← Note by Note RU
No MIDI keyboard connected
Computer keyboard: C4–F5
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A S D F G H J K L are white keys from C, W E T Y U O P are black. Z and X move an octave down and up, C and V play softer and harder. Space is a tap in rhythm exercises. Any keyboard layout works.

Glossary

Terms of the course

Every word is explained in one of the chapters. The link leads to where it first appears.

accent
Making a sound stand out from its neighbours: louder, higher, longer or with a different timbre. chapter 06 →
accidentals
The general name for sharps, flats and naturals (and the double signs): marks that shift a note by a semitone or cancel the shift. chapter 11 →
ADSR
An envelope in four stages: Attack, the rise to the peak; Decay, the fall to the sustain level; Sustain, the level held while the key is down; Release, the fade after the key is let go. chapter 02 →
amusia
A disorder of music perception despite normal hearing and intelligence; congenital amusia is above all a matter of poor pitch discrimination. chapter 13 →
arpeggiator
A part of a synth or DAW that turns a held chord into an even sequence of its notes: in a pattern (up, down, up-down, random), at a set rate and across a set number of octaves. chapter 20 →
arpeggio
A chord whose notes sound one after another instead of together (from the Italian arpa, harp). chapter 20 →
arrangement
Deciding who plays what in a track, with which sound, in which register and at what moment: sharing the parts out between instruments and across time. chapter 20 →
Augmentation
The same notes of a motif twice as long (the opposite, diminution, makes them twice as short). chapter 18 →
augmented triad
A triad of two major thirds: C–E–G♯. The outer notes form an augmented fifth; it sounds unsettled, like a question. chapter 15 →
backbeat
An accent on the weak beats of a 4/4 bar, the second and the fourth. In rock, pop and soul it is usually played on the snare or as a clap. chapter 09 →
bar line
A vertical line on the staff that separates one bar from the next. chapter 07 →
bars
A span of music with a fixed number of beats, from one bar line to the next; the first beat of a bar is the strong one. chapter 07 →
bass clef
The sign at the start of a staff that puts the F below middle C (F3) on the fourth line from the bottom; notes below middle C are written in it. chapter 12 →
bass line
The lowest part of a track: the sequence of bass notes. It mostly rests on the main notes of the chords. chapter 12 →
beat
One tick of the pulse; the unit music measures its time in. chapter 06 →
beats
The rise and fall of loudness when two close frequencies sound together. The number of beats per second equals the difference of the frequencies in hertz. chapter 01 →
beats per minute
The unit of tempo: how many beats fit into one minute. Written BPM, for beats per minute. chapter 06 →
blues scale
Six notes that blues tunes are built on: in C they are C, E♭, F, F♯, G, B♭. chapter 19 →
bridge
A section of a song unlike the others (different chords, a different texture) that comes once, towards the end, and sets up the last chorus. chapter 20 →
cadence
A short turn of two or three chords or notes that ends a phrase and confirms the tonic. The strongest is the move from the chord on degree V to the chord on I (V–I). chapter 14 →
canon
A piece or a technique in which the same tune is heard in several parts, each starting later than the one before: the second comes in once the first is already under way. chapter 19 →
cents
A hundredth of the distance between neighbouring keys; an octave has 1200 cents. A measure of small differences in pitch. chapter 01 →
channel
A MIDI channel: one of 16 lanes in a single stream. The channel is the second hex digit of the status byte: 0 is channel 1, F is channel 16. chapter 03 →
chord
Three or more notes of different pitch that sound at once (or one after another, but heard as a single whole). chapter 15 →
chord progression
Chords that follow one another in a set order: C–G–Am–F. Written as letters or as the roman numerals of their degrees: I–V–vi–IV. chapter 19 →
chord symbols
A short way of writing a chord with the letter of its main note: Am is A minor, G is G major, B7 (H7 in German) is a seventh chord on B. chapter 05 →
chord tones
A note of the tune that belongs to the chord sounding under it. Non-chord tones on weak beats (passing and neighbour notes) sound like movement, on strong beats like an argument. chapter 19 →
chords of the key
The seven triads built on the degrees of a key from its own notes only. In major: I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii°; in C major they are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B°. chapter 19 →
