F-

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H-I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P-Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X-Y-Z

________________________
f-holes -
The openings on the front of orchestral stringed instruments, so named because they look like a lower-case f and its mirror image. Their purpose is to let sound out. It is because they face upward that the best seats for string sound in an auditorium are usually in the balcony.
________________________
Fach -
A German word meaning subject or specialty. It is used among singers to indicate 1) a particular kind of music, such as Wagner, French lyric, Verdi baritone, etc. 2) the range of the voice (e.g. spinto soprano, lyric baritone). These are, of course, related usages.
________________________
Fake book -
A book which contains only the melodies written out in musical notation. The names of the chords are written above the notes and the performer is then asked to improvise the remainder of the arrangement. 'Faking' is jazz slang for improvising.
________________________
Falsetto -
The voice (usually male, although there is a female version) which is entirely produced by vibrating lightly in the head. It is the highest voice in 50s 'doo-wop' singing. In a heightened and enriched state it becomes a counter-tenor's voice.
________________________
Fandango -
A Spanish dance in a slow three beats which increases in speed in the folk idiom, but not necessarily when used in classical works.
________________________
"Farewell" Symphony by Haydn -
Haydn gave a broad hint to Prince Esterhazy that it was time for a vacation for the musicians. In the final pages of the symphony he has each musician in turn get up and leave the stage. It is a wonderful example of Haydn's wit. And it worked, for the Prince readily sent the orchestra off for a break. To understand the power of this true story, it must be understood that musicians were often kept at court away from their wives and children.
This was no request for a few weeks in the mountains, but a request to keep families together.
________________________
Faust -
The 1859 opera by Charles Gounod. Faust is not only the name of the character in the old legend, but means 'fist' in German.
________________________
"Feminine" phrases -
An old-fashioned usage, still current in music, which means phrases which do not end on a strong beat or with an emphatic cut-off.
________________________
Fermata -
Including the cognate for 'firm', means to hold a tone or a silence with the fermata sign over or under it for an indeterminately longer time. It was customary in the 18th century for performers to take advantage of this hold to improvise short virtuosic solos.
________________________
Festival Orchestra (or chorus) -
A term often used to designate a 'pick-up' group which will play together only for the length of a festival.
________________________
Fidelio -
Beethoven's only opera (1805), and not really an opera in the Italianate sense. It is instead a Singspiel because it contains spoken dialogue like, say, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Yet the vocal styles of later German opera are present within it. Florestan is a *Heldentenor who is likely to also sing Wagnerian tenor roles; and Leonore is a soprano role sung by Brünnhildes.
________________________
Fifth -
The distance of five letter-names, e.g. A to E or C to G.
________________________
Fifths, parallel -
The distance of five letter-names, e.g. A to E or C to G. Two melodic lines constantly a fifth apart are said to be parallel. This is an effect most associated with medievalism, the kind of thing trotted out in movies and ads.
________________________
Figured bass -
The practice of using numbers to describe the distance of the other harmonic notes above the bass note. Thus, a G with a 6 and a 4 written underneath shows a chord with G, E (six up) and C (4 up), which makes a C major chord. The presence of a sharp, flat, or natural alone always refers to a third above. Thus, an F with a flat-sign beneath, means it is an F chord with an A-flat - an F minor. The presence of no figure indicates no complications. The ability to understand figured bass is fundamental to the study of music, for it supplies the language of harmonic analysis.
________________________
Fine -
The end, the same word root as "finish." Pronounced Fee-nay.
________________________
Fingerboard -
The piece of wood upon which the fingers move to change the pitch on a stringed instrument.
________________________
"... fingered the instrument, but there was apparently nothing for him to finger" -
It is not unusual for musicians to 'finger their instrument' even when not playing it. After the first few freshman ear-training classes, most teachers can tell by watching the students' fingers as they are trying to hear an exercise correctly, just what instrument each student plays. We once watched NJSO principal hornist Ludinda Lewis 'finger' the unaccompanied prelude to Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, even though she was, as per instructions, not using the valves.
________________________
Fioratura -
Flowery vocal ornamentation.
________________________
First ending transition -
When going back to the beginning of the exposition, the key must change back to the original. In some cases it is an abrupt change, in others like this the composer takes time to make the change less jolting. It is called a 'first ending' for the obvious reason that the second time through it can't be used or else the piece would recycle continually.
________________________
First Viennese School -
The music which is most narrowly defined as "Classical" (1765-1820). Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and early Schubert are the prime examples. But of course Dussek, Clementi, Salieri, von Dittersdorf, and Hummel all fit the mold, even though they did not necessarily live or flourish in Vienna.
________________________
5/4 -
The indication for five beats in a measure with a quarter note receiving one beat.
________________________
Fixed Do -
The solfege syllable "Do" is the pitch "C."
________________________
Flageolet -
Creation of an overtone on a string where none would usually exist. This is done by the left hand pressing the string at an indicated pitch, then another finger touching the node for the harmonic of that new pitch. One of the most noted orchestral flageolet passages is the Prelude to Wagner's Lohengrin.
________________________
Flat -
1) Under pitch.
2) 1/2 step below a given tone.
________________________
Flautando -
Imitating the sound of a flute.
________________________
Fledermaus, Die
'The Bat'. Operetta by Johann Strauß, Jr. It is a reference to a masked-ball costume worn by one of the characters in an episode which takes place months before the show begins. Some productions act out the episode in mime during the overture. Most do not.
________________________
Fliegende Holländer -
The first (1843) of Wagner's regularly performed music-dramas, as he came to call them. It contains the first elementary use of his Leitmotiv* organizational system.
