Chinese Opera Teacher's Guide and Curriculum
Glossary

Accompaniment ~backing music that supports the main part

Accompanist ~ someone who plays the accompaniment

Bangu ~ small Chinese drum

Chordal support ~ accompaniment in the form of chords

Chords ~ several notes played simultaneously

Chou ~ clown

Composing ~ inventing or writing a piece of music

Dan ~ female opera character

Declaim ~ to say something in a formal or dramatic way

Dynamics ~ the volume (the "louds" and "softs") of a piece of music

Er Hu ~ Chinese fiddle, slightly larger than Qin Hu

Frets ~ small ridges across the fingerboard of the instrument indicating the positiong in which to place the fingers to produce a particular note

Improvisation ~ something performed or done without any preparation or set text to follow

Jing ~ painted face opera character

Melody ~ a tune

Notation ~ a set of written symbols used to represent something, for example, the length and pitch of musical notes

Ostinato ~ a repeated pattern, either melodic or rhythmic

Pentatonic scale ~ five-note Chinese scale

Percussion instruments ~ instruments played by striking or hitting

Pitch ~ high and low notes

Qin Hu ~ Chinese fiddle

Rhythm ~ a particular pattern of note values (beats) in a piece of music

Scale ~ chronological order of specific notes

Score ~ a written or printed copy of a musical composition

Scribe ~ a person who copies or writes out documents

Sheng ~ male opera character

Solfege ~ an exercise in singing using the sol-fa syllables (doh re mi fa soh la ti doh)

String instruments ~ instruments with strings which are plucked or bowed such as a violin

Tempo (pl. tempi) ~ speed at which a melody is played

Wind instruments ~ instruments which are blown into to create sound

Yue Qin ~ Chinese Moon Guitar