Music Film, Blues, Hip Hop, and Opera Keywords Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards for music film, blues, hip hop and opera keywords exam review.

Underscore

The music played throughout the film to provide atmosphere.

Leitmotif

A short musical motif/idea to represent a character.

Sound effect

A sound made artificially for use in a film to represent the sound of an object/thing/person.

Instrumentation

The instruments that play the music.

Chromaticism

Using sharps and flats outside the key of the piece to create instability.

Pedal note

A long sustained note played, or held, while the music changes above. Can be played as a pulsating rhythm or sustained.

Ostinato

A short repeated pattern.

Diminished 7th

A chord built up of four notes spaced 3 semitones apart from each other to create a sense of suspense.

Arpeggio

Playing a chord one note at a time.

Trill

Playing two adjacent notes in an alternating manner very quickly.

Dies Irae

The motif that symbolizes death.

Dissonance

Notes that clash, e.g. notes right next to each other.

Tritone

A dissonant interval of three tones e.g. C-F#. Known as ‘The Devil’s Interval’.

12 bar blues

The same repeated pattern of primary chords played over 12 bars.

Primary Chords

The most important chords made from the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of the scale.

Extended Binary Form

When you play the ‘A’ melody twice before playing melody ‘B’ i.e. A-A-B.

Blues Scale

A scale using flattened notes.

Improvisation

Making music up on the spot.

Swung Rhythm

A slightly more relaxed feel to the music. Less strict and more dotted.

Syncopation

When you accent the weaker beats of the bar.

Acoustic

An instrument that doesn’t need amplification or electricity to play them.

Boogie-woogie

A swung rhythm bass line.

Walking Bass

A bass line that includes the chord and flattened 7th.

Fill

An improvised section at the end of a melodic line.

Call and response

Usually when a leader sings/plays a melodic line (the call) and is answered by other singers or and instrument (the response).

Hip Hop

A cultural movement that originated in the Bronx describing the music of rapping over a repeated beat.

The Bronx

One of the 5 boroughs of New York that suffered social depravation in the 1970s.

Turntables

A circular revolving plate on which a vinyl record is played on.

Backspinning

When a DJ ‘rewinds’ the sound of a vinyl record to a previous point in the audio.

Protest Song

A song about social commentary.

Diction

Ensuring the clear articulation and pronunciation of words in music.

Slang

An informal language used between people who belong to the same social group.

Vinyl

The 12 bar blues and 16 bar structures were popular in rock and roll songs.

Rap

When words are recited rhythmically over an instrumental backing.

Sample

Reusing a portion of a pre-existing song by someone else in your own composition.

Mash-up

Blending two or more different tracks together into one.

Remix

Changing a song from its original state by adding / removing / changing elements of the original song.

The ‘break’

The instrumental section of the song when just the drums and percussions are playing.

Break Dancing

A dance typically performed to hip-hop with specific footworkanad athletic movements.

DJ Kool Herc

The alias of Colin Campbell, the first DJ of hip-hop.

The Hook

The chorus in a hip-hop song.

‘Toasting’

Developed in Jamaica, the act of saying lyrics in a monotone manner over a rhythm or beat.

Boombox

A large portable radio/cassette player which can be played very loud.

Cadence

Rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words with the beat.

Rap Flow

The rhythm or rhyme pattern of the lyrics and how well they match the beat of the music.

Lyrics

The words of a song.

Syllabic metre

The syllable count in each line of lyrics.

Opera

A story set to music and drama.

Binary form

A piece/song with two contrasting sections i.e. A-B.

Extended binary form

A piece/song in three sections but the first section is repeated before the second section is heard i.e. A-A-B.

Ternary Form

A piece/song in three sections but the first idea is heard after the second section is heard i.e. A-B-A.

Da capo aria

A song structured in ternary form.

Secular

Non-religious / i.e. everyday language.

Synopsis

The story of the opera.

Aria

Solo vocal piece sung with an orchestra based on emotions.

Recitatives (or recit.)

Tells the story and moves the plot along.

Syllabic

Singing one note per syllable.

Melismatic

When the singer sings lots of notes for just one syllable.

Conjunct

Notes that are close together e.g. stepwise.

Disjunct

Notes that are not close together, e.g. they leap about.

Sequence

The same pattern of notes played either higher or lower than before.

Chorus

Sung by the chorus (i.e. the choir). Usually written for SATB choirs.

Soprano

The highest female voice – usually the lead role.

Mezzo-soprano

Lower than a soprano.

Counter tenor

A male singer with the same vocal range as a mezzo-soprano.

Tenor

Highest ‘natural’ male voice – usually the lead male part.

Bass

The lowest and very low male voice.

Orchestra

Accompanies the singers on stage.

Overture

‘Opens’ the opera and sets the scene.

Conductor

Keeps everyone in time.

Librettist

Writes the lyrics for the opera.

Composer

Writes the music for the opera.

Texture

How many layers the music has.

Tempo

The speed of the music.

Structure

How the music is organised e.g. AB, ABA, ABAC…

Pitch

How high or low the music is.

Dynamics

The volume of the music.

Rhythm

A pattern of short and long note lengths.

Timbre

The special sound of the instrument.

Semibreve

A note/rest that lasts for 4 crotchet beats

Dotted minim

A note/rest that lasts for 3 crotchet beats

Minim

A note/rest that lasts for 2 crotchet beats

Crotchet

A note/rest that lasts for 1 crotchet beat

Quaver

A note/rest that lasts for a ½ crotchet beat

Semiquaver

A note/rest that lasts for a ¼ crotchet beat