Explore Music Theory with clear music dictionary guides to notes, scales, chords, rhythm, harmony, melody, and musical structure.
The Mixolydian mode is a diatonic scale that resembles the major scale but with a lowered seventh degree. It is widely used in folk, jazz, rock, and modal music, offering a characteristic dominant sound without the need for a separate chord alteration.
A musical scale is an ordered collection of pitches spanning an octave, forming the foundation for melody, harmony, and improvisation. Scales vary across cultures and genres, with major, minor, pentatonic, and modal types being the most common in Western music.
A minor seventh chord is a four‑note harmony built from a root, a minor third, a perfect fifth, and a minor seventh. It appears in many musical styles and serves both as a tonal color and a functional chord in progressions.
The downbeat is the first beat of a musical measure, typically the strongest and most accented. It serves as the primary point of rhythmic reference for performers and conductors, helping to establish tempo and phrasing.
A major seventh is an interval spanning eleven semitones, one step below the octave. It is a distinctive, slightly dissonant interval used in a variety of musical styles, especially in jazz and contemporary harmony.
A half cadence is a musical phrase that ends on a relatively unstable chord, usually the dominant, creating a sense of continuation rather than closure. It is a fundamental tool in Western tonal harmony for shaping musical direction.
Modulation is the process of changing from one tonal center or key to another within a piece of music. It reshapes harmonic relationships, creates contrast, and drives musical narrative across many styles.
An augmented interval is a musical interval that is one semitone larger than a perfect or major interval. It creates heightened tension and is used in a variety of harmonic contexts across many styles.
The minor sixth is a musical interval spanning eight semitones, equivalent to a distance of 800 cents in equal temperament. It can be heard in melody and harmony across many musical styles and has distinct acoustic properties in just intonation.
A major second is a musical interval spanning two semitones, also known as a whole tone. It is one of the basic building blocks of Western tonal music, appearing in scales, melodies, and harmonies.