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Dynamics
Dynamics
Writing about how loud or soft the music is and how it changes.
Just because this is obvious doesn’t mean you won’t get marks. You can just write about how the music is quiet or loud, when the volume changes and whether it changes gradually or suddenly. (e.g. “The music starts very quiet then gets gradually louder before suddenly getting quiet again).
You also need to know the appropriate Italian terms:
Circling it once....is NEVER enough!
ff
f
mf
mp
p
pp
Cresc
Dim
sfz
fortissimo
forte
mezzo forte
mezzo piano
piano
pianisimo
Crescendo
Diminuendo
Sforzando
Terraced Dynamic
Very loud
Loud
Medium Loud
Medium Quiet
Quiet
Very Quiet
Getting Louder
Getting Quieter
Suddenly Loud
Changing immediately to a new dynamic
Rhythm
Rhythm
Writing about the length of notes and their relationships together
There are lots of technical terms to describe rhythm but don’t be put off – what is actually being described is often quite simple. Some basic terms:
Duration: are individual notes short or long
Pulse / beat: if you are tapping your feet to or conducting music you are probably tapping out the pulse
Anacrusis/Upbeat: starting a piece on the fourth beat of the bar rather than the first
Syncopation: playing off (or in between) the beat or pulse {listen}
Dotted rhythms: making pairs of notes uneven by adding half the value to the first note of a pair taking it away from the second (e.g. if you dot quavers your first quaver is three rather than two semiquavers long and the second quaver is shortened to a semiquaver {listen}
Swung rhythms (jazz): like dotted rhythms but a bit lazier, so the first note is not quite so long and the last not quite so short {listen}
Triplets: three notes squeezed in (evenly) into the space of two {listen}
Cross-rhythm: triplets against normal rhythms
Pause: a wait that interrupts the pulse
Chaal (Bhangra): the basic triplet rhythm underlying Bhangra played on the dhol (a drum)
Time Signatures
Time Signatures
Writing about how the basic pulse is grouped
You need to be able to recognise basic time signatures by ear and there are two things to listen for:
1) How many beats there are in a bar
2) Whether the beats are divided into two or three
Simple metres have a main beat that can be divided into TWO (e.g. a crotchet beat that can be divided into two quavers).
The time signatures for simple metres have 2, 3 or 4 at the top (e.g. 2/4, 3/4, 2/2 or 4/4).
Compound metres have a main beat that is divided into THREE (e.g. a dotted crotchet beat that can be divided into three quavers).
The time signatures for compound metres have 6,9 or 12 at the top (e.g. 6/8, 9/8, 6/4 or 12/8).
Compound metres have a distinctive three-to-a-beat feel (diddle-dee diddle-dee) which simple metres lack. Listening for this is the best way of telling between the two types
Durations
Durations
You will need to know how long each note and its assoicated rest lasts for.
Context
Context
Writing about styles of music, composers intentions and ensembles
It is important to be able to recognise what style each piece of music might be in. Each style has their own main 'fingerprints' which are typical of the style. Below are the styles and a few fingerprints for each.
Film Music
Film Music
For Film Music you may need to recognise the typical fingerprints of different film styles. Here are a few as an example.
Ensembles
Ensembles
Lastly you will need to name the different groups of instruments together, e.g. Choir, Orchestra, String Quartet, Brass Band, Rock Band etc.
Articulation
Articulation
Writing about the technique used to play an instrument.
Each instrument can be played in a variety of different ways. This can add to differences in the sonority of the performance and can make the performance or composition more exciting to listen to as there is more contrast.
Some techniques can be used on all instruments (including voice), whereas some are particular to specific instruments or groups thereof.
Most instruments
Most instruments
Vibrato: a rapid but small changing of pitch up and down
Staccato: Short sharp notes
Legato: Long smooth notes
Sustained: held notes
Accent: louder, accentuated notes
Glissando/slide: a glide from one pitch to another
Pitch bend: small glissando: bending the string with excessive finger pressure
Detached: each note given a new start - change of bow, tounged on woodwind or brass, glottal in voice
Slurred: not detached!
Drumkit
Drumkit
Rim shot: Hitting the rim and the skin at the same time
Drum roll: quick repeated hits on a drum
Strings
Strings
Pizzicato: using fingers to pick the strings
Arco/bowed: using the bow
Double Stopping: playing two notes at the same time
Tremolo: Rapid repetition of one note, pulling the bow forward and back
Guitars
Guitars
Distortion: A guitar effect created by overuse of gain
Hammer on: Sharply pressing the fretting finger onto the fretboard to create a note
Slap bass: a percussive bass picking technique - pick so hard the string 'slaps' against the instrument body
Plucked: pulling at strings
Strummed: several strings played at the same time in a sweeping motion
Pull off: Picking a string with a fretting finger on the fretboard
Voice
Voice
Humming: sound made with the closed mouth
Scat: Improvised jazz style of singing with no words but using nonsense syllables
Falsetto: Notes higher than the normal male range
Belt: using the chest voice loudly above the usual break to head voice
Rap: spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics performed in time to a beat
Syllabic: One note per syllable
Melismatic: More that one note per syllable
Woodwind and Brass
Woodwind and Brass
Tongued: Each note given a new start with a 't'
Muted: Using a mute to dull the sound
Texture
Texture
Writing about different parts and how they relate to each other. The layers of the music.
