National 3 and 4 Flashcards
African music
Features voices and/or African drums
Baroque
From approximately 1600-1750
Famous composers include Bach, Vivaldi and Handel
Extensive use of ornamentation and sequence
Concerto
Work for solo instrument and orchestra
Mouth music
Unaccompanied songs with Gaelic or nonsense words
Performed by a solo voice or voices in unison
Normally sung for ceilidh dances
Opera
Drama set to music
Features soloists, chorus, orchestra and acting
Ragtime
Played on piano
Syncopated rhythm against a steady vamped accompaniment
Rapping
Rhyming lyrics that are spoken and performed in time to a beat
Popular in hip-hop music
Reggae
Developed in Jamaica in the 1960s
Strong accents on the 2nd and 4th beats of the bar
Romantic
From approximately 1810-1900
Famous composers include Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Liszt
Larger orchestras than ever before and use of rubato
Scots ballad
Slow Scottish song that tells a story
Swing
Jazz style that started in the 1930s
Performed by a big band
In 4/4 time
Features a ‘cheese, mouldy cheese’ rhythm
Blues
Often in 4/4 and based on a 12 bar blues structure
Melody uses notes from the blues scale
Jazz
Often uses saxophone
Usually features syncopation and improvisation
Use of chords such as the added 6th
Latin American
Dance music from South America
Use of percussion instruments
Lively off-beat rhythms
Musical
A play which has speaking, singing and dancing and is performed on a stage
Pop
A style of popular music
Played by a group of musicians or a solo artist
Rock
Heavy, driving beat
Use of distortion
Usually features electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit
Rock ‘n’ roll
1950s American music
Grew from jazz, blues, gospel and country
Often uses a riff
Arpeggio / Broken chord
The notes of a chord are played separately
Drone
A note held on or repeated in the bass
Major tonality
Sounds bright or happy
Minor tonality
Sounds dark, creepy or sad
Ornament
Decorating a melody with extra notes
Pedal
A held note or repeated notes in the bass beneath changing upper parts
Pentatonic
A five note scale
Do, re, mi, sol and la
Often used in Scottish music
Scat singing
Nonsense words and sounds made up by the singer
Used mainly in jazz
Vamp
Rhythmic accompaniment
Bass note on the beat and a chord off the beat
Discord
A chord in which certain notes clash
Question and answer
A musical phrase (question) followed by another (answer)
These phrases usually balance each other
Repetition
An exact repeat of a musical idea
Sequence
A melodic phrase that is repeated at a higher or lower pitch
A tempo
Return to the original speed
Accelerando
Getting gradually faster
Anacrusis
The note(s) before the first strong beat of a phrase
Andante
At a walking speed
Compound time
The beat subdivides into groups of three
Dotted rhythm
Long note followed by a short one or a short note followed by a long one
Jig
Fairly fast Scottish dance in compound time
Rallentando
Getting gradually slower
Scotch snap
Very short accented note before a longer note
Simple time
The beat subdivides into groups of two
Strathspey
Scottish dance with four beats in a bar
Usually features a scotch snap
Syncopation
Playing off the beat
Accent
Notes with more emphasis than others
Adagio
A slow tempo
Allegro
A fast tempo
Drum fill
A rhythmic decoration played on a drum kit
March
Strong, steady pulse
Two or four beats in a bar
Played at a suitable speed for marching
Reel
A fast Scottish dance with four beats in a bar
Waltz
A dance with three beats in a bar
Played at a medium tempo
Cadenza
Showy passage for a soloist alone in a concerto
Canon / Round
Each part has the same melody
Parts enter one after the other
Canon is the same as round
Imitation
The melody is immediately copied in another part
Middle eight
A section which provides contrast to the opening section
Often eight bars long
Used in popular music
Ternary
A three part form: section one, section two then back to section one
Can also be called ABA form
Theme and variations
The melody (theme) is heard then returns several times with variations
Verse and chorus
Alternating between verse and chorus
The verse normally has the same music but different words each time it is heard
The chorus is normally identical each time
Many songs use this form
Harmony
Two parts sounding different notes
Ostinato / Riff
A short repeated pattern
Solo
One instrument or voice
Unison
Two players or singers sounding the same notes at the same time
Alto
A low female voice
Backing vocals
Singers supporting the lead singer
Usually sing harmonies in the background
Bass
A low male voice
Brass band
A band with brass and percussion instruments
Distortion
An electronic effect used in rock music
Used to colour the sound of an electric guitar
Muted
Using a device that alters the sound of an instrument
Brass and string instruments can use mutes
Soprano
A high female voice
Tenor
A high male voice
Wind band
A band with woodwind, brass and percussion instruments
Choir
A group of singers performing together
Folk group
A group of singers and instrumentalists
They perform a variety of traditional music
Legato
The notes are played smoothly
Orchestra
A large group of string, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments
Scottish dance band
A band that plays Scottish music for people to dance to
Instruments can include fiddle, accordion, piano and drums
Staccato
The notes are detached
Steel band
Band whose instruments are made out of oil drums called pans
The top of each drum is hammered into panels to make different pitches
