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BAR:

   A vertical line between measures, not a measure itself, even if older editions place a measure number right above such a bar.

 

BEAT:

   If a beat has duration and is immediately followed by the next one, how can a syncopated note be played off the beat?

 

CADENCE:

   Why do cadence and cadenza mean, for some, two different things? Is it because one is an English term and the other is Italian? Where in a piece did the first cadenzas appear?

 

CLEFS:

   Why bass not base?

 

COMMON TIME:

    Such nonsense spawned by the fusion of ignorance and arrogance doesn't even deserve a comment.

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CUT-TIME:

   Not each cut-time is “alla breve.”

 

DEGREES:

   From where on earth does h come after a in some languages? From the sloppy handwriting of a monk?

 

INSTRUMENTALISTS:

   If pianist for piano, cellist for cello, why soloist instead of solist for solo?

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KEY:

   If key, instead of tonality, why not “keyic” harmony instead of tonal harmony?

 

MAZURKA:

   Why the Russian name mazurka instead of the Polish name Mazurek for a Polish dance Chopin made known to the whole world?

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NATURAL:

   Works like a sharp when against a flat or like a flat when against a sharp. So, why the name “natural”?

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OCTAVE REGISTERS:

   Whether with the middle C marked as C4 (mostly in popular music) or C1 (in the organ register system), shouldn't we talk about the names of seventh registers rather than octave registers?

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PICKUP:

   (possibly from a conductor's motion up on the last beat of a measure)

A note or a group of notes played on or after the last beat of an incomplete measure.  The term is inaccurate if the anacrusis starts before the last beat. 

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SLUR:

   If a slur means legato (which it does not) how can one play staccato and legato at the same time (dots under a slur)? Did Rachmaninov really have such big hands?

 

SOLMIZATION:

   If Do for Dominus (after Doni’s mnemonicization of d’Arezzo’s Ut), why Ti for Sider?

 

SONATA FORM:

   Is not the same as the sonata-allegro form.

 

STEP:

   If half-step and whole-step why not tristep instead of tritone?

 

TENUTO:

   If tenuto calls for the entire duration of a note, does it mean that other notes unmarked as tenuto can be shortened?

 

TONALITIES:

   Why a minor tonality name consists of a letter and a mode (ex. a-minor) while a major tonality has only an upper-case letter in its name (ex. C)? Does it have anything to do with popular music in which minor tonalities are occasional and require extra-precise description?

   

(To be continued)