| English Term | German Term | Quick Definition | Link to main site |
| Arpeggiation |  | A particular diminution that proceeds either up or down an arpeggio of the relevant chord or harmonic unit | more... |
| Background | Hintergrund | The simple progression which spans an entire piece and from which the piece is theoretically generated. This is often virtually synonymous with first level middleground | more... |
| Bass Arpeggiation | Bassbrechung | The lower voice of the Ursatz motion I-III-V-I, I-II-V-I or I-IV-V-I in the bass that spans many pieces in the background | more... |
| Composing Out | Auskomponierung | The general term for creating musical content from a given basic progression by way of diminution and prolongation | |
| Consonant Skip | | A particular diminution in which the voice leaps from one note of the harmonic unit to another note of the harmonic unit | more... |
| Coupling | Koppelung | The appearance of a (structural) tone at different registers in one voice. Similar to register transfer but is not form generating | |
| Diminution | | The name given to the process of linear units prolonging harmonic ones | more... |
| Dividing Dominant | Oberquint-Teiler | The structural V that supports  of the fundamental structure and similar progressions in the middleground | |
| Fifth Progression | | A linear progression spanning a fifth | more... |
| First level middleground | | The middleground level that prolongs the fundamental structure. The term is often virtually synonymous with the background | more... |
| Foreground | Vordergrund | The surface layer of the music | more... |
| Form Generating | | The attribute assigned to a progression when it creates large sections of music through its presence in the first level middleground or other deep middleground level | more... |
| Fourth Progression | | A linear progression spanning a fourth | more... |
| Full Close | | American English for perfect cadence | |
| Fundamental Descent | Urlinie | The descending third progression from   or that appears in the background as part of the fundamental structure | more... |
| Fundamental Structure | Ursatz | The two part contrapuntal progression that forms the background of all tonal pieces. Comprises the fundamental descent and the bass arpeggiation | more... |
| Harmonic Unit | | The term generally used in SchenkerGUIDE to describe the chord or harmony being prolonged by a given linear unit or diminution. | |
| Initial Ascent | Anstieg | A rising linear progression to the primary tone of the fundamental descent - occurs in the first level middleground | more... |
| Interruption | Unterbrechung | A form of the fundamental structure in which there is a break after followed by a return to the primary tone | more... |
| Level (or layer) | Schicht | The layers of music successively further from the surface as revealed by Schenkerian analysis | more... |
| Linear Progression | Zug | Diminution in which two consonant tones are connected by one or more stepwise passing notes | more... |
| Linear Unit | | The term generally used in SchenkerGUIDE to describe diminution that prolongs a given harmonic unit. | |
| mental retention | | The theory that you hold structural notes in your head thus hearing their resolution over long musical spans | more... |
| Middleground | Mittelgrund | The variable number of layers between the background and the foreground of a piece | more... |
| Mixture | Mischung | Flattening or sharpening of scale degrees the most common of which is to b which in the first level middleground can change the mode of the piece from major to minor | more... |
| Motion From Inner Voice | Untergreifen | Ascending third progression to a structural note other than the primary tone - so called because the principle of mental retention means that theoretically the progression forms an inner voice against the structural tone held in the listener's head | |
| Neighbour Note | | A diminution in which a note is decorated by a figure that moves stepwise to a note above or below the original note before returning to it. Neighbour notes may be incomplete i.e. move to a note a step away and not return to the original note | more... |
| Note | | British English for tone | |
| Obligatory Register | obligate Lage | this controversial principle states that the fundamental descent should be completed in one register over the course of an entire piece. The register is thus that of the primary tone | more... |
| Perfect Cadence | | British English for full close | |
| Primary Tone | Kopfton | The first note of the fundamental descent | |
| Prolongation | | The extension through time in a piece of music of a chord or note from that chord | more... |
| Reaching-Over | Uebergrifen | The (re-)establishment of a structural note by means of a progression which reaches over it from below it in order to descend on to it. | |
| Register Transfer | Hoherlegung (up)
Teiferlegung (down) | A change of register that is form generating | more... |
| Scale Degree | | The notes of the top part or voice, particularly structural notes shown by caretted numbers | |
| Scale Step | Stufe | Bass notes, particularly between I and V of the bass arpeggiation, that are tonicised so as to give the impression of a temporary modulation | more... |
| Third Divider | Terztieler | The III that divides the progression from I to V in the bass arpeggiation | more... |
| Third Progression | | A linear progression spanning a third | |
| Tone | | American English for note | |
| Unfolding | Ausfaltung | Two notes from the same harmony form a consonant skip close to the foreground. These same two notes can be understood as a two-note chord (or dyad) in the middleground or background. In this sense the middleground dyad is 'unfolded' in the foreground. | |
| Unsupported Stretch | Leerlauf | The (conceptually) dissonant passing notes between consonant notes of the fundamental structure (e.g. between and ) | more... |
