Embellishments, Motives, and Melodic Devices

A long, complex melody.

A short, recognizable musical idea.

A complete musical phrase.

A harmonic progression.

Pitch, tempo and dynamics

Timbre, articulation, and register

Pitch, contour, and rhythm

Harmony, form and melody

To change the rhythm of the motive.

To move the motive to a different pitch level.

To reverse the direction of the intervals in the motive.

To shorten the motive.

Exact transpositions change the rhythm, while tonal transpositions do not.

Exact transpositions maintain the exact interval quality using accidentals, while tonal transpositions stay within the diatonic scale.

Tonal transpositions are always in a different key, while exact transpositions are not.

Exact transpositions are always inverted, while tonal transpositions are not.

A motive played at a different tempo.

A motive that is shortened by removing notes.

Reversing the direction of each interval in a motive.

Repeating a motive with added notes.

Inversion

Retrograde

Transposition

Augmentation

A motive that is lengthened by adding notes.

A motive that is shortened by removing notes.

A motive that is played in inversion.

A motive that is transposed to a different key.

An extended motive is shortened, while a truncated motive is lengthened.

An extended motive adds notes, while a truncated motive removes notes.

An extended motive changes the rhythm, while a truncated motive changes the pitch.

There is no difference between extended and truncated motives.

A motive that is played in retrograde.

A motive that is broken up into smaller groups, often with rests in between.

A motive that is transposed to a different octave.

A motive that is augmented in rhythmic value.

Fragmentation involves adding notes, while extension involves removing notes.

Fragmentation focuses on separating pieces of the motive, while extension focuses on repeating the whole motive with additions.

Fragmentation changes the pitch, while extension changes the rhythm.

There is no difference between fragmented and extended motives.