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Glite Dictionary
⬆️ An increase 🎼 Music note lengthening
augmentation

augmentation

8.0
A melody played with longer notes, usually twice as long
  • noun
  • /ɔːɡˈmɛnteɪʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : aumentación
  • For example, students can take some of the quarter notes from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and make them half notes or whole notes (augmentation); or they can take the notes in each measure and put them in a different order (rearrange).
  • breast augmentation
  • augmentation mammoplasty
  • diminution or augmentation

Examples

  • Canons can also be performed in augmentation and in diminution.

    Academic text (1997)

  • These techniques include inversions, sequences, mode changes, diminution, augmentation, rhythmic change, and structural note analysis.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Counterpoint is full of imitations, canons, motifs, and augmentations, and such devices cannot be captured by a first-order Markov model trained on limited data.

    Academic text (2018)

  • In the piece, the composer used augmentation to extend the notes of the main theme, making them twice as long.

  • Many classical compositions feature augmentation as a way to develop themes throughout various movements.

  • During the lesson, the teacher explained how augmentation changes the rhythm by lengthening each note in the melody.

Synonyms

lengthening
vsaugmentation
2 3.7

Making something longer in time or distance

is a musical technique that makes theme notes twice as long

Antonyms

diminution
  • Specialized
9.3

A musical theme played faster using notes about half the original length

Surface Forms

augmentation singular
augmentations plural

Morphology

augmentation = augment (semi-transparent) = augment + ation

The musical sense is a specialized application of 'increase' (lengthening durations), so while structurally transparent the specific technical meaning may not be obvious to general learners.

Etymology

Augmentation comes from the Latin root aug- meaning 'to increase', and in music it means making a theme longer by increasing the length of each note. So musical augmentation is an 'increase' in time that makes the melody sound slower and more grand.