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Music Revision - Glossary I - L

Chris Anderson

Continuing this short series of musical terms (and the list is by no means exhaustive!).


Idée Fixe - A recurring theme or figure associated with a person or action.


Imitation - Where one part copies another, often in fugue.


Imperfect Cadence - Two chords that finish with the dominant.


Improvisation - Made up on the spot.


Incidental Music - Music for a play, often dances, songs or even an overture.


Interlude - A short piece of music interspersed between other sections of a larger work.


Intermezzo - A short piano piece or an instrumental piece played by the orchestra in an opera with no action on stage.


Interrupted Cadence - A cadence that goes from the dominant to any other chord except the tonic.


Interval - The distance between two notes.


Inversion - A chord that is played in a position different to root position.


Jig - Fast dance from Ireland. Usually in compound time.


K-Pop - South Korean pop music.


Key Signature - Sharps or flats that appear at the beginning of a piece of music. It is repeated on every single line of music.


Larghetto - Broad and slow, but not as much as Largo.


Largo - Slow and broad tempo.


Leading Note - Seventh note of a scale.


Ledger Lines - Extra lines used above and below the stave to write higher and lower notes.


Legato - Play smoothly.


Leitmotiv - A recurring theme associated with a particular character or object. Used in opera a lot, but also in film music.


Lento - Slow tempo.


Libretto - The text of an opera, oratorio or musical.


Lied - German song.


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