Tuva terminology:

Fifth : the interval between the first and fifth degree of the diatonic scale (do-re-mi-
fa-sol-la-ti…).

Pentatonic: built on the pentatonic scale, which is identifiable as the five black
notes of the piano, or the first five notes in the vocal line of Don Mc Lean’s song
‘Vincent’. This scale is a basic scale for many musical cultures from disparate parts
of the world.

Harmonic (or chordal) motion: moving from one chord to another. Music that
lacks harmonic motion is music that employs very few chords, or even just one.

Fundamental/Overtone: whenever we produce a sound, the impact through which

the sound is produced creates a fundamental lower sound and lots of higher sounds
that we don’t hear directly, but influence the texture of the sound we hear and its
resonance. The lower sound we hear is called ‘fundamental’ and the other higher
sounds we don’t usually hear are ‘overtones’.

Overtone series: the smaller, higher sounds produced along with the fundamental
are ordered in a series depending on how close they are to the fundamental. The
overtone a fifth above the fundamental is the second overtone of the overtone
series.

Melisma: we have used this term in relation to chant before; it describes the setting
of a single syllable of text to a long melody rather than a single note. So, for the tune
‘Amazing Grace’, the first word is quite melismatic (A-ah-ma-zi-ing… both the first
and last syllables are melodically stretched out by the singer).