Learn Listening Online
Dictionary of musical concepts starting with I - J
I
| Concept | Level | Listen | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imitation | Int 1 |
You don't have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. This website makes use of Adobe Flash Player, you have an old version which cannot play the content we've created. | Where the melody is immediately copied higher or lower in another part. It need not be an exact copy, with this example played by a military band |
| Imperfect cadence | Int 2 |
| A cadence consists of two chords at the end of a phrase. In an imperfect cadence the second chord is the dominant V creating an unfinished effect. In the key of C the second chord of an imperfect cadence would be the chord of G. See Perfect cadence. Listen to an imperfect cadence. |
| Impressionist | Int 2 |
| A term borrowed from painting in which brief musical ideas merge and change to create a rather blurred and vague outline. Debussy was an important composer of this style. (Extended definition - Texture and timbral exploration were also important features, including use of whole tone and pentatonic scales, parallel chords and unresolved discords.) |
| Improvisation | Int 1 |
| The performer creates music during the actual performance. There may be suggested chords as a guide. Improvisation is an important feature of jazz and popular music. See Jazz in the second section on this page, Pop. (Extended definition - It can also be an important part of the process of composing, where musical material is tried out before being fixed in the final composition.) |
| Indian | Int 2 |
| Music from India which uses instruments such as the sitar and tabla. |
| Indonesian | Int 1 |
| Gamelan. See Gamelan. Listen to this example. |
| Interrupted cadence | H |
| A cadence is formed by two chords at the end of a phrase. An interrupted cadence is usually formed by the chords V–VI. (In the key of C major, chords G to A minor.) This is known also as the surprise cadence as the listener may be expecting V–I which has a more final sound.  See Plagal cadence, Perfect cadence and Imperfect cadence on this page. |
| Interval | Int 2 |
| The distance in pitch between two notes, e.g. C - F is a 4th. The excerpt contains all the intervals starting on C and using all the white notes on a keyboard for one octave. |
| Inversion | Int 2 |
| 1. When a musical shape is mirrored. Listen to this excerpt and notice that the main theme of this movement from a Romantic symphony is played and is descending and then is inverted and is ascending in style.
2. An inverted chord is formed when a note other than the root is in the bass. |
| Inverted pedal | Int 2 |
| A pedal point which sounds in an upper part instead of in the bass. See Pedal. |
| Irregular metres | H |
| Often in modern or rhythmically based ethnic music, groupings of notes change, but the underlying pulse remains constant. Groupings of two and three produce irregular accents and metres. (Extended definition – Sometimes composers in the 20th century try to destroy the feeling of a regular down beat by changing the time signature frequently. Stravinsky often used this technique, particularly in ‘The Rite of Spring’. Listen to an excerpt played by strings from a 20th century work 'Carmina Burana'.
|
J
| Concept | Level | Listen | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jazz | Acc 3 |
You don't have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. This website makes use of Adobe Flash Player, you have an old version which cannot play the content we've created. | At first this was music created by black Americans in the early 20th century. See Jazz group below. Listen to this trombone solo, in blues style. (Extended definition - See Blues , Ragtime, Swing, Scat singing, Dixieland, Boogie woogie, Walking bass, Syncopation, Improvisation, [in the section above], Rubato.) |
| Jazz funk | H |
| A combination of jazz improvisation and the amplified instruments and character of Rock. |
| Jazz group | Acc 3 |
| A group which performs jazz. Instruments could include drumkit, bass, piano, saxophone and trumpet. See Jazz. (Extended definition – Improvisation is a very important feature of a jazz group.) |
| Jig | Int 1 |
| A fast dance in compound time usually with two or four beats in a bar. |