P & Q
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Pärt, Arvo -
'Pärt's music is very special to me. It is the proof of standing up in the face of the regime, but not on a square, not with flags, slogans and other dissident stuff. But rather in one's soul."
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P. V. -
Pincherle Verzeichnis (Pincherle Catalog) (1948). Marc Pincherle is of the scholars to catalog the works of Vivaldi. There are also R. V. numbers (1945) in which 'R' is for Mario Rinaldi. In 1922 there was a thematic catalog of Vivaldi's works by Wilhelm Altmann, but it did not catch on.
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'Palm court' -
A term we now use for the kind of music once used in restaurants and hotels which typically had palm trees and fronds in pots as decor. Just check out such places in the Poirot shows on PBS's 'Mystery'.
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Pants role (trouser role) -
A young man played by a woman, usually a mezzo soprano. Famous examples are Orlovsky in Johann Strauss' Der Fledermaus, Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Siebel in Gounod's Faust, and Octavian in R. Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.
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Parallel chords -
In which the voices of chords move the same distances in the same direction at the same time. This would have been forbidden in many periods of music.
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Parallel voicing -
In which different musical lines using different pitches move the same distances in the same direction at the same time.
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Parlando -
Sung with speech rhythms.
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Parody mass -
A mass using music originally written for other pieces.
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Part writing -
The way the individual parts move through the music.
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Passacaglia -
See *Chaconne.
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Passacaille -
French for passacaglia. See *Chaconne.
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Passagework -
Secondary, even accompanying music, played by the soloist in a concerto or sonata. Its secondary nature does not, however, exempt it from difficulty of execution or importance in the texture.
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Passaggio -
The part of the voice where the transition from mostly chest resonance to mostly head resonance takes place. The more even the sound in the passaggio, the better.
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Passing tone -
A tone not part of the prevailing harmony which is passing between two different tones which are part of the harmony. Non-harmonic tones are the driving force in tonal music.
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Patter song -
A song in which the words rattle off the tongue at top speed. Mozart, Rossini, Gilbert & Sullivan, were masters of the patter song. In our times there is Figaro's aria from Corigliano's popular 'Ghosts of Versailles.'
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Pavanna -
A slow dance with four beats to a measure. It dates from the renaissance, achieving its greatest popularity in Elizabethan times.

The renaissance model is A-A1; B-B1; C-C1; D-D1. Without the dancing it would seem to be very drawn out for modern tastes which want far more development of ideas if the music is to last so long.
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Pedal harp -
A harp in which pitches can be altered through the use of pedals which operate a mechanism at the top of the harp that changes the vibrating length of the harp's strings.
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Pedal point -
Named for the ability of an organist to hold a sustained pitch in the pedal division while playing elaborate material in the two hands. It is, therefore, a low pitch sustained under elaborate material above, including tones and chords which clash with the sustained tone.
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Pedal work (at the piano) -
The use of the three pedals: (from right to left when facing the keyboard) sustaining, sostenuto, and una corda.

The sustaining pedal releases all the dampers which stop the sound on the strings. The sostenuto pedal releases the dampers only on the keys which are depressed when the pedal is engaged; and the una corda pedal moves the hammers to the right so fewer strings are struck - thus the name 'one string.'

