ADE: Arizona Standards

M-Music

T-Theatre

V-Visual Arts

D-Dance

AB: A two-part compositional form with an A theme and a B theme; the binary form consists of two distinct, self-contained sections that share either a character or quality, such as the same tempo, movement quality, or style. [M, D]

ABA: A three-part compositional form in which the second section contrasts with the first section. The third section is a restatement of the first section in a condensed, abbreviated or extended form. [M, D]

Abstract: Not representational. Removed from the representative, yet retaining the essence of the original. [D, M, T, V]

Action: The core of a theatre piece; the sense of forward movement created by the sense of time and/or the physical and psychological motivations of characters. [T]

Aesthetics: A branch of philosophy that focuses on the nature of beauty, the nature and value of art, and the inquiry processes and human responses associated with those topics. [D,M,T,V]

Aesthetic Criteria: Criteria developed about the visual, aural and oral aspects of the witnessed event, derived from cultural and emotional values and cognitive meaning. [D, M, T, V]

Aesthetic Qualities: The perceptual aspects, emotional values and cognitive meanings derived from interpreting a work of art; the symbolic nature of art. [D, M, T, V]

Alignment: The relationship of the skeleton to the line of gravity and the base of support. [D]

Articulation: In performance, the characteristics of attack and decay of tones and the manner and extent to which tones in sequence are connected or disconnected. [D, M]

Artistic Choices: Selections made by theatre artists about situation, action, direction and design in order to convey meaning. [D, M, T, V]

Art Media: Material used in the creation and study of visual art, such as paint, clay, cardboard, canvas, film, videotape, models, watercolors, wood and plastic. [V]

Axial Movement: Any movement that is anchored to one spot by a body part, using only the available space in any direction without losing the initial body contact. Movement is organized around the axis of the body rather than designed for travel from one location to another; also known as nonlocomotor movement. [D]

Call and Response: A structure that is most often associated with African music and dance forms, although it is also used elsewhere. One soloist/group performs with the second soloist/group entering "in response" to the first. [D, M]

Canon: Choreographic form that reflects the musical form of the same name, in which individuals and groups perform the same movement/phrase beginning at different times. [D, M]

Characterization: The creative process whereby an actor understands the fundamental personality of a part and then projects it to the audience in such a way that the character becomes a living, convincing human being. [T]

Choreography Choreographic: Describes a dance sequence that has been created with specific intent.
[D]

Classical: A dramatic form and production technique(s) considered of significance in earlier times, in any culture or historical period. [D, M, T, V]

Classroom Instruments: Instruments typically used in the general music classroom (e.g., recorder-type instruments, chorded zithers, mallet instruments, simple percussion instruments, fretted instruments, keyboard instruments and electronic instruments). [M]

Classroom Production: The exploration of all aspects (e.g., visual, oral, aural) of a dramatic work in a classroom setting where experimentation is emphasized. Classmates and teachers are the usual audience. [T]

Clef: One of the three symbols that indicate the location on the staff of G above Middle C, Middle C or F below Middle C. [M]

Constructed Meaning: The personal understanding of dramatic/artistic intentions and actions and their social and personal significance, selected and organized from the aural, oral and visual symbols of a dramatic production. [T]

Context: A set of interrelated conditions (e.g., social, economic, political) that influence the context and give meaning to the reception of thoughts, ideas, or concepts and specific cultures and eras. [D, M, T, V]

Criticism: Describing and evaluating the media, processes and meanings of works, and making comparative judgments. [D, M, T, V]

Drama: A literary composition intended to portray life or character or to tell a story usually involving conflicts and emotions exhibited through action and dialogue, designed for theatrical performance. [T]

Dramatization: The art of composing, writing, acting or producing plays. [T]

Dramatic Media: Means of telling stories by way of stage, film, television, radio, laser discs or other electronic media. [T]

Dynamics, Dynamic Levels: The expressive content of human movement, sometimes called qualities or effects. Dynamics manifest the interrelationships among the elements of space, time, and force/energy. Degrees of loudness. See also movement quality. [D, M]

