Edexcel GCSE Music

A capella

Singing without instrumental accompaniment.

Acciccatura

An ornament, printed as a small note with a slash through it, played as quickly as possible before the main note that follows it.

Accordion

An instrument with hand-operated bellows that force the air to vibrate metal reeds.

Aeolian Mode

A scale that can be found by playing the white notes on the piano from A to A (an octave higher).

Alla breve

A pulse of 2/2 time, sometimes referred to as cut time.

Alto voice

Lowest female voice.

Anacrusis

An upbeat before the first strong beat of a phrase.

Antiphonal

A texture in which two or more spatially separated soloists or groups perform alternately and in combination.

Appoggiatura

Play the first note as half the value of the second note. Often resolves a dissonance by step.

Aria

A song sung by one voice with accompaniment in an opera or oratorio.

Atonal

Music that lacks a tonal center; absence of key.

Augment

A proportionate increase in note length (e.g. when a rhythm of two quavers and a crotchet is augmented it becomes two crotchets and a minim.

Backbeat

A term used in pop and rock to describe accenting the normally weak second and fourth beats in 4/4 time.

Backing vocals

Singers who support the lead singer(s), usually by singing in harmony in the background.

Ballad

In jazz and pop, a slow, romantic song.

Baroque

The period between 1600-1750.

Bass voice

Lowest male voice.

Bass viol

A bowed string instrument of the viol family, similar in size to the later cello, but having between five and seven strings and a fretted fingerboard (like a guitar).

Bell chord

A chord that is sounded as a downward succession of sustained notes.

Bend

A slight change in pitch of note while it is sounded (often used for expression).

Bitonal

Using two keys simultaneously.

Bodhran

An Irish wooden drum, held in one hand and played with a wooden beater. Often used in Irish traditional music.

Book Musical

A musical play where songs and dances are fully integrated into a well-made story with serious dramatic goals.

Bossa Nova

A dance and highly syncopated style of music. It is slower and gentler than samba and influence by jazz of the period (1960s).

Bouzouki

A plucked string instrument of the lute family usually associated with the music of Greece, but used by a number of Celtic folk musicians in recent decades.

Break

In pop and jazz, an instrumental solo (usually improvised).

Bridge

A short and often contrasting passage in a pop song that links two other sections. Sometimes called a middle eight.

Broken octaves

Rapidly alternating notes that are an octave apart.

Build

An abbreviation of build up. A term used mainly in electronic dance music for a long crescendo and thickening of texture.

Cadence

The end of a musical phrase, often harmonised by two chords.

Cadenza

An improvised vocal flourish just before a singer's final cadence in an aria.

Canon

A contrapuntal form in which the individual voices enter and each in turn imitates exactly the melody that the first voice played or sang.

Chamber orchestra

A small orchestra, typically consisting of a small but complete string orchestra plus a limited number of wind players.

Chordal

A homophonic texture that consists mainly of block chords.

Chromatic

Notes that don't belong to the current key.

Circle of Fifths

A chord progression whose roots are each a fifth lower than the previous chord.

Classical

The period between 1750-1820.

Close harmony

A style of singing in which most of the accompanying voice parts lie close to the melody and close to each other.

Cluster

A dissonant chord that includes several adjacent notes only one step apart from each other.

Coda

A closing section at the end of a movement, song or piece.

Codetta

A short coda, used to end a section within a longer movement.

Colla voce

Italian for 'follow the solo voice'.

Coloratura

Florid vocal ornamentation.

Compound time

Time signatures in which each beat contains three (rather than two) subdivisions (e.g. 6/8).

Concept album

A collection of pop songs related by lyrics that share a common theme.

Concertino

The group of instruments that function as soloists in a concerto grosso.

Concerto

A composition for orchestra and a soloist, often in three movements.

Conjunct

A melody that moves by step.

Continuo

A bass part in Baroque music played by one or more bass instruments and used by the players of chordal instruments as the basis from which to fill out the harmonies of the music.

Contrapuntal

Music in which two or more melodic lines occur simultaneously (a texture known as counterpoint).