________________________
"(The) Flight of the Bumble-Bee by you know who" -
Flutist James Galway being cute and coy. The likelihood is that very few in the average audience right off the top of their heads would know it was by Rimsky-Korsakov. Perhaps he forgot the composer on the spur of the moment, which would not be hard to do since the piece has a life of its own beyond the composer.
________________________
Flügelhorn -
Lower in pitch than a trumpet or cornet. Like the cornet it has a conical bore rather than a trumpet-like cylindrical bore. The conical bore tends to cut down on the brightness of brass sound.
________________________
Flumpet -
A new brass instrument combining the attributes of the *flügelhorn and the trumpet, hence the cute name. Whether something with such a name can be taken seriously from a marketing point of view, remains to be seen. That it is taken seriously by musicians is clear to at least Chris Gekker, who plays it, and David Sampson, who has written for it.
________________________
Flute -
The "transverse" flute is the familiar horizontal kind. The vertical kind most prevalent is the "recorder."
________________________
Flutter-tongue -
Does just what it says: with the tongue the player rolls an un-voiced 'R' while playing.
________________________
Folia, La -
An old Spanish tune and its harmony dating from the 14th century according to some sources. It has been the subject of many, many sets of variations.
________________________
Foot-shuffling -
Applause from an orchestra, where most of the players don't have hands readily available for clapping. Even during performances a particularly well played solo may be followed by gentle foot shuffling from near-by players as an unobtrusive recognition.
________________________
Form -
The structure of a piece of music in both its most general overall sense and in its smallest details. One looks for similarities and relationships between larger sections and even down to the level of individual motives. The deeper the exploration goes without being exhausted, the stronger that composer's sense of form is. As in other arts, while form is a big consideration, it isn't everything.
________________________
Forte -
Strong, "Loudly."
________________________
Fortepiano -
An early piano. There are several differences between it and the modern piano. Most dramatic is the use in the modern instrument of a cast iron frame which makes high-tension tuning possible, which in turn makes greater brilliance of tone and dynamic range possible. The fortepiano is a more fragile instrument. (See also Decay)
________________________
Fortissimo -
Very loudly.
________________________
Four-in-hand (hand bells) -
Controlling four bells at once, two in each hand.
________________________
Fourths (4ths)
Intervals in which the names of the pitches are four apart, such as A to D (A-B-C-D).
________________________
14 (as Bach's number) -
B+A+C+H (2+1+3+8) = 14. Bach often used 14 of something - usually measures or notes - to place a personal signature on a piece.
________________________
Fragmentation -
A melody's elements are pulled apart and the fragments are then used to develop further ideas.
________________________
Frame drum -
A drum made by stretching a head across a round wooden frame. A tambourine is a kind of frame drum. Typically the tension of the head, and therefore its pitch, can be altered by pressing on it with one hand while beating with the other. Generally speaking, frame drums are struck with the hand, not with sticks, though certainly there are times when sticks are used as well. Frame drums are usually held with one hand gripping the frame and the other beating.
________________________
Free chromaticism -
The term needs to be taken apart to be understood. Chromaticism a century ago came to mean moving from tonality (or key) to tonality often to the point of the disappearance of any specific 'home base' key. But within that shifting, the voice leading (see above) was driven by the same logic and expectations that drive Bach. Mahler left that logic behind, creating a kind of non-formulaic freedom that left the younger generation of his late years - Schoenberg in particular - astonished. Schoenberg never did achieve the same freedom as Mahler, but dropped back into the formulism which marks his second, less accessible style.
________________________
Free tones -
Those which are not part of the prevailing harmony and which do not have a tendency to pull to another pitch. Debussy was noted for the use of free tones.
________________________
French overture -
A slow beginning is repeated, then goes immediately into an imitative, often fugal, fast section. At the conclusion the slow beginning returns.
________________________
Frets -
The bars which cross a fingerboard against which the strings press. In this manner the pitch changes as the fingers press the strings between (or on) the frets.
________________________
Freude, schöner Götterfunken -
'Joy, beautiful spark of the gods'. There is scholarship showing that Schiller's original word was Freiheit, which translates 'Freedom, beautiful spark of the gods', a completely different meaning. It was this wording that was used by Leonard Bernstein in his legendary performance at the fall of the Berlin Wall. The original change was made to accommodate the restrictions of the official censor.
________________________
Frog of the bow -
The box-like structure near the hand where the tension of the bow hair is adjusted using a screw mechanism. Attacks near the frog can be very aggressive.
________________________
From the unison to the ninth -
The canon did not always use exactly the same notes, but in eight cases imitated varying distances away from the original.
________________________
Fugal -
Like a fugue (flight) but not completely worked out. It features the imitation of one voice by another at different pitch levels so the musical subject seems to 'fly' from place to place.
________________________
Fughetta -
A truncated or little fugue. It is usually just the beginning of a full fugue used as one of several methods of developing a musical idea.
________________________
Fugue -
This can be an entire semester course of study. But very simply stated, a musical subject flies from musical line to musical line (the word comes from fugir, to fly), sometimes in whole, sometimes in fragments. There are intervening episodes between statements of the fugue subject.
________________________
Fugue, double -
A *fugue with two subjects appearing either simultaneously or with one appearing a while after the first.
________________________
Full bow -
When a bow is drawn full length across a string with some speed it creates a large sound.
________________________
Full stick (piano lid at) -
Refers to the stick that holds up the lid. Most have a second far shorter stick embedded within the long one, used to put the lid up only a bit so as to not overwhelm a soloist. So full stick means that the maximum sound can emerge.
________________________
Functional (harmony) -
Chords move from one to the next with certain cultural expectations. Thus each chord in traditional harmony has a certain "function" within a key.