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variation, in music

(Encyclopedia)variation, in music, a compositional device in which certain features of a musical unit, e.g., phase, are altered while others are retained in a subsequent statement of the unit. Modifications include...

bow, in music

(Encyclopedia)bow bō [key], implement used in playing stringed instruments. Its name originated from the fact that in its early form it resembled an archer's bow, but by the 17th cent. the European bow had gradual...

bass, in music

(Encyclopedia)bass bās [key], in musical harmony, the part of lowest pitch. The term is used for the lowest-pitched male voice and for instruments of low pitch, such as bass clarinet, bass drum, bassoon (bass oboe...

Tanglewood Music Festival

(Encyclopedia)Tanglewood Music Festival, formerly the Berkshire Festival (until 1984), summer music festival held since 1937 at “Tanglewood,” a former estate in the adjoining towns of Stockbridge and Lenox, Mas...

calliope, in music

(Encyclopedia)calliope, in music, an instrument also called steam organ or steam piano in which steam is forced through a series of whistles controlled by a keyboard. It is usually played mechanically, and its shri...

calypso, in music

(Encyclopedia)calypso, a form of folk song developed on the island of Trinidad and also popular in other Caribbean countries. Thought to have begun with 19th-century black slaves, calypso songs developed and contin...

canon, in music

(Encyclopedia)canon, in music, a type of counterpoint employing the strictest form of imitation. All the voices of a canon have the same melody, beginning at different times. Successive entrances may be at the same...

canzone, in music

(Encyclopedia)canzone or canzona, in music, a type of instrumental music in Italy in the 16th and 17th cent. The term had previously been given to strophic songs for five or six voices; usually the canzone had thre...

antiphon, in liturgical music

(Encyclopedia)antiphon ănˈtĭfən [key], in Roman Catholic liturgical music, generally a short text sung before and after a psalm or canticle. The main use is in group singing of the Divine Office in a monastery....

Eastman School of Music

(Encyclopedia)Eastman School of Music: see Rochester, Univ. of. ...