chorus
The brightest and most memorable section of a song, which comes back several times unchanged; every layer plays in it. chapter 20 →
church modes
The modes of medieval and Renaissance European music, each with its own step pattern on the white keys: Dorian from D, Phrygian from E, Lydian from F, Mixolydian from G, plus Aeolian from A and Ionian from C. chapter 14 →
circle of fifths
The keys arranged in a circle so that neighbours differ by a fifth and by one sharp or flat in the key signature: clockwise from C, G, D, A… add sharps, anticlockwise they add flats. chapter 11 →
clef
The sign at the start of a staff that gives one line a particular note; every other note is counted from it. chapter 10 →
climax
The highest (or most intense) point of a tune; usually there is only one, and most often it comes in the second half. chapter 18 →
compound metre
A metre whose beat divides into three: 6/8, 9/8, 12/8. The beat is a dotted note, usually a dotted quarter of three eighths. chapter 08 →
consonances
An interval or chord that sounds blended and at rest: the octave, fifth, fourth, thirds and sixths. chapter 13 →
contour
The shape of a tune: where it goes from note to note, up, down or staying put, without the exact size of each step. chapter 17 →
control change
The MIDI control change (CC) message: first byte Bn, then a controller number 0–127 and its value 0–127. Pedals, wheels and knobs send it. chapter 03 →
cutoff
The frequency above which a low-pass filter starts to weaken the sound noticeably. chapter 02 →
data bytes
A byte of data in a MIDI message: a number from 0 to 127, such as a note number, a velocity, or the position of a pedal or wheel. chapter 03 →
delta time
Delta time in a MIDI file: how many ticks have passed since the previous event. It is stored in a variable number of bytes. chapter 03 →
diminished triad
A triad of two minor thirds: B–D–F. The outer notes form a diminished fifth, a tritone; it sounds tense. chapter 15 →
dissonances
An interval or chord that sounds tense and rough and “asks” to move on: seconds, sevenths, the tritone. chapter 13 →
dominant
Degree V of a key and the chord built on it. After the tonic it is the strongest anchor; in major it contains the leading note and pulls towards the tonic. chapter 15 →
dominant seventh
The seventh chord on degree V of a major key: a major triad plus a minor seventh, for example G–B–D–F (G7). It pulls strongly towards the tonic. chapter 15 →
dot
A dot to the right of a note or rest makes it half as long again: a dotted quarter lasts 1½ beats, a dotted half 3. chapter 08 →
double sharp
The sign 𝄪 (double sharp) raises a note by two semitones, 𝄫 (double flat) lowers it by two. chapter 11 →
downbeat
The first beat of a group, which carries the main accent; the count of “one”. chapter 06 →
drone
A long, low held sound (often the tonic with its fifth) under a tune. Bagpipes, the hurdy-gurdy and a pad in electronic music all work this way. chapter 14 →
drum machine
An electronic instrument that plays a drum part from a stored program. On a step drum machine the bar is split into cells, and each cell is a hit, switched on or off. chapter 06 →
dynamics
Loudness in music and how it changes: soft and loud (p, f), gradually louder (crescendo) and softer (diminuendo), accents on single notes. chapter 20 →
eighth notes
An eighth of a whole note: half a beat when you count in quarters. chapter 07 →
enharmonic
Notes that sound the same and are played on the same key but are written differently: F♯ and G♭, E♯ and F. chapter 11 →
envelope
The curve along which a sound setting (volume, filter cutoff) changes from the moment a key is pressed until it is released, and after. chapter 02 →
equal temperament
A tuning in which the octave is divided into 12 equal steps: each key's frequency is ¹²√2 ≈ 1.0595 times the one below. All fifths are the same, 2 cents narrower than pure. chapter 01 →
eye–hand span
How far a reader's eyes run ahead of the hands: how many notes or beats have been read but not yet played. chapter 16 →
fifth
The distance between notes whose frequencies are in the ratio 3 : 2, such as C and G. After the octave, the most blended pair. chapter 01 →
file formats
The format of a Standard MIDI File: 0 is a single track holding every channel, 1 is several tracks that play together (the first holds the tempo), 2 is several independent patterns. chapter 21 →
filter envelope
An envelope that raises the filter cutoff when a key is pressed and brings it back down; it makes the sound bright at the start and dark later (or the other way round). chapter 02 →
finger numbers
The fingers of both hands are numbered from the thumb (1) to the little finger (5). Numbers above the notes show which finger to play with. chapter 04 →
fingering
The choice of finger for each note of a piece; it is written as numbers from 1 (thumb) to 5 (little finger) above or below the notes. chapter 16 →
five-finger position
Five fingers rest on five neighbouring white keys, one finger to a key. The hand stays still until the tune goes beyond those keys. chapter 04 →
flat
The sign ♭: lowers a note by a semitone. B♭ is the key a semitone below B. chapter 11 →
four on the floor
A beat with the kick on every beat of a 4/4 bar; the basis of disco, house and techno. chapter 06 →
fourth
The distance between notes whose frequencies are in the ratio 4 : 3, such as C and F. chapter 01 →
frequency
How many vibrations happen in one second. Measured in hertz. chapter 01 →
fundamental
The lowest frequency in the sound of a note. It is usually what we hear as the note's pitch. chapter 01 →
General MIDI
General MIDI (1991): an agreement on top of MIDI 1.0. A set of 128 standard sounds and a drum layout on channel 10, so that a file sounds much the same on any compatible instrument. chapter 03 →
German naming
In German (and Russian) letter names H is B natural and B is B flat. In English B natural is B, and B flat is B♭. chapter 05 →
Glide
A smooth slide in pitch from the previous note to the next instead of an instant jump; the Glide knob sets how long the slide takes. chapter 02 →
grand staff
Two staves joined by a curly brace: the treble clef on top, the bass clef below. Piano and harp music is written on it. chapter 12 →
groove
The sense of motion in a rhythm that makes you nod or dance. It comes from where the hits sit relative to the beats, how loud they are and how precisely they are played. chapter 09 →
ground bass
A short bass phrase repeated unchanged through a whole piece or a section of it, while the tunes above it change. Also called an ostinato bass. chapter 19 →
group of three
Three neighbouring black keys. The white key just to the left of them is F. chapter 04 →
group of two
Two neighbouring black keys. The white key just to the left of them is C. chapter 04 →
half notes
Half a whole note: two beats when you count in quarters. chapter 07 →
harmonic
One of the frequencies of a string or a pipe that are whole multiples of the fundamental. Counting starts from the fundamental: it is the first harmonic, twice as high is the second, three times the third. chapter 01 →
harmonic interval
An interval whose notes sound at the same time: this is how intervals live in chords and accompaniment. chapter 13 →
harmonic rhythm
How often the chords change: once a bar, twice a bar, once every two bars. A slow harmonic rhythm sounds calm, a fast one lively. chapter 19 →
harmony
Everything that sounds at the same time as the tune and underneath it: the chords, the bass and the way they follow one another. chapter 19 →
hertz
The unit of frequency: one vibration per second. Written Hz. chapter 01 →
hexadecimal
Hexadecimal: numbers written with the digits 0–9 and the letters A–F (A = 10 … F = 15). One byte is exactly two such digits, from 00 to FF. chapter 03 →
humanising
Small random shifts in the timing (and velocity) of notes after quantising, so that a part sounds less mechanical. chapter 09 →
interrupted cadence
A cadence in which V is followed by vi instead of the expected I: the full stop is swapped for a continuation. In American books, a deceptive cadence. chapter 19 →
interval
The distance in pitch between two notes; measured in semitones and named by the number of letter names it spans: third, fifth, octave. chapter 13 →
Inversion
The motif upside down: each step up becomes a step down by the same number of degrees, and the other way round. chapter 18 →
inversion
The same chord with a note other than the root at the bottom: C–F–A is an inversion of the chord F–A–C. chapter 15 →
key
The scale a piece of music is built on, together with its main note: D major, F major. The key decides which notes belong to the music and how they are written. chapter 11 →
key signature
Sharps or flats at the start of every line, right after the clef. They apply to every note with those letters, in every octave, until the end of the piece or until the signature changes. chapter 11 →
keyboard split
A mode of a synth or MIDI keyboard in which the keys below the split point play one sound and the keys above it another. chapter 12 →
landmark notes
A note whose place on the staff you know by heart, so that you can count its neighbours from it: for example middle C, the G on the second line, the C an octave above middle C. chapter 10 →
