Pop Music Final Amy Cooper

Strophic form

A musical structure where the same melody is repeated for each verse or stanza of a song.

Rubato

The temporary disregarding of strict tempo to allow an expressive quickening or slackening, usually without altering the overall pace.

Verse

A section within a song that typically introduces new lyrics and helps tell the story, often alternating with the chorus.

Refrain song form

A repeated line or phrase, usually placed at the end of a verse, and serves as a musical and lyrical anchor for the song.

Duple meter

A musical meter characterized by having two beats per measure.

Ballad

Any light, simple song, especially one of sentimental or romantic character, having two or more stanzas all sung to the same melody.

Triple meter

A rhythmic organization where a measure (or bar) is divided into three beats.

Chorus (jazz)

In jazz, a 'chorus' refers to one complete iteration of the song's chord progression, typically 32 measures long.

Syncopation

The practice of displacing the beats or accents in music or a rhythm so that strong beats become weak and vice versa.

Montuno

A specific, syncopated rhythm and chord progression commonly found in Cuban music, particularly in salsa and Afro-Cuban jazz.

Polyrhythm

The simultaneous use of two or more rhythmic patterns that are not easily perceived as part of the same meter or as simple subdivisions of each other.

Call and response

An interactive interaction where a statement ('call') is followed by a responsive statement ('response').

Backbeat

A steady pronounced rhythm stressing the second and fourth beats of a four-beat measure.

Riff

A short, repeated musical phrase, often serving as a foundation or prominent element of a song.

Consonance

Describes the pleasant and stable feeling created when two or more tones complement each other.

Soli scoring

Indicates that a passage should be played by multiple players from a specific section of an ensemble, rather than a single individual.

Dissonance

When two or more tones clash and create a harsh, unpleasant sound.

Blue notes

A note that falls slightly off the standard scale, often a minor third or flat fifth.

Polyphonic

Producing many sounds simultaneously; many-voiced.

Scat singing

Involves improvising melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument.

Overdubbing

A technique where new audio tracks are recorded on top of pre-existing recordings, allowing for the creation of richer and more complex soundscapes.

Crooning

Singing in a soft, low, and often sentimental or intimate manner, particularly in the style of jazz or big band singers.

Stoptime technique

A rhythmic technique where the accompaniment momentarily pauses, creating silence or a sparse rhythmic pattern, while a soloist or other instrument takes the spotlight.

Yodeling

Rapid and repeated pitch changes between the chest and head registers of the voice, or between the normal voice and falsetto.

Tone color/timbre

Describes the unique sound quality of a musical note or voice.

Power chord

A guitar chord made up of two notes, the root and the fifth, five steps apart.

Digital looping

the process of repeatedly playing a section of a sound or audio file

Recording

the action or process of recording sound or a performance for subsequent reproduction or broadcast

Playback

the reproduction of previously recorded sounds or moving images

Broadcasting

the transmission of programs or information by radio or television

Phonograph/Edison wax cylinder

The phonograph cylinder, invented by Thomas Edison in 1877, was the first commercial way to record and play back sound

Electric microphone

The first electric microphone, a condenser microphone, was invented in 1916 by E.C. Wente at Western Electric

Piano roll

A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano

Commercial radio (AM vs FM)

The total space for AM broadcasts is about 1.5Mhz while FM broadcasting has around 20.5Mhz in space, which is about 14x bigger

Gramophone

A mechanical device that records and plays back sound, invented in the 1870s

Jukeboxes

A coin-operated music machine in the 1930s

78 rpm records

78 RPM records, often called '78s,' are vinyl records that were a standard format for music recordings during the early and mid-20th century

33-1/3 rpm records (LPs)

The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium characterized by a speed of 331⁄3 rpm

45 rpm records

45 RPM records, often called 'singles' or '45s', are 7-inch vinyl records that play at a speed of 45 revolutions per minute

Magnetic tape

Magnetic tape in music refers to the use of magnetic tape as a medium for recording, manipulating, and playing back sound

Television

1927

Music videos

mtv

Audio cassette tapes

analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released in August 1963.

Compact discs (CDs)

The CD (Compact Disc) was officially invented in 1979.

Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs)

A Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) is software that allows you to record, edit, and produce audio. It serves as the central hub of your audio studio setup, where you can layer instruments, manipulate sounds, and mix tracks.

Auto Tune

a digital audio processing tool that corrects and adjusts the pitch of recorded instruments and voices. It was originally released in 1997.

MP3

a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners.

iPod

a line of discontinued portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices created and sold by Apple Inc.

Streaming

The process of listening to audio content, like music, directly from the internet without downloading the files to your device.

Jazz

Originated in New Orleans then spread to cities like Chicago, NYC, Kansas City. Started with Black audiences in cabaret/nightclubs and quickly spread to white audiences through urban migration, later radio/jukeboxes.

Jazz Artists

Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson.

Pop

Originated from Tin Pan Alley (NYC) and interacted with jazz in the 1920s, targeting mainstream audiences—white, middle class, protestant, urban.

Pop Music Structure

Verse-refrain form, AABA, sometimes prioritizing quality over quantity.

Latin Traditions

A series of dance fads including tango in the 1910s, rumba in the 1930s/40s, and salsa in the 1970s, transitioning from Latin audiences to mainstream American audiences.

Latin Dance Styles

Dancing styles include tango, mambo, conga, rumba, son, salsa, cha-cha-cha, reggaeton, and Latin trap.

Country Music

Originated in the 1920s from Euro-American folk songs, gospel, and blues, spreading to cities through radio and urban migration during WWII.

Country Music Styles

Includes Hillbilly music, Nashville sound, Western Swing, Cowboy music, Bakersfield sound, honky-tonk, and Austin sound.

Rock

Emerging in the 1950s as teenagers rebelled against their parents, evolving through various phases including Rockabilly, Rhythm & Blues, British Invasion, and punk.

Rock Subgenres

Includes album-oriented rock, punk, and grunge, with a main audience of teenagers, particularly young white males.

Rap

Originated in the South Bronx in the 1970s, spreading nationally among young Black, Latino, and Caribbean Americans through word of mouth and radios/records.

Rap Culture

Involves break dancing, freestyling, gang culture, and includes socially conscious rap vs. toasting; West Coast vs. East Coast.

Rap Subgenres

Includes gangsta rap, Southern rap, and trap.

Notable Rap Artists

Sugarhill Gang, NWA, Run DMC, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Death Row Records, Grandmaster Flash, Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar.