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Waldhorn -
Translates as 'Forest Horn' for its hunting and general out-of-doors feel. It is called a "natural horn" because it has no valves to lengthen the tube, the only pitches available are those of the harmonics. To produce other pitches the hand of the player must be pressed to varying degrees into the bell of the instrument. This not only changes the pitch, but also the tone color.
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Walking bass -
The bass line moves steadily along, generally in step-wise motion at a speed of walking.
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Waltzes, Emperor -
The famed Strauss waltz is actually considered to be a series of waltzes (as are all of the Strauss waltzes), thus the true title is plural, notsingular.
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Water gong -
An ordinary gong is struck and then dipped in a tub of water, which, of course, effectively, if oddly, dampens the sound.
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Water-soluble glue -
Used to hold stringed instruments together. It needs to be water-soluble so the instruments can be taken apart easily for repair and adjustment.
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Webern-like -
Anton Webern is known for extremely tight organization which leads to brevity almost to the point of taciturnity. He might have a whole movement last, perhaps 1.5 minutes. His shortest is under one minute.
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Weltschmerz -
Literally 'World-pain.' Very romantic.
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Werther, Die Leiden des jungen (The Sorrows of the Young Werther) -
For many scholars this book marks the beginning of Romantic literature. It is an epistolary novel which concludes with the title character, unfulfilled in love and other aspects of his life, committing suicide.The effect of the novel was profound (and is oddly never referred to in the debate over the effect of rock/rap lyrics), for suicides among youthful males rose by a dramatic percentage in the wake of the book's publication with many notes left behind citing Goethe's work as the source of such depression. It seems quite tame now, and novels written in the form of letters have become extraordinarily quaint in this age of on-line chat rooms. But the effect in the 18th century was real and drastic.
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Whistle-tones -
Produced by touching the strings lightly with the left hand and bowing lightly with the right.
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White key music -
In its basic state it is that produced using only the white keys of the piano keyboard. It has, of course, come to mean music using only the tones of a single scale.Philosophically it puts aside the grand Romantic gesture and seeks the balance and clarity at the heart of Classicism. Part of that included the dropping of complicated chords and key changes. Writing only for the 'white keys' of the piano (or for only the tones of the scale) was one way to simplify. It has a recognizable *neo-classic sound.
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White note music -
See White key music.
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White tone -
A sung tone which is straight and without coloration.
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Whole tone (whole step) -
Best considered on a keyboard, it is the distance from one key to another leaving out one intervening key. A up to B, B to C-sharp, C-sharp to D-sharp, D-sharp to E-sharp or E-flat to F are all rising whole tones (whole steps).
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Whole-tone-scale -
An unsettling construction. Most scales are made up of a succession of whole and half steps. All half-steps make a chromatic scale, which is fairly common. But all whole-steps automatically calls the tonal center into question, for that center is defined by half-steps. An example would be C, D, E, F-sharp, G-sharp, A-sharp, and up to the next C. Notice that it has only 6 tones, whereas a diatonic scale has seven and a chromatic scale has 12. Late Liszt and Debussy are the most noted whole-tone-scale users.
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Wind ensemble -
It specifically includes single and double reed instruments and, though not always, brass and percussion.
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Winterreise -
Translates to "Winter Journey". But the title of the great Schubert song cycle is as much metaphor as picture.
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WoO -
is Werk ohne Opus, "work without opus number".
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Wood-shed -
This is musician slang for practice. It comes from the idea of going out to the wood shed to practice where there would be no interruptions.
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Woodwinds -
Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and their various permutations such as piccolo, english horn, bass clarinet, and contra-bassoon.