lead
A synth sound for the leading part: bright, with a fast attack and sustain, often with vibrato. It has to be heard over the whole track. chapter 20 →
leading note
Degree VII of major, a semitone below the tonic. It sounds unstable and pulls strongly towards the tonic. chapter 14 →
Leap
A move in a tune of more than one place on the staff: two or more white keys are skipped. chapter 10 →
ledger lines
A short line above or below the staff that extends it for a single note that doesn't fit on it. chapter 10 →
letter names
Note names as Latin letters: C D E F G A B, which are do re mi fa sol la si where syllables are used. In German naming B natural is H, and B means B flat. chapter 05 →
LFO
Low Frequency Oscillator: a slow wave, usually below 20 cycles a second, that is not heard itself but sways some setting back and forth: pitch, cutoff, volume. chapter 02 →
lines
One of the five lines of the staff; the lines are counted from the bottom up, first to fifth. chapter 10 →
low-pass filter
A filter that lets through frequencies below the cutoff and weakens those above it. The main filter of a subtractive synth. chapter 02 →
major
The mode with the step pattern W-W-H-W-W-W-H; from the tonic to the third degree is a major third. chapter 14 →
major triad
A triad with a major third at the bottom and a minor third on top: C–E–G. The outer notes are a perfect fifth apart. chapter 15 →
masking
When a loud sound in some frequency band makes a quieter sound in the same band inaudible or hard to make out. chapter 20 →
melodic dictation
An exercise: hear a tune and write it down, in notation, in a piano roll or on the keys. chapter 17 →
melodic interval
An interval whose notes sound one after the other: this is how intervals live in a tune. chapter 13 →
metre
How beats are grouped into a bar: how many there are and which one leads. Written as a time signature at the start of the staff: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8. chapter 08 →
metronome
A device that marks out beats with clicks at a set tempo. chapter 06 →
middle C
C4, MIDI 60, about 261.6 Hz. The middle of a piano keyboard; on the octave map it is marked with a dot. chapter 05 →
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface: a 1983 standard that lets electronic instruments and computers exchange messages about playing: notes, velocity, pedals, wheels. chapter 03 →
MIDI file
A Standard MIDI File (.mid): MIDI messages stored in tracks with the time between them, plus tempo and time signature. It holds no sound, only notes. chapter 03 →
MIDI message
A short packet of one to three bytes that a MIDI device sends for every action of the player: a note pressed, a note released, a wheel moved. chapter 03 →
minimalism
A style of music that emerged in the 1960s: short patterns repeat many times and change slowly, one element at a time. chapter 20 →
minor
The mode with the step pattern W-H-W-W-H-W-W (natural minor); from the tonic to the third degree is a minor third. chapter 14 →
minor triad
A triad with a minor third at the bottom and a major third on top: A–C–E. The outer notes are a perfect fifth apart. chapter 15 →
mod wheel
The mod wheel: MIDI controller 1, with a value of 0–127. What it changes is up to the synth, most often the depth of vibrato. chapter 03 →
mode
A set of notes and the relationships between them around a main note, the tonic. Major and minor are the two most common modes. chapter 14 →
monochord
An instrument with one stretched string and a movable bridge, used to divide the string into parts and compare the sounds. chapter 01 →
motif
The shortest recognisable piece of a tune, usually 2–6 notes with a rhythm of their own, which is repeated and developed. chapter 18 →
natural
The sign ♮: cancels a sharp or flat, so the note goes back to its plain white key. chapter 11 →
neumes
Signs of medieval notation written above the text: they showed which way the melody went, but not how far. chapter 10 →
note number
A note's number in MIDI, from 0 to 127. Neighbouring keys differ by 1, octaves by 12. Note 60 is middle C (C4), note 69 is the 440 Hz A. chapter 03 →
note off
The MIDI message for a key coming up: the note number and the release velocity. A note on with velocity 0 counts as a note off too. chapter 03 →
note on
The MIDI message for a key going down: the note number and the velocity. Its first byte is 90 to 9F in hexadecimal. chapter 03 →
note value
How long a note sounds, measured in fractions of the pulse: whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth. chapter 07 →
octave
