Jazz Dictonary
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| MAIN PAGE Jazz HISTORY OF JAZZ: JAZZ SLANG: JAZZ DICTONARY: MP3 Gabmling |
-P-Pedal Point: Low pitched repeated and/or sustained tone. It usually retains its pitch despite changes in chords and improvisations occurring around it. Common in the 1950's work of Miles Davis and the I 960's work of John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner. Pentatonic scale: Scale consisting of five tones, none of which are half steps. Pitch Bending: Purposeful raising or lowering of a tone pitch. Usually by microtones not to exceed a half step and usually done for coloration or expressive purposes. Pizzicato: The method of playing a stringed instrument by plucking the strings instead of using the bow. Pentatonic: A scale consisting of only five tones as represented by the five black keys of the piano. Phrase: Small unit of a melody. Plagal cadence: A specific chord progression, namely, the IV chord resolving to the I chord; example, amen chords. Polymeters: Simultaneous of several meters. Polymodal: The simultaneous sounding of several different modes. Polyphonic: The simultaneous sounding of two or more melodies of equal importance. Polytonal: The simultaneous sounding of tones in more than one key. Portamento: The movement of tone to another higher or lower tone without any break in the sound. |