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6.2 Contemporary Music: A Brief Review Glossary
This sheet lists a number of contemporary music terms not covered by other sheets in this book. Concepts
covered on other pages are not duplicated here!

Scales
5-note (pentatonic) scales:
1. anhemitonic pentatonic: W-W-m3-W-m3; ex: CDEGA
2. Hirajoshi pentatonic: W-h-M3-h-M3; ex: CDEbGAb
3. Kumoi pentatonic: W-h-M3-W-m3; ex: CDEbGA
6-note scales:
1. Whole tone scale: All whole steps; ex: CDEF#G#A#;
There are only 2 different whole tone scales possible without duplicating pitches.
2. Augmented or hexatonic scale: h-m3-h-m3-h; ex: CC#EFAbA
7-note scales:
1. Ionian: Uses notes of major scale
2. Dorian: 2nd mode of major (=major scale starting on 2nd step); natural minor with #6
3. Phrygian: 3rd mode of major; natural minor with b2
4. Lydian: 4th mode of major; major scale with #4
5. Mixolydian: 5th mode of major; major scale with b7
6. Aeolian: Uses notes of natural minor scale
7. Locrian: 7th mode of major; natural minor with b2 and b5
8-note scales:
1. Octatonic: W-h-W-h-W-h-W-h or h-W-h-W-h-W-h-W; ex: CDEbFGbAbAB
2. Diminished scale: Another name for the W-h octatonic; commonly used in jazz
Other scales:
1. Microtonal scales: use intervals smaller than half steps
2. Modes of limited transposition: scales from 6-10 notes with fewer than 12 transpositions. Popular
with Messiaen.

Harmonic Constructions

1. Chords with added notes: Triads or 7th chords with added pitches; ex: Cadd6 = CEGA
2. Chords with split members: A chord with notes added a minor 2nd away from one or more original
notes
3. Split-third chord: Chord with both a major and minor 3rd above the root; ex: CEbEG
4. Open-fifth chord: Triad lacking the third; includes only a root and 5th; ex: CG
5. Quartal/quintal harmony: Harmony built using fourths or fifths
6. Scriabins mystic chord: Harmony used by composer Alexander Scriabin; C-F#-Bb-E-A-D OR CF#-Bb-E-A-Db; exs: Scriabin
7. Secundal chord: Sonority built using major or minor seconds
8. Tone cluster: Voicing of a secundal chord with the notes together in a single octave
9. Mixed-interval chord: Chord that combines 2nds, 3rds, and/or 4ths/5ths; NOT based on a stack-ofthirds
10. Whole-tone chord: Chord created from a single whole-tone scale
11. Polychord: Two or more triads at the same time
12. Stravinskys Petrushka chord: Polychord w/2 triads a tritone apart: Ex: C maj. + F# maj.

Copyright 2010 by Mark Feezell. All Rights Reserved.

6.2 Contemporary Music: A Brief Review Glossary, cont.

Parallelism

Chordal parallelism or Planing (say PLAY-ning): Entire triads or 7th chords moving in
parallel motion. Three types:
1. Diatonic parallelism: Follows the pitch classes of a major or minor scale.
2. Real parallelism: Maintains strict interval relationships.
3. Mixed parallelism: Combines diatonic and real parallelism.

Pitch-centricity
1. Pitch-centric music: Music that focuses on 1 pitch but is not in a major or minor key
2. Tonic by assertion: Establishing a pitch-center without using major/minor key formulas.
Techniques used include repetition, return, pedal point, ostinato, accent, metric
placement, highest note of phrase, lowest note of phrase, agogic accent (=long duration),
using the note a P5 above, etc.
3. Polytonality: Simultaneous use of multiple tonal centers
4. Bitonality: Simultaneous use of 2 tonal centers
5. Atonality: Music in which the listener perceives no overarching tonal center
6. Pandiatonoicism: Passage using the pitches of a major or minor scale without traditional
harmonic progressions and resolution of dissonances.

Rhythm and Meter

1. Changing meters, mixed meter, variable meter, multimeter: Frequent time signature
changes, either implied by accents or explicitly notated.
2. Asymmetric meter: Meter in which some beats have two divisions and some have three.
3. Additive rhythm: Some short rhythmic value (such as the eighth-note) is used as the basis
of the rhythm by creating groups of varying lengths (2, 3, 5, etc.)
4. Complex meter: Using nonstandard groupings of division notes in a regular time
signature; ex: 3+3+2 in 4/4 time.
5. Polymeter: Two or more simultaneous time signatures
6. Ametric: Music without a metric organization
7. Added values: Adding a short duration to an otherwise straightforward rhythm to give it
interest; Messiaen was fond of this technique
8. Nonretrogradable rhythm: Rhythm that sounds the same backward and forward.
9. Tempo modulation (metric modulation): Some note value in the first tempo becomes
equal to a different note value in the second tempo; associated with composer Elliott
Carter
10. Polytempo: Two or more simultaneous tempos at once.
11. Serialized rhythm: Music using a predetermined, repeating series of durations, similar to
twelve-tone musics use of tone rows.
12. Isorhythm: Repeating rhythmic/pitch pattern. The 2 patterns are typically not the same
length.
13. Ostinato: Repeating rhythmic/pitch pattern. Unlike isorhythm, the pitch and rhythmic
patterns are equal in length

Copyright 2010 by Mark Feezell. All Rights Reserved.