The distance between two notes whose frequencies are in the ratio 2 : 1. Such notes sound like “the same one, only higher” and have the same name. chapter 01 →
octave shift
The Octave − / + buttons on a MIDI keyboard. They move every key an octave down or up, which changes the note numbers by 12. chapter 04 →
oscillator
The synth block that makes the starting wave at the right pitch; the key tells it which note to play. chapter 02 →
overtones
A frequency in the sound of a note above the fundamental. A string's overtones are 2, 3, 4… times higher than the fundamental. chapter 01 →
pad
A synth sound for a background part: a slow attack, a long release, a soft filter. It holds the chords and fills the middle without drawing attention to itself. chapter 20 →
parallel
A major and a minor key on the same tonic: C major and C minor. They differ in degrees III, VI and VII. chapter 14 →
passing note
A note on a weak beat that joins two main notes by step: E between D and F. In a bass line it leads from the root of one chord to the root of the next. chapter 19 →
patch
A saved set of synth settings, that is, one of its sounds. The name comes from modular synths, where a sound was set up by connecting patch cords. chapter 02 →
pentatonic scale
A mode of five notes with no semitone steps, for example C-D-E-G-A. The black keys of the piano form a pentatonic scale. chapter 14 →
period
Two phrases, a question and an answer: usually the answer begins like the question and ends on the tonic, and together they sound complete. chapter 18 →
phrase
A stretch of a tune that sounds like one thought and ends with a stop; usually 2 or 4 bars. chapter 18 →
piano roll
The view of a MIDI track in a DAW: time runs to the right, pitch runs up, and every note is a rectangle whose length equals its note value. chapter 07 →
pickup
An incomplete bar at the start of a piece: one or more notes before the first strong beat. Also called an anacrusis. chapter 08 →
pitch
What the ear hears as “higher” or “lower”. A note's pitch is set by the frequency of its vibration. chapter 01 →
pitch-bend wheel
The pitch-bend wheel and its own MIDI message, En, with a 14-bit value from 0 to 16,383. The centre, 8192, leaves the pitch alone. How many semitones it bends is set on the synth. chapter 03 →
playing by ear
Finding a tune on an instrument from memory or from a recording, without sheet music. chapter 17 →
pluck
A synth sound like a plucked string: an instant attack, no sustain, gone in a fraction of a second; the filter envelope gives each note a bright start. Good for fast repeating parts. chapter 20 →
polyrhythm
Two or more divisions of the same span of time sounding at once: for example, three hits against two in the same time. chapter 09 →
position shift
Moving the hand from one position to another in the middle of a tune: by lifting it across, or by passing the thumb under. chapter 16 →
primary triads
The triads on degrees I, IV and V: tonic, subdominant and dominant. In major all three are major, and together they contain all seven notes of the scale. chapter 15 →
program change
A MIDI message carrying a sound number from 1 to 128 (0–127 in the byte). Which sound sits under the number is up to the instrument; in General MIDI each number belongs to a particular instrument. chapter 21 →
pull
The feeling that an unstable degree of a mode “wants” to move to a stable neighbour, most often the tonic. chapter 14 →
pulse
A steady series of ticks heard or felt under the music. chapter 06 →
Pythagorean comma
The difference between twelve pure fifths and seven octaves: about 23.46 cents. chapter 01 →
quantise strength
A quantise setting: how much of the way to the grid line each note travels. 100% means exactly on the grid, 50% halfway there, 0% no change. chapter 09 →
Quantising
Moving recorded notes to the nearest lines of a chosen grid (quarters, eighths, sixteenths) to correct the inaccuracies of playing. chapter 09 →
quarter notes
A quarter of a whole note, usually one beat of the pulse. chapter 07 →
Ragtime
An American piano style of the late 19th and early 20th century: the left hand keeps an even bass and chords, the right plays a syncopated melody. chapter 09 →
register
The part of the pitch range a part or instrument plays in: a low, middle or high register. chapter 20 →
relative
A major and a minor key with the same key signature and different tonics: C major and A minor, G major and E minor. The minor tonic is a minor third below the major one. chapter 14 →
relative pitch
The ability to hear the distances between notes, intervals and steps, without relying on absolute pitch. chapter 17 →
rendered
