F

falsetto  Vocal technique whereby men can sing above their normal range, producing a lighter sound.

fantasia  Free instrumental piece of fairly large dimensions, in an improvisational style; in the Baroque, it often served as an introductory piece to a fugue.

fiddle  Colloquial term for violin; often used in traditional music.

figured bass  Baroque practice consisting of an independent bass line that often includes numerals indicating the harmony to be supplied by the performer. Also thorough-bass.

film music  Music that serves either as background or foreground for a film.

first-movement concerto form See concerto form.

first-movement form  See sonata-allegro form.

fixed forms  Group of forms, especially in medieval France, in which the poetic structure determines musical repetitions. See also ballade, rondeau, virelai.

flat sign  Musical symbol (b) that indicates lowering a pitch by a semitone.

fluegelhorn  Valved brass instrument resembling a bugle with a wide bell, used in jazz and commercial music.

flute  The flute is a cylindrical metal tube closed at one end that is held horizontally and blown across the mouth hole.

flutter tonguing  Wind instrument technique in which the tongue is fluttered or trilled against the roof of the mouth.

folk music  See traditional music.

folk rock  Popular music style that combines folk music with amplified instruments of rock.

form  The structure or shape of a musical work, based on repetition, contrast and variation; the organizing principle in music. Binary and ternary are basic forms, while more complex forms include sonata-allegro, rondo, minuet and trio, theme and variations, ritornello, and fugue.

formalism  Tendency to elevate formal above expressive value in music, as in Neoclassical music.

forte  The Italian term for "loud", indicated in the musical score by the marking "f".

fortissimo  The Italian term for "very loud", indicated in the musical score by the marking "ff".

four-hand piano music  Chamber music genre for two performers playing at one or occasionally two pianos, allowing home or salon performances of orchestral arrangements.

free-verse rhythm  A free-flowing, nonmetric line in which movement is linked to the text inflections, as in Gregorian chant.

French horn  The solo instrument featured here is the French horn, a mellow brass instrument that descended from the ancient hunting horn. Also horn.

French overture  Baroque instrumental introduction to an opera, ballet or suite, in two sections: a slow opening followed by an allegro, often with a brief return to the opening.

frequency  Rate of vibration of a string or column of air, which determines pitch.

fugato  A fugal passage in a nonfugal piece, such as in the development section of a sonata-allegro form.

fuging tone  Polyphonic, imitative setting of a hymn or psalm, popular in Great Britain and the United States from the eighteenth century.

fugue  Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which one or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint.

fusion  Style that combines jazz improvisation with amplified instruments of rock.