Musical jargon

Larry

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
I love all the musical jargon out there. It's like a sub language for musicians. Your average guy on the street probably doesn't know what a turnaround or bridge is. Any favorite musical slangwords?
 
The common description for 16th notes is 1 e and ah 2 e and ah 3 e and ah 4 e and ah...but when I played in the symphony in HS, the director always counted it 1 ta te ta, 2 ta te ta...so thats what I use...it drives my band mates nuts...they also hate it when I stress "we should retard the ending"
 
I am also a big fan of Timbre....which most people don't know is pronounced "tambor" and basically means the tone from your insturment....so I always stress to the band to listen to your Timbre (tambor)....and their like "dont you mean tim-bre, (with a strong southern GW Bush drawl)"...ha
 
nicotine25 said:
The common description for 16th notes is 1 e and ah 2 e and ah 3 e and ah 4 e and ah...but when I played in the symphony in HS, the director always counted it 1 ta te ta, 2 ta te ta...so thats what I use...it drives my band mates nuts...they also hate it when I stress "we should retard the ending"
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How about if I say to start on the ta of the second measure, how do you know which to start on?
 
good point? never really thought about that...I guess I will start conforming...
 
I like the term ( Tutti ) which means play together at the same time. Or in a big band song play the kick together. My wife is a nurse and like music most of the medical terms are in latin. Another term Piano, why not say softly.
 
GRUNTERSDAD said:
How about if I say to start on the ta of the second measure, how do you know which to start on?
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Start on the first ta
Of the second bar.
By the second ta's end
of the fourth bar ascend.
Ritardando on the seventh
Bar, first ta - then finito on the eleventh.
Use a timbre that's flutey
And make sure it's tutti!​

Ogden Nash, eat yer heart out :)

It took me a long time to get used to saying eighth and sixteenth notes instead of quavers and semiquavers.
 
Our keyboard player is always using terms like allegro and pianissimo.

When he asked me when I replace the heads on my drums, I told him that I don't change them until they're "al dente". ;-)
 
I like the numbers thing.... "yeah we go to the four right there", or, "it's a 1-6-2-5 ending" or, "just hold the one...."

Then ya got yer tag, yer hook, yer into, yer outtro, don't forget yer rests....

Then there's all the different rhythm names, rhumba, salsa, shuffle, et al

Then of course all the classic italian terms forte, allegro, al dente

Musician: We're gonna do an 8 bar shuffle in C, allegro, with a 1-6-2-5 turnaround and a cha cha cha ending.
Non musician: Huh?
 
larryace said:
Non musician: Huh?
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More "hah!" than "huh?" IMO, Larry. People can think what they like. Seeing drummers as non musicians is musical naivete. We don't need to know one word of musical jargon to be musicians because we're an essential part of many musical styles. If you're part of the band then you're a musician.

Everyone knows we add groove and excitement. Our harmonic contributions are less noticed. Why hit that tom now, or that cymbal? That cymbal just happens to sound right with the collective chord the others are playing at that moment. The other cymbals wouldn't sound as good. We make these harmonic decisions all the time. Often people don't realise it; they just know it sounds good.

We're gonna do an 8 bar shuffle in C, allegro, with a 1-6-2-5 turnaround and a cha cha cha ending
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Pollyanna: Just start something up and I'll join in :)
 
larryace said:
Musician: We're gonna do an 8 bar shuffle in C, allegro, with a 1-6-2-5 turnaround and a cha cha cha ending.
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I think it's far more probable that a musician would say "huh?" if he was told this. It's basically nonsense.

And not to be a killjoy or anything, but it's musical terminology, not jargon.
 
There's a LOT of music terminology that even most musicians don't know about. Start talking to most drummers nonchalantly about baiao and tumbao rhythms, and watch them scratch their heads. Or, strike up a conversation with guitar players about the difference between the usages of French augmented 6ths, German augmented 6ths, Italian augmented 6ths, and Neopolitan chords, and they won't know WHAT you're talking about!

I do like throwing out a reference to picardy thirds and 4 major to 4 minor progressions as being cliched and overdone. Musicians nod their heads while non-musicians act like you're speaking a foreign language...
 
con struct said:
I think it's far more probable that a musician would say "huh?" if he was told this. It's basically nonsense.

And not to be a killjoy or anything, but it's musical terminology, not jargon.
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Conrad, what makes this nonsense? 8 bar blues is a common form, allegro is a tempo range, a 1-6-2-5- turnaround is a common thing and so is a cha cha cha ending, what am I missing?

Terminology not jargon, OK if that makes more sense than I'll defer.
 
caddywumpus said:
There's a LOT of music terminology that even most musicians don't know about. Start talking to most drummers nonchalantly about baiao and tumbao rhythms, and watch them scratch their heads. Or, strike up a conversation with guitar players about the difference between the usages of French augmented 6ths, German augmented 6ths, Italian augmented 6ths, and Neopolitan chords, and they won't know WHAT you're talking about!

I do like throwing out a reference to picardy thirds and 4 major to 4 minor progressions as being cliched and overdone. Musicians nod their heads while non-musicians act like you're speaking a foreign language...
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Man my head sure is itchy all of a sudden
 
larryace said:
I love all the musical jargon out there. It's like a sub language for musicians. Your average guy on the street probably doesn't know what a turnaround or bridge is. Any favorite musical slangwords?
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Recapitulation.


This question made me and my mates in the shop ask what "warm" means when it comes to drums. Doe a head make a drum sound cold?

D's tech used to tell him: "Now go out there and make those drums piss!"

:)
 
OK Wy I'll bite. What does recapitulation mean?
 
larryace said:
Man my head sure is itchy all of a sudden
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lol Larry.....Caddy's reply has prompted a fair degree of head scratching (and googleing) this side of the Pacific too!!

LATE EDIT:...apols, forgot to add to the thread. Perhaps not musical, but music related. 'Woodshedding' is a jargon term I'd never heard before joining these forums. Love it and have been using it ever since.
 
larryace said:
OK Wy I'll bite. What does recapitulation mean?
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It when you take everything that was played already, condence it, chop up some carrots, and then play it again. An ode to things past. ;-)


Here's a dictionary explanation.

recapitulation [ˌriːkəˌpɪtjʊˈleɪʃən]
n
1. the act of recapitulating, esp summing up, as at the end of a speech
2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Biology) Also called palingenesis Biology the apparent repetition in the embryonic development of an animal of the changes that occurred during its evolutionary history Compare caenogenesis
3. (Music / Classical Music) Music the repeating of earlier themes, esp when forming the final section of a movement in sonata form
 
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