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Musical Terms for Those Without Music Degrees

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:50 am
by Dan Schultz
Obbligato - being forced to practice
Con Moto - yeah baby, I have a car
Allegro - a little car
Metronome - short, city musician who can fit into a Honda Civic
Lento - the days leading up to Easto
Largo - beer brewed in Germany or the Florida Keys
Piu Animato - clean out the cat's litter box
Interval - time to meet the other players at the bar
Perfect Interval - when the drinks are on the house
Cantabile - singing while drunk
Con Spirito - drunk again
Colla Voce - this shirt is so tight I can't sing
Improvisation - what you do when the music falls down
Prelude - warm-up before the clever stuff
Flats - English apartments
Chords - things organists play with one finger
Dischords - things that organists play with two fingers
Suspended Chords - useful for lynching the vocalist
Syncopation - bowel condition brought on by an overdose of jazz
Time Signatures - things for drummers to ignore
Virtuoso - a person who can work wonders with easy-play music
Professional - anyone who can't hold down a steady job
Melody - an ancient, now almost completely extinct art in songwriting
and
1. Klavierstück - A term used by German furniture movers attempting to get
a piano through a narrow doorway.
2. Music stand - An intricate device used to hold music. It comes in two
sizes - too high or too low - and always broken.
3. Aria - The product of multiplying a soprano's length by her width.
4. Tonic - A medicinal drink consumed in great quantities before a
performance, and in greater quantities after a performance.
5. Dominant - What parents must be if they expect their children to practice.
6. Concert Hall - A place where large audiences gather, for the sole
purpose of removing the paper wrappings from their candy.

and even more
Soto voco - singing while drunk
Agogic - playing high enough on an oboe to make the eyes bulge
Cadenza - slapping noise on office furniture
Estompé - proper technique for playing an accordion
Fandango - grabbing the pull chain on the ceiling fan
Prima volta - jump start with a battery
Quattro - spreadsheet music
Refrain - proper technique for playing bagpipes
Schietto - the junior high band
Smorzando - with melted chocolate & marshmallow

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 1:02 pm
by windshieldbug
You mean "retrocrescendo" (for those who must have their morning serial) :lol:

Re: Musical Terms for Those Without Music Degrees

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 1:36 pm
by Kevin Hendrick
TubaTinker wrote:3. Aria - The product of multiplying a soprano's length by her width.
That would be her cross-sectional aria, yes? (and maybe her square footage for tax purposes?) :lol:

Re: Musical Terms for Those Without Music Degrees

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 2:45 pm
by Shockwave
Kevin Hendrick wrote:
TubaTinker wrote:3. Aria - The product of multiplying a soprano's length by her width.
That would be her cross-sectional aria, yes? (and maybe her square footage for tax purposes?) :lol:
I think it's the surface area that's important for taxonomy.

-Eric

Re: Musical Terms for Those Without Music Degrees

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 2:56 pm
by Kevin Hendrick
Shockwave wrote:
Kevin Hendrick wrote:
TubaTinker wrote:3. Aria - The product of multiplying a soprano's length by her width.
That would be her cross-sectional aria, yes? (and maybe her square footage for tax purposes?) :lol:
I think it's the surface area that's important for taxonomy.

-Eric
Sounds right to me! :D

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:45 pm
by MartyNeilan
Let us not forget Percy Grainger and his contribution of "Blue Eyed English" musical terms... :roll:
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:08 am
by ken k
bloke wrote:Moving to a somewhat tangent-but-very-related topic, there are some "musical" terms that I've only heard come out of the mouths of school band directors. The first one that comes to mind is

decrescendo :wink:

Though this is a real word and a legitimate Italian musical term as well, it seems (in the American realm) to me to be a bit "redneck" when juxtaposed with the favored

diminuendo

bloke "Both words effectively translate to 'decreasing', but DEcrescendo literally translates to 'un-growing' :roll: ."
I only tell the baritone horns to decrescendo; everyone else (especially the euphoniums), diminuendo. :D

ken k

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:27 am
by Joe Baker
...so for me, with my 3-front-valve, bell-front, lacquered brass Ameri-bari-tone, what would you say?

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Stifle!!!
__________________________________________

Heck, I figured somebody'd have put these up here by now, but since they haven't:

HILLBILLY MUSICAL TERMS

Diminished Fifth -- An empty bottle of Jack Daniels
Perfect Fifth -- A full bottle of Jack Daniels
Relative Major -- Your uncle in the Marine Corps
Relative Minor -- Your girlfriend
Pianissimo -- "Refill this beer glass!"
Treble -- Women ain't nothin' but....
Arpeggio -- "Ain't he that storybook kid with the big nose that grows?"
Tempo -- Poor choice for a used car
Transposition -- One o' them men who wears dresses
Common Time -- At the county jail, not the penn
Cut Time -- Parole
Order of Sharps -- What a sissy gets at the bar
Middle C-- The only fruit drink you can afford when food stamps are low
Perfect Pitch -- The smooth coating on a freshly paved road
Absolute pitch -- Power failure in the concert hall.
Cadenza -- That ugly thing your wife always vacuums dog hair off of when company comes
Whole Note -- What's due after failing to pay the mortgage for a year
Clef -- What you try never to fall off of
Bass Clef -- Where you wind up if you do fall off
Altos -- Not to be confused with "Tom's toes," "Bubba's toes" or "Dori-toes"
12-Tone Scale --The thing the State Police weigh your tractor trailer truck with
Quarter Tone -- What mama weighs, since she went on that diet!
First Inversion -- What your Relative Major did in Iraq
Cello -- The jiggly stuff aunt LuElla always brings to the family reunion.
Bassoon -- Typical response when asked what you hope to catch, and when
Bossa Nova -- The car your foreman drives
Time Signature -- What you need from your boss if you forget to clock in
Key Change -- What your wife does to the locks when she catches you with your Relative Minor
Staccato -- How you did all the ceilings in your mobile home
Bach Chorale -- The place behind the barn where you keep the horses

and, of course,

Tuba -- A compound word; a cylindrical container pinched closed at one end, with
a cap on the other: "Hey, darlin'! Fetch me another tuba Brylcreem!"
_________________________________
Joe Baker, who is happily transplanted into hillbilly-land!

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:17 am
by windshieldbug
Joe Baker wrote:...so for me, with my 3-front-valve, bell-front, lacquered brass Ameri-bari-tone, what would you say?

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Stifle!!!

(or for a section)

Stifle Yaselfses!!!

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:25 am
by Daryl Fletcher
Intonation -- Singing through one's nose. Considered highly desirable in the Middle Ages

Here's more: http://www.ahajokes.com/msic2.html