half step (or semitone) The smallest INTERVAL normally used in Western music, equivalent to the interval between any two successive NOTES on the PIANO keyboard; half the size of a WHOLE STEP.
harmonia (pl. harmoniai) Ancient Greek term with multiple meanings: (1) the union of parts in an orderly whole; (2) INTERVAL; (3) SCALE type; (4) style of MELODY.
harmonic progression A logical succession of CHORDS with a sense of direction; especially, the succession of chords used to accompany a MELODY or used as the basis for VARIATIONS.
harmony Aspect of music that pertains to simultaneous combinations of NOTES, the INTERVALS and CHORDS that result, and the correct succession of chords.
harp Plucked string instrument with a resonating soundbox, neck, and strings in roughly triangular shape. The strings rise perpendicular from the soundboard to the neck.
harpsichord Keyboard instrument in use between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It was distinguished from the CLAVICHORD and the PIANO by the fact that its strings were plucked, not struck.
haut (French, "high"; pronounced OH) In the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, term for loud instruments such as CORNETTS and SACKBUTS. See BAS.
head-motive Initial passage or MOTIVE of a piece or MOVEMENT; used especially for a motive or PHRASE that appears at the beginning of each movement of a MOTTO MASS or CANTUS-FIRMUS MASS.
heighted neumes In an early form of NOTATION, NEUMES arranged so that their relative height indicated higher or lower pitch. Also called DIASTEMATIC neumes.
hemiola (from Greek hemiolios, "one and a half") A metrical effect in which three duple units substitute for two triple ones, such as three successive quarter NOTES within a MEASURE of 6/8, or three two-beat groupings in two measures of triple METER. Hemiola may occur between voices or successive measures.
heterophony Music or musical TEXTURE in which a MELODY is performed by two or more parts simultaneously in more than one way, for example, one voice performing it simply, and the other with embellishments.
hexachord (from Greek, "six strings") (1) A set of six pitches. (2) In medieval and RENAISSANCE SOLMIZATION, the six NOTES represented by the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, which could be transposed to three positions: the "natural" hexachord, C-D-E-F-G-A; the "hard" hexachord, G-A-B-C-D-E; and the "soft" hexachord, F-G-A-B-C-D. (3) In TWELVE-TONE theory, the first six or last six notes in the ROW.
historia In Lutheran music of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, a musical setting based on a biblical narrative. See PASSION.
hocket (French hoquet, "hiccup") In thirteenth- and fourteenth-century POLYPHONY, the device of alternating rapidly between two voices, each resting while the other sings, as if a single MELODY is split between them; or, a COMPOSITION based on this device.
homophony Musical TEXTURE in which all voices move together in essentially the same RHYTHM, as distinct from POLYPHONY and HETEROPHONY. See also MELODY AND ACCOMPANIMENT.
homorhythmic Having the same RHYTHM, as when several voices or parts move together.
humanism Movement in the RENAISSANCE to revive ancient Greek and Roman culture and to study things pertaining to human knowledge and experience.
hurdy-gurdy An instrument with MELODY and DRONE strings, bowed by a rotating wheel turned with a crank, with levers worked by a keyboard to change the pitch on the melody string(s).
hymn Song to or in honor of a god. In the Christian tradition, song of praise sung to God.
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