Terms signs and instruments in Music Theory are essential for understanding and interpreting musical compositions effectively.



Musical elements  include rhythm, tonality, melody, harmony, timbre, dynamics and articulation.


It's a good idea to try to lean some basic theory to better understand how these elements interact in a composition.     Here's just a few to learn for each musical element.


RHYTHM /  TEMPO


Rhythms range from slow to fast.   Here's some musical meanings.


Largo Lento Andante Moderato  Allegro  Presto Vivace


TONALITY 


This refers to MAJOR keys or MINOR keys


MELODY / PITCH


HARMONY


TIMBRE


How many musical parts are playing at one time?


DYNAMICS


This category deals with how soft or loud a tune should be played.   Here's some dynamic words  , sof to loud.


Pianissimo  Piano  Mefzzo Piano Mezzo Forte  Forte Fortissimo



ARTICULATION


The main two words for articulation are  smooth ir detached


Smooth -  Legato 

Detached  - Staccato 



MUSICAL ORNAMENTS


Musical ornaments  are embellishments that add expressiveness and complexity to a melody. Generally an oranament 'sign' is written above the music to tell the player exatly how to play each ornament.


Here are some musical ornaments.


GRACE NOTES 


Acciaccatura 


Appoggiatura 


MORDANTS 


Upper  Mordants

Lower Mordants 


TURNS 


Upper turns


Lower turns 


Turn after the note


TRILLS   




INSTRUMENTAL FAMILIES 




Instrumental families often include strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.


Here's some instruments broken down by family ; the highest to lowest for each group


STRINGS 


Violin

Viola

Cello

Double Bass


BRASS


Trumpet

Trombone

Tuba


WOODWIND 


Picolo

Flute

Clarinet 

Bassoon

Bass Clarinet


PERCUSSION 


There are two types of percussion groups ; those with definite pitch (make a pitched sound) ; those with indefinite pitch  (make a bang)


Definite Pitch


Guitar

Piano

Glockenspiel


Indefinite pitch 


Tambourine 

Bass drum 

Triangle 

Cymbals


REEDED INSTRUMENTS


Single reeded instruments


Clarinet 

Saxaphone 


Double reeded instruments 


Cor Anglais

Oboe

Basoon