Accompaniment Patterns

A type of accompaniment pattern that primarily uses root-position major and minor triads with simple or slow-moving rhythms.

Chords

Chord tones played together that are not part of an accompaniment pattern.

Chords

Chords with alternate ordering of their tones where the root is placed either in the middle or at the top of the chord.

Hand and Finger Techniques

The physical motion of crossing fingers 2, 3, 4, or 5 over the thumb; used when playing scalar passages or outside of five finger scales.

Hand and Finger Techniques

The physical motion of crossing the thumb under fingers 2, 3, 4, or 5; used when playing scalar passages or outside of five finger scales.

Chords

Four-note chords comprised of the root, minor 3rd, diminished 5th, and diminished 7th; typically have a dominant function.

Chords

Four-note chords comprised of the root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, and minor 7th.

Rhythm

Half notes whose lengths are increased by half; equal to three quarter notes.

Chords

Chords with an alternate ordering of their tones where the root is placed on the top and the 3rd and 5th below.

Rhythm

Notes whose lengths are equal to one half the value of a whole note.

Texture

A type of texture where one hand plays a series of notes that are mimicked in the other hand.

Texture

A type of texture where the left hand plays the melody and the right hand plays the accompaniment for an extended period of time.

Scales

Commonly used diatonic scales with the following sequence of intervals: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.

Intervals

Two notes played in succession, usually in one hand but sometimes in both, whose distance is the interval of a 2nd of any quality.

Expression

A simple melody line shared by both the right hand and the left hand.

Scales

A type of minor diatonic scale built by lowering the 3rd, 6th, and 7th degrees of its parallel major scale by one semitone.

Rhythm

Notes whose lengths are equal to one-fourth the value of a whole note.

Texture

A type of texture where one or both hands play more than one voice at a time; usually briefly and with simple rhythms.

Expression

Two notes connected together smoothly where the second note is played softer and lighter.

Rhythm

Notes whose lengths are four beats.

Texture

A simple melody line shared by both the right hand and the left hand.