Electronic Media: Means of communication characterized by the use of technology including (but not limited to) computers, multimedia, CD-ROM, MIDI, sound boards, light boards, virtual reality, video, film. Used as tools to create, learn, explain, document, analyze, etc. [D, M, T, V]

Elements of Art: Visual arts components, such as line, texture, color, form, value and space. [V]

Elements of Dance: The use of the body moving in space and time with force/energy. [D]

Elements of Music: Melody, rhythm, harmony, pitch, dynamics, timbre, texture, form. [M]

Ensemble: The dynamic interaction and harmonious blending of the efforts of many artists. [T, M]

Environment: Physical surroundings that establish place, time, and atmosphere/mood; physical conditions that reflect and affect the emotions, thoughts, and actions of characters and the audience. [D, M, T, V]

Folk: Work created and performed by a specific group within a culture. Generally these works originated outside the courts or circle of power within a society. [D, M, T, V]

Form: The overall structural organization of a music composition (e.g., AB, ABA, call and response, rondo, theme and variations, sonata-allegro) and the interrelationships of music events within the overall structure. [M]

The structural organization of a drama (e.g., plot sequence; logical, realistic use of character and time/non-realistic use of character and time . [T]

Formal Production: The staging of a dramatic work for presentation for an audience. [T]

Genre: A type or category of music (e.g., sonata, opera, oratorio, art song, gospel, suite, jazz, madrigal, march, work song, lullaby, barbershop, Dixieland). [M]

A type or category of dramatic literature (e.g., comedy, tragedy, melodrama, farce, serious drama). [T]

Harmony, Harmonics: Agreeable relationship between the parts of a design or composition giving unity of effect or an aesthetically pleasing whole. [D, V]

The combination of tones of a chord into music of three or more parts. [M]

Improvisation: Movement that is created spontaneously, ranging from free form to highly structured environments, but always with an element of chance. Provides the dancer with the opportunity to bring together elements quickly, and requires focus and concentration. Is instant and simultaneous choreography and performance. [D]

The spontaneous use of movement and speech to create a character in a particular situation. [T]

Kinesphere: The movement space, or the space surrounding the body in stillness and in motion, which includes all directions and levels both close to the body and as far as the person can reach with limbs or torso. [D]

Kinesthetic: The sensation of movement or action in the muscles, tendons and joints in response to stimuli while dancing or viewing dance. - [D]

Locomotor Movement: Movement that travels from place to place, usually identified by weight transference on the feet. Basic locomotor steps are the walk, run, leap, hop, and jump and the irregular rhythmic combinations of the skip (walk and hop), slide (walk and leap), and gallop (walk and leap). [D]

Major/Minor Key: A key or tonality in the major/minor mode. [M]

Major: The intervals between the scale tones are all whole steps except those between 3-4 and 7-8, which are half steps.

Minor: In the natural form the intervals between the scale tones are all whole steps except those between 2-3 and 5-6, which are half steps. The more common melodic form requires a half step between 7-8 ascending, but reverts to the natural form descending.

Meter: The grouping in which a succession of rhythmic pulses or beats is organized; indicated by a meter signature at the beginning of a work. [M]

Meter Signature: An indicator of the meter of a musical work, usually presented in the form of a fraction; the denominator indicates the unit of measurement (note) and the numerator indicates the number of units (notes) that make up a measure. [M]

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface): Standard specifications that enable electronic instruments such as the synthesizer, sampler, sequencer and drum machine from any manufacturer to communicate with one another and with computers. [M]

Movement Quality: The identifying attributes created by the release, follow-through and termination of energy, which are key to making movement become dance. Typical terms denoting qualities include sustained, swing, percussive, collapse, and vibratory and effort combinations such as float, dab, punch and glide. [D]

Ostinato: A short musical pattern that is repeated persistently throughout a composition. [M]