Most important of all is to DESCRIBE WHAT YOU HEAR. A really good description of a texture might be “the trumpet is playing the tune and the strings are holding chords. There is also a long held note in the bass”. However it is also important to use correct technical terms as listed on this page.
Basic overall texture descriptions
Basic overall texture descriptions
Monophonic: a texture consisting of a single unaccompanied line
Homophonic: all parts play together in chords
Melody and accompaniment: a melody is accompanied either by chords or by a simple texture
Polyphonic/contrapuntal: a texture with several rhythmically independent parts
Specific Texture Features
Specific Texture Features
Unison: All parts performing together
Chordal: Using chords
Imitation: The same melody passed to a different instrument. It may have been moved up or down in pitch
Layered: Several instruments playing together
Countermelody: A secondary melody, different to the main tune
Descant: A particular countermelody performed on the last chorus of a hymn or carol
Round: A looping melody repeated with staggered entry
Canon: One part coming in after the other
Drone: A continuous bass note
Call and Response: One instrument or group of instruments performs and another replies, playing afterwards
Structure
Structure
Writing about how the overall shape of pieces and sections
Structure is basically about repetition. You are often asked in the exam to identify patterns of repetition using letters (e.g. ABA means that the first idea is followed by a second idea before the first one returns).
Some patterns of repetition have specific names:
AB = Binary
ABA = Ternary
ABACA = Rondo Strophic
A A1 A2 A3 = Theme and Variation
AABABA CCDCDC ABA = Minuet and Trio
Coda: An ending in classical music
In Music with words different terms are used:
A A A A (but with different words each time) = Strophic
A B A B = Verse-chorus
32 bar song form/AABA: Think 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' structure. Used a lot in Musical Theatre
12 bar blues: A 12 bar structure using chords I IV and V
You can add lots of extra sections to verse-chorus structure:
Intro / outro: a section stuck on the beginning or end
Bridge: a contrasting section often leading back into a chorus
Middle 8: An 8 bar section in the middle of a piece
Instrumental / Break: a section in which there is no singing, often based on the verse or the chorus
Loop: a repeating section of sound used in electronic music
Fill: a short phrase between sections to hold the listeners attention. e.g drum fill
Melody
Melody
Writing about individual melodic lines.
Don’t forget to describe the obvious – the first three of these are easy to hear and will usually get you marks. Only then move onto the more complicated, technical terms.
Direction
Direction
Is the melody rising or falling? Describe what happens in detail, e.g. “At first it rises then it falls” or “the melody keeps falling and rising in a repeated pattern”
scalic: in a scale.....
ascending: going up
descending: going down
Type of movement
Type of movement
Is the melody leaping (e.g. arpeggios) or moving by step (scales)?
Conjunct - in steps
Disjunct - in jumps
Arpeggios - jumps that are each one note of a chord
are the gaps small (e.g. thirds) or large (e.g. sevenths
Range / Tessitura
Range / Tessitura
Does the melody use only a small range (a fourth or a fifth) or does it cover a much wider range? Is the range of the melody generally high or low? As with all elements it is worth listening to see if it changes (“e.g. at first the range is quite low but it slowly gets higher”)
Scales
Scales
Is the melody based on a particular scale? The most common scales are listed below:
Major: happy sounding
Minor: sad/mysterious sounding
Chromatic: All the notes in a scale - black and white
Blues: used in Jazz
Pentatonic: Five note scale. Often used in Folk Music
Simple repetition
Simple repetition
Most composers use lots of repetition – it makes life easier for them (less to write) and for the listener (we don’t have to cope with too much information).
motif: a short 3 or 4 note melodic phrase
Thematic: using a Theme/motif again and again
Leitmotif: using a theme for a character
Ostinato: A continuously repeating pattern
Modified repetition
Modified repetition
Sequence: the same melody, but up or down in pitch
Inversion: a melodic idea repeated upside down
Retrograde: a melodic idea repeated in reverse
Answering Phrase: the second half of a melody
Ornamentation
Ornamentation
Trill: rapid alternation of two notes
Grace note: an accented extra note
Intervals
Intervals
The gaps between notes
Other Melody words
Other Melody words
Contrast: something different
Improvisation: making up on the spot
Fanfare: a short melody played to announce something, usually played on brass
Walking bass: A bass line which moves using the blues scales with notes close to each other
Blue note: a flattened note from the Blues scale e.g. flat 3 or flat 7
Countermelody: a secondary melody
Instruments
Instruments
Writing about what instruments you can hear
Listening to music on Youtube / Spotify etc. and making sure that you know what different instruments sounds like is the most important way of preparing for this. Also try Focus on Sound, where you can listen to each of them.
