above middle C on the piano.
Off-beat: A beat that is normally not stressed or accented.
Old-time: (1) The traditional songs and fiddle tunes of the southeastern United States. (2) Songs and tunes that were popular in the past but now are remembered by only a small group of musicians. (3) A term used by many European American cultures of the Midwest to describe the ethnic-based styles of social dancing and social dance music centered around waltzes, polkas, and often the schottische. Ballroom dances (such as the fox-trot) that have developed in more recent years are considered part of the "new-time" tradition.
Oral history: (1) History that is passed from generation to generation by the telling of stories rather than through written texts. (2) A method of collecting history by means of interviews.
Oral tradition: Songs, stories, and other customs that are passed down from generation to generation by imitation and by word-of-mouth rather than by being written down.
Ornament: Formulaic decoration or embellishment of a musical tone.
Ostinato: A melodic phrase that is persistently repeated (usually in the same voice part and at the same pitch) throughout a composition.

P

Panpipes: A collection of reeds of different lengths that are tied together. The player blows across the top of the reeds to play different notes. Panpipes are found in many Pacific and Latin American musical traditions.
Parallel thirds: A type of harmonic accompaniment in which the melody line is doubled by another part, two scale tones above it, in parallel movement.
"Pendulum-like" melody: A melody that predominantly alternates between two notes.
Pennywhistle: See Tin whistle.
Pentatonic scale: A five-note scale, common in folk and traditional styles. On the piano, it can be obtained by playing the black keys only.
Phrase: A short musical or lyrical thought; a portion of a melody.
Piano accordion: See Accordion.
Pipa: A short-necked, Chinese wooden lute.
Pitch: The acoustical highness or lowness of a musical tone resulting from its frequency of vibration.
Play-party song: A short, often nonsensical song sung primarily by children at informal parties to accompany a dance or a game involving physical activity (musical chairs, for instance).
Plena: A Puerto Rican ballad similar to the calypso songs of Trinidad.
Polka: A vigorous Eastern European couple dance in 2/4 time, introduced by immigrants to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century.
Polyphony: More than one vocal or instrumental melodies sung or played at the same time.
Polyrhythm: Two or more conflicting rhythmic parts played simultaneously.
Powwow: A modern, intertribal gathering of Native Americans to perform traditional dance and song forms.
Pulsation: A slight interruption in breath; a continuous revoicing of a note in rapid succession.

Q

Qeej: A bamboo-reed mouth organ of the Hmong people of Cambodia. Similar to the Japanese shō.
Quadrille: A precursor of the square dance, the quadrille originated in the ballrooms of France and attained its greatest popularity in the early nineteenth century throughout Europe, Russia, and the United States. It is performed by either four or eight couples and features five main figures (patterns of movement).
Quills: See Panpipes.

R

R&B: See Rhythm and blues.
Race records: A term used by record companies to describe the special line of recordings marketed primarily from the 1920s through the 1940s to the African American audience.
Ragtime: Originally a piano style with a regular, repeated bass line and a syncopated melody; later, any syncopated composition. Ragtime was developed by African Americans in the late nineteenth century.
Range: In describing a melody, the overall intervallic distance covered between lowest and highest notes.
Rap: A style of urban African American popular music characterized by (often) improvised, sung-spoken rhymes performed to a rhythmic accompaniment. Rap is frequently performed a cappella, with sexual, socially relevant, or political lyrics. The music itself became known as hip-hop.
Rasp/Rasping sticks: A rasp is a small, notched piece of wood that is rubbed with a stick or scraper to make a grating sound. Rasping sticks are also notched in such a way that when they are rubbed together, they produce a similar effect.
Rattle: A gourd, shell, or can filled with pebbles that makes a rattling sound when it is vigorously shaken.
Reel: A fast Anglo-American dance tune, often played on the fiddle, in 4/4 or cut (2/2) time.
Refrain: The repeated chorus of a song that alternates with the verse. Unlike the verse, the words to the refrain usually do not change. Sometimes a refrain is shorter than a chorus.
Reggae: A popular Jamaican musical style that melds Western rock instrumentation with a loping, syncopated beat and often topical lyrics.
Repertoire: The songs, dance tunes, or other musical pieces that are characteristically performed by an individual or a group of people.
Resonator: An empty vessel—often a gourd—placed under a musical instrument to increase the sound produced.
Rhythm and blues (R&B): A generic term used to describe African American popular song styles in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Imitation soon led to rock and roll, the white equivalent of rhythm and blues.
Rhythm sticks: Two sticks that are rubbed together to create a percussive rhythm.
Rhythmic pattern: The patterns of beats that occur throughout a piece of music.
Rhythmic pulse: The underlying beat.
Riff: A short, memorable melodic phrase that is repeated throughout sections of an instrumental composition or accompaniment. See also Ostinato.
Ring shout: Historically, a circular African American dance song expressing religious feeling. The song is half-sung, half-shouted as the dancers move slowly in a ring formation. Also called simply a "shout."
Rock and roll: A popular white American style of the 1950s that was copied from black rhythm and blues and featured a percussively heavy reinforcement of the meter (beat) played by combos consisting, minimally, of piano, bass, drums, and guitars, often with a single saxophonist or small wind section. Blues harmonic structures were common, but without the corresponding mood. By the mid-1960s, rock and roll had run out of steam, only to be revitalized and transformed into rock by the so-called "British Invasion" of musical groups that emphasized electric guitars and nonblues harmonic patterns. See also Rhythm and blues.

