| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Rhapsody | A rhapsody in music is a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations. |
| Rhyme scheme | A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem or in lyrics for music. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme. In other words, it is the pattern of end rhymes. |
| Rhythm | Musicians make rhythms with musical instruments. A musician's role is to perceive and measure time. We consciously feel, shape, divide, and compose time to convey feeling. |
| Rhythm section | A rhythm section includes the musicians in a jazz or popular music band or ensemble who establish the rhythmic pulse of a song or musical piece and lay down the chordal structure. |
| Rhythmic gesture | A rhythmic gesture is a durational pattern which, in contrast to a rhythmic unit, does not occupy a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level. |
| Rhythmic mode | In medieval music, the rhythmic modes were patterns of long and short durations (or rhythms) imposed on written notes which otherwise appeared to be identical. |
| Rhythmic unit | A rhythmic unit is a durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level, as opposed to a rhythmic gesture. |
| Ricercar | A ricercar (or ricercare, recercar; the terms are interchangeable) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. |
| Riff | In music, a riff is an ostinato figure: a repeated chord progression, pattern, refrain or melodic figure, often played by the rhythm section instruments, that forms the basis or accompaniment of a musical composition. |
| Ripieno | Ripieno (Italian for stuffing) or tutti (Italian for everybody) is the larger of the two ensembles in the concerto grosso. |
| Romantic music | The era of Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from 1820 to 1910, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. |
| Romanticism | In general, the term "Romanticism" when applied to music has come to mean the period roughly from the 1820s until around 1900. |
| Rondo | Rondo,and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also in reference to a character-type that is distinct from the form. In rondo form, a principal theme (sometimes called the "refrain") alternates with one or more contrasting themes, generally called "episodes," but also occasionally referred to as "digressions," or "couplets". |
| Root | In music the root (basse fondamentale) of a chord is the note or pitch upon which that chord is perceived or labelled as being built or hierarchically centered upon. When the root is the bass note, or lowest note, of the expressed chord the chord is said to be in root position. |
| Rosin | Bowed string players rub blocks of rosin on their bow hair so it can grip the strings and make them speak. |
| Rotary valve | A rotary valve is a type of valve in which the rotation of a passage or passages in a transverse plug regulates the flow of liquid or gas through the attached pipes. |
| Round | A round is a musical composition in which two or more voices sing exactly the same melody over and over again, but with each voice beginning at different times. "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is a well known children's round for 4 voices. |
| Rudiment | A rudiment is one of a set of basic patterns used in rudimental drumming. These patterns form the basic building blocks or "vocabulary" of drumming, and can be combined in a great variety of ways to create drumming music. |
| Running music | With the advent of the portable media player, running to music has become popular as well as controversial. |
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