The Color of Sound: Chapters 4–6

by Emily Barth Isler
Twelve-year-old musical prodigy Rosie sees music and sound in all the colors of the spectrum. This summer she has chosen to put aside playing her violin to explore new hobbies.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–10, Chapters 11–14, Chapters 15–Epilogue
15 words 9 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. azure
    a light shade of blue
    I toss on my blue tank top and cutoff jean shorts—the ones that Mom hates but that make me think of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto from 1931, with all its rich shades of azure and turquoise.
  2. arpeggio
    a chord whose notes are played in rapid succession
    The clink of her tags jingling is a beautiful yellow run of scales, and Grandpa Jack’s whistling adds the accompanying arpeggios in red.
  3. maestro
    an artist of consummate skill
    Back then I was still obsessed with my music. If I wasn’t playing, I was listening to recordings of maestros and principal violinists, live-streaming philharmonics, watching YouTube videos of everyone from Midori Goto to Isaac Stern.
  4. philharmonic
    a large orchestra that can perform symphonies
    Back then I was still obsessed with my music. If I wasn’t playing, I was listening to recordings of maestros and principal violinists, live-streaming philharmonics, watching YouTube videos of everyone from Midori Goto to Isaac Stern.
  5. apparition
    a ghostly appearing figure
    But I know that the internet is going to be the quickest way to figure out what kind of magic or wormhole or accident has allowed my mother to exist both as her present-day self and as an apparition of her twelve-year-old self.
  6. garbled
    lacking orderly continuity
    And the rainbow chorus resumes, even more garbled this time as only a few voices seem to get it right according to the new instructions. I estimate from the sound that there are seven or eight people talking.
  7. redundant
    repeating the same sense in different words
    He looks up briefly. “You don’t need to call me Grandpa Jack,” he says. “It’s redundant.”
  8. red herring
    something intended to distract attention from the main issue
    Disappointment rushes out of me with my breath. It was a false alarm, a red herring.
  9. vibrato
    slight, rapid variations in pitch above or below a musical note
    Before the final lingering D sharp that trails off at the end of Opus 12—the one I’ve been told I use too much vibrato on but can’t seem to stop playing with as much drama as possible—Grandpa Jack seems to shift back into the present and notices me watching him.
  10. adagio
    (of tempo) leisurely
    Measure by measure, he swims in rhythm—somewhere between adagio, which is seventy to eighty beats per minute, and andante, more of a walking pace of seventy-six to a hundred and eight beats per minute.
  11. andante
    (of tempo) moderately slow
    Measure by measure, he swims in rhythm—somewhere between adagio, which is seventy to eighty beats per minute, and andante, more of a walking pace of seventy-six to a hundred and eight beats per minute.
  12. cadence
    a recurrent rhythmical series
    Watching the gentle cadence of Grandpa swimming laps makes me want to try it too.
  13. tactical
    pertaining to detailed maneuvers to achieve objectives
    She has tactical moves planned for every situation, and I’m suddenly sure that her seeming nonchalance about what I do with my time is some kind of bargaining chip I’m going to pay for later.
  14. nonchalance
    the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care
    She has tactical moves planned for every situation, and I’m suddenly sure that her seeming nonchalance about what I do with my time is some kind of bargaining chip I’m going to pay for later.
  15. cadenza
    a solo passage occurring near the end of a piece of music
    A cadenza is like choosing a color palette, and that becomes the rule. You can play all sorts of notes in shades of blue, for example, but you have to avoid oranges, which clash, or yellows or reds, which would completely change the blues into greens or purples.
Created on 六月 16, 2026 (updated 七月 7, 2026)

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