Rockabilly: A musical style of the late 1950s and early 1960s that blended country music with rock and roll's sensibility, instrumentation, and heavily accented beat. The term was coined from a combination of "rock" and "hillbilly."
Round dance: Any traditional dance that is performed in a circular figure. See also Big circle dance.
Rumba: A syncopated Latin American dance form, originally from Cuba, that was popularized in the United States in the 1930s.

S

Sacred Harp, The: The name of a religious songbook first published in the early nineteenth century; now applied to any song from this book or others in the shape-note tradition.
Salsa: A vigorous Latin American dance form combining Latin rhythms with big band instrumentation. Based on the traditional Cuban son style.
Samba: A Brazilian American dance style featuring a medium tempo and pronounced rhythms.
Scale: A sequence of tones, arranged in ascending or descending order, and used in a characteristic way in a musical performance or composition.
Schottische: An Eastern European dance that is a variant of the polka. It is performed by couples in a circle, in 2/2 time, at a slower pace than the polka.
Scraper: A small stick used to rub against another object to make a sound.
Scratching: A technique used by disc jockeys in which records are spun back and forth while being played so that a percussive, scratching sound is created.
Sean-nós singing: A traditional Irish singing style. Highly ornamented, it is particularly suited to singing songs in Gaelic but is also used for English-language songs.
Secular music: Music without religious content; music performed for entertainment, not to express religious feelings.
Seísun: Literally, "session." An informal gathering of Irish musicians.
Set: A generic term for any square dance. The group of four couples who perform the dance are often described as a "set." Also called cycle.
Shanty: A short lyric song sung by sailors to aid in their work or pass the time.
Shape-note: A system of musical notation in which different scale notes are represented by notes of different shapes, including diamonds, circles, squares, and triangles. Singers can therefore learn their parts without "reading" conventional music by associating the shape with its scale tone (sung as "fasol-la," etc.). This method was used to promote music literacy and teach hymn singing to people both in the northern and southeastern United States. See also Sacred Harp, The.
Shellshaker: In the Native American tradition, a turtle shell filled with small pebbles that is usually attached to the leggings or boots of a female dancer. The name "shellshaker" may be applied to the turtle shell or to the dancer herself.
Shō: A Japanese musical instrument consisting of a group of thin bamboo pipes (each containing at its base a small reed) clustered around a small wind chamber. The player blows into the chamber to sound the reeds. Small fingering holes at the base of each pipe are used to regulate which reed sounds. Variants of this instrument are found throughout Southeast Asia.

