Appendix

Glossary
Membership of the Curriculum Committee for Arts Education
Membership of the Primary Co-ordinating Committee

Glossary

The definitions below are commonly understood working definitions for use with the primary curriculum and teacher guidelines.

accent	the emphasis on a selected beat or beats in a bar
beat	the steady, continuous pulse underlying the music
body percussion	using different parts of the body to create different sounds and rhythms, for example clap, stamp, slap, etc.
cabasa	a percussion instrument, cylindrical in shape and covered in strings of metal beads that rotate freely on the curved surface to produce a grating sound
descant	an added part above the melody line in the treble clef
diatonic	built on the notes d, r, m, f, s, l, t, d'
drone	long, held note or notes
dynamics	the loudness and softness of a piece of music, for example lullaby -- soft (p), march -- loud (f)
hand signs	gestures used to indicate pitch in solfa
harmony	two or more sounds played or sung together
interval	the distance between two notes of different pitch
key signature	indicates where doh lies at the beginning of a piece of music
major scale	a scale built on the notes d, r, m, f, s, l, t, d', also known as the diatonic scale
metre	the basic grouping of beats in each bar of music, as indicated by the time signature
minor scale	a scale built on the notes l, t, d, r, m, f, si, l, beginning on lah instead of doh, with a sharpened seventh note (si)
modal scale	a scale built on the notes of the major scale but starting and finishing on notes other than doh; for example the re mode: r, m, f, s, l, t, d' r'
mood	type of feeling created by music, for example happy, sad
octave	the distance between notes of the same name, eight letter notes higher or lower: for example D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D
ostinato	a constantly repeated musical pattern, rhythmic or melodic
pentatonic scale	a scale comprising five notes: d, r, m, s, l, widely used in folk music. Pentatonic scales can begin on any note: for example mi-pentatonic comprises the notes m, s, l, d, r. Pentatonic scales can be played on the black notes of a piano: for example, beginning on F the first three notes together are d, r, m, while the next two black notes are s and l.
percussion instruments	instruments that are struck or shaken, for example tambourine, triangle; tuned percussion instruments are tuned to a specific note at concert pitch; untuned percussion instruments are not given specific tuning
phrase	a natural division in the melodic line; similar to a sentence or part of a sentence
pitch	a term referring to the high-low quality of a musical sound
pulse	the underlying 'throb' in music
rest	no sound for a specified length of time, according to the musical sign, for example:
rhythm	different durations of sounds, long and short
rhythm syllables	words or syllables used to demonstrate duration in rhythm
round	one melody strictly imitated in pitch and rhythm, any number of beats later; usually two, three or four parts, repeated any number of times
staff notation	notes written on a five-line stave
stick notation	a form of shorthand used for notating rhythm quickly and easily; for example a crotchet is represented as simply: |, a quaver as:
structure	overall plan of a composition, for example AB: two contrasting sections
style	refers to the combination of tempo, timbre and dynamics
syncopation	the occurrence of unexpected accents in metred music
tempo	speed or pace of the underlying beat
texture	refers to combinations of sounds: single sounds or sounds together
timbre	tone colour; refers to the characteristic sound produced by different instruments, for example trumpet, violin
time signature	the sign placed at the beginning of the music indicating the number of beats in each bar
tonic solfa	moveable pitch names, d, r, m, f, s, l, t, d'
treble or G clef	the fixed pitch sign placed at the beginning of the staff to identify the fixed pitch name G
tremelo	rapid iteration of a note, or alternation of two notes

Membership of the Curriculum Committee for Arts Education

This curriculum has been prepared by the Curriculum Committee for Arts Education established by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

Membership of the Primary Co-ordinating Committee

To co-ordinate the work of the Curriculum Committees, the Primary Co-ordinating Committee was established by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

NCCA Chairpersons: Dr Tom Murphy (to 1996), Dr Caroline Hussey (from 1996)