Looking at a pianist's use of the pedals is far more interesting than looking at the fingers on the keys. The subtle use of the three pedals makes a major expressive impact on a piece of music.
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Pedalled heavily -
Keeping the right pedal, the one which allows all the piano strings to vibrate, depressed much of the time.
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Pentatonic music -
Uses only the five black keys of a piano or tones the same distances apart as the black keys.
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Per-service orchestra -
An orchestra in which the musicians are paid per concert rather than on the basis of a yearly salary.
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Perfect authentic cadence -
IV, V, I. i.e. the chords on the fourth, fifth, and first steps of the scale. The highest note of the final chord is step one.
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Perfect pitch -
Acute tonal memory which results in the ability to identify a pitch's name merely by hearing it. This presupposes knowing the pitch names. Yet even people with no training can have perfect pitch, which is demonstrated by their always humming a song in the same key in which they first heard it. Debates rage in orchestral circles as to whether perfect pitch is a necessity for the best players.
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Periodic structure -
Music made of regular phrases which combine to make what are called 'periods.' This is dependent on the presence of well-defined *cadences to mark phrase and period endings.
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Permutations, basic -
The *original idea (O), its *retrograde (R), its *Inversion (I), and its *Retrograde Inversion (RI). This is based on the mirror as a fundamental aspect of Western art. The most visual representation is:
db
qp
d = O, b = R
q = I p = RI
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Phase shift -
In minimalist music a pattern is set up in which two or more lines have a repeated relationship which is called a "phase." When a variation is placed in one or more of the lines the phase shifts as a different relationship between lines occurs.
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Philip II (of Spain) -
The father of Don Carlo in Verdi's opera is a large role for dramatic bass-baritone. His brutal suppression of the Dutch is a main plot point of the opera. It was he who sent the ill-fated Spanish Armada against England. He is seen by many historians as the cause of the decline of Spain's political importance.
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Phrasing -
The art of shaping lines of music through the use of *dynamics and *rubato.
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Phrygian cadence -
Because the chord on the fifth step of the Phrygian mode is diminished, the chord on the fourth step is a substitute cadence chord.
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Phrygian mode -
One of the early church modes, characterized by half-steps between steps one and two, and steps five and six. This can be played on the white keys of a piano by starting and ending on E. See also Phrygian cadence.
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Pianissimo -
Very softly.
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Pianississimo -
Very, very softly
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Piano -
Softly.
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Piano duet -
Two players at one piano. Also called 'piano four hands'.
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Piano lid at full stick -
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. Laredo did not use this short stick, yet remained in fine balance.
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Piano quartet -
A piano plus a string trio of violin, viola, and cello.
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Piano quintet -
Two violins, viola, cello, and piano, unless otherwise noted. A major example of 'otherwise noted' is Schubert's rightfully popular 'Trout Quintet.' That is for violin, viola, cello, bass, and piano.
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Piano reduction -
The music for the whole orchestra is 'reduced' down to something playable by one piano. These can often be awkward for the pianist.
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Piano tone -
A delicately soft sung tone. It takes a great deal of support and energy to produce effectively.
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Piano tones -
Soft tones produced with lightness in the voice.
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Piano trio -
Violin, cello, piano, unless otherwise noted.
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Piano-vocal score -
The vocal parts of an opera, oratorio, or cantata with the orchestral music reduced to two lines of music so it may be played on a piano. A full score contains all the instruments separately on their own lines.
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Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky (orchestral versions) -
While Maurice Ravel's is by far the best-known, Stokowski, Gortchakov, and Leonard have also orchestrated it.
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Pietistic -
Briefly, a view of Lutheran Christianity which takes a very personal view of the relationship between Christ and the individual person. Bach was most certainly a pietistic Lutheran, and many of the texts he sets are by pietists. The inclination on Bach's part to set specific words or to place private 'code' meanings withing his works is also an outgrowth of pietism, his way of responding to the person or image within the text.
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Pifa -
A representation of the shepherds in the fields in Handel's Messiah.
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Pifferi -
Wind players of the renaissance and baroque periods.
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Pipa -
A Chinese version of the lute. A plucked string instrument with a basically pear-shaped body.
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Piston valve -
The ability to lengthen the tubing of a brass instrument for the purposes of playing more than the *open tones has resulted in two kinds of air valve. The piston valve has a cylinder with holes through it which either open or close off various lengths of tubing. The piston is commonest in America and is the kind young trumpet students learn to play. Horns do not use a piston. (See also *Rotary valve) ________________________
Pitch -
A set number of vibrations per second produces a sound which can be identified and quantified. This is a pitch. In western music pitches have names, usually of the alphabet.

When someone sings or plays below the pitch they are supposed to be on, they
are said to be flat; when they are above, they are sharp.
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Pitch bending -
A small slide up or down - usually down - can be created on a wind instrument by changing the shape of the lips. On a stringed instrument it is just a small slide along the string.
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Pitch pipe -
A circular device with holes labeled with the name of each pitch in an octave. One blows into the hole for the desired pitch and a metallic reed, like that of a mouth organ, produces the single tone.
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Pitched percussion -
Percussion instruments which make a definite pitch, like timpani, marimba, or glockenspiel.
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Pizzicato (pl. -i) -
Plucking the strings on an otherwise bowed instrument. A harp and a guitar are, of course, always plucked to one degree or another, but neither is spoken of as being played pizzicato. Thus, it is used as a term to distinguish between two possible means of playing: arco (with the bow) and pizzicato (plucking).

There is also snapping the string against the fingerboard as a type of
pizzicato.
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Pizzicato piano -
Plucking the strings inside the piano with the fingers
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Pizzicato Polka -
A piece for string orchestra by Johann Strauss, Jr., in which there is no bowing at all, only plucking.
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'Pizzicato Scherzo' -
S of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony. It is, of course, not totally pizzicato, for the winds cannot pluck. But even they play very detached in this movement.
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Placement (voice) -
Where the singer puts the center of vibration.
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Plagal cadence -
The conclusion of a phrase or piece by moving from step IV (or the chord built on IV) to step I (or the chord built on I). This is associated with the typical 'Amen' at the end of the Gloria Patri (or, erroneously, at the end of hymn-tunes).
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Plainchant -
Unaccompanied, single-line melody setting liturgical medieval Latin-texts. (see *Monody)
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Plainsong -
The traditional ritual melodies of the western Christian church. It is "plain" because it is unadorned by *ornamentation, *melisma, or *counterpoint.
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Point -
The 'edge' or buzz which carries a big voice.
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Pointillism -
Individual tones used like dots of color. This often occurs in post-Webernist music, but is often used in other music as a technique of orchestration.
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Polacca -
A Polish dance
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Polonaise -
The French name for a stately Polish dance in 3 beats per measure. It is courtly in nature, associated with gravity and nobility.
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Polychord -
Using two (or more) different chords at once.
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Polyphonic -
Many voices singing or playing different lines at once. This was a highly developed style already in the 14th century, eventually evolving into the elaborate *counterpoint of Bach in the early 18th century.
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Polyphony -
More than one independent musical line at a time.
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Polyrhythm (-ic) -
Multiple rhythm patterns at the same time.
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Polyrhythms, high ratio -
Multiple rhythm patterns at the same time in which, as one instance, eleven even notes occur in one voice and nine in another, a very high ratio. More common would be, three against two or four.
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Polytonality -
Most music is in a key, which is to say it has a particular pitch to which it gravitates and which it ultimately calls home. Some music of the 20th century is written in two or more keys at once. As the components of the word suggest, it has two or more tonalities. An instance might be playing in A and C-sharp simultaneously, perhaps even putting in another layer in F.