Palindrome: A choreographic structure used with a phrase or longer sequence of movement in which the phrase, for example, is first performed proceeding from the first movement to the second movement, etc.; when the last movement of the phrase is completed, the phrase is retrograded from the penultimate movement to the first movement. (A commonly used example in prose is "Able was I ere I saw Elba." In this example, the letters are the same forward to the "r" in "ere" as they are backward to that "r.") [D]

Pantomime: Originally a Roman entertainment in which a narrative was sung by a chorus while the story was acted out by dancers. Now used loosely to cover any form of presentation which relies on dance, gesture and physical movement without the use of the voice. [D, T]

Pentatonic: A musical scale using only five tones with a minor third between three and four, all other intervals being whole steps. [M] Perception Sensory awareness, discrimination and integration of impressions, conditions and relationships with regard to objects, images and feelings. [V]

Principles of Design: Underlying characteristics in the visual arts and theatrical design, such as reception, balance, emphasis, contrast and unity. [T, V]

Process: A complex operation involving a number of methods or techniques (e.g., addition or subtraction processes in sculpture; etching and intaglio processes in printmaking; casting or constructing processes in making jewelry). [V]

Projection: A confident presentation of one's body and energy to communicate vividly meaning to an audience. [D, M, T]

Range: The whole ascending or descending series of sounds capable of being produced by a voice or instrument. [M]

Rhythmic Acuity: The physical expression of auditory recognition of various complex time elements. [D, M]

Role: The characteristic and expected social behavior of an individual in a given position (e.g., mother, employer). Role portrayal is likely to be more predictable and one-dimensional than character portrayal (see characterization) and is appropriate for early improvisation exercises. [T]

Script: The written dialogue, description and directions provided by the playwright. [T]

Staff: The five parallel horizontal lines and four spaces on which music is written (Plural = Staves). [M]

Style: The distinctive or characteristic manner in which the elements of music are treated. In practice, the term may be applied to, for example, composers (the style of Copland), periods (Baroque style), media (keyboard style), nations (French style), form or type of composition (fugal style, contrapuntal style), or genre (operatic style, bluegrass style). [M]

A distinctive manner of moving; the characteristic way dance is done, created or performed that identifies the dance of a particular performer, choreographer or period. [D]

The manner in which a play is written or performed (e.g., classical, Shakespearean, realistic, absurdist). [T]

Symbol: An image, object, sound or movement that stands for or represents something else. [D, M, T, V]

Technical Skills: The ability to perform with appropriate timbre, intonation, and diction and to play or sing the correct pitches and rhythms. [M]

Techniques: Specific methods or approaches used in a larger process (e.g., graduation of value or hue in painting; conveying linear perspective through overlapping, shading, or varying size and color). [V]

Technology: Electronic media (e.g., video, computers, compact discs, lasers, audio tape, satellite equipment) used as tools to create, learn, explain, document, analyze, or present artistic work or information. [D, M, T, V]

Tension: The atmosphere created by unresolved, disquieting or inharmonious situations that human beings feel compelled to address. [M, T]

Text: The basis of dramatic activity and performance; a written script or an agreed-upon structure and content for improvisation. [T]

Theatre Literacy: The ability to create, perform, perceive, analyze, critique and understand dramatic performances. [T]

Theatre: The imitation/representation of life, performed for other people; the performance of dramatic literature, drama; the milieu of actors and playwrights, the place that is the setting for dramatic performances. [T]

Timbre: The character or quality of a sound that distinguishes one instrument, voice or other sound source from another. [M] Tonality The harmonic relationship of tones with respect to a definite center or point of rest; fundamental to much of Western music from ca 1600. [M]

Tools: Instruments and equipment used by students to create and learn about art, such as brushes, scissors, brayers, easels, knives, kilns and cameras. [V]

Transposition: A change in a composition, either in the transcript or the performance, into another key. [M]

Visual Arts Problems: Specific challenges based in thinking about and using visual arts components. [V]

Warmup: Movements and/or movement phrases designed to raise the core body temperature and bring the mind into focus for the activities to follow. [M, T, D]