An interval of two semitones. The first interval of “Happy Birthday” is a major second, as well as “Doe a Deer” (both between “Doe” and “a” as well as between “a” and “Deer”). The first interval of “E [..]

The distance over which an oscillating wave, such as an air pressure wave, repeats.

An ornament or effect that involves a rapid oscillation between the fundamental note and a tone approximately an octave higher.

Spoken or sung speech that has the sound and cadence of syllables and words, but without any meaning. Vocables can be mixed with meaningful speech (e.g. "Ta ra ra boom de-yay, Today's a Holi [..]

An ornament that involves a gentle, sometimes subtle cyclic change in volume and pitch. It is usually used on a long note. On Native American flutes, it is usually produced by a repeated change in bre [..]

A sequence of four grace notes before the main note, in a particular pattern. A turn can be represented in modern music notation as ([Nakai 1996], page 31).

A flute crafting and tuning technique of removing material from a finger hole underneath the external surface of the instrument. A finger hole that is undercut has a larger opening to the sound chambe [..]

An interval of six semitones. There aren't a lot of songs that begin with a tritone, but the ones that do are distinctive: “Maria” from West Side Story and the theme from “The Simpsons” both begi [..]

An alternating pair of notes repeated many times. Trills can be played as grace notes leading into main melodic note, or as their own separate stand-alone part of the melody.

A G-clef placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate that the pitch G4 passes through the curl of the clef, on the second staff line from the bottom: