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figure

figure in music, short melodic or rhythmic pattern, the smallest grouping of notes that will produce a single distinct impression. In this sense figure is synonymous with motive . In music before the 18th cent., a figure had an additional meaning of symbolic significance; it was an illustration in sound of textual details, e.g., a descending group of notes for any word expressing descent. As such, it was part of musical rhetoric.

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figure

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music | 1996 | | Â© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

figure.
1. In mus. structure, this word usually carries the same meaning as Motif. A ‘figure of accompaniment’ refers to the mus. cell from which a certain type of song acc. may be evolved.

2. In dancing the word implies a set of movts. by the dancers as a body, forming a distinct division of the whole. This element is prominent in a figure dance, as opposed to a step dance, in which it is largely absent.

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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "figure." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 23 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "figure." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (December 23, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-figure.html

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "figure." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved December 23, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-figure.html

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