outhful Young People's Concert - Virginia Symphony Orchestra

Vocabulary
ballet – A ballet is a story that is told on stage through dance, music and scenery.
baton – A baton is a stick that is used by conductors to show the steady beat of a piece through horizontal and vertical movements.
composition – A composition is a creative work- usually referring to a piece of writing (like an essay) or a piece of music.
conducting pattern – A conducting pattern is the horizontal and vertical movements the conductor’s baton makes in the air as the conductor
helps the orchestra keep the steady beat for the music being played.
conductor – A conductor is a man or woman who directs rehearsals and performances by an orchestra, band,
chorus, opera company or other musical group.
dynamics – Dynamics are the loudness or softness of sounds or notes.
improvisation - This means making up music and playing it right on the spot.
maestra - The title “maestra” indicates that the conductor is a woman. It means “master” or “teacher” in Italian.
maestro – The title “maestro” indicates that the conductor is a man. It means “master” or “teacher” in Italian.
melody - Melody is a group of notes played one after the other. It is the tune of a piece of music. It’s easiest part to remember. It’s the part you
hum.
meter – The meter in music is the repeated division of strong and weak beats throughout the composition. If a piece of music has a series of
beats that follow this pattern – strong, weak, weak; strong, weak, weak – it is in a triple meter (groups of three beats). If a piece of music has a
series of beats that follow this pattern – strong, weak; strong, weak – it is in a duple meter (groups of two beats).
opera - An opera is a like a play set to music. The actors sing their lines, and there are songs sung throughout.
orchestra – An orchestra is usually a large group of musicians led by a conductor that plays classical music on musical instruments that belong
to the string, woodwind, brass and percussion families.
orchestration – Orchestration is the process of dividing a piece of music among instruments. A composer chooses who plays, what instruments
play together and when.
ornamentation - Ornamentation is the use of quick little notes to dress up a melody.
pitch – Pitch is the highness or lowness of sound.
rhythm – Rhythm is what makes music move. It is made up of sounds and silences.
scale - Scales are notes that all move up by step or down by step.
swing - This is a characteristic of jazz. Instead of each eighth note in a pair being played equally, the same length, the first one is played longer
than the second.
symphony – A symphony is a large piece of music written for an orchestra.
syncopation - This is the placement of strong beats where there are usually weak ones. Instead of STRONG, weak, STRONG, weak for the
beats in a piece of music, you might hear weak, STRONG, weak, STRONG. Syncopation is often found in jazz music.
tempo – Tempo indicates the speed of music. It’s a steady constant pulse, like a clock ticking. Tempo can be slow or fast or in-between, and it
can change during a song. Tempo influences how music sounds and feels. The same piece of music will sound different if it is played slower or
faster.
theme – A theme is a melody that is heard again and again.
tone color (or timbre) - This is the color of music. Composers blend instrument sounds like artists blend paints.
For example, an artist can mix two colors to make a third - like mixing red and blue to make purple. Similarly, a composer can have a clarinet
and an oboe play a melody together to create a different, blended sound... a different tone color.
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