Dictionary of Music - Birding America

76 chordophonechordophone (kôr′də fōn′′). Any musicalINSTRUMENT in which the sound is produced by thevibration of one or more strings, which are bowed(as in the violin, hurdy-gurdy, crwth, etc.), orplucked (as in the guitar, harp, harpsichord, etc.), orstruck (as in the piano, dulcimer, etc.).chord organSee under ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS.chorister (kôr′i stər). Any member of a choir, butthe term is most often used for a boy singer in anEnglish church choir.chôro (shô′rô) Portuguese: “weeping,” “tears.”Music for an urban Brazilian instrumental ensemblein which one performer acts as soloist. Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote fourteen such works.chorus (kôr′əs). 1 A group of singers largeenough so that there is more than one singer to avoice-part. The most common kind of chorusincludes four types of voice—soprano, alto, tenor,and bass. However, there are numerous specialcombinations, including the men’s chorus, withparts for first and second tenor, baritone, and bass,and the women’s chorus, with parts for first andsecond soprano, and first and second alto. An acappella chorus is one that performs withoutinstrumental accompaniment. See also GLEE CLUB.2 A composition or section written for or sung by achorus. 3 The refrain of a song. In many folk songsand in operettas, the verse is sung by a soloist andthe REFRAIN (def. 1) by a group (chorus). In popularmusic, this part of a song is far more importantthan the verse, and most familiar popular songtunes are actually the melody of the chorus. Suchchoruses usually consist of four eight-bar sections,the third of which is the contrasting BRIDGE(def. 3).chorus reedORGAN.A class of organ stops; see underChristmas carol See CAROL, def. 1.chromatic 1 Pertaining to or containing notes notbelonging to a given major or minor key. See CHRO-MATIC NOTE. 2 Proceeding by two or more consecutivehalf tones, as in the CHROMATIC SCALE. 3 UsingCHROMATIC HARMONY.chromatic chord A chord that includes one ormore notes foreign to the key of the passage inwhich it appears.chromatic harmony Harmony that employsmany chromatic chords. The title of Bach’s Fantasiacromatica e fuga (“Chromatic Fantasy andFugue”) refers to the considerable use of chromaticharmony in the fantasy. During the secondhalf of the nineteenth century, composers greatlyextended the use of chromatic chords, eventuallyresulting in the breakdown of traditional conceptsof harmony.chromatic instrument An instrument on whichthe player can produce all the notes of the chromaticscale. The modern French horn, with its valves, is achromatic instrument, whereas the older naturalhorn was not (see HORN). Although the modern harpis chromatic in that all the chromatic tones are available,they cannot be played quickly one afteranother; this would require a chromatic harp havinga separate string for each half tone (see HARP).chromaticism 1 The use of chromatic notes. 2 Thefrequent use of half-tone progressions, such as Cto C-sharp to D or B to B-flat to A. 3 The use ofchromatic harmony.chromatic note A note that does not belong tothe key (scale) in which a composition or section iswritten. For example, in the key of C major, whichcontains no sharps or flats, any note with an accidental(sharp or flat, such as F-sharp or B-flat) is said tobe chromatic. (Notes that belong to the key arecalled DIATONIC.)chromatic scale A scale made up of twelve halftones in an octave (on the piano, all the white andblack keys from C to C).fig. 62 p/u from p. 80