Shout: See Ring shout.
Shuffle (step): (1) A walking step in which the feet are dragged slightly. (2) A syncopated beat.
Slide: (1) Moving from one tone to another without a break; similar to a glide but usually covering a smaller range. (2) In reference to the guitar, the use of a bottleneck or metal bar to stop the strings; this technique is known as slide guitar. (3) In Irish music, a jig in 12/8 time, often in three or more parts.
Snare drum: A small, two-headed drum of wood or metal, across the lower head of which are stretched several gut strings or strands of metal wire (snares), whose rattling against the head reinforces and alters the tone. The upper head is struck alternately or simultaneously with two drumsticks.
Soca: Caribbean music that combines traditional calypso with disco rhythms and soul vocal styles.
Son: (1) Generic name of indigenous songs of Cuba and neighboring islands, reflecting the influence of African rhythms and set usually in a strongly accented 2/4 time. Son was the principal form of Cuban popular music in the twentieth century and remains an important form of expression in New York's Cuban and Puerto Rican community. It is characterized by a two-part structure in which two or three verses (usually sung by a lead soloist but sometimes by a chorus) are followed by a call-and-response section known as the montuno. See also Salsa. (2) A traditional dance piece performed by Mexican mariachi musicians. It varies in style from region to region in Mexico, but is often fasttempoed with raucous and sometimes improvised lyrics containing social commentary.
Song leader: (1) In call-and-response form, the person who sings the melody first, unaccompanied ("the call"), to whom the chorus then answers or "responds." (2) Anyone who leads a large group in song, whether in a religious or secular setting (as, for example, during the rallies of the civil rights movement).
Soul music: A term used to describe the gospel-flavored performances of popular African American singers such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.
Spiritual: A genre of popular religious songs, chiefly from the nineteenth century. Spirituals composed by African Americans during the slavery period are the best-known examples.
Square dance: A traditional American dance form, usually performed by four couples in a square formation. Specific "figures" (dance patterns) are performed by the couples in succession, as prompted by a caller.
Squeezebox or squeeze-box: A common name for any bellows-driven instrument, such as an accordion or a concertina.
Stanza: See Verse.
Steel band: A large ensemble of steel drum players.
Steel drum/steel pan: A Caribbean musical instrument made out of the shell of an oil drum. Small indentations are made in the face of the drum. By striking in different areas with a metal or wooden stick, the player can sound different scale notes.
Steel guitar: An electric guitar that is held, face up, on the player's lap (and is therefore sometimes called a "lap steel"). The instrument is tuned to an open chord and played with a metal bar that is moved across the fret board. Also called a "fry pan," because early models were small and thin; the small body attached to a long neck resembled the common piece of cookware.

Step dancing: A dance style of European origin that features rapid movement of the lower legs and feet while the remainder of the body is held rigidly. Similar to clogging.
Stomp dance: In the Native American tradition, the term used for a variety of both secular and sacred dances in which the movement of the dancers' feet provides the rhythmic accompaniment. The percussive sound is often provided by rattles tied in bunches around the calves of the dancers.
Strathspey: A Scottish dance tune named for the valley of the River Spey. It is characterized by its "Scotch snap" rhythm: a sixteenth note followed briskly by a dotted eighth note. In traditional Scottish fiddling, the sixteenth note is played with a slight upbow, followed by a sharp downwards stroke for the dotted eighth, giving the characteristic "snapping" sound. Played in 4/4 time, but slower than a reel.
Strawbeater: In some traditions of the southeastern United States, a straw-beater would hold two small pieces of reed or straw and beat them rhythmically on the strings of the fiddle while the fiddler was playing. This would add a rhythmic texture to the fiddle's sound.
Street dancing: A highly virtuosic, exhibition dance style, often performed on urban street corners. See also Break dancing/Breaking.
String band: A group of musicians who accompany dances, usually consisting of stringed instruments such as banjos, fiddles, guitars, and mandolins. Nonstringed instruments—such as harmonicas—can also be heard in a string band.
Strophic: Made up of stanzas or strophes; songs based on a repeated melody line that is used to accompany a series of stanzas.
Swing: A style of big band jazz that was a major type of social dance music from the 1920s through the mid-1940s. Small swing groups featured improvisation, while the larger groups presented lavish arrangements of songs with interpretations that accented smoothness.
Symmetrical rhythm: A balanced, or repeating, rhythmic pattern used consistently throughout a musical composition.
Sympathetic strings: Strings that run under the neck (or in the body) of a musical instrument and thus are inaccessible to the player for either fretting or strumming. Instead, these strings vibrate "in sympathy" when the instrument is played; that is, they may vibrate when either the body of the instrument or the other strings vibrate. The Scandinavian hardanger fiddle is an instrument that features sympathetic strings.
Syncopation: Accenting the off-beat; placing an accent on a beat that is usually unaccented.

T

Taiko: A Japanese double-headed barrel drum, usually of great size.
Tambourine: A small, shallow hand drum featuring a single head with small metal "jingles" placed in the frame.
Tamburitza: An Eastern European folk lute.
Tango: An Argentine dance form first popularized in the 1920s and 1930s that is marked by dramatic, strongly syncopated melodies.
Tap dancing: A popular dance form of the 1920s and 1930s that has been revived over the past few decades. It is an elaborate form of step dancing in which the performer wears metal taps on the bottom of his or her shoes in order to emphasize the percussive sounds. Most of the movement occurs as the dancer alternates between tapping the front of the shoe and the heel; arm movements and other gestures are added for emphasis.

