Pop music definitions

Question 1

ballad

Answer 1

used to describe a slower track with a more subdued mood and emotional lyric content

Question 2

belting

Answer 2

a singing technique that creates a timbre similar to shouting

Question 3

breakdown

Answer 3

a section that provides a textual contrast through the use of reduced instrumentation

Question 4

bridge

Answer 4

a contrasting section that usually comes after the second or third chorus

Question 5

brushes

Answer 5

an alternative to drum sticks used to hit the drum kit for a quieter sound

Question 6

capo

Answer 6

a device played across the frets of a guitar to shorten the strings and raise the pitch of the instrument

Question 7

chord substitution

Answer 7

replacing a chord used in a harmonisation with another chord that also fits with the melody its supporting

Question 8

compression

Answer 8

an effect that boosts the volume of quieter sounds and reduces the volume of louder sounds to even out the dynamics. noticeable when used with vocals giving them a less organic sound

Question 9

counter melody

Answer 9

a supplementary melodic line that interacts with the main tune

Question 10

cross sticking

Answer 10

a technique that involves hitting the metal rim of a drum rather than the skin with the stick

Question 11

delay

Answer 11

an effect that records the signal from an instrument or microphone then plays it back one or more times after a specific time interval

Question 12

diatonic

Answer 12

a term describing music using only pitches taken from the current key or mode

Question 13

distortion

Answer 13

a effect that creates a grittier more sustained timbre by adding higher frequencies to the signal

Question 14

doubling

Answer 14

when two instruments or voices play or sing the same material

Question 15

dubstep

Answer 15

an electronic music style featuring relatively minimal syncopated drum beats and prominent low sub-bass sounds

Question 16

falsetto

Answer 16

a singing technique used to reach pitches above a male performers normal range which creates a breathier timbre than normal singing

Question 17

feedback

Answer 17

a high-pitched electronic noise created when the sound waves output by an amplifier or speaker interact with the same input device that was used to create the signal in the first place

Question 18

glissando

Answer 18

the technique of joining together pitches in a melody by rapidly playing the pitches in between often referred to as a slide

Question 19

heterophonic

Answer 19

a musical texture involving multiple simultaneous performances of different versions of the same melody with slight variations between the different voices or instruments

Question 20

layering

Answer 20

the use of different combinations of loop patterns to build up a texture

Question 21

loop

Answer 21

a short repeating pattern that can be combined with other similar patterns to build up a musical texture. commonly used in electronic music production

Question 22

low-pass filter

Answer 22

a filter that cancels out any frequencies above a certain cut off frequency, creating a more muffled, bass-heavy timbre. the cut-off frequencies of high-pass and low-pass filters can be varied over time to create gradual changes in timbre

Question 23

lydian mode

Answer 23

a major mode featuring the following intervals in relation to the tonic, major 2nd, major 3rd, augmented 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th,. its raised 4th degree gives it a distinctively bright sound

Question 24

melody and accompaniment

Answer 24

a type of musical texture in which there is one clear melodic line, with the other parts playing an accompanying role

Question 25

melisma

Answer 25

a single syllable in a vocal line set to multiple different pitches

Question 26

metronome marking

Answer 26

a number given at the start of a score to show how fast the song should be performed in bpm

Question 27

mixolydian mode

Answer 27

a major mode featuring the following intervals in relation to the tonic major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, minor 7th. flattened 7th degree gives it a slightly more hard-edged, blues-orientated sound than the major scale

Question 28

monophonic

Answer 28

a type of musical texture with a single unaccompanied melody line

Question 29

ostinato

Answer 29

a repeated melodic figure

Question 30

overdubbing

Answer 30

the process of laying different instruments by combining multiple recordings of different performances

Question 31

palm muting

Answer 31

a technique used by guitarists to dampen the sound of the instrument using the palm of their picking hand

Question 32

panning

Answer 32

the positioning of a recorded track within the stereo field whether to the left right or centre

Question 33

parallel motion

Answer 33

a term describing two melodic voices that move in the same direction and stay separated by the same harmonic interval

Question 34

pentatonic scale

Answer 34

a scale with only 5 notes most common are

• major with maj 2nd, maj 3rd, perf 5th, maj 6th
• minor with min 3rd, perf 4th, perf 5th, min 7th

Question 35

phaser

Answer 35

an effect in which the signal is doubled, with one of the two wave forms being offset slightly against the other. this causes certain frequencies to be boosted and others to be removed.by gradually changing the phase difference between the two signals, the frequencies that are boosted and cancelled out can be varied, creating a characteristic ‘whooshing’ sound

Question 36

phrygian dominant mode

Answer 36

a mode featuring the following intervals min 2nd, maj 3rd, perf 4th, perf 5th, min 6th, min 7th,. used for the ‘exotic’ flavour created by the augmented 2nd interval between its 2nd and 3rd dregrees

Question 37

pitch blend

Answer 37

a term describing techniques that involve varying the pitch of a note by a continuous value

Question 38

pitch shifting

Answer 38

the electronic manipulation of the pitch of an instrument or voice

Question 39

polyphonic

Answer 39

a type of musical texture that involves the interaction of multiple independent melodic lines

Question 40

refrain

Answer 40

a recurring musical idea usually set to the same lyrics within a section of music

Question 41

reverb

Answer 41

an effect that attempts to replicate the slight echoing effects produced by the natural resonance of the room in which a performance takes place

Question 42

riff

Answer 42

a repeated musical figure with a distinctive rhythmic or melodic profile

Question 43

sampler

Answer 43

an instrument that uses pre-existing audio recordings as the basis of its sound production

Question 44

stepwise motion

Answer 44

movement between notes in a melody by one degree of the scale at a time

Question 45

strophic form

Answer 45

a simple song form that features a number of verses with different lyrics set to the same music

Question 46

synthesiser

Answer 46

a musical instrument usually played with a keyboard that generates sound through the creation and manipulation of electronic signals

Question 47

techno

Answer 47

A style of electronic dance music characterised by strong drum beats and bass lines at slightly faster tempos than house music, and an emphasis on futuristic themes

Question 48

trance

Answer 48

A style of electronic dance music that aims to achieve a hypnotic state through repetition of rhythms and textures and by use of several climaxes and drops per track. The tempo is generally faster than that of house music

Question 49

tritone

Answer 49

The interval of an augmented 4th or diminished 5th considered as a strong dissonance in many styles of music

Question 50

vamp

Answer 50

a repeated harmonic figure involving the rhythmic playing of a limited number of chords

Question 51

vocoder

Answer 51

A device used to alter the timbre of a synthesiser to imitate the frequency content of a human voice, creating strangely robotic timbres that sound almost like speech

Question 52

wah-wah

Answer 52

A type of electronic effect that creates a vocal quality by changing the frequency content of the signal over time