Strings
Strings
violin
viola
cello
bass
Woodwind
Woodwind
piccolo
flute
oboe
clarinet
saxophone
bassoon
Brass
Brass
trumpet
french horn
trombone
tuba
Percussion
Percussion
bass drum
timpani
cymbal
snare
tam tam
glockenspiel
xylophone
Popular
Popular
keyboard
drumkit
guitar
bass
Male voices (high to low)
Male voices (high to low)
treble (boys)
countertenor (male alto)
tenor
baritone
bass
Female voices (high to low)
Female voices (high to low)
soprano
mezzo-soprano
alto
contralto
Bhangra
Bhangra
Dhol – drum
saranghi – bowed strings
tumbi and sitar – plucked string
tabla - two headed drum
Tempo
Tempo
The speed of the music.
This one is pretty simple. It's just how fast or slow a piece of music is. You will need to know the italian terms.
Accelerando: getting faster
Allegro: a very fast tempo
Allegretto: a relatively fast tempo
Andante: walking pace
Moderato: a moderate tempo
Largo: slow and stately
Rallentando / Ritenuto (Rall / Rit): getting slower
Rubato: playing rhythmically flexibly – slowing down and speeding up for emotive effect
Harmony
Harmony
Writing about chords and chord progressions (and keys)
When describing harmony there are three main sets of opposites to keep in mind.
Chords
Chords
Chords are made of notes played together, usually using the root (first), third and fifth note of a scale. So a chord of C major (C D E F G A B C) uses C E G. The relationships between chords and different specific chords are named.
Primary Chords: Chords I IV and V - the most commonly used chords
Tonic: Chord I - in C major, C major
Subdominant: Chord IV - in C major this is F major
Dominant: Chord V - in C major this is G major
Secondary Chords: Chords ii iii vi and vii - less commonly used chords
Relative minor/major: keys which share the same key signature,
The relative minor of a major key is chord vi
e.g. C major= I A minor= vi
The relative major of a minor key is chord III
e.g. A minor=I C major=III
Dominant 7th Chord (V7): A chord including the root, third, fith and seventh of chord V of a key. In C major chord V is G major. The root, third and fifth of G major are G B D. The 7th is F, so the dominant 7th in C major has G B D F.
Chord progression/chord sequence: Several chords used one after the other. 12 bar blues, for example.
Power Chords: Chords without the 3rd, using root and fifth only. Used in rock music.
Inversions: Changing the order of notes in a chord.
Cadences
Cadences
Cadences which sound final...
Perfect Cadence: V-I - Heard at the end of most pieces. It makes the piece sound final and complete, for example the line 'all day long' from The wheels on the bus uses a perfect cadence
Plagal Cadence: IV-I - also makes the piece sound finished by mostly heard in religious music. Sometimes know as the 'Amen' cadence;
Cadences which sound unfinished...
Imperfect Cadence: finish on V. This sounds incomplete as we don't return to chord I. For example in C major we might end of a chord of G. Your musical ear will want to hear the tonic chord again.
Interrupted Cadence: finish on vi. This is a surprise to finish on a minor chord in a major key and vise versa.
Key signatures
Key signatures
Each key uses certain sharps or flats to sound 'correct'.
For GCSE you need to be able to recognise keys in up to 4 sharps or flats.
The order of sharps on the stave to make a key signature
Father Christmas Gave Dad An Electric Blanket
The order of flats on the stave the make a key signature:
Blanket Explodes And Dad Gets Cold Feet
To work out a a major key with sharps
Look at the final sharp. Go up one semi-tone to find the key. e.g. Final sharp=D#=E major
To work out a major key with flats
Look at the penultimate flat. That is the name of the key. e.g. penultimate flat = Bb=Bb major
Exceptions - C major has no sharps or flats. F major has 1 Flat
To work out minor keys:
Work out the major key signature, then work out the relative minor by counting 6 from the major key. E.g. if C= I, count 6 - A, so A minor. if G =I, count 6, so E minor
Scales
Scales
major: using the major scale - sounds happy
minor: Using the minor scale - sounds sad/mysterious
Pentatonic: Using only a five note scale. Used in folk music
Chromatic: Using all the notes - black and white/all frets
Other useful words
Other useful words
Drone/Pedal: A continuous or repeating note, ususally the tonic or dominant
Modulation: Change key
Harmonic rhythm: How often the chords change/after how many beats or bars
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