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Scan 108
The New Encyclopedia Of Music And Musicians, 1929
54 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Nachschlag. A decorative note or notes appended to a principal note (and taking part of its time); an unaccented appoggiatura or afternote; opposed to vorschlag; see Embellishments. G.
3Nachspiel. An organ-postlude for a service or an epilogue to a choral work; opposed to vorspiel or prelude. G.
5Nachtanz. See Dances.
7Nail-Fiddle, Nail-Violin. An odd instrument consisting of a lune-shaped body the top of which carries 12–20 upright pins or rods of metal, yielding tones as they are put in vibration by means of a bow. It was first devised by Joh. Wilde of Petrograd. In 1780 Senal of Vienna added sympathetic strings, while later Trager of Bamberg substituted a revolving band for the bow and attached a sort of keyboard. G.
9Narrator. In many of the older Passions and other church-oratorios, the personage who supplies the connective narrative (usually in recitative) between the lyric solos and choruses.
11Natural. A term originally applied (as an adjective) to these cond and fifth hexachords (c-a), which differed from the rest in including neither b rotundum nor b quadratum. Hence, as this hexachord was represented on the keyboard by front or 'white' keys, applied (usually as a noun) to such keys in general, as opposed to back or 'black' keys (sharps and flats). In this naming b quadratum was counted as a natural and thus all naturals came to be indicated (where necessary) by the sign ♭, which comes from the sign b for b quadratum. This new sign had its principal use as a corrective or cancel in cases where the effect of a sharp or flat, whether in the signature or as an accidental, needs to be set aside. See Notation. G.
13Natural key, natural scale, on the keyboard, a key or scale using only white keys or naturals (as the major scale of c). [This term does not imply that that scale is 'natural' in any but this technical sense.]
15Natural Tones. In a wind-instrument, especially of the horn- and trumpet-classes, the tones producible from the tube simply by varying the lip-tension and the breath-pressure, without altering the effective length of the tube. These tones are the natural harmonics or upper partials of the fundamental tone of the tube. See Wind-Instruments.
17Natural harmonics, in violin-playing, are harmonics produced from an open string; opposed to artificial harmonics, produced from a stopped string.
19Natural voice, in vocalization, either a voice that is untrained or undeveloped, or one used in an ordinary register, as opposed to the falsetto. Occasionally, all vocal music is called natural, as opposed to music produced by means of instruments.
21Neapolitan Sixth. See Sixth.
23Nebel. An ancient Hebrew instrument, possibly some form of harp, but probably a lute, like the Egyptian nefer.
25In the English Bible the word is usually rendered 'psaltery,' which is misleading if the nebel was a lute.
27Neck. In instruments of the lute- and violin-classes, the more or less slender part that projects upward from the top of the body, bearing in front the fingerboard, against which the strings may be stopped, and terminating in the head, with the tuning-pegs and the scroll. In the violin and its relatives the neck is braced against the body by means of the heel.
29In many lutes the head was compound or double, necessitating necks of peculiar shape.
31Nenia. A funeral-song or lament.
33Ninth. The interval between the first and ninth degrees of a scale, being major if the scale be major and minor if the scale be the full minor; a compound second; also a tone or note at either of these intervals from any starting-point. G.
35The chord of the ninth or ninth-chord is a seventh-chord with the ninth added, making (in its full form) a five-toned chord, so that in four-part harmony one tone must be omitted. Like the seventh-chord, it has a decided tendency to resolve by the descent of both seventh and ninth. When its root is the dominant, it is a dominant ninth-chord.
37Nocturn. A section of the Roman Catholic office for Matins, consisting of Psalms, antiphons and lessons varying with the season. On Sundays and festivals three nocturns are used, but at other times only one. G.
39Nocturne. A name first used by John Field for an instrumental piece in lyric style and of dreamy or sentimental character. It was then adopted by Chopin and has since become fairly common. As a rule, nocturnes are in some kind of song-form. G.
41Node. In acoustics, that portion of a vibrating body, whether solid or gaseous, where the motion is least; opposed to loop. G.
43In a stretched string, for example, so far as it vibrates entire (giving its fundamental tone), the two fixed ends are nodes and the string as a whole forms a loop, but, so far as it vibrates in its aliquot parts (giving upper partials), there is a node at each dividing-point between such parts, with loops intervening in each case. Only the fixed ends remain at rest absolutely; all other nodes are only relatively so.
45When the vibrations of a plate or disc are examined, it proves that the nodes form various patterns on the surface, which can be located by the use of sand or powder; these patterns are called nodal figures or lines.
47The location of nodes is of importance in the construction of all wind-instruments using a body of air confined in a tube.
49Noël, Nowel (literally, 'Christmas'). A carol for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, often containing the word noël as an exclamation or burden. G.
51The name and original style are French, applied to verses and melodies more or less of the nature of folk-songs. In the 16–17th centuries contrapuntal settings of similar words were made in Italy and elsewhere. English carols for Christmas are often called by this name to distinguish them from carols for other festivals.
53Nome, Nomos. In ancient Greek music, a rule or pattern for a certain kind of music, as for the lyre or the flute.
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