Charles Ives, Milhaud and Britten (who are closely identified with the practice, but to widely differing ends) are all well-known composers who used the technique.
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Portamento -
A natural change of pitch which includes a *slide as an unintrusive by-product.
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Portato -
Detached but with almost full length to the tone. Between staccato and legato.
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Positions (half and first on stringed instruments) -
The left hand index finger (called first by string players, second by keyboardists), is placed on the fingerboard so as to produce either a *half-step or a *whole step above the string's open sound. These are the most elementary positions.
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Positive (positif, positiv) organ -
A small organ not readily moved. It has a few flute related sounds.
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Post-Bartók -
Following in the pattern of Bartók's expressive structural ideas.
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Post-Berg -
Following in the pattern of Berg's emotional uses of the Schoenbergian Twelve-tone (*dodecaphonic) system.
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Post-Webernist -
The most prevalent academic compositional 'school' in the 1950-1985 period. It follows the structural ideas of Webern, who distilled Schoenbergian Twelve-tone writing to a crystalline clarity. The Post-Webernists tended, however to expand the length of their works beyond Webern's brevity.
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Prepared (guitar) -
The strings are fitted with metal or plastic objects which significantly alter the sound.
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Pressed tones -
Too much push strains the tone quality.
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Prestissimo -
Extremely fast.
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Presto -
Very fast.
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Presto agitato -
Very fast and agitated.
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Primo -
In a keyboard duet, the higher part. See *secondo.
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Princeton Chapel (Sound) -
(or in most large stone edifices) echoes around so much and disappears into nooks and crannies of the building, that in music which has fast passages, like Chichester Psalms, it can turn to sonic soup.
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Programmatic music
Music that also has non-musical intent: a story, a picture, a portrait. Though rooted very early in music history, it reached its height of importance in the 19th century with the creation of the *Tone Poem.
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Pryor, Arthur -
The principal trombonist with Sousa's band. He went on to become a staff conductor for the Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden. Many early recordings were made by "Arthur Pryor and his Band" or "Orchestra."
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Puccini's distressed women -
Operas do have a fair number of distressed women from Manon to Turandot. But we can't throw out little old Gianni Schicchi. Lauretta may have as yet unfulfilled hopes, but distressed she isn't.
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Pulling out all the stops -
A phrase which comes from the biggest noise on an organ being created when the various timbres, accessed by pulling on those knobs called 'stops', are all pulled out at the same time.

Q

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Quartal harmony
Based on fourths (see *Intervals). A-D using pure perfect fourths. Scriabin's 'Mystic Chord' is quartal but does not use perfect fourths: C-F-SHARP-B-FLAT-E-A-D.

The distinctive sound of quartal harmony can be found in the music of many
20th century American composers.
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Quarter rest -
A silence lasting the same length as a quarter note.
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Queen of the Night territory -
The Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute has a notoriously high coloratura soprano part.
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Question & answer -
A musical phrase which does not come to a satisfying rest is followed by one which does. The first 'asks a question' (demands to continue), the second 'answers the question' (resolves and comes to rest). This is a basic idea in western music, indeed, in western art, especially from the 18th century onward.
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Quintet with two cellos -
one of Schubert's greatest works which uses a string quartet with an added cello, the great C major quintet.
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Quintets (in opera) -
Three of the greatest are the end of Barber's Vanessa, the conclusion of Act III, scene 1 of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and "The Promise of Living" which is the end of Act I of Copland's The Tender Land. It is interesting to note that 'The Promise of Living' finds five characters contemplating what it would mean to stay where they are; the Vanessa quintet has five characters contemplating what it will mean to leave; and the Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg quintet has the characters anticipating happy futures by moving forward.
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Quodlibet -
A collection of different, usually popular, tunes pulled into one piece where they are made to work together. This was usually done as a joke, occasionally much more seriously.