Dictionary of musical concepts starting with U, V and W
U
| Concept | Level | Listen | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unaccompanied | Acc 3 |
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| Unison | Acc 3 |
| Two or more parts or voices sounding at the same pitch. |
| Up beat | Int 1 |
| The last beat in the bar. A conductor might show this with an upward stroke. Compare Down beat. |
V
| Concept | Level | Listen | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vamp | 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. | A rhythmic accompaniment with a bass note played on the beat and a chord off the beat. Usually played on piano or guitar. Listen to a Scottish march played on a fiddle and accompanied by a vamp in the piano part. |
| Variation | Int 2 |
| When the main theme or tune is developed, perhaps by adding extra notes. It may change from major to minor or vice versa, changing harmony, rhythm, time signature, move the theme to the bass, etc. See Theme, Theme and variations. |
| Vibrato | Int 2 |
| A very slight wavering in pitch which brings warmth to the tone. |
| Vocal | Acc 3 |
| Sung. Listen to an excerpt of a baritone voice. |
| Voice | Acc 3 |
| The human instrument used to speak or sing. The excerpt is a Soprano voice. |
W
| Concept | Level | Listen | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walking bass | Int 1 |
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| Waltz | Acc 3 |
| A dance with three beats in a bar in simple time. |
| Waulking song | Int 1 |
| A rhythmic song sung in Gaelic by the women in the Western Isles of Scotland while they waulked woolen cloth to soften and shrink it. Sometimes the singing is led by a soloist with a response from the rest of the women. |
| Whole-tone scale | Int 2 |
| A scale containing no semitones but built entirely on whole tones. Debussy used the whole-tone scale in some of his pieces which were influenced by Impressionism. See Impressionist
|
| Wind band | Acc 3 |
| A band with woodwind, brass and percussion instruments playing music composed for the concert hall rather than for marching. See Military band. |
| Woodwind | Acc 3 |
| Instruments which produce sounds by blowing across a hole, against an edge or through a single or double reed, e.g. flute, clarinet and bassoon. They need not be made of wood. |
| Word painting | Int 2 |
| In vocal works the music illustrates the word or phrase, e.g. the words running down might be illustrated by a descending scale.
|