Tarantella: A popular and energetic folk dance of Italian origin.
Tempo: The rate of speed of a musical performance.
Tenor banjo: A four-string instrument based on the original banjo but developed at the turn of the twentieth century specifically for playing accompaniment work in ragtime and early jazz. Tenor banjos were adopted by Irish musicians for playing melody as well.
Tex-Mex music: See Norteño music/La mùsica norteña.
Texture: The interrelationship of the musical lines in a composition or performance.
Third: The third scale degree; the related interval between the tonic and the third scale step.
Three-finger style (banjo): A more modern method of playing the banjo in which patterns are picked by the thumb and two fingers. This is also called blue-grass style because it was popularized by Earl Scruggs and other bluegrass banjo players.
Timbales: Paired tom-tom drums mounted on a stand, popular in Latin-Caribbean dance music.
Timbre: The characteristic sound quality of an individual voice or musical instrument; why a flute sounds different from a violin when they play the same note.
Tin whistle: A small, six-holed, end-blown flute, popular in Irish music. Originally made of tin with a wooden mouthpiece, it is now more commonly made of brass with a plastic mouthpiece. Also called a "pennywhistle."
Tom-tom: Generic term for African, Asian, or Latin American indigenous drums, of high but (usually) indefinite pitch. They may be played with the hands or sticks.
Tonic: The first note of a scale and the pitch to which others in a composition gravitate.
Transcription: A written version or notation of a musical composition.
Triangle: A triangular piece of metal that makes a clanging sound when struck with a short metal stick.
Triple time/beat: A rhythm with an accent every three beats.
Tumbadoras/Conga drums: Tall, cylindrical, single-headed drums based on African models but popularized in Cuban dance music. They are played with fingers and palms of the hands and come in three sizes: The larger drum is called the tumba; the secundo is medium sized; and the smallest is called the quinto. Usually, the tumba and secundo play one rhythmic pattern, while the quinto plays a counterrhythm.
Two-finger (up-picking) style (banjo): A style in which the banjo player picks upwards with the index finger, alternating or coinciding with a rhythmic downward pick of the thumb.
Two-step: A popular and simple couple dance, found throughout the United States. It can be performed to any duple-time melody.

U

Uilleann (bag)pipes: Irish bagpipes; unlike the Scottish version, they are driven by a small bellows that is held under the elbow and pumped. In addition to drone and melody ("chanter") pipes, they feature so-called regulator pipes that play chords.
Undulating (contour): Melody lines that seem to meander or wander without any definite goal.
Unison: Two or more vocalists (or instrumentalists) singing (or playing) the same melodic part at the same time.

V

Variation: Slight changes in the melody line, often occurring on its second statement or repetition.

Veillée: A house party; the Franco American equivalent of a kitchen racket.
Verse: The changing text of a song that alternates with the chorus or refrain. Usually, the verse is sung to one melody and the refrain to another one.
Vibrato: A trembling, "vibrating" pitch; a slight variation in intensity in pitch creating a sense of vibration or fluttering.
Vocables: Untranslatable but not necessarily meaningless syllables (such as "fala-la") that are sung to a melodic line in place or instead of words.

W

Waila: A type of social dance music with European roots that has been incorporated into Native American traditions.
Waltz: A European couple dance in 3/4 time, introduced by immigrants to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century.
Washboard: A metal board used to launder clothes, which, when adapted as a musical instrument, is vigorously "rubbed" by the player, who wears thimbles or other small pieces of metal on his or her fingers. Also called a "rubboard."
Water drum: A small, skin-headed drum made of a crock or vessel that is filled with water to alter its tone.
Well-tempered (or equal-tempered) scale: The modern Western scale with twelve equal steps. The piano is tuned to this scale.
Western swing: A musical style that developed in the Texas-Oklahoma region during the 1930s, led by fiddler Bob Wills. A marriage of old-time string band music with big band jazz, Western swing bands performed popular songs and blues in jazzy, up-tempo arrangements. Typical bands included fiddle, guitar, electric steel guitar, piano, drums, and often a small brass section.
Whistle: A short, single-note flute, often made of a short piece of hollowed-out cane. The player blows into one end of the instrument to create a sound.
Woodblocks: Small, square blocks of wood that are used as percussion instruments; they are usually paired and struck with a small stick.
Work song: A rhythmic, repeated song, often in call-and-response form, used to coordinate a group of workers.

X

Xylophone: A wooden-keyed instrument played with two small mallets. The keys are of different lengths, mounted on a frame or connected with strings, so that they can freely vibrate.

Z

Zither: A stringed instrument with strings that run parallel to the full length of the body of the instrument. The Chinese ch'in (or q'in) and the autoharp are both zithers.
Zydeco: A dance music of southeastern Louisiana that combines African American and Cajun styles. Alternately spelled "zodico."