Esports Glossary
Know Your Esports Terms
General
Acapella
One or more vocalists performing without an accompaniment
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Accelerando
A symbol used in musical notation indicating to gradually quicken tempo
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Accessible
Music that is easy to listen to and understand
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Adagio
A tempo having slow movement, restful at ease
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Allegro
A direction to play lively and fast
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Articulation
Clear and concise pronunciation of words
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Aspirate
Sound that starts with audible air escaping before the tone begins
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Atonal
Music that is written and performed without regard to any specific key
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Baroque
Time in music history ranging from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th centuries.
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Beat
The underlying pulse, or unit of time, in music; the unit of musical rhythm
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Cadence
A sequence of chords that brings to an end to a phrase, either in the middle or the end of a composition
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Cadenza
Initially an improvised cadence by a soloist; later becoming an elaborate and written passage in an aria or concerto, featuring the skills of an instrumentalist or vocalist
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Canon
A musical form where the melody or tune is imitated by individual parts at regular intervals
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Cantabile
A style of singing which is characterized by the easy and flowing tone of the composition
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Cantata
Music written for chorus and orchestra. Most often religious in nature.
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Capriccio
A quick, improvisational, spirited piece of music
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Carol
A song or hymn celebrating Christmas
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Cavatina
A short and simple melody performed by a soloist that is part of a larger piece
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Chant
Singing in unison, texts in a free rhythm.
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Choir
Group of singers in a chorus
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Chorale
A hymn sung by the choir and congregation often in unison
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Chord
3 or 4 notes played simultaneously in harmony
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Chord progression
A string of chords played in succession
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Chorus
A group singing in unison
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Chromatic scale
Includes all twelve notes of an octave
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Classical
The period of music history which dates from the mid 1700s to mid 1800s. The music was spare and emotionally reserved, especially when compared to Romantic or Baroque music.
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Clavier
The keyboard of a stringed instrument
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Clef
In sheet music, a symbol at the beginning of the staff defining the pitch of the notes found in that particular staff
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Coda
Closing section of a movement
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Concerto
A composition written for a solo instrument
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Conductor
One who directs a group of performers
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Consonance
Groups of tones that are harmonious when sounded together as in a chord
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Contralto
Lowest female singing voice
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Counterpoint
Two or Three melodic lines played at the same time
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Creak
The vocal sound made at the lowest pitch possible
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Diaphragm
A large flat muscle that separates the lungs from the stomach area and is used for breathing
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Duet
A piece of music written for two vocalists or instrumentalists
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Dynamics
Pertaining to the loudness or softness of a musical composition
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Emphasis
The added focus on a word or phrase
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Encore
A piece of music played at the end of a recital responding to the audiences enthusiastic reaction to the performance, shown by continuous applause.
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Ensemble
The performance of either all instruments of an orchestra or voices in a chorus
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Entrainment
The ability to perceive a beat in music and align bodily movement with it
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Expiration
The action of breathing out. The opposite of inspiration.
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Falsetto
Method of voice production used to extend the vocal range higher by releasing the thyroarytenoid muscle and lengthening the vocal folds.
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Fifth
The interval between two notes. Three whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.
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Finale
Movement or passage that concludes the musical composition
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Form
The structure of a piece of music
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Formant
A relatively strong group of harmonics
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Frequency
The number of vibrations per second in the sound. Middle C has a frequency of 262Hz.
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Fundamental Frequency
The lowest and generally strongest frequency within a frequency spectrum.
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Harmony
Pleasing combination of two or three tones played together in the background while a melody is being played.
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Hymn
A song of praise and glorification.
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Inflection
The variety in speech
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Inspiration
The action of breathing in. The opposite of expiration.
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Interval
The distance in pitch between two notes
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Intonation
The precise tuning of the pitch of a note.
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Introduction
The opening section of a piece of music or movement
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Key
System of notes or tones based on and named after the key note
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Measure
The unit of measure where the beats on the lines of the staff are divided up into two, three, four beats to a measure
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Medley
Often used in overture, a composition that uses passages from other movements of the composition in its entirety
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Melody
A sequence of tones defined by its pitch patterning and rhythm
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Meter
The recurring pattern of stressed and unstressed beats in music
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Modulation
To shift to another key
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Monotone
The lack of inflection in the voice
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Musicality
The capacity that underlies the human ability to perceive, appreciate, and produce music
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Musicology
The study of forms, history, science, and methods of music
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Nasality
Vowel sounds are forced through the nasal cavity, resulting in a flat voice and twangy sound
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Octave
Eight full tones above the key note where the scale begins and ends.
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Onset
The start of any sound
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Opera
A drama where the words are sung instead of spoken
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Orchestra
A large group of instrumentalists playing together.
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Phonemes
Units of spoken or sung sound that are the components of words
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Phrase
A single line of music played or sung. A musical sentence.
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Pitch
The relative highness or lowness of the voice
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Practice
The sequence of warming up the muscles of the voice
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Projection
Controlling the voice's volume and tone so that it can be heard clearly
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Pronunciation
Using correct sounds and syllabic stresses of words
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Prosody
Rhythm, loudness, pitch, and tempo of speech
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Quality
Describes voices as shrill, nasal, raspy, breathy, booming, etc
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Rate
Describes how fast or slow you speak
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Recital
A solo concert with or without accompaniment
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Refrain
A repeating phrase that is played at the end of each verse in the song
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Relative pitch
Ability to determine the pitch of a note as it relates to the notes that precede and follow it.
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Repertoire
Music available to or known by the singer. This can be individual songs or choral music.
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Resonance
The vibrant tone when sound waves strike the chambers of the throat, head, nose and mouth
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Rhythm
The element of music pertaining to time, played as a grouping of notes into accented and unaccented beats.
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Roughness
A slight grating quality in the sound
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Scale
Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending
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Sequence
A successive transposition and repetition of a phrase at different pitches
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Sharp
A symbol indicating the note is to be raised by one semitone
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Simultaneous
Voicing that starts gently from nothing without any air escaping first.
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Soprano
The highest female voice
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Staff
Made up of five horizontal parallel lines and the spaces between them on which musical notation is written.
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Stamina
The ability to sustain extended activity without fatigue
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Support
A term used to describe the action of maintaining breath activity suitable for singing
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Symphony
Three to four movement orchestral piece, generally in sonata form.
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Temperament
Refers to the tuning of an instrument
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Tempo
Indicating speed
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Timbre
The quality of musical sound that distinguishes different sound sources such as voices and specific musical instruments
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Tonal
Pertains to tone or tones
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Tonality
The tonal characteristics determined by the relationship of the notes to the tone.
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Tone
The quality of the voice. Reflects emotion and resonance
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Tone less
Unmusical, without tone
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Triple time
Time signature with three beats to the measure
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Triplet
Three notes played in the same amount of time as one or two beats
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Tune
A rhythmic succession of musical tones, a melody for instruments and voices
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Tuning
The raising and lowering a pitch of an instrument to produce the correct tone of a note.
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Unison
Two or more voices or instruments playing the same note simultaneously
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Vibrato
Creating variation pitch in a note by quickly alternating between notes
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Virtuoso
A person with notable technical skill in the performance of music
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Vocal health
The state of health of the entire vocal system, but in particular, the vocal folds themselves
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Vocal Learning
Long-term modification of vocal production by imitation
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Vocal Loading
A measure of strain on the voice
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Volume
The relative strength or intensity with which a sound is made