Contrary motion

When two parts move in opposite directions.

Countertenor

An adult male voice with a range similar to that of an alto.

Cross rhythm

The combination of two conflicting rhythms within a single beat (e.g. a triplet of quavers against two normal quavers).

Da capo form

A type of ternary form in which the repeat of the A section is indicated by the instruction Da capo instead of being written out.

Dal segno

Literally 'from the sign'.

Development

The central section of sonata form (where motifs are developed and transformed).

Dialogue

A texture in which motifs are exchanged between different parts without the use of imitation.

Diatonic

Notes that belong to the current key.

Diminish

A proportionate decrease in note lengths (e.g. When a rhythm of two crotchets and a minim is diminished it becomes two quavers and a crotchet).

Diminished 7th

A chord consisting of three intervals of a minor 3rd built one on top of the other, the interval between the lower and top note being a diminished 7th.

Disjunct

A melody that moves by leap.

Dissonant

Music whose notes mainly seem to clash harshly when sounded together.

Distortion

An effect that can make the sound of an electric guitar harsher and more gritty.

Dominant

The fifth note of a scale.

Dominant preparation

A passage that creates expectation for the return of the tonic key, typically at the end of the development in a sonata for movement. Emphasised by chords that lean onto the dominant.

Dominant 7th chord

A major triad with a minor 7th.

Dotted rhythms

Successive pairs of notes in which the first is a dotted note and the second is a short note.

Double stopping

Playing two notes simultaneously on a string instrument.

Double tracking

A recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance in order to produce a thicker sound.

Doubling

The performance of the same melody, in unison or in octaves, by two or more musicians at the same time

Drone

A continuous pedal note (used in folk music).

Enharmonic

Notes or keys that sound the same but are notated differently, such as C# and Db.

Ensemble

A small group of musicians who perform together.

Episode

A passage of music linking two appearances of the same of similar material.

Exposition

The first section of a fugue; the first section of a movement in a sonata form.

Extended chords

Chords in which further notes a 3rd apart are added to 7th chords to produce chords of the 9th, 11th and 13th above the root.

False relation

The effect produced when the natural and chromatically altered versions of a note (such as G and G#) in different parts occur either simultaneously or in close proximity.

Falsetto

The technique of singing notes higher than the normal top register.

Fanfare

A short and lively flourish for trumpets or a group of brass instruments, typically used to introduce something or someone.

Figured bass

A basso continuo part with figures and other symbols beneath the notes to indicate the harmonies of the music.

Fill

In pop and jazz, a brief improvised flourish (often on drums) to fill the gap between the end of one phrase and the beginning of the next.

Finale

The closing scene in an act of an opera or musical.

Free time

Music in which the rhythm does not have to fit a regular pulse.

Fugue

A contrapuntal composition in which a subject is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts.

Gigue

A fast dance in compound time (or based on triplet rhythms in simple time) often used in the Baroque period.

Glissando

A slide from one pitch to another.

Ground bass

A bass ostinato or constantly repeating bass pattern often used in Baroque period.

Harmonic

On string instruments (including the harp and guitar), a very high and pure sound produced by placing a finger lightly on a string before plucking or bowing. Harmonics are indicated by small circles above the note.

Harmonic pace

The rate at which chords change.

Homophonic

A texture with multiple layers moving at the same time.

Hurdy gurdy

An instrument with strings that are set into vibration by the action of a hand-cranked wheel.

Imitation

A contrapuntal device in which a melody in one part is copied a few notes later in a different part (whilst the first melody continues).

Imperfect cadence

A chord progression ending on chord V, sounds incomplete, usually preceded by I, II or IV.

Incidental music

Music intended to be performed as part of a play.

Instrumental

A section in a pop song that features an instrumental solo.

Interrupted cadence

A cadence progression of chord V - vi, sounds interrupted.

Interval

The distance between two pitches.

Kora

A long-necked harp, shaped like a lute, used in West African music.

Lead guitar

The part that has, along with the lead vocal, the main melodic role in a rock band.

Lead vocal

The part for the main solo singer in a rock band.