Rendering (mixdown, bounce): turning a project of notes, sounds and levels into a single audio file, with the computer working out how everything sounds together. chapter 21 →
resonance
A boost in the filter close to the cutoff: overtones near the cutoff get louder. At high resonance the sound whistles and quacks. chapter 02 →
rest
A sign for silence of a set length. Every note value has its own rest: whole, half, quarter, eighth. chapter 08 →
Retrograde
The motif backwards: the notes and the rhythm run in reverse order. chapter 18 →
roman numerals
Labelling a chord by the number of the scale degree it is built on: an upper-case numeral for a major triad (I, IV, V), lower-case for minor (ii, vi), and ° for diminished (vii°). chapter 15 →
root
The note a chord is built up from in thirds; the chord is named after it. The root of C–E–G is C. chapter 15 →
root position
The layout of a chord with its root in the bass: C–E–G for C. chapter 15 →
sample rate
How many times a second the value of a sound wave is recorded. 44,100 Hz is the CD rate: enough to carry frequencies up to 22,050 Hz, above the limit of hearing. chapter 21 →
scale
The notes of a mode in order, from the tonic up to the tonic an octave higher. chapter 14 →
scale degree
A note's place in the scale, counted from the tonic: the tonic is degree I, the next note degree II, and so on up to VII. chapter 14 →
scale mode
A feature of a MIDI keyboard or DAW: you choose a tonic and a mode, and the keyboard highlights, mutes or replaces notes outside the mode. chapter 14 →
scientific pitch notation
A note's letter plus its octave number: C4 is middle C, A4 the A above it (440 Hz). The number goes up by 1 at every C. chapter 05 →
semitone
The smallest step on the keyboard: from one key to the very next, black or white, with nothing in between. An octave has twelve semitones. chapter 11 →
sequence
A motif repeated from a different note: the same shape and rhythm, all moved one or more scale degrees up or down. chapter 18 →
seventh chord
A chord of four notes stacked in thirds: a triad plus a seventh above the root. For example G–B–D–F, G7. chapter 15 →
sharp
The sign ♯: raises a note by a semitone. F♯ is the key a semitone above F. chapter 11 →
Sight-reading
Playing unfamiliar music from notation at first sight, at tempo and without stopping; in Italian, a prima vista. chapter 16 →
simple metre
A metre whose beat divides into two equal halves: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4. The beat is a plain note, usually a quarter. chapter 08 →
six-four chord
The second inversion of a triad: the fifth at the bottom, a fourth and a sixth above it. G–C–E is the six-four chord of C major. Figured bass writes it 6-4. chapter 15 →
sixteenth notes
A sixteenth of a whole note: a quarter of a beat when you count in quarters; in a piano roll it is usually one cell of the grid. chapter 07 →
sixth chord
The first inversion of a triad: the third at the bottom, a sixth above it to the root on top. E–G–C is the sixth chord of C major. Figured bass writes it 6. chapter 15 →
Skip
A move on the staff that jumps one place, from a line to the next line or from a space to the next space; on the keyboard one white key is skipped. chapter 10 →
solmization
Naming the steps of a scale with syllables: ut (do), re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. It goes back to Guido of Arezzo in the 11th century. chapter 05 →
song form
The order of the large sections of a track: intro, verses, choruses, bridge, outro. Written with letters or with the names of the sections. chapter 20 →
spaces
The gap between two neighbouring lines of the staff; there are four, also counted from the bottom. chapter 10 →
spectrogram
A picture of sound over time: time runs across, frequency runs up, and brightness is how loud each frequency is at that moment. chapter 02 →
spectrum
Which frequencies a sound contains and how loud each one is. For a note, the level of each overtone. chapter 02 →
stable and unstable
A chord the music can come to rest on: in major that is I, along with its close relatives vi and iii. Unstable chords (V, vii°, and to a lesser degree IV and ii) ask to go on. chapter 19 →
staff
Five horizontal lines with notes written on them and between them; the higher a note sits on the staff, the higher it sounds. chapter 10 →
status byte
The first byte of a MIDI message. Its first hex digit is the type (9 note on, 8 note off, B control change, E pitch bend), its second digit the channel. chapter 03 →
stem
The vertical line attached to a note head (on every note value shorter than a whole note); it points up on notes below the middle line and down on notes on that line or above. chapter 10 →
step
