musical expressions confusion

[Bande]

Hi, guys!

One stupid quessssion:

I'm hungarian, and I haven't yet familiarized myself too much with english musical expressions, so i have many problems understanding eg. what an article or a thread is about when seeing its title, but when I start reading it, I immediately realize what the topic is. There are a few expressions that I saw someone mentioning, but not explaining it, and I don't know what they are. I'm sure if it would be told to me, I would know what it is, but only in hungarian

These are:

Voice Leading (I can only guess, but don't eggzaktly know)
Musical Frustration (same thing)
diatonic (no idea)
superimposing (no idea)
sight reading (maybe it's what I think, but not sure)

So, if somebody could explain me some (or maybe all) of these, then I'd be grateful.

Thanks!

[Malcolm]

Voice Leading (I can only guess, but don't eggzaktly know)
Musical Frustration (same thing)
diatonic (no idea)
superimposing (no idea)
sight reading (maybe it's what I think, but not sure)

Click here for a music dictionary

Voice leading - the dictionary really did not help here. I understand it as one of two things. 1.) Several guitars playing all using open string chords, no reason for everyone playing open string chords, so one goes up the neck and plays in another voice. 2.) The dictionary says it has something to do with American music, only thing I can think of is the vocalist does have the lead while she/he is singing.

I could not find anything on Musical Frustration. Frustration is to block or thwart.

Diatonic - Is the seven note scale made of 5 tones and 2 semi-tones. Just another name for the Scale --- C,D,E,F,G,A,B

Superimposing - Nothing in the directionary. I'd say it is when you play over something.

Sight Reading - Being able to read music on the fly. Be that tabs, fake chord or standard notation.

Jump in guys........

[Los Boleros]

I am gonna answer the first one since it is the funnest.

There are two terms that although mean different things, quite often are used interchangeably.
[list]Voice Leading Is the arrangement of voices, or melodies, in a multi-part composition. As in counterpoint.[*]Leading ToneThe seventh degree of a Major scale is called the leading tone when it leads you back to the tonic. In a minor scale we use the Harmonic Minor scale to create a leading tone back to the Tonic. The leading tone is always a half step below the tonic.

An example of Leading tone is in the key of C, the chords are :
|G///|C///|
The B note from the G chord is a leading tone into the C of C Major.
You have heard people talk about tonicising a chord. Lets say that in the Key of Am you wanted to make a Dm sound like the tonal center. If you Play an A7 before the Dm, then the C# from the A7 becomes a Leading Tone into the D of the Dm thus making the illusion that Dm is now your tonal center.

Look at this example:
|G/Gaug/|C///|
In this example, the B is the leading tone into the C but you also have a D# behaving like a leading tone into the E of the C chord. Kool hey?

[ashc]

On diatonic, I think it's worth mentioning it's use, the definition says used relation to such a scale.

The general use is often "diatonic to.." e.g. you have a song with chords C,F,G,Am. Someone might then say "it's diatonic to C major" meaning all the notes in the chords come from that scale and I can wail all over this in that one scale. Adding a D chord (with an F# sharp in it). You could then say "the D chord is not diatonic (to C major).

Pentantonics are also diatonic to the parent scales... as subsets I suppose.

SIDE NOTE: The dictionary definition of 5 Steps and 2 1/2 steps is curious though. This is, of course, AOK for major and natural minor (and all other major mode scales). But harmonic minor has a different formula i.e. a 1 and 1/2 tones gap from the minor sixth the major 7. Yet you still see harmonised chord lists which are supposedly "chords diatonic to harmonic minor" even though it's technically not a diatonic scale.... still I guess at that point everyone knows what everyone is talking about and we don't need to obsess about that.

[ViolinMaster]

Sight reading is when you get a brand new piece of music you have never senn before and play it for the first time. Thus, sight reading.