Dictionary of Music - Birding America

middle C 241 = 125 should be played at the rate of 125 quarternotes per minute, which will be sounded out by settingthe metronome at 125. Similarly, the indication“125 M.M.” calls for a setting of 125 ticks perminute, M.M. standing for “Maelzel metronome.”Today many musicians prefer an electronicmetronome, in which the pulse is indicated by clickingsounds or a blinking light.Meyerbeer (mī′ər ber′′), Giacomo (jä′kô mô),1791–1864. A German composer who is rememberedchiefly for several grand operas produced inParis relatively late in his life. The most famous ofthem are Robert le Diable (“Robert the Devil”), LesHuguenots, Le Prophète, and L’Africaine. All havelibrettos by the renowned French dramatist EugèneScribe (1791–1861).mezza voce (med′dzä vô′che) Italian: “halfvoice.” A direction to sing at less than normal volume,that is, moderately softly.mezzo (med′dzô) Italian: “half.” 1 A shorteningof MEZZO-SOPRANO. 2 Means “moderately” whencombined with another word, such as MEZZO PIANO.mezzo forte (med′dzô fôr′te) Italian. A directionto sing or play moderately loudly. It is usuallyabbreviated mf.mezzo legato (med′dzô le gä′tô) Italian. Adirection to perform smoothly but more lightly thanfull legato.mezzo piano (med′dzô pyä′nô) Italian. A directionto sing or play moderately softly. It is usuallyabbreviated mp.mezzo-soprano (med′dzô sô prä′nô) Italian.Also, mezzo (med′dzô). A woman’s voice with arange and tone quality midway between those of analto and a soprano. The usual mezzo-soprano rangeis from the A below middle C to the second F or Gabove middle C.fig. 157 p/ufrom p. 248mezzo staccato (med′dzô stä kä′tô) Italian.Another term for PORTATO.mfThe abbreviation for MEZZO FORTE.m.g. The abbreviation for main gauche (“lefthand”), used in keyboard music as a direction toplay a note or passage with the left hand.mi (mē). In the system of naming the notes of thescale (see SOLMIZATION), the third note of the scale(the others being do, re, fa, sol, la, and ti).microtone (mī′krə tōn′′). Any interval smallerthan one half tone, which in traditional Europeanand American music is the smallest interval used.Microtones are basic to many of the scales andmodes of non-Western music, especially Asianmusic, and occur in Western popular and folkmusic—for example, the blue note of BLUES. Sinceabout 1890 a number of serious composers haveshown interest in intervals of various small sizes—quarter tones (half of a half tone), sixth tones (onethirdof a half tone), sixteenth tones, etc. Notableamong the composers who have experimented withmicrotones are Julián Carrillo of Mexico, AloisHába of Czechoslovakia, Krzystof Penderecki ofPoland, Hungarian-born György Ligeti, and CharlesIves, Harry Partch, and Easley Blackwood of theUnited States. Several systems of notating microtoneshave been devised, and some special instrumentshave been developed to perform microtonalmusic, notably several types of quarter-tone piano(see under QUARTER TONE). Among the morerecent is the zoomoozophone, invented in 1977 bycomposer-performer Dean Drummond, a formerpupil of Partch’s. It is a mallet-played percussioninstrument that consists of 129 suspended aluminumtubes tuned so as to produce 31 notes to the octave(instead of the conventional chromatic 12). Thesystem of tuning used is JUST INTONATION (based onthe harmonic series).Middle AgesSee MEDIEVAL.middle C The pitch C that is located near the centerof the piano keyboard and is written one line