America, the Beautiful

Blocked Chords

Chords

Chord tones played together that are not part of an accompaniment pattern.

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Crescendo and Diminuendo

Expression

Indications instructing the player to play gradually louder (crescendo) or softer (diminuendo).

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Crossing Over Thumb

Hand and Finger Techniques

The physical motion of crossing fingers 2, 3, 4, or 5 over the thumb; used when playing scalar passages or outside of five finger scales.

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Crossing Thumb Under

Hand and Finger Techniques

The physical motion of crossing the thumb under fingers 2, 3, 4, or 5; used when playing scalar passages or outside of five finger scales.

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Dotted Quarter Notes

Rhythm

Quarter notes whose lengths are increased by half; equal to three 8th notes.

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Intermediate Single Note Accompaniment

Accompaniment Patterns

A type of accompaniment pattern where only one note is played at a time but with large intervals, many hand positions, and complex rhythms.

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Ledger Lines

Notes and Notation

Additional lines added above or below the staff in order to place very high or very low notes that wouldn't normally fit on the staff.

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Legato

Expression

A type of articulation indicating the player to play smoothly and seamlessly, with the notes slightly overlapped.

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Major Scales

Scales and Hand Positions

Commonly used diatonic scales with the following sequence of intervals: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.

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Melodic Octaves

Intervals

Two notes played in succession, usually in one hand but sometimes in both, whose distance is the interval of an octave of any quality.

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Octave Higher or Octave Lower

Notes and Notation

Symbols that indicate playing a note or range of notes either an octave higher or lower than notated.

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Primary Chords

Chords

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Ritardando

Meter

An Italian term meaning "delaying"; an indication instructing the player to decrease speed, often gradually.

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Shifting Hand Positions

Hand and Finger Techniques

A technique that requires the player to pick up and move their hand to a new position; usually from a five finger scale to another.

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Sustain Pedal

Expression

Also called the damper pedal, it is the rightmost pedal on the piano and used to sustain notes by moving the dampers away from the strings.

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