Music & Performance
HardOrchestra Crossword: Orchestra Vocabulary
Category: Music & PerformanceDifficulty: Easy12 × 13
Tuesday, September 15
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Enter one letter per square. Answers run Across or Down. Omit spaces and accents; any special spelling convention is stated in the clue. This is a freeform themed grid, so some letters are not crossed.
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About This Theme
This puzzle starts where a concert starts: with people, parts and a shared sense of time. It introduces common words used to describe written music and how it is played. Some answers identify a person or tool; others describe what the listener hears. No score-reading experience is required. If a clue sounds abstract, imagine a conductor asking the group to change something, such as speed or volume, and consider which word names that change.
Clues
Across
- 1Small stick a conductor may use (5)
- 4Pattern of durations and accents in music (6)
- 5Combination of notes sounded together (7)
- 8Person who directs an orchestra (9)
- 10Written music showing the parts of a composition (5)
- 12Written instruction for a period of silence in music (4)
Down
- 2Speed at which music is played (5)
- 3Musical term for degrees of loudness (8)
- 6Sequence of notes heard as a tune (6)
- 7Passage for one featured performer (4)
- 9Piece or passage for two performers (4)
- 11Symbol that establishes note pitches on a staff (4)
Answers and Explanations
After Your Solve
TEMPO and DYNAMICS are a useful pair to take away from the grid. One concerns speed and the other loudness. MELODY and HARMONY describe different relationships among notes. SCORE names the written collection of parts, while SOLO and DUET describe the number of featured performers. Those distinctions help you listen with a little more attention. During a piece of music, try noticing one change in tempo or dynamics rather than identifying every instrument at once.
- 1 acrossBATON
A baton makes conducting gestures easier to see.
- 4 acrossRHYTHM
Rhythm organizes sounds in time.
- 5 acrossHARMONY
Harmony concerns the relationship between simultaneous notes.
- 8 acrossCONDUCTOR
A conductor coordinates the ensemble.
- 10 acrossSCORE
A full score brings the parts together.
- 12 acrossREST
A rest gives silence a measured duration.
- 2 downTEMPO
Tempo concerns pace rather than loudness.
- 3 downDYNAMICS
Dynamics describe volume and its changes.
- 6 downMELODY
A melody unfolds over time.
- 7 downSOLO
A solo highlights an individual performer.
- 9 downDUET
The prefix helps signal two.
- 11 downCLEF
A clef provides a pitch reference.
Further Reading
- Theme referenceclassicfm.com
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