A move to the next place on the staff, from a line to the nearest space or the other way round; on the keyboard it is the next white key. chapter 10 →
step grid
The grid of a drum machine or sequencer: a bar is split into cells called steps (usually 16 sixteenths); a cell switched on means a hit, and the length of the sound is not stored. chapter 07 →
step input
A way of recording in DAWs and sequencers: choose a note value, press a key, and the note lands at the cursor, which then moves on. How fast you play does not matter. chapter 18 →
subdivision
Splitting a beat into two, three or four equal parts, which a musician feels between the beats of the pulse. chapter 06 →
subdominant
Degree IV of a key and the chord built on it; it lies a fifth below the tonic, as the dominant lies a fifth above. chapter 15 →
subtractive synthesis
A way of making sound that starts from a wave rich in overtones and removes some of them with a filter. The opposite of additive synthesis, where the sound is built from separate sines. chapter 02 →
sustain pedal
The sustain (damper) pedal: while it is down, the synth does not silence released notes. In MIDI it is controller 64: 0–63 is up, 64–127 is down. chapter 03 →
swing
A rhythm in which beats are divided unevenly: the first note of each pair is longer than the second. Drum machines and DAWs set swing as a percentage, the share of the pair the first note takes (50% is straight, about 66% is triplet swing). chapter 09 →
syncopation
Stress where the metre does not expect it: a note starts on a weak beat or between beats and holds through a stronger beat, so the stronger beat gets no new hit. chapter 09 →
tap tempo
A way of setting the tempo by tapping it: the device measures the gaps between taps and works out the BPM. chapter 06 →
tempo
The speed of the pulse: how often the beats come. chapter 06 →
tempo markings
A word at the start of a piece that describes its tempo and character: Adagio, Andante, Allegro, Presto. chapter 06 →
thumb under
A position shift without lifting the hand: the thumb passes under the second, third or fourth finger and takes the next note; going down, a finger crosses over the thumb. chapter 16 →
tie
A curve joining two notes of the same pitch: the second is not played again, its length is added to the first. chapter 08 →
timbre
The colour of a sound: what tells apart two notes of the same pitch and loudness. It is made of the spectrum (which overtones sound) and the way it changes over time. chapter 02 →
tonic
The main, most stable note of a mode: a tune ending on it sounds finished. The scale degrees are counted from it. chapter 14 →
treble clef
The G clef on the second line: it gives the second line the G above middle C (G4). It is used for the right hand, the violin, the flute and synth leads. chapter 10 →
triad
A chord of three notes stacked in thirds: the root, the third above it and the fifth. chapter 15 →
tritone
An interval of six semitones, three whole tones: exactly half an octave, for example F–B. chapter 13 →
twelve-bar blues
A form of twelve bars on three chords, I, IV and V: four bars of I, two of IV, two of I, then V, IV, I and V or I. It repeats in a loop. chapter 19 →
variation
A changed repeat of a motif or theme: part of it is recognisable and part changes, such as the rhythm, single notes, the mode or the harmony. chapter 18 →
velocity
The third byte of a note on, from 1 to 127: how fast the key went down, which the keyboard measures and the synth usually turns into loudness. chapter 03 →
verse
The section of a song that tells the story: usually quieter and simpler than the chorus; it comes back with new words to the same music. chapter 20 →
vibration
A movement back and forth that repeats. Sound is a vibration of the air: its pressure goes slightly above normal, then slightly below. chapter 01 →
vibrato
A regular wavering of pitch around a note, usually several times a second. chapter 02 →
voice leading
How the individual notes (voices) move from chord to chord. Smooth voice leading keeps common notes in place and moves the others by the nearest step. chapter 15 →
Wall of Sound
The arranging and recording technique of the producer Phil Spector (1960s): many musicians play the same parts in unison, the whole lot goes through an echo chamber, and the sound merges into a dense wall. chapter 20 →
waveform
The shape of one cycle of a wave: sine, triangle, sawtooth, square. Each shape has its own set of overtones. chapter 02 →
whole note
A note value of four beats when you count in quarters; in a 4/4 bar it fills the whole bar. chapter 07 →
whole tone
A step of two semitones, skipping one key: C to D, E